INTERVIEW BY: GELO GONZALES
January 14, 2010 | 6221 views
What tattoo traditions are unique to the Kalinga headhunters?Like most groups around the world, the tattoo patterns of the Kalinga are ultimately derived from nature from which tattoo culture originally sprang. Kalinga tattoos are exceptionally delicate and intricate, far more so than the tattoos worn by the neighboring Bontoc and Ifugao, and in fact some Kalinga artists traveled as far as Bontoc and Abra to ink their designs on other tribal peoples of the Cordillera who eagerly sought their fine artwork.
For the most part, Kalinga tattoo artists were travelers. But they had to be very cautious when traveling to other regions of Kalinga because they could become the target of a headhunting ambush. Thus, they only made such journeys if a peace pact (bodong) between their village and their destination existed. Of course, peace pacts could be severed at any time (e.g., with a killing) and it must have been quite frightful to make so many long journeys looking over your shoulder never knowing if you were going to make it home alive!
As you will see in the Kalinga show, most of the tattoos were associated with rite of passage ceremonies for both men and women. But there were also a few types of medicinal tattoos that were either applied to cure goiter, cholera, or skin disease. Sometimes these remedies worked, but sometimes they also failed.
It is also apparent that some traditional designs were replaced by more modern forms, a trend that probably began about the time of the American colonization in the region around 1900. Traditionally, for example, the warriors of the Kalinga tribe wore several branching lines on the chest that moved upwards and outwards across their shoulders and down the arms. This tattoo was called bikking and in abstract form represented a predatorial eagle. In some sense, the warrior who owned the tattoo was believed to become birdlike, swooping down on his enemies with great speed and agility. Around 1935, however, the basic elements of the design were still apparent but some men had an eagle’s head artistically incorporated into the tattoo design. The template for this modern innovation was a coin that was minted during the Commonwealth Period and featured an American-style eagle.
