Philippines: Stairway To Heaven 17

 After a few weeks of traveling, we were impressed by the friendly and hospitable Filipinos in the valleys, but when we visited some difficult-to-reach mountain villages, we could easily imagine that we were walking among people who were headhunters and cannibals just a few decades ago.

Text & Photos: Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)

Philippines: Stairway To Heaven 16

 Many an explorer and missionary ended their lives this way.

In some cultures, a man could not even marry until he had killed and eaten at least one enemy.

Text & Photos: Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)

Philippines: Stairway To Heaven 15

 
The locals believe that by eating human flesh they also gain the soul and power of the deceased, especially if they eat the heart, brain, genitals, breasts, arms or legs, where these powers are greatest.

Text & Photos: Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)

Philippines: Stairway To Heaven 14 Headhunting Expeditions

 
In many places, entire headhunting expeditions were organized, and in some places entire populations of smaller islands disappeared.

Text & Photos: Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)

Philippines: Stairway To Heaven 13

 
According to some, in remote places it has not died out to this day, despite the harsh punishments imposed by the colonizers and despite missionary work.

Text & Photos: Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)

Philippines: Stairway To Heaven 12

 
From these skull cults, in many places in Melanesia - in the Solomon Islands, the New Hebrides, New Guinea and the Philippines - the gruesome custom of headhunting and cannibalism developed, which in some places persisted until the 1950s.

Text & Photos: Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)

Philippines: Stairway To Heaven 11

 Headhunters

In some places, the hair is left on the skulls, and the flesh from the face is removed and replaced with a clay face.

Elsewhere, the entire head is smoked and the face is covered with pitch to preserve the features.

Text & Photos: Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)

Philippines: Stairway To Heaven 10

 
In many places, the bones are cleaned a day after death and placed in special sacred places (e.g. in a house of spirits).

Jaws or even whole skulls are worn by widows or "mourners" on a string around their necks. In general, they pay special attention to skulls - also because of the belief that the spirit of the deceased resides in the skull.

Text & Photos: Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)

Philippines: Stairway To Heaven 9

 
O. Johnson reports that on the island of Vao they believe that the soul separates from the body in the ground and goes to "heaven" deep in the earth.

Therefore, they bury the elderly alive and celebrate the event by dancing on the fresh grave. It happens that some of the unfortunate buried ones dig themselves up, but they are buried again. 

 Text & Photos: Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)

Philippines: Stairway To Heaven 8

 
Funeral customs in different parts of Oceania vary widely and are sometimes very unusual for our concepts.

In some places, the bodies are buried wrapped in a squatting position, in others they are burned, and in still other places they are fed to their protectors - sharks.

Text & Photos: Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)

Philippines: Stairway To Heaven 7

 
The residents of Sagada are nice and friendly people, like most Filipinos. However, they could not tell me why some of the coffins were open, with bones protruding from them.

Perhaps they were looted by robbers, or wild animals.

Text & Photos: Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)

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Philippines: Stairway To Heaven 6

 All the women from the village (settlements usually have about ten houses) gather in the mornings and work each field separately. Despite the heat, they are dressed very warmly. They also like headgear - some wear a scarf, a cap and a hat at the same time.

Text & Photos: Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)

Variations on the theme: Funerals 2

 Despite our best efforts, we were unable to climb to any of the caves without equipment. We got as close as five meters to one, but we were separated from it by an overhanging abyss. 

The deceased are buried in a squatting position in short wooden coffins, hollowed out of a single piece of trunk and closed with two wooden wedges.

Text & Photos: Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)

Variations on the theme: Funerals

In addition to the fantastic terraces, the place is also known for its burial caves. There are several limestone caves around Sagada. The largest are several hundred meters deep and almost inaccessible without caving equipment. Near the village there are four smaller caves in overhanging stone walls, which the residents use as a cemetery.

Text & Photos: Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)

Philippines: Stairway To Heaven 5

 

Work in the fields is always collective. Women harvest rice with semicircular knives, and they put the gathered bundles on their heads. When the sheaves are large enough, the men carry them to the village on carrying poles - sometimes several kilometers away.

Text & Photos: Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)

Philippines: Stairway To Heaven 4

 
The terraces are flooded, and the edge of the earth around them is sometimes very narrow and unstable. On steeper slopes, the terraces are more than three meters above each other, so it is sometimes a real art to find the right path, as the terraces are mostly connected only lengthwise, with few cross-paths.

Text & Photos: Janin Klemenčič (to be continued)

Philippines: Stairway To Heaven 3

 
Since they are several hours' walk away from the nearest road, they have to manage without machinery or means of transport. There are no straight paths in the villages, only winding trails that rise and fall between thatched huts on wooden poles.

To reach some of the villages, we had to walk for several hours on narrow paths through the jungle uphill, and then a few kilometres further along the edges of the rice terraces.

Janin (continued)