Bontoc’s unique mourning for the dead who are at risk of dying

MANILA, Philippines – Like every night, a community in Bontoc, Mountain Province, on October 15, except for a house where an 87-year-old matriarch died, was quiet as people, most of them elders of Barangay Bontoc Ili, Luisa sang Tafaleng de antoway.

Tafaleng, who died on October 13, was highly regarded in the community who depended on her ‘sacrifices’, which people believed was the reason they achieved large returns over the years.

“She didn’t eat fish, not even beef. She also didn’t go out much,” Rosa Angannoy told INQUIRER.net as she described how Tafaleng lived a life of service to the people of Bontoc, even if it meant ignoring her own self-interest.

According to 67-year-old Angannoy, Tafaleng had lived her life to the fullest. “There is no doubt about it,” she said, pointing out that this was the reason they sang her the antoway, a chant sung when someone of old age passes away.

She said the antoway is sung when the deceased is 70 years or older because the chant in itself is joyful, explaining that by singing the antoway they celebrate a life well lived.

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According to research conducted by Santino Tangilag, an instructor at Mountain Province State Polytechnic College (MPSPC), antoway is a chant for those who have died from natural causes such as illness.

However, this chant should not be performed if the parents, or one of the parents, of the deceased are still alive, even if the person who died was of old age, because they believe that there is no reason for parents, or a parent to celebrate the death of their child.

As Tangilag stated with antoway, the people celebrate the death of a person because he or she has lived her life to the full, with one elder saying that “the life of someone of old age should be celebrated with joy even in death. ”

But there is more to it.

‘Take our prayers with you’

Angannoy said that while they celebrate the lives of the dead, they also sing their prayers, hoping that the ‘father’ will hear them, because they believe that the deceased, like Tafaleng, will take their prayers with him.

“Just like last night when I led the antoway, we told her to ask the ‘father’ to give us someone who is willing to be as dedicated as she is,” she said in Ilocano while explaining that antoway is not a permanent has texts.

“We base the texts on what we ask her, such as for the palay of Barangay Bontoc Ili or for one of her children who is in Baguio City to get medicine,” Angannoy said. “Last night we also asked her to pray that we too would grow old.”

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She said that this is why antoway is done as a group, emphasizing that it is very important that they sing their prayers together, especially because what they ask of the deceased is also for the good of everyone.

“With antoway, we sing our prayers until the vigil ends,” Angannoy said, adding that on the last night of the vigil on Oct. 15, they sang for five to six hours.

They were all singing in a festive mood, she said.

Anako, unlike antoway, is a chant sung when someone died young, with an in-ina, or an old woman crying out in sorrow for a life that has ended but not yet fully lived.

Bound by love, care

Tangilag pointed out that in Bontoc, a parent is not only a parent to his or her children, but also to other children. Therefore, it is believed that those left behind, whether related by blood or not, can seek the guidance of the deceased.

This, like antoway, assumes that when a person dies, he or she will convey to the “father” all the wishes of the people, especially requests for the next of kin and everyone in the barangay.

He said antoway is similar to the Gregorian chant that Catholics use when they pray to God: “It is the communication of the people (of Bontoc) with the saint as Christians would communicate with the ‘father’ above.”

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According to a study of some of Bontoc’s songs, such as the antoway, which was conducted by Jonnelle Fagsao, who is also from the MPSPC, the songs emphasize “spirituality, love and relationships, and laments.”

As Tangilag emphasized, it is a privilege when someone is sung the antoway, in which an elder sings one phrase, such as an intention or story, and repeats the rest of what he or she has said.

Angannoy said that with antoway they express their love for the deceased and relatives, and seek help from the “father” through the intercession of the one who died.

“We hope she will convey our prayers to the ‘father,’” she said.

‘Don’t let this die’

As Angannoy said, she has been singing the Antoway for over 50 years, since she was thirteen. Now she fears Antoway will disappear in the coming years or decades.

This is because she said that only a few young people join in or participate every time they sing in a wake, indicating that most, if not all, have lost interest. “I don’t know if the next generations would still sing the antoway.”

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“Now most people here in Bontoc already have a hymnal, which they use when they sing at a wake,” she said, calling on young people to read up on it as the elders perform the antoway.

“So this won’t die,” she said.

Bontoc, which has 16 barangays, has a population of 24,716, and as Angannoy points out, only Bontoc, one of the towns in Mountain Province, has this ritual for the dead.

“We tell the young people that with antoway they can have someone with them in the wake of their father or mother, so they cannot let this disappear. We tell them to understand what antoway is and already learn how to do it,” she said.