Bontoc Death

A mother weeps a day for a dead child or her husband, but death is said not to bring tears from any man. Death causes no long or loud lamentation, no tearing of the hair or cutting the body; it effects no somber colors to deaden the emotions; no earth or ashes for the body—all widespread mourning customs among primitive peoples. The degree of mourning is determined by the age of the deceased person. Old people who have lived full lives have happy wakes, whereas young people are mourned. For a grandparent’s wake, there are three different kinds of songs, one of which has a happy tune. The guests engage in a chanted address to the dead, recalling his/her life, or indirectly criticizing or praising the offspring’s behavior toward their deceased parent. When a child or mature man or woman dies the women assemble and sing and wail a melancholy dirge, and they ask the departed why he went so early. But for the aged there are neither tears nor wailings—there is only grim philosophy. “You were old,” they say, “and old people die. You are dead, and now we shall place you in the earth. We too are old, and soon we shall follow you.”
When a Bontoc Igorot dies, he/she is not immediately announced as dead, they are considered as just sleeping until such time that they as “mai-fa-ag” or announced dead. The family, with the advice of elders, decides when to announce the person dead. There are different ways in which the Bontoc people do their wakes for their dead but one thing that really stands out is the “sinangachil”, or that which uses a special chair made especially for the dead. The death chair has a high back with a low seat. The back is composed of two crossed poles with sticks tied crisscrossed on it to support the body. No nails a re used in the construction of the chair. Everything is tied to each other with tree bark.
After the ceremony to officially declare the person dead, the body is washed and is clothed with the blue burial shrouds and is tied to the