The dog, a symbol of death and protection

Dogs are both guardians and harbingers of death. They are portrayed so in different cultures, places and era.

An Indo-European ritual has the dog as the symbol of death. In the beginning of the New Year at the winter solstice, boys were initiated into manhood and became warriors according to Indo-European mythologists. At the mid-winter initiation ceremony, young men witnessed the death of both the old year and their old identities, while as warriors they would become men who fed the dogs of death by killing enemies. The priests who officiated over the midwinter rite were called dog-priests, the Vrâtyas.

There is the 'black dog' also known as 'spectral hound', 'death hound', 'hound of hell', 'Black Angus'. A howling dog is also interpreted as an omen of death. With the powerful sense of smell of dogs, these animals can smell chemical changes that take place in the body before death. Perhaps leading them to howl.

The dog’s appearance also meant flooding of the river Nile in Egyptian mythology. Orion, the great hunter, had a dog named Sirius seen in the constellation of the same name. Sirius, who played a role in Egyptian mythology, heralded the annual flooding of the Nile. Sirius’ signal was shown in a light having blended with the morning sun.

The dog as a symbol of death is also manifested among the indigenous Igorots of the Cordillera. The dog is offered as a sacrifice in a ritual to guard the spirit of one who killed somebody whether in a battle or other encounter. The ritual is called ‘daw-es’ or ‘sumang’.

A soldier from ethnic tribes’ populated Mountain Province, who served in the Philippine Army years ago had to practice ‘daw-es’ when he went home after military duty. Based now overseas, he say "daw-es is done to protect or strengthen his spirit (ab-abi-ik) in case he is harmed or killed by somebody”. It is also the belief that the spirit of the ones harmed or killed won't be able to defeat his spirit, in case they come back for revenge. The subject is not also allowed to partake in eating the dog meat used for the ritual.

The butchering of dogs then is not just done to appease the appetite of one who wants to eat dog meat as what is happening in the current world. Butchering dog talks of death or misfortune having happened prior to the ritual. In such case, a firm believer of the ritual would not like to be butchering a dog just to appease an appetite to eat dog meat.

It the highlands of the Cordillera region of the Philippines, the practice of ‘daw-es’ is also done in cases where there is misfortune or pestilence which afflicted a person or a village. Butchering a dog means warding off evil and bad luck.

That is, the dog while it portrayed a symbol of death also portrayed a symbol of protection. This is portrayed in mythologies and in ethnic culture of some indigenous tribes.

In Greek and Roman mythology, Cerberus is a multi-headed dog who guards the gates of Hades, to prevent those who have crossed the river Styx from ever escaping; or rather, guarded the entrance to the Afterworld.

Hounds, in Celtic cultures, have been known for seeing into the Otherworld and perceived as guardians of the World people are now in. And in Chinese mythology, the part lion and dragon Fu dogs are meant to guard homes and businesses.

So sacred an animal that the capital city of Manila, Philippines, passed an ordinance specifically banning the killing and selling of dogs for food. The ordinance is based on the Philippine Animal Welfare Act 1998, ‘prohibiting the killing of any animal other than cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, poultry, rabbits, carabaos, horses, deer and crocodiles’ except in some instances.'. One exception is when it (dog) is done ‘as part of the religious rituals of an established religion or sect or a ritual required by tribal or ethnic custom of indigenous cultural communities’.

The Province of the Benguet homeland of indigenous Ibalois and Kankanaey tribes in the Philippines, passed a resolution declaring, among other things, "it has been an evolved cultural practice of indigenous peoples of the Cordillera the butchering of animals, dogs included, as part of their rituals and practices leading to its commercialization to a limited extent…’

While this is the case, some dog meat eating Filipinos consume around 500,000 dogs killed annually, reports Dog Meat Trade.com, an organization working in the Philippines to eliminate dog meat eating in the country.

Meantime in Iran, the dog symbolizes the West. One can be charged for ‘moral corruption’ for owning a dog and a dog is caged for ‘walking on public’. Interesting.

While that is so, it is despicable to note how some 50 Igorots were displayed and made to butcher and eat dog meat during the 1904 St Louis Fair in Missouri, 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific (AYPE) Exposition in Seattle and the 1913 World’s Fair in Ghent Germany. How the indigenous Igorots were made to eat dog meat on almost a daily basis talks of exploitation of a sacred ritual.

Read more...

Its more than an Igorot dance

It was in 1904 when some Igorots of the Bontoc tribe formed part of the 1000 Filipinos who were led to the St Louis Fair of 1904. At Louis, they were displayed in an Igorot Village for seven months and made to butcher and eat dog meat on a daily basis, historical records say.

After St Louis, a veteran of the Filipino-American War named Richard Schneidewind contracted some of the Filipino group and displayed them again in Ghent , Germany in the World’s Fair in 1913.

It was also in 1909 when 50 Igorots were showcased during the Alaska-Yukon- Pacific Exposition in Seattle.

In those early years of the 1900s , World Fairs must have been too exotic a show not to be missed by any curious person who is interested to know how a “ dog –eating naked savage” looks like as pictured in earlier writings in the late 1800s. And so we read of Fr Francisco Antolin’s description of Igorots as “hardly different from wild beasts”.

So it must have been a curiosity to look at an Igorot alive at St Louis or at Ghent and see for one’s self how the Igorot eats a dog. Does he eat it raw? Does he eat it cooked? Does he tear it with his hands? Does he set it apart with his teeth? Such possible questions must have been in the minds of the curious onlooker, the curious researcher.

Seemingly devoid of any humanity, the Igorot must have been an object to be scrutinized of how his arms or eyes or legs look like. Like a piece of figurine which is held from one to hand and felt of its texture. Is it warm? Is it cold? Like a statue, the Igorot was a thing of curiosity which was exhibited for any curious person to satisfy his curiosity. So it may have been in the mind of actress Candy Pangilinan, a century after when what she was supposed to say as she claimed was “statue” and not Igorot.

So less than human is the impact upon the person of the Igorot that, as historians note, American missionary Bishop Charles Henry Brent of the Anglican Church based in Bontoc then in the early 1900s, discouraged Igorots from joining “freak shows’ in the United States, but he was not successful enough.

While Fairs are nobly intended to “educate” the world of an ethnic tribe and his way of life, it is a standing question of a venue legitimizing racial discrimination at the same time. That is, as more and more of bigotry and prejudice have been experienced in the whole stretch of the 19th century to the 20th. We ask now how much of defeating the legitimization of racial discrimination shall be seen in the upcoming 100th anniversary of the AYPE in Seattle this June of 2009.

The event will re- enact history of setting up an Igorot Village. The Igorots of today will perform Igorot dances and songs, rituals, backstrap weaving and show who an Igorot is.

Yet who is an Igorot? Is it changing the dark skinned Igorot to a fair skinned one as she dances the Igorot dance in high heels? Is it to show that he is now educated with an MBA or a PhD degree and that before he was uneducated and illiterate? Is it changing who he is before and presenting a modern Igorot now? Is it showing the same rituals and cultural practices that the Igorot had been doing for years?

The Igorot will dance his dances and play his gongs during the AYPE in Seattle this June the same dances that he played in 1904, 1909, and 1913, the same sound and the spirit of the Kaigorotan. So what difference does it make now?

While he dances with his/her gateng (skirt) or wanes ( G-string) with the tune of the gangsa (gongs), it is an affirmation of who he is, in spirit and in soul. He/She is the noble savage in /her his time and territory. Former mayor of Bontoc and septuagenarian Alfonso Kiat-ong portrayed in spirit, a long-haired proud Igorot who danced in the streets of Bontoc with his dinagta G string as he twirled his gayang (spear) , during the opening Lang-ay Festival in 2005 I couldn’t help being so emotive then, sent shivers down my spine.

The Igorot survived in the jungles of the Cordillera with his spear and his noble savagery. “Hardly different from a beast” as the western and urban man has looked at him, that “savage” (noble savagery to be exact) in him, kept him who he is: a people who trace their roots to the strong and resilient Igorot in each generation.

And now, a conscious part of the organizers of a show, a far cry from the 1904, 1909 and 1913 Fairs where the Igorots were hustled and hassled and God-knows-what if they were promised a dollar or two while the organizers had their tobacco concessions in the deal.

The AYPE 2009, for one, is being co-organized by Mia Apolinar-Abeya from Bontoc, one of the descendants of the Igorots who was part of the St Louis Fair in 1904.

And it is only when he/she affirms his consent and be part of the show, and know that he is not discriminating nor exploiting his own humanity, that the Igorot will proudly dance. And that, the Igorot knows he/she is not a show, per se!

And so we have the Igorots dancing to the beat of their gongs during provincial festivals. the Lang-ay of Mountain Province, Adivay of Benguet, Imbayah of Ifugao, Arya Abra of Abra, Mataguan of Kalinga and Wow Philippines. And so during these local contemporary celebrations, while the Igorots congregate and enjoy the fellowship, they profit from tourism while promoting the name of their own localities. This, a far cry from the 1904, 1909 and 1913 fairs where they were left helpless in the streets of Ghent to fend for themselves, the organizer having gone off with the proceeds after the show.

The Igorot is a living person, a race, an ethnicity to be lived with. Much as he hunted with his spear, danced with the rains, prayed under the trees, the Igorot will live the essence of who he was years ago. A race in tune with the harmony of the spirits of the trees and gurgling waters, one with the spirits of his ancestors, protecting his people and rugged territory much as he lived and protected his life from invading and oppressive forces alien to the essence of his soul. One who continues to live amongst many, a distinct ethnicity, a distinct person, a distinct soul , who has a place in this world of diversities.



Pic from Here

Read more...