Prev | Current Page 371 | Next

Jenks, Albert Ernest, 1869-1953

"The Bontoc Igorot"

As an Igorot expressed it to me they are "all same
dog" when they meet. Sometimes, however, when they part, in passing
each other on the trial, one asks where the other is going.
The person with a load has the right of way in the trail, and others
stand aside as best they can.
There is commonly no greeting when a person comes to one's house,
nor is there a greeting between members of a family when one returns
home after an absence even of a week or more.
Children address their mothers as "I'-na," their word for mother,
and address their father as "A'-ma," their word for father. They do
this throughout life.
Igorot do not kiss or have other formal physical expression to show
affection between friends or relatives. Mothers do not kiss their
babes even.
The Igorot has no formal or common expression of thankfulness. Whatever
gratitude he feels must be taken for granted, as he never expresses
it in words.
When an Igorot desires to beckon a person to him he, in common with the
other Malayans of the Archipelago, extends his arm toward the person
with the hand held prone, not supine as is the custom in America,
and closes the hand, also giving a slight inward movement of the hand
at the wrist.


Pages:
359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383