Postcript on a mummy's return

There are several fortuitous events that have been directly induced by the much-hyped restoration of the Apo Annu mummy from the musty interiors of the National Museum to the mountainsides of Kabayan, Benguet.

First, awareness was ignited on the priceless cultural value of the Kabayan mummies and on the culture of the Benguet Igorots.  Maybe there are two or more people now who have improved their basic geography and perhaps their cultural quotient by knowing that Benguet and Ifugao and Mountain Province are distinctly separate places in the map and that their inhabitants do not necessarily belong to the same Cordillera tribe.

The media frenzy which started months before the actual transfer told heretofore uninformed hordes of the existence of Igorot pre-history and the elaborate customs of Kankanaeys and Ibaloys.  Even in Baguio and Benguet, a number of eager persons were quick to add their families to a growing list of Apo Annu descendants.

Second,  the recognition of the need to preserve the mummies are treasures of the Filipino people, not just souvenirs or curiosities of the past of the Benguet highlands but reminders of the wealth of little-explored cultures of the Cordilleras. Something that should make Filipinos happy and proud to know  that there are other fascinating aspects of indigenous Filipino culture, perhaps more nuanced and complex than, say, lowland courtship rituals or adapted Hispanic folk dances or excessive hospitality which survive to this day as stereotypes of Pinoy "culture".

Third, that the preservation of cultural artifacts needs money and constant attention.  Unfortunately, the provincial and national governments are coughing up funds in rather niggardly amounts, with some quibbling over the bill, and, by and large, the private sector doesn't seem to get the idea of cultural preservation beyond hoarding paintings and antiques in collections.

Media reports, however, still displayed a tendency to exoticize the event, exemplified in the AP report. Apo Annu, by historical accounts, is a famous hunter and fighter, not some kind of priest or "royalty".  I think I can safely say that there are no "royals" in Benguet, although the village mantle of leadership does gravitate to heads of the wealthier leaders of a clan or family due to the extent of their possessions.  Nonetheless no one is crowned and there is little to show dynastic formations.  There is no king or queen. A council of elders maybe. Benguet was not ancient Egypt. Newspaper stories also kept referring to Annu as an Ibaloi and I'm curious to find out how this was established, given the presence of his body in a Kankanaey-dominated municipality of Kabayan.

The practice of mummification in Benguet survived through the Spanish occupation.  It is not limited to upper-crust tribespeople, though these may have practiced it more due to their ability to sustain weeks of feasting and slaughtering of livestock.  In the mid-70s as a first-grader in Kibungan Central, I witnessed the initial stages of the mummification of a woman's corpse.  She was of limited means so the funeral feast didn't last for days but her seated remains were smoked for more than a month.  My classmates and I crept up the hill on several occasions to peek at it until my mother, whose hair stands on end atthe thought of these things, strictly forbade me to do so.  

In the 70s and early 80s, two mummies were displayed in glass cases inside the office of the Governor of Benguet until they were finally returned to Kabayan, whether because of purported strange events in the Capitol or the pressure of Kabayan elders, it is hard to ascertain.  On a visit to Kabayan sometime in 1988, mummies were haphazardly displayed inside a makeshift museum.  I visited a burial cave placed under lock and key by a prominent family which was full of skulls.

I think the mummy caves of Benguet are no different from the underground catacombs in Rome, the labyrinthine necropolis where rests bodies from various epochs.  There lies proof that corpses could be as fascinating as they were in life.  And that in the most bizarre relics of the past are some of the most telling clues of who we were. In Benguet traditional lore, the spirits of the dead are residents of a realm close to the living. If their remains are interred undisturbed, so shall their souls be in the next domain. Hence, one's ancestors are never too far and they might occasionally communicate portents to the living through dreams.   In the same way, Roman Catholics believe in the communion of saints and the abilities of the departed to intercede to God for the welfare of the living.  Apo Annu's return, despite the circus-like media coverage,  marks a healing of a rupture in the cultural fabric of the people of Kabayan, as guardians of the mummies, and communicates a little newfound sensitivity of the imperial capital of Manila to the highlands.   That is the greater fortune that comes with his journey home.

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By Ferdi Bolislis for Benguet Coffee. All rights reserved.

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