Ibaloi
Encyclopedia
The Ibaloi or Nabaloi is an indigenous ethnic group found in the northern Philippines
. The Ibaloi are one of the indigenous peoples
collectively known as Igorot
, who live in the mountains of the Cordillera Central on the island of Luzon
. There are approximately 55,000 Ibaloi; most of them can be found in the southern part of the province of Benguet
.
The Ibaloi are a mostly agricultural people cultivating rice
in terraced fields. Many contemporary Ibaloi have integrated into the mainstream Filipino culture and some are employed as miners
in the gold and silver mines of Benguet.
The Ibaloi traditionally practiced mummification
. The process they used involved smoking the corpse for months to completely dehydrate the dead body, which preserved every part of the body including tattoos and internal organs. They would then encase the preserved body within a hollowed out log and placed in caves that are thought to be spiritual by the Ibaloi.
family. The Ibaloi language is closely related to the Pangasinan language
, spoken primarily in the province of Pangasinan
, located southwest of Benguet.
The phonemes are similar to those found in other Philippine languages with a few exceptions. Many variants of the Ibaloi tongue have naturally occurring /F/, /J/ and /V/, as in sifa (interrogative who), ibjag (to lose one's grip on something or someone, to let go) and divit (a traditional wrap-around skirt). /SH/ is also commonly heard in the La Trinidad valley and nearby areas, as in shima (a particle usually equivalent to the prepositions in, on, or to depending on the sentence construction), but may be occasionally heard as /CH/ in some communities.
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. The Ibaloi are one of the indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
collectively known as Igorot
Igorot
Cordillerans are the people of the Cordillera region, in the Philippines island of Luzon. The word, Igorot is a misnomer term invented by the Spaniards in mockery against the Nortnern Luzon tribes. The word ‘Igorot’ also as coined and applied by the Spaniards means a savage, head-hunting and...
, who live in the mountains of the Cordillera Central on the island of Luzon
Luzon
Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...
. There are approximately 55,000 Ibaloi; most of them can be found in the southern part of the province of Benguet
Benguet
Benguet is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is La Trinidad and borders, clockwise from the south, Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Mountain Province, Ifugao, and Nueva Vizcaya....
.
The Ibaloi are a mostly agricultural people cultivating rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
in terraced fields. Many contemporary Ibaloi have integrated into the mainstream Filipino culture and some are employed as miners
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
in the gold and silver mines of Benguet.
The Ibaloi traditionally practiced mummification
Mummy
A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
. The process they used involved smoking the corpse for months to completely dehydrate the dead body, which preserved every part of the body including tattoos and internal organs. They would then encase the preserved body within a hollowed out log and placed in caves that are thought to be spiritual by the Ibaloi.
Language
The Ibaloi language belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languagesAustronesian languages
The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the...
family. The Ibaloi language is closely related to the Pangasinan language
Pangasinan language
The Pangasinan language or Pangasinense is one of the twelve major languages in the Philippines....
, spoken primarily in the province of Pangasinan
Pangasinan
Pangasinan is a province of the Republic of the Philippines. The provincial capital is Lingayen. Pangasinan is located on the west central and peripheral area of the island of Luzon along the Lingayen Gulf, with the total land area being 5,368.82 square kilometers . According to the latest census,...
, located southwest of Benguet.
The phonemes are similar to those found in other Philippine languages with a few exceptions. Many variants of the Ibaloi tongue have naturally occurring /F/, /J/ and /V/, as in sifa (interrogative who), ibjag (to lose one's grip on something or someone, to let go) and divit (a traditional wrap-around skirt). /SH/ is also commonly heard in the La Trinidad valley and nearby areas, as in shima (a particle usually equivalent to the prepositions in, on, or to depending on the sentence construction), but may be occasionally heard as /CH/ in some communities.