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The Butbut Tribe of Buscalan, Kalinga

It is certainly unimaginable how an ordinary single old lady caught the attention of the
world into her unknown village tucked in the heavens of the Cordillera Region in the
Philippines. She is neither a prophet nor a faith healer. She is Whang-od, the last keeper
of the Kalinga traditional tattoo.

After a long seclusion in the mountains of Kalinga, the Butbut tribe has finally opened
the guarded trails to their homeland to persevering and worthy visitors. But this doesn’t
come easy. It requires long hours of travel, great amount of physical strength and
determination to continue the journey. Buscalan is a small barangay in the Municipality
of Tinglayan, inhabited by about 200 households. They primarily thrive on rice
agriculture and recently on tourism by providing guide services, translations and home
accommodations

Whang-od is 95 years old and she is the potent force in drawing in lowlanders and
international tourists into Buscalan. The current influx of visitors in this small village is
driven by the race against time and opportunity to personally meet and get inked by a
legend before she transcends into the other world. Whang-od is acclaimed as the last
mambabatok or traditional tattoo artist who uses the backhand tap technique unique to the
Kalingas. Interestingly, Whang-od bleeds the skin by tapping a sharp lemon thorn and
permanently inking it with soot collected from a burned pinewood.

Little is known about the Kalingas because they had very little interactions with the
lowlanders. Information about them is solely relied on textbooks and documentaries done
by anthropologists. The Kalingas are known headhunters and these are tattooed on their
warriors’ bodies as a coat of arms. They were never under any foreign rule and during
World War II they fought with hatchets and spears against the Japanese. The practice of
headhunting has long been dead since the 1960s.

Buscalan is beautiful. Grass and local blooms fill its meadows overlooking the expansive
panorama of a pristine terraced hinterland. Waterfalls punctuate the mountains but
Tumaniw is the most accessible to tourists. The hiking trails in Buscalan are certainly
fantastic but do not do this without a guide as there are wild animals around.

The Kalingas have very sharp facial contours and sun-basked skin. Their bodies are well
toned from going up and down the mountain with baskets of rice or vegetable on their
backs. They have a significant population of elderly especially within the last quarter
stretch, which speaks of the kind of lifestyle they have lived all these years.
The new generation of Butbut is gentle, respectful and very warm to tourists. Many of
them go to school but only very few make it to college. High school students hike about 2
to 3 mountains away everyday of their lives to attend classes. A single-building
elementary school is within the sitio where Whang-od lives. The children of Buscalan
engage tourists in cheerful chats and they are very inquisitive about city life.

A day in a life of a Butbut is simple. They wake up early to tend to their swine, cattle and
farm. They plant rice on terraces carved on the mountain. Arabica coffee is also grown in
the area and sold to visitors as a souvenir. Their favorite pastime activities are chatting
under the stilted houses and entertaining tourists with the tongali (noseflute) and guitar
over cups of fresh Kalinga coffee.

The Butbuts live on huts stilted from the ground. It is traditionally made of hardwood and
grass roof. Today, some houses are built with contemporary building materials but still
maintaining its unique spatial arrangements. Their homes are scaled in square partitioned
into sleeping and dining area in one and a small space as kitchen.

Animism was once a time-honored practice among the Butbuts. They believed that spirits
live on trees, stones and animals. Magical powers from natural elements were believed to
cure, protect, guide or promote fertility. All of these are told in the tattoos on their skins.
Christianity may have been evangelized in the highlands, but these folk beliefs are still
silently honored alongside the modern-day religious practices.

The realities of modern times such as the necessities of education and jobs, assimilation
to mainstream lowland societies, the disappearance of true hand combat warriors and the
changing concepts of beauty impact the tradition of acquiring their customary tribal
tattoos. This reality is threatening the batek tradition and is feared to end in the hands of
its last master artist, Apo Whang-od.

Buscalan has become in the recent years a destination for tattoo enthusiasts, hikers,
mountaineers, artists and curious travelers. Documentations have increased driven by
more media coverage and studies of contemporary scholars. But the community needs
help and this is where responsible, sustainable and purposive tourism comes in. We can
all make a difference by giving back to the community that opened its once silent and
elusive village to us city dwellers. Stewardship is everyone’s concern and must be held
with action.
http://www.ethnicgroupsphilippines.com/people/ethnic-groups-in-the-
philippines/kalinga-butbut/

Kalinga, Butbut

They have a reputation for being “the strong people of the Cordilleras.” At the same time,
Kalingas greatly value family and kinship; thus, the household, extended household of
the kinship circle, and territorial region are significant units of Kalinga society. In the
past, they gained leadership and respect through headhunting, along with other skills at
which an individual excelled. Their neighbors and even invaders feared them due to their
as headhunters. In fact, the name Kalinga, which originated from the Gaddang and Ibanag
languages, means “headhunter.”

The Kalingas are a proud people and well known for their intricate hand-woven textiles
and beautiful and colorful beaded jewelry. In every celebration, they incorporate dance
and traditional music as a form of thanksgiving and cultural preservation.

The Butbut Kalinga reside in Tinglayan, Kalinga. Farming is their main source of
livelihood, as the province has a rugged and mountainous topography.

Sources:
Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition.
Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/.
CCP Encyclopedia of the Philippine Art. Volume II: Peoples of the Philippines Kalinga to
Yakan. 1994. Manila : Cultural Center of the Philippines.

http://andweregone.blogspot.com/2015/05/buscalan-whang-od-kalinga-butbut-tribe.html
Whang-Od:

After losing her husband at the age of 25, Whang-Od dedicated her life to the traditional
tattoo art of the Kalinga head hunters mambabatok. She would never marry again,
instead she devoted her life to the art which she learned from her father. Now at the age
of 96 she continues to share her craft with visitor's from all over the world. Her niece
Grace, started as her apprentice at the age of eleven. Now at eighteen she shares the
duties with Whang-Od, tattooing the curious visitors and having the daunting task of
preserving this beautiful body art. When not tattooing, Whang-Od can be found tending
to her pigs, feeding her chickens and doing other mountain village life chores.

Tattoo:

Some people let Whang-od or Grace (Whang-od's niece) choose the design, some
collaborate with them. Some bring a design, and some choose a design from the books at
Whang-od's. That being said don't be too fussy if you bring your own design. Whang-od
won't take shit from anyone. She has been known to stop during the session and walk
away. Keep in mind, this is not your every day tattoo shop, you are there to visit her and
witness a legend at work, and maybe take home a permanent souvenir. That is her home,
you are a guest, she is there with or without you. And if you do decide to get a tattoo,
respect the art and the culture.