grand canao ibaloi - rituals

7/21/2019 Grand Canao Ibaloi - Rituals

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The Grand Canao: Ethnic and RitualDilemmas in an Upland Philippine

Tourist Festival

S u s a n D. R u s s e l l Northern Il l inois University, DeKalb, Il l inois 60115

In 1887in the Zoolog ical Gardens in Ma drid, an Exposicion de las Islas

Fi l ip inas was held to showcase the peoples and material culture ofSpains only major As ian colony. One of the most popular attractions

was the Igorot V illag e, where eig ht hig hland Filipinos, or Igorotes,from Luzons Cordillera occupied replicas of their indigenous houses,sang and rit ually danced in their g- strings ar ound sacrificed pigs, muchto the amusement and wonder of the people of Madrid ( S c o t t 1975,12- 13). In 1904the Americans included a similar Igorot village inthe St. Louis Exhibition, which was held to celebrate the westward

expansion of the United States 100 years after the Louisiana Purchase(Fry 19833940). Four years later, the A merican colonial government banned the public exhibition of Philippine tribal peoples withoutlegislative consent ( S c o t t 19752).

While the public display of ex otic tr ibal dances, costumes and ritualsacrifices was deemed unseemly by the colonial government in 1908,seventy years later (in 1978) a strikingly similar exhibition was sponsored in the City of Baguio by the Ministry of Tourism and the urbancommercial elite. As in the previous ex hibitions during colonial times,representatives of the various hig hland L uzo n ethnolinguistic groups

were broug ht from their local mountain communities to present theirtraditional rituals and dances in front of thousands of foreign and lowland Filipino tourists.

Early world exhibitions of tribal peoples amidst exotic tropicalplants and animals expressed colonial dominance over subordinatedpeoples as much as it did Western fascination with their unique lifestyles.In the early years of American pacification efforts in the Cordillera, it

A sian Fo lklore Studie s V ol .48 ,1989: 247- 263


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248 S U S A N D . R U S S E L L

also became a policy of Dean Worcester of the Philippine Commissionto regularly sponsor rituals and athletic field days in order to both as

sert colonial influence over unruly headhunters and to redirect theirenergies toward other competitive endeavors (Report of the Philippine C o m m i s s i o n 1908, 5- 6). J e n i s t a (1987, 101-103) documentshow early American governors of Ifugao portrayed themselves as having superior spiritual power by co- opting local spirit effigies (buloT)and turning them into symbolic supporters of American authority.

While Jenista oortray s this policy as being very successful, B a r t o n (1930128- 130) commented on how hig hland leaders were forced to attend these ceremoniesand even occasionally to present rituals forvisiting influential representatives of the A merican regime. He also

noted the reluctance of highland peoples to perform their more sacredrituals on these occasions.While the ideolog ical struggles of hig hland peoples who participated

in public ritual displays to entertain American officials is impossibleto recapture today, the state- sponsored cultural festival held in BaguioCity in 1978 presented them with a somewhat similar dilemma. T hisdilemma of perfor ming a r itual for a non- local audience arose due to thegrowing interestin the Philippines and elsewhere in Southeast Asiain showcasing minority peoples cultural traditions in ethnic festivals(e.g., W o o d 1984). Recent anthropological studies of tourism focuson the socio- economic causes of touris m (e.g., S mith 1977; Nas h 1981;

Cohe n 1984)including its tendency to increase ethnic consciousness(e.g., McK ea n 1977; Esman 1982; V olk ma n 1984; v an den Berg heand Key es 1984; M a c C a nn e ll 1984). Much attention also has beengiven to the tourists search for authenticity, and how local populationsstage traditional displays of rituals to satisfy tourist demands (e.g.,M a c C a n n e l l 19731976; S c h u d s o n 1979). Such studies have tendedto ignore the process, however, whereby local cultural groups grapple

with the problem of deter mining what outsiders mig ht view as authentic elements of their own culture, and of how local groups struggle to rationalize the performance of what are, or once were, sacred

rituals. T he initial tourist contact poses dilemmas to social or ethnicgroups over how to determine what aspects of their lifestyle are mostappealing to outsiders and what is unique to them as a cultural group.Such dilemmas do not occur in isolation in muitethnic areas, butoften become part of larger, on- going struggles among minority groups

to define or maintain politically or economically relevant symbols ofethnic identity .

This paper discusses the struggle that occurred between the Ibaloiand Kankana- ey of Benguet Province over whose r itual traditions were


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T H E G R A N D C A 5 J A O A N D I T S D I L E M M A S 249

most authentic and which ritual was most appropriate for tourist consumption. Ritual traditions play an important role in defining ethnic

identity among peripheral groups in Indonesia (e.g., A t k i n s o n 1983;V olk man 1984; Hefne r 1985; T sing 1987; Rus s ell 1989)as they doin the Cordillera. When rituals are presented to tourists, however,the performance can become a stage for the public expression of goalsand objectives that are quite different from those engendered in lesspublic and less political contexts. T raditions do not constitute a coherent rendering of custom, but exhibit qualities of reflexivity andcontinual modification based on a groups social experiences with the

wider society (e.g., L i n n e k i n 1983; Hobsbawm 1983). It is not onlythe national society that structures such experiences, but as I arguehere, also the local, in some cases more immediate, context of ethnicinteraction among peripheral groups themselves.

T his analysis concentrates on the backgr ound and behind- the-scenes organization of the Grand Canao (or the gr and r itua l inBaguio City rather than on the usual performative aspects described inthe anthropology of tourism literature. In the first part of this paper,I briefly outline the historical changes in intergroup relationships amongthe Ibaloi and Kankana- ey peoples. In the second part, I brieflydescribe the current context of ritual performance and belief in Benguet.T he f inal part of the paper discusses the struggle between the politicaland religious leadership over how to present, for the first time, a ritual

for tourists.

H i s t o r i c a l C h a n g e s i n E c o n o m i c a n d E t h n i c R e l a t i o n s h i p s

A t the time of Spanish penetration, the primary unit of identif icationwas the village or hamlet. T here were no larger regional confederations, although the prestige rituals (peshit in Ibaloi; pedit in Kankana-ey) of the wealthy elite often drew large numbers of people from neighboring communities to attend the feasts. Benguet communities hadan economy based on the swidden cultivation of root crops and pighusbandry . Wet rice agr iculture was practiced in river valleys, part i

cularly along the A gno River in eastern Benguet. Wet rice agriculturedid not become widespread until the mid to late 1800s. In the communities that were heavily engaged in wet rice agriculture, socio-economic differentiation was marked between elites (baknang) and commoners (abiteg). Slaves (baga-en) existed in the mining communities and inthe households oi the wealthy aristocrats, who often controlled a largeportion of the most fertile rice fields. Members of the elite maintainedtheir wealth through intermarriage and their claim to high status andpower through competitive ritual feasts.


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Spanish missionaries referred to the inhabitants of Benguet asIgoroteSy a term that early in the 20th century became inclusive of all

Cordillera peoples. Ethnographers (e.g., Bar row s 1902; Moss 1920;K eesing 1962) distinguished two major ethnolinguistic gr oupings inBenguet: the Ibaloi who live in the southern part of the province, andthe Kankana- ey w ho occupy the northern region.

There are no major cultural distinctions, other than language,which differentiate Ibaloi and Kankana- ey. In the absence of meaningful overt distinctions, then, Ibal oi and Kankana- ey often resort to ethnicimagery when drawing intergroup comparisons (R u s se l l 1983). Mostlocal ethnic stereotypes focus on perceived personality characteristicsof ethnic groups or on selective interpretations of cultural history.

These ethnic images are cultural constructions that have been inventedin part to provide an appropriate content for what early Americanethnographers ordained to be relevant ethnolinguistic groupings inBenguet. Contemporary Ibaloi along the Ag no River Valley, forexample, point particularly to the prestige feasts and great wealth ofprominent members of their traditional elite {baknang) and to theirpresumably greater wealth in cattle herds, rice and gold up until the1930s.1 T he emphasis on Ibaloi wealth in the past is more than simplya mnemonic device, as such emphases are precisely those contrasted

w ith their remembrance of Kankana- ey .2 Ibalo i elders today along theA gno Riv er point out that the Kankana- ey were frequent cattle thieves

and sometimes came to K abay an to trade for rice.3 Such comparisonsunderscore the greater material wealth of Ibaloi in the past (e.g., Moss1920, 214).

W ha t is intrig uing about contemporar y Ibaloi images of theirpast are their selective distortion of what were actually very diversifiedforms of production throughout both southern and northern Benguet.T he K ankana- ey of northern Benguet, for ex ample, have long beeninvolved in the mining and trade of copper and gold to the lowlands.

A lthoug h rice production may have developed first in the A gno RiverV alley area, rice producing communities were and are today still thr iv

ing along s maller river valleys throughout both Ibaloi and Kankana- eyregions. While the gold Ibaloi traded for cattle stimulated ritual statuscompetition among their elite, the ritual basis of status competition(based on redistribution of meat in return for prestige) was equally well-developed and pervasive among both Ibaloi and Kankana- ey.

Market penetration throughout the Cordillera in the last sixtyyears, par ticular ly in the for ms of agribusiness, tourism, extractive mining and timber industries, has led to increasing movements of highlandand low land Filipinos throughout this reg ion. Bag uio City is the focus


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T H E G R A N D C A N A O A N D IT S D IL E M M A S 251

of a lowland Philippine elite who dominate the political hierarchy andlarge- scale commerce, together w ith the Chinese and Indians. Most

highland F ilipino migrants remain largely confined to small- scale tradeand depressed residential neighborhoods surr ounding the city. In

contrast to Baguio City, L a T rinida d valley, the capital of BenguetProvince, has become a center of primar ily small- scale trade wherehighland Filipino culture and peoples predominate.

Ethnic par ticipation in cash cropping and small- scale entrepreneur

ship has not been unifor m. Ibalo i who far m wet rice paddies havebeen less interested in cash cropping compared to the Kankana- ey,

who tr aditionally have occupied a larger percentage of land inappropriate for wet rice production. A s E ps t e in (1973245) has observed,

alternative income opportunities tend to be perceived more positivelyand attractively by people depending on non- irrigated agriculture in aregion where dry land far ming co- exists with irrigated farming. T hisfactor largely accounts for the dispersion of cash cropping and wet riceagriculture in Benguet today, although the extent of infrastructuraldevelopment also is an important constraint on commercial croppingin many areas. T he larger number of Kankana- ey involved in cashcropping has also st imulated their greater entry into non- farm employment and small business compared to Ibaloi (R u s se l l 1987).

T he increased economic and political v isibility of the Kankana- eybrought about by market integration form the basis of their currentethnic imagery. Just as the Ibaloi emphasize the prominence and

wealth of their tr aditional leaders of the past, Kankana- ey selectivelyconstrue their image of the present by focusing on their prominentcommercial leaders of more recent years when distinguishing themselvesfrom Ibaloi. T heir version, too, however, draws on their past byemphasizing how their current attitudes toward hard work and cooperation are a product of their more difficult and demanding environment.Kankana- ey consider themselves out- going, willing to take risks, andquick to seize on opportunities to make a profit in business. Thesedistinctions emerge in conversations when Kankana- ey ex plain their

greater commerical involv ement compared to Ibaloi . T hey claimthat Ibaloi resist greater commercial participation due to their feelingsof superiority and a less progressive attitude. Again, such distinctions

ignore that the same environmental constraints characterized manyIbaloi settlements outside the Agno River V alley region. T hey alsodownplay the fact that Ibaloi are very active in commercial agriculturein areas where wet rice was not well- developed or possible, and overlook the significant role of Ibaloi in local marketplace trade.

In sum, inter- ethnic imagery in Benguet selectively emphasizes


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different periods of the past that are characterized by each groups comparative claims to economic and political prominence. T he period

of prominence in the memory of Ibaloi informants today is one whichflourished particularly during the early decades of the 20th century.For the K ankana- ey, interg roup comparisons focus on the much morerecent period since World War IIa period marked by their increasingeconomic and consequently political leverage in provincial affairs.

T h e R it u a l Co n t e x t T o d a y

Most Benguet villages do not have a church, although most peoplehave been baptized as Roman Catholic and consider themselves Christian. Catholic priests in La T rinidad, where I conducted fieldwork

in 1978- 1980, are very tolerant of indigenous ritual practices. Christian ritual activities are geographically separated from indigenous villagerituals, which today are usually sponsored by households. In general,nominal belief in Chris tianity is not viewed by Ibaloi or Kankana- eyvillagers as contradictory with continued participation in what theyseparately categorize as our traditions (ugali).

Ibaloi mortuary and curing rituals in the rural areas surroundingthe City of B aguio and provincial capital of L a 1 rinidad are regularoccurrences and attract large numbers of nearby residents, but theyhave never caught the notice of lowland tourists or tourist promoters,nor have villagers ever aimed them at that audience. T he huge, competitive prestige rituals (peshit) have declined along with the decreasingpower of the traditional elite in recent years. While Benguet politiciansoften host feasts in order to attract or maintain a loyal following, suchevents are not considered to be prestige feasts.

Ritual traditions have become salient markers of ethnic identity inBenguet, part icularly in multi- ethnic areas such as La 1 rinidad andBaguio City (R u s se l l 1984; 1989). Most highland in- migrants return to their home communities to conduct or participate in villagerituals. Since the rural areas near the city are farmed by Ibaloi, theirvillage rituals are by far the largest ceremonies performed witnin view

of other nighlanders . Differences in ritual tradition, and especiallythe economic burden that different ritual requirements engender, are

frequent topics of discussion, debate, and even ideological competition.Such debate focuses on whose ritual traditions have been the most affected by Christian influence, which ethnic group sponsors the mostexpensive rituals, and which ethnic group continues to uphold the

widest range of tr aditional religious beliefs .Such controversies are not surprising, given the diverse array of

motivations under ly ing ritual sponsorship in Benguet today. T he act


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T H E G R A N D C A N A O A N D IT S D I L E M M A S 253

of sacrifice is a visible, obligatory exchange between the living community and ancestral spirits that many villagers confirm. T he status

engendered by investing ones wealth in such publicly acclaimed channels, however, is partly diluted by frequent doubts that such acts willnecessarily give rise to greater household wealth in the future. Economic uncertainties and increased consumer desires for the materialsymbols of a modernizing society conflict with popular support for theconspicuous manifestations of cultural identity. A n individuals statusno longer is figured simply by the number of rituals he has sponsored,but by the modern standard of living he can maintain.

It was in this context that the Grand Canao was organized.

T h e G r a n d Ca n a oIn 1978the Minister of Touris m in the Philippines urged the civicleaders of Baguio City to join forces with the private sector in order tohighlight the cultures of the mountain peoples. A lthoug h tourismduring Holy Week, Christmas, and throughout the warmest monthssustains much of Baguios economy, the Minister cautioned the cityelite against complacency. He pointed out that much more remoteparts of the Philippines have been far more successful in showcasingtheir unique cultural traditions than has Baguio, which until recentlyrelied solely on its cool mountain climate and proximity to Manila toattract tourists.

After much discussion over the financing and for m of such anendeavor, the city officials and commercial elite proposed an intertribal cultural display. T his multi- ethnic festival, partly funded bythe Ministry of Tourism, was to present traditional dances and ritualsof all the major highland ethnolinguistic groups in what was hoped

would become an annual affair to attract large crowds of tourists duringthe off-season.

Initially, the sponsors proposed hiring highland city residents toperform the rituals, but the city elite objected that the performances

would then be less tr aditio nal So instead, each hig hland province

in the Cordillera was asked to send a delegation to Baguioltywithall expenses paid for by city entrepreneurs and national tourist promotion funds. A ll delegations were to parade in traditional attire throughthe streets of Baguio and then proceed to separate areas of the localpark to perform their rituals and dances.

A variety of difficulties faced Benguet provincial leaders whenthey debated whether to accept this invitat ion. While they felt a certainpride in being asked by the national and city lowland elite to display theunique cultural traditions of their peoples, they were well aware that


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the primary beneficiaries of the Grand Canao would be the lowlandmerchants of Baguio City. T he irony of performing highland cultural

displays in a city that had once belonged only to highland peoples, whonow occupy marginal urban roles at best, also was not lost on the provincial leaders. T heir attempts to have the proposed location of thefestival moved to L a T rinidad, a primarily highland town, nonethelessfailed owing to the lack of parking space for the anticipated large crowdsand resistance by the city sponsors.

Eventually, provincial leaders decided to accept the invitation onthe grounds that their people were proud of their cultural traditions andthat it would allow Cordillera inhabitants to present a united stancetoward the national government. Some pointed out that participation

might yield future economic benefits in the form of increased development aid and politica l recognition. Others also noted that it wouldbe good for the younger generation, some of whom are skeptical ofthe financial practicality of upholding the more expensive ritual traditions, to see the national attention devoted toward the visible symbolsof their unique cultural heritage.

Following acceptance of the invitation, local delegations in all ofthe Cordillera provinces had to decide on the type of ritual that eachmajor group would perfor m. T he organizers unanimously objectedto performing any ritual explicitly connected to illness, misfortune, ordeath. Such occurrences are signs of displeasure on the part of ances

tors and spirits. Per for ming such rituals outside the community fornon- religious reasons, especially for the benefit of low land commercialinterests in Bag uio, was deemed to be highly dangerous. Ev en theofficials admitted that it was quite possible that the offended spirits andancestors would seek retribution on the performers.

T he Benguet delegation decided to perform the peshit, or traditional prestige ritual of the elite. It was, the delegates noted, an appropriate ritual to perform since its primary goal is status enhancement and therefore, although not a secular performance, at least not assacred in intent as many other Benguet rituals. T he secular aspects

of the peshitwhich is s imilar to the feasts of merit among hi ll peoplesin mainland Southeast Asia (e.g., L e a c h 1954; L e h m a n 1963), derivefrom the fact that it is primarily performed simply because the host canafford it and wants to demonstrate political power. More than simplya show of wealth, it is also a feast of gratitude to the spirits for ones goodfor tune and a plea for future prosperity . T he deities and ancestralspirits are called to join in the feast and dancing, and so it is also considered a sacred rit ual since their continued good w ill is solicited. Suchrituals are graded in size and prestige, beginning with five pigs and


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increasing at each level until twenty- five pigs are sacrificed. A mongIbaloi, each stage is performed twice prior to proceeding to the next

highest level. Kankana- ey status rituals do not require repetition.T he delegates also observed that although prestige feasts are still

occasionally performed among a few wealthy families in Benguet, the

ritual has undergone modifications already owing to the huge expenseit traditionally entailed. Final ly , the delegates felt that it was an appropriate ritual for Benguet, since it was their opinion that this tradition had always been the most expensive ritual of any Cordillera peoples.Performing such a ritual in the context of other ethnic presentations

would hig hlig ht unique sy mbols of tr aditional prestige in Benguet.A dditional problems soon arose over the issues of authenticity

(e.g., whose prestige rituals are more tr adit iona l? and authentication (e.g., who is appropriate to sponsor the ritual and to perform therole of ritual priest?). In a meeting of the municipal mayors in theprovince, even before their ideas were presented to their constituents,struggles broke out between the Ibaloi and Kankana- ey representativesover who would lead in organizing the presentation.

T he Kankana- ey mayors quickly attempted to assume control overdeciding the details of the presentation. T hey argued that currentlythere were more Kankana- ey per forming prestige rituals than there

were Ibaloi, and hence there were more Kankana- ey ritual priests (mam-bunong) capable of conducting the ceremony. T hese points could not

be denied by the Ibaloi mayors, who were thereby reminded that thewealth, and therefore abil ity to sponsor a prestige ritual, of the K ankana- ey elite today on average surpasses that of the Ibaloi.

Whereas the Ibaloi leaders hip in Benguet has been somewhat passive politically in recent years due to the greater economic influence ofthe Kankana- ey in commercial production, some of the oldest and mostreticent Ibaloi mayors forcefully presented counter- arguments to thoseof the Kankana- ey. T hey pointed out that Ibaloi prestige ritualstraditionally had been more elaborate than those of the Kankana- ey,and therefore an Ibaloi family should sponsor the ritual. By empha

sizing the largesse of their past rituals, the Ibaloi delegates presentedarg uments that the Kankana- ey have often publicly acknowledged.

When the Kankana- ey then weakly tr ied to insist that the ritual be perfor med by a Kankana- ey r itual priest, the Ibaloi rejected the idea onthe grounds that the performance was to be in Baguiowhich priorto the American colonial period had been strictly an Ibaloi territory.Since the details of ritual performance vary somewhat from one localeto another, they also predicted that less public criticism would be engendered if the ritual priest came from the immediate region and was fa


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256 S U S A N D. R U S S E L L

miliar w ith local ritual procedures. After much discussion, the K ankana- ey mayors conceded.

In this context, the Ibaloi leadership justified their rights to control the entire performance by reference not only to their selective

cultural image of the past, but also to the maintenance of t raditionalproceduresprocedures that in recent years have been less rigidlyupheld. It is not uncommon, for ex ample, for a Kankana- ey ritualpriest to perform an Ibaloi ritual in bordering residential areas, particularly near the City of Bag uio. T his situation often arises owing tothe fewer number of Ibaloi ritual priests today, whose services are inhigh demand. Often during the dry season, Ibaloi must reserve aparticular priest well in advance of a ritual, or take their chances with

whoever is available on that d a y . 1 he only requirement is that thepriest have performed the ceremony before in the locale and be relatively famil iar with local procedures. Other elders attending the ritualalso are constant sources of advice and informationregardless of

whether the ritual pries t is Iba loi or Kankana- ey .In the context of the brand Canao, however, all mayors agreed

that the authenticity of the ritual would be a major source of contention among their constituents. Hence, presentday traditions had tobecome even more traditional not only to appease local elders, butto serve as a source of pride. It was this emphasis on authenticity inthe upholding of ritual traditions, a point publicly announced, wmchthen led to a series of further disputes over who was to perform thepresentation.

The mayors decided that whoever should sponsor the ceremony

should conform as much as possible to a traditional elite person. Heshould, they noted, be a politically well- known person with the capitaland ability to command enough followers to provide the labor neededat such a ritual. He should also not be too old to participate in a phy sically active manner, particularly in the extensive dancing, and he shouldbe engaged primarily in farming rather than business.

The Ibaloi mayors felt that the sponsor should ideally be from a

traditional elite family in Baguio. No one could be found, however,who fit the above criter ia. T he mayors then tr ied to persuade themayor of L a T rinidad, w hich borders Bag uio, but he refused on thegrounds that he would then have to repeat the ritual at his own expense

within a year after the performance in Baguio. As L a T rinidad isknown to be one of the most conservative preservers of ritual traditions,he thereby refused to participate on the grounds that both he and hisconstituents were too tr adit iona l to make his participation economically feasible.


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T H E G R A N D C A ^ A O A N D IT S D IL E M M A S 257

A fter this pronouncement, it then became a matter of facesavingfor all other mayors who otherwise qualified to refuse for similar reasons.

To do otherwise would be tantamount to admitting that they themselveswere neg lectf ul in upholding local ritual traditions. Also, most, mayorswere personally concerned about the reaction of their more conservative supporters to their overt sponsorship of such a ceremony in Baguio.Eventually, it was decided to ask the only living son of a former headman (from a leading family) in southern Benguet to sponsor the affair.The individual (and area) chosen, however, were in some ways candidates of last resort. Objections were raised that the rituals in thatarea were some of the least traditional in the province. T he prestigerituals performed there in recent years, some mayors noted, were very

modernized. Not as many r itual prayers were involved, a brass bandwas often present, and worse yet, a local Catholic priest often gave hisblessing during the r itual. Nevertheless, in the absence of a moreappropriate choice, the mayors extended the invitation.

The next difficulty centered on finding a ritual priest to performthe ceremony. A g ain, the mayors decided that since L a T rinidad wasthe most conservative in its ritual traditions, one of their priests shouldparticipate. T he priests in La T rinidad, however, also proved to bethe most inflex ible; in fact, they refused to participate. It was finallydecided to use the usual ritual priest of the selected sponsor. T hemayors insisted, however, that they first obtain permission to sponsorthe ceremony f rom the senior ritual priest in La T rinidad, w ho at thetime was already very old and bed- ridden. A t firs tshe refused tocondone the presentation since the sponsor had not passed throughall the necessary preceding stages of the ritualthe cost of which wouldeasily surpass the entire amount of funds offered to the provincial delegation. Ev entually , however, she gave her permission when persuaded that, after all, the ceremony was a ritual of the province and notof a family.

By construing the ritual presentation as a ritual of the province,the Benguet delegation effectively rechanneled the deliberations from

a concern over authenticity to one of authenticationa decidedly moresecular cont r ov e r s y .1 he deliberations then increasingly becameimbued with ethnically competitive overtones. Whereas the organizershad intended there to be equal participation between both Ibaloi andKankana- ey, they overlooked the v itality of the role that r itual traditions, especially those associated with prestige, play in cultural identityin Benguet. T he marginal position accorded to the Kankana- ey leaders in determining the authenticity and sponsorship of the performanceeventually led them to all but withdraw from further deliberations.


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As a result, the presentation came to assume a numbe r of features thatfurther enhanced Ibalo i prominence at the expense of the K ankana- ey.4

Prestige rituals always have been occasions when different localitiesin the region are invited to send representatives to participate in thefeast. T he presence of a large number of invited guests, especiallyinfluential people from nearby areas, is required to mark the legitimacyof a major status- enhancing feast. It is a matter of pride if the sponsoris able to attract people also fr om distant areas. In order to group thepeople attending the provincial presentation in Baguio it was decidedto divide the thirteen municipalities of Benguet into a smaller numberof groupings for purposes of distributing their meat shares.

T his division was done on the basis of orig inal occupants of

each municipality . A ll mayors were asked to declare whether theirconstituents should be considered Ibalo i or Kankana- ey. Ow ing tothe movements of people into different areas during the last century,many municipalities have a mix ed ethnic constituency. In 1978threemayors of what were once primarily Ibaloi areas were Kankana- ey afact which attests to the more vocal and politically active role assumedby Kankana- ey commercial producers in this region. Y et when municipalities were divided according to the ethnicity of the original occupants,all but four of the thirteen municipalities of Benguet were deemed tobe Ibaoi areas.

T his division left the Kankana- ey so disgr untled that their mayorsrefused to march with the Ibaloi mayors on the day of the celebration.Instead, the K ankana- ey delegation marched as a unit in the parade,both in protest to their marginal role in the affair and to achieve somefor m of separate recognition. T heir determination to set themselvesoff in some distinctive fashion was also displayed by their wearing ofthe traditional g- string (albeit with jockey shorts underneath for modestys sake) throughout the Grand Canao, in contrast to the fully clothedIbaloi participants.

In the city park itself, the pandemonium created by the simultaneous performance of a number of rituals by different provincial dele

gations ironically served to isolate each individual ceremony from theothers. So many Iba loi and Kankana- ey residents of the city andnearby rural villages attended and crowded around the ritual sponsors,for example, that it was impossible for tourists to participate or evenobtain a full view of the proceedings. Most tourists remained on theoutskirts of the congested park and contented themselves with askingquestions of highlanders entering or leaving the area.

A fter the Grandafiaoboth city and provincial leaders decidedagainst repeating the festival. In the future, owing to the excessive


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cost required to organize this celebration and the divisiveness it causedamong the sponsoring groups, it was deemed preferable to hire urban

residents simply to perform local dances.

Co n c l u s io n

The refashioning or transformation of meanings within ritual eventsthat occurred in the folklorization of this ritual festival does not necessarily entail desacralization. While an analysis of the performativeaspect of rituals often stresses the relationship between intention, knowledge and emotional attitudes, this paper argues for renewed attentionto the backg round and politics of the behind- the- scenes org anizing ofsuch events. W ho is involved, who constructs events, and who deter

mines form and meaning are equally important parameters to investigate. Tl his paper argues in par t that to ignore these issues is to denythe nature of local politics as an on- going process and to deny the historyembedded in the dilemmas that often arise.

Rafael (198668) has observed the tendency of Ferdinand andImelda Marcos to present themselves as public guardians of the national heritage by promoting images of cultural unity, such as theNayong Pilipino ex hibit near Manila s International A irport. Suchexhibits, especially ethnic festivals like the Grand Canao, betray thevigor and cultural resistance of the lifestyles so represented in two

ways, r ir s t, the overwhelming image projected to outsiders in theseex hibits is of unchanging and tr adit iona l cultures, or even living

museums brokered by an ex ternal definition of w hat is authenticcustom and lifestyle. It is precisely such images that deny the highlyvariable local histories that minority groups in the Philippines haveexperienced in their struggle to preserve relevant symbols of culturalidentity. Secondly, tourist contexts may place people in the positionof presenting themselves as they think (or, indeed, know) the powersin the larger nation state find more acceptable, e.g., an image of whatthey used to be, do or believe. In the case of Benguet, the result ofthe G rand Canao was to reinforce a static, ex ternal image of their nigh-

land culture and exacerbate existing ethnic cleavages and insularity.From the beginning, Cordillera provincial leaders intended that

their ritual presentation in the Grand Canao would communicate messages on several levels. T o the state and low land Filipino peoplesit

was hoped the celebration would communicate the political unity ofupland peoples and their desire for greater economic and cultural recognition witnin the Phil ippine nation. Such a stance, however, pres upposes a unity that has never existed among Cordillera peoples.5 Henceit is not surprising that the organization of the performance became


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directed to a more locally relevant audiencethe other ethnolinguisticgroups in the highlands.

In their attempts to define ethnically distinct ritual traditions,however, Benguet leaders faced the inevitable difficulty of how to present a traditional rendering of what is a very flexible religious and ritualcomplex in a contemporary setting that is far from traditional. T hedilemma was resolved by inventing a ritual of the province so as toavoid directly violating still ex isting ritual traditions that have vigorouslyresisted cultural homogenization. A fter all, there was no real precedentfor such an event in either the past or current context. Also, the typeof ritual model chosen, e.g., a highly competitive prestige ritual that haslost most of its former value, helped focus peoples attention on the

authenticity of the presentation and the supporting political claim itgave to local, and highly selective ethnic images.

Rituals in the generally fragmented social structure in Benguetremain a surprisingly viable and locally recognized vehicle for communicating inter gr oup status. While the practical relevance of theprestige ritual performed in Baguio has all but disappeared in the contemporary setting, this state- sponsored tourist festival provided a rareopportunity for the Ibaloi leadership to publicly institutionalize whatthey view as a salient marker of ethnic identity. It also provided them

w ith an oppor tunity to publicly assert an image of superior tr adit ionalstatus in contrast to the current Kankana- ey political and economicdominance in the province. T hat the Ibaloi were successful in obtaining control of most of the proceedings attests to the way that suchimages can become reified and heighten ethnic competition under theinfluence of external interest in promoting tourism.

N O T E S

A cknow ledgments. T he research on w hic h this pape r is bas ed in Beng uet is de

r ived f rom f ieldwork funded by dissertat ion grants f rom the Fulbr ight- Hay s Prog ram

(1978-1 979) and the National Science Foundation (1978- 1980). A n earlier version

of this paper was presented at a session entitled When Sacred Rituals Become Folklore at the A merican A nthropological Ass ociation meetings in Chicago in 1987. I

w ould lik e to tha nk Ser gei K an for or g aniz ing tha t ses sion, an d also F. K . L ehma n,

Clark Cunningham, Martha LamplandLinda Degh, Susan Montague, and Nancy

Eberhardt for their critical comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

1 . K e e s i n g and K e e s i n g (1934, 189) remarked that although Ibaloi society

had ma rk ed socio- economic diffe rentia tion, they w ere on the w hole . better off

than the Kankanai of northern Benguet as a result both of environmental and of histo

rical causes. T he Baguio- Benguet area today consistently ranks as one of the high

est producing districts of precious metals in the Philippines.

2. T he prominent role of the elite in Iba loi remembrances of the past has been


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T H E G R A N D CA 5 J A O A N D IT S D IL E M M A S 261

n ot ed b y B a g a m a s p a d and H a m a d a - Pa w i d (1985, 38- 39), w ho observed that the

Kankana- ey place much more emphasis on community , rather than elite, experiences

w hen they rec ount fami ly or al histories .

3. T he problems of cattle theft in Benguet also were noted by K e e s i n g and

K e e s i n g (1934, 156- 157).

4. S uch features included, for ex ample, arrang ements for municipa l mayors to

arrive on horsebackin the typical style of Ibaloi elite in the past.

5. T he curre nt in- fighting among different political segments of highland groups

(and among the different provinces themselves) in their negotiations with the Aquino

government for Cordillera political autonomy reflects this lack of historical unity.

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