Honoring the Dead: The Core of Philippine Death and Burial Customs
Written by Cathyrene Penaflorida and Daron Lavado— November 07, 2020
During the Pre-Hispanic period the early Filipinos believed in a concept of life after death; and with its long history of colonization, the country has become culturally diverse. This included a wide range of funeral and burial customs that Filipinos observe to honor and remember their departed loved ones. Here are some notable burial customs throughout the Philippines that are simply interesting and a proof of the country’s ever-rich traditions.
The kitchen burials of Apayao
The Isneg people, an indigenous group in the province of Apayao have unique cultures that kept them alive up to the present and still growing specifically on burying their dead.
When an Isneg dies, he will undergo several pre-burial rites. First, the corpse will be washed with water to cleanse it from all the dirt and impurities. The relatives of the dead will then prepare his attire, for they believe that the ancestral spirits recognize them by their clothes. After these practices, the community will be informed about the death of their neighbor before proceeding to the food offerings and animal sacrifices. Aside from these, what makes their burial custom unique is the place where they bury the dead bodies: under the kitchen. The corpse will be warmed first, and his relatives will recite farewells before it finally meets the soil and cold ground. After the burial, the bereaved family’s house will be stoned in an act of warding off evil spirits.
A mourning bonfire at Ilocos
Bonfires usually happen at night but in the case of Ilocanos, bonfires happen during mourning. In Ilocos, especially in Paoay, a set of rules and practices is being implemented whenever a member of a family dies.
When an Ilocano dies, an “atang” or bonfire is set in front of their house. This is because they believe that the fire will guide the dead’s spirit into the afterlife. The night will be occupied by the sounds of grief; crying and mourning in the form of half weeping and half-singing with an alternating high and low pitch. The relatives of the dead will then recite their messages. If it is the dead person’s mother, she will recite all the deeds that her son did in his entire life. If it is his wife, she will tell all her promises looking forward to the future. Both of them must wear black clothes, necker-chiefs and veils called “manto” covering their heads down to their feet. After the religious rights, the widow must go home and let other people accompany the dead body to its final destination. They believe that the couple became one inside the church and must also part their ways inside it.
The good grief
Grief can sometimes be good and pleasing to the eye, especially for the Tinguians.
Tinguians are non-catholic people located in the north. They believe in their supreme god, “Kadaklan”. Death, for them, is either caused by bad spirits or Kadaklan himself chose to punish them (Curtis et.al., 2014)
For several weeks they will dress the deceased in their best garments and place them sitting on a chair. Sometimes they will even place a lit cigarette between their lips. A chicken is placed behind the chair where the corpse sits as a sacrifice. A pig is also offered for the spirits while the intestines hang above the door of the house and are taken away after the burial.
Death does not limit the Tinguians to sit, to dress up nor to smoke. It is proof to the quote, “Life continues after death”.
Hanging coffins of Sagada
The dead bodies in Sagada are not having fun, partying, or enjoying. They are hanging and they are placed outside, down the road- they are literally hanging out.
If you already reached Mountain Province, you may have driven along the mountain cliffs of Sagada and saw their coffins hanging up. This tradition has been kept alive for 2000 years by the people of Sagada and is still being practiced until now (Barbara, 2013).
People of Sagada believe that the higher the coffin is placed, the higher the chance that the spirits of the dead will reach the afterlife. It is also linked to their belief that the spirits or “anito” of the dead can cause good luck or bad luck to the living.
The way the dead are dressed determines their social class when they used to live (Malanes, 2003). According to Omengan (2004), there are three types of clothes worn during burial. The Kadangyan or the upper class wears “Los-odan”, clothes consisting of black and white stripes used as an upper garment. Another one is the ‘baygan,’ which is worn by the middle-class. Meanwhile, the Kudo or the poor wear the “nababa”. All of these upper garments are paired with the same wanes or G-string as well as the headband or “ba-a”(a dark blue hand-woven strip of cloth measuring 5 feet). The death blanket also dictates the dead’s social class. The Inewes’, a dark blue or black hand-woven cloth with orange stripes and white designs in the middle, will be worn by the rich. While the ‘kalgo’ a white hand-woven cloth with black stripes on the edges and in the middle is to be worn by the poor.
Before the dead reach their final destination, the youngest will sing the “ikoko” as a request for approval in dividing the properties. The children and grandchildren of the dead are tasked to carry the coffin towards the burial site. They are not allowed to make any noise or commotion in honor of the corpse. The juice of the rotten body or the “deeng” will be smeared onto the carriers of the coffin believing that it brings good luck as well as the skills and ability of the dead person. All the members of the family will get a chance to carry the coffin while lighting up 7 torches regardless if it is morning. This is believed to guide the spirits of the dead by lighting up their ways.
Dead sitting pretty: A chair-turner burial custom of Benguet
It is normal for the dead to lay down inside a coffin and rest peacefully. Death can be similar to being paralyzed because the dead can neither move, stand, nor sit anymore. But in Benguet, sitting does not end with death, for they can still sit during their burial.
When an individual there dies, they are blindfolded and tied in a chair placed beside the main entrance of their home. The evening before the funeral, a special ritual is performed in which elders give a sort of chant-like biography of the deceased. As the body is buried, other members hit bamboo sticks together, which will guide the deceased toward heaven.
Benguet mummification
The Ibaloi, the dominant ethnolinguistic group, of Kabayan have a long traditional practice of mummifying their dead. Kabayan, Benguet, is well known for its antiquated centuries-old mummies buried inside the caves scattered around the villages in the town.
Mummification is attributed to the preservation of the dead and the customs. In many regions, having the body displayed in their homes is a form of honoring them in the afterlife.
It began before the Spanish colonization. Individuals from the higher societal stratum of the Ibaloi of Kabayan used to be mummified through a long ritual process over a long period. The process of mummification using salt and herbs and set under fire may take up to two years. When the body is finally rid of body fluids, the mummy is placed inside a pinewood coffin and laid to rest in a man-made cave or niche dug-out from solid rock.
Apo Anno is believed to be the first leader to be mummified in Benguet because of his reign marked by peace and prosperity in the 12th Century. His generation flourished and peopled many villages far and wide from Benguet to Ifugao and Vizcaya. Since he was of high status and the most important man in the village, he had to be mummified; mummification is a long process. Right after his last breath, they opened his mouth and forced him with a strong brine solution. They even used their mouths to pump the solution into his stomach.
Tree burial customs of Caviteño
There is a group of people in the Philippines known as the Caviteño. When a Cavite person is nearing death due to sickness or old age, the person goes out into the forest and selects a tree. Then the family members build the person a little hut at the base of this tree in which they will live until they die. But they are not left alone to die. The family and friends come out to hollow out the tree trunk of the standing tree.
When the person dies, he or she is entombed vertically in the hollowed-out tree trunk. The symbolism is that just as trees give life to the tribe through fruit and wood for their fires, so when a person dies, they give their life back to the tree.
Before coffins, there were Manunggul Jars
Even our ancestors have a unique way of burying their dead. It is not only a practice based on their instincts, but is also connected with their cultures and religious beliefs. Manunggul Jar is one of those burial practices that kept the history of Palaweños alive.
Many researchers studied the details of the manunggul jar including its design and purpose. It turned out that the jar represents a piece of our ancestor’s religious beliefs. If you are going to take a look at it, the cover of the jar has a figure of two men riding a boat, beautifully carved like a work of master-potter. This is proof that the early Filipino people already established their own set of beliefs, especially on religion. The boat and the boatman represent the spirit that will lead the boat’s passenger (spirit of the dead) to where he belongs. Also, the details of the figures are very realistic and are still present in our generation. The band that the figures wear on their heads and the position of the passenger’s arms; both of them can still be seen in our present burial practices; though the jar is not often used today for funeral purposes because of the influence of Catholicism.
A burial customs rooted in Cebuano’s religious beliefs
The Cebuano people, who form the second-largest cultural group in the Philippines, recite the rosary for nine days. They adhere to several funerary superstitions, like refraining from sweeping the floor of the deceased’s home and instead of collecting the waste by hand. Relatives of the deceased refrain from bathing and combing. No tears are allowed to drop directly onto the casket. Black or white clothing must be worn during the burial, but children are dressed in red, which makes them less likely to see the ghosts of the deceased. Relatives are told to pass under the casket before it is loaded into the vehicle that will be transporting it to the grave. When leaving the cemetery relatives to walk through smoke, to untangle the spirits of the dead from the bodies of the living.
It is a common practice and part of their customs to have a procession towards the church and cemetery during the burial day. The coffin with the dead inside it is either carried by family members (or male relatives) or loaded into a hearse. Usually, everybody will follow this funeral march until they reach the cemetery where another prayer ceremony will be held. The grieving family and relatives usually wear black colored clothing to symbolize their grief or sorrow. After the burial, there is an evening prayer for nine-day (pasiyam). Nine days is believed to be the day when the soul of the departed leaves the world of the living. Usually, the family does not hold any celebration for a year. After the nine-day prayer (or novena) a forty-day prayer is also common practice — saying the rosary, litanies, novenas, and Latin prayers, together with the chanting of the Pahulayng Dayon (Eternal Rest) or the “Gozos for the Dead”. Again, there is a first anniversary for the dead and goes on for a few years.
Maitum anthropomorphic pottery
One of the ancient customs for burying the dead in the Philippines is through the use of burial jars.
The Maitum anthropomorphic burial jars are earthenware secondary burial vessels discovered in 1991 by the National Museum of the Philippines’ archaeological team in Ayub Cave, Barangay Pinol, Maitum, Sarangani Province, Mindanao, Philippines.
It is unique to the Philippines and in the whole of Southeast Asia in that the anthropomorphic (human form) burial jars are very detailed and meticulous, with each unit having a specific head in different emotional states. The head-shaped covers portray different kinds of facial expressions: sadness, joy, contentment. The heads were either plain, perforated, or coated with red and black paints. Some have earrings, others are tattooed. Some head-shaped covers depict teeth while others have arms, female breasts, and male genitalia.
Furthermore, the jars emphasize the Filipinos’ popular belief in life after death.
The Bilaan tree bark shroud
Occupying a swath of islands in the Philippines’ southern Mindanao region, the Bilaan people have a truly unique funeral ritual. They wrap the deceased in tree bark before raising him or her to the level of the forest’s canopy.
The body is kept for three weeks in one’s home and it will be buried in a coffin carved in a tree trunk. After a meal, the coffin is hung up in the elected tree and anchored in branches. If the dead is a married woman, the body cannot be buried as long as the husband has not given her parents a horse (Kura) or a buffalo (carabao). Sometimes the relatives don’t take the time to hang up the body and put it down at the foot of the tree. In the case of a poor person, the latter is simply put on or locked up in a bamboo trunk, with the head and feet covered by pieces of cloth.
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