DIGGING DEEPER THE FUNERAL TRADITIONS AND

CULTURES OF ILOCANOS
 Chapter Ⅰ

INTRODUCTION

Customs vary between cultures and religious groups. One of these is Funerary customs which comprise

the complex of beliefs to remember and respect the dead, from interment to various monuments.

Background of the Study

A funeral is a ritual connected to the final disposition of a corpse, such as burial or cremation, attended

by friends, and sent off people (Anh, 1998). Different customs between cultures and religious groups will form

different funeral rites. Common secular dynamics for funerals include mourning the deceased, celebrating their

lives, and providing support and sympathy for the deceased (Tylor, 2000).

Traditionally Cantonese funerary rites lasted several weeks and even months, involving the

performance of the seventh- day jaai rituals. Dou tauh ging (sutra for the dead) chanting was performed in a few

nights of vigil before the deceased was sent off for burial. Then, on every seventh day after death,a jaai rite

would be held until the seventh time. Only after this could mourning be terminated. Some families might also

perform a hundred – day jaai Chan Yuk Wah (2003).

Ceremony of “Thiet Linh” (after placing the dead body in the coffin): That is the ceremony to establish

the tablets spirit, putting funeral altar. When the dead person has not been buried (within 3 days of death), the

way of treating the dead as with the living, taking that behavior that worships for the death, so every time

bowing only two prostrations, in the tablets spirits and “khan van” (mourning towel used to wrap around the

heads of family members) using the words “ O phu (grandfather), “ Co mau” (grandmother ) instead of “ Hie

khao (father) “Hien ty “ (mother). (Van 2021)

In a traditional Filipino wake, people are gathered at the funeral home or at the house of the deceased to

pay their respects. They do not wait to be invited to the home of the bereaved, but instead, they find their way

to such homes to fulfill a cultural expectation. They bring flowers or give aims. “In the form of monetary

contribution “to defray the cost of the vigil (Fuliga 1972). Andres (1987) claims that relatives and friends stay

overnight until the time of the burial. If these people have not seen each other for a long time, this social
opportunity becomes “some sort of reunion” and is used to talk and exchange news about each other (Fuliga

1972).

Prayers are said every evening from the first to the eight day culminating in the tapus (end) on the noon

of the ninth day wherein a banquet is held in the honor of the dead. Fransisco Aparece 1960 notes that people

“join in the singing of sad songs or engage in conversation about the dead person’s virtues. Those who stay for

the vigil play games to while away their time and divert “the peoples attention, especially those of the bereaved,

from grief (Fuliga 1972). The Filipino’s seeming light -hearted behavior towards death may be explained in

several ways.

The Ilocanos call their funeral and burial traditions “lamay” and “pompon” Which means funeral and

burial rites. When a person dies, the bereaved family prepares the body with a special outfit chosen by them,

but it must be white. For the Ilocanos, death is the fulfillment of destiny and mission. That’s why they believe

that is better to bear the passing away of their loved ones with courage and strength. The Ilocanos have

traditionally believed that most of man’s illness are caused by evil spirits that could be either “manggagamod”

(witch) or “di nakikita” ( such as elves and other unseen beings.)

After the burial, family members go to the river or the sea to take a bath. This is believed to take away

the sorrow or help speed up the mourning process. Variations in Ilocos Sur include washing their hair with

water mixed with rice wine or killing another chicken and letting the blood flow in the river. In Ilocos Norte

taking a bath or of the washing of the hair can also be done on the day after the burial, then on the third day of

the prayer vigil, then again on the seventh and last day of the nine-day mourning period. (Pawilen 2022)

Before the funeral, each of the relatives need to pay and give their last respects by kissing the deceased

hand or raising it to his or her forehead. Extreme care is taken in bringing the body from the house to the

church; any mishap or faux pas could cause premature death from any members of the immediate family or it”s

close relatives (Villanueva 2022).

In this modern time and due to the introduction of religion some culture and traditions are not practiced

anymore. Some individuals forgot the processes on how they should do a certain thing related to their culture

that can lead to confusion. Thus, the purpose of this study is to set down in detail the funeral traditions and
cultures of Ilocanos that is highly relevant in their society up to this day. This study might help the locality to

eliminate their doubt if a certain practice still exists.

Conceptual/Theoretical Framework

A society culture consists of whatever it is one must know or believe in order to operate in a manner

acceptable to its members. Culture is not a material phenomenon; it does not consist of things, people, behavior,

or emotions. It is rather an organization of these things. It is the form of things that people have in mind, their

models for perceiving, relating and otherwise interpreting them.

The study is anchored from the theoretical support of the structural-, functional theory by Durkheim

(1983)- the theory frames culture as an interdependent network where all parts, and structures, like social

norms, roles and institutions work together to ensure the function of a society. This theory views society as a

giant organism whose organs and limbs have an individual function and also serve the greater function of the

organism as a whole. The structural- functional theory further suggests that though all cultures are cultural

universals. One such example is funerals.

Robert Hertz (1960) anthropological statement on death and mortuary rite. Focusing on what he called

“secondary burial” rites among the Dayak or Olo Ngaju of Southern Eastern Borneo, Hertz argued that death

was a prolonged, multistage process, culminating in rebirth, rather than an instantaneous biological moment of

destruction and finality.

Hertz parsed death into the corpse, its spirit/ghost, and the survivors. All three components- somatic,

cosmological, and social -run the same course during death because they are all part of one body (see Metcalf

and Hunting ton 1991). The cadaver decomposes, becoming impure and polluted; the ghost, now “pitiful and

dangerous” (Hertz 1960), lingers between the living and the ancestors; and mourners vacate everyday moral

life. This tense and uncertain interlude goes on, essentially, until the end of corporeal desiccation, at which time

a “final feast” restores and celebrates moral order.

The body, now reduced to bones, is permanently interred in a secondary burial; the ghost is dispatched

to the ancestral realm, where it can assist, rather than haunt, the living; and mourners, now shaven and cleansed,

rejoin society anew (Metcalf 1982).

 Similarly, Van Gennep (1960) argued that ritual sustained order during times that might otherwise

collapse into chaos and dystopic, Hobbesian violence. As individuals moved across intermediate moral spaces,

ritual protected society by affirming the continuity of collective values. Famously, Vann Gennep divided what

he called “rites de passage” into three phases. Actors were, first, separated from ordinary moral status, then,

second, isolated into a liminal or transitional phase for education, and last, reincorporated back into moral life.

The broad L’ Annee’ sociologique persperctive. On death and mortuary ritual exemplified the self-

confident convictions of that phase of modernism often identified with so called grand theory. For one, its

single, analytic vision, namely, functionalism, would assuredly expose the essences of sociocultural

phenomena. For another, moral community always triumphed over social and psychological conflict. That this

confidence persisted through two world wars, including the Holocaust, remains an enigma of modern social

thought.

Moreover, from a functionalist perspective, as depicted in the work of Radcliffe- Brown (1992),

funerals are the means through which groups reintegrate after the loss of a member. Thus, they act as a way

maintaining social solidarity and stability in a time of great uncertainty.

The L’Annee’ sociologique perspective entered Anglophone anthropology through Radcliffe – Brown

(Stocking 1984). In his framework, each person “oocupies” a specific role in a network of social relations”

(Radcliffe- Brown 1922). Consequently, death disrupts “social cohesion” whereupon “society has to organize

itself anew and reach a new condition of equilibrium”. Funeral compensate for the loss of the deceased’s

“social personality”, that is, “the sum of characteristics by which he [sic] has an effect upon the social life…. Of

others.

Funeral also promote “sentiments” that align the individuals “conduct” with “the needs of the society”

(Radcliffe – Brown 1992). Last, the funeral engulfs participants in the “moral force” of community- what ,in

regard to dance among the Andaman Islanders, Radcliffe – Brown described as “unity and harmony” (1922).

Otherwise, things fall apart.

Input Process Output

 Funeral  Interview
Traditions and Participants
Cultures  Guide Question
 Processes on  Recorder
funeral /cellphone
traditions and  Particular
cultures of Ethnolinguistic
Ilocanos group

Paradigm of the Study

 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
This study aims to assess the funeral traditions and cultures of Ilocanos. Specifically, it aimed to answer the

following questions:

1. What are the traditions and cultures of Ilocanos that are still practiced?

2. How importance are the traditions and cultures of Ilocanos?

3. What are the process on funeral traditions and cultures of Ilocanos?

 Chapter Ⅱ

METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the research method and procedures, techniques and sources of data that helped

the researchers for further data gatherings. It includes the research design, Population and the locale of the

study, Data collection instruments, and Data collection procedure.

Research Design

Phenomenological research is a qualitative research approach that seeks to understand and describe the

universal essence of phenomenon. The approach investigates the everyday experiences of human beings while

suspending the researcher’s preconceived assumptions about the phenomenon. In other words,

phenomenological research studies lived experiences to gain deeper insights into how people understand those

experiences.

Population and locale of the Study

Tarlac is a region that is composed of diversified culture. This study will be conducted at Brgy. Bobon

2nd, Camiling, Tarlac. The population of this study is composed of 10 Ilocano participants who performed the

mortuary rites of their ethnic group.

Data Collection Instruments

The study will use a self -prepared questionnaires for the interview in collecting data. The

researchers will be using cellphone for recording, paper, and pen.

 Data Collection Procedure

The researcher will secure permission to conduct the study from the Research Teacher. After such,

permission is secured, the researchers will personally administer the interview to the target participant of the

study. Collecting the data includes recording, transcription, and organizing the gathered information.