EGONGOTS OLD TRADITION AND PRACTICES

1.       COURTING – The guy must passed all the trials given by the parents of the girl he loves to court and marry so he can proved his manhood  and worthy for the Egongot lady.

•             He needs to prove he is excellent in bow and arrow. The parents of the girl will watch how will you use the armors excellently. If he succeed, he can court the girl, but if not, he will never be given a chance to have the girl.

•             For the boy to be acceptable in the eyes of the girls parent, he will be tried to different works in farm, fishing, hunting and others.

·         The parents of the lady will ask the guy to offer atleast two heads of human he killed, as proof that he is a brave man. And by this, during the early times, they made head hunting an institution.

·         In some instances that the guy cannot express his love publicly, their parents will serve as mediator. If they agreed they have the same sentiments and feelings, then the girl can no longer accept other suitors. If may so, blood will shed.

2.       Marriage

·         Before the marriage, the guy needs to offer heads to the lady.

·         The family of the guy should respect the tradition of LANGO, wherein they have to offer things that the girl’s family will ask like guns, bolos, clothes, blankets and others.

·         The ceremony is conducted by the eldest in the community. They laid “banig” or woven mat as they held the ceremony. The elders give advice to the couple as they starts their family life.  After the ceremony, they eat, drink and dance as part of their celebration to the newly weds.

·         The community permitted the couple to live together first even without marriage . They will be married once the girl got pregnant.

·         They have also that tradition that once a girl had already bear their child, she will not be permitted to wear wedding gown.

3.       Giving Birth

    A girl who will give birth will be assisted by traditional midwife or hilot of the community. After giving birth, the infant will be bathed in the river. After several days , the mother will go to the farm and continue her work having her baby at the her back as they called it “ubba”.

4.       Head Hunting

As the fire tree bears it flowers, that is the crucial time for the non-tribe, for it is the time where Egongots take their head hunting.

*They held big celebration after hunting heads.

* In Christian world, head hunting is sinful act, but to them , it is a sign of bravery, part of their tradition and practice. The one who cut heads will have the right to be called a real brave man.

Part of their tradition is having amulets. Their elders have these during old times. They can sleep and live in the forest as long as they loved to or stay in the deep water as long as they like.

5.       TRADE

Barter is their system long time ago. They exchanged their products to others. For example, their wild pig meats  in exchange to blankets or bolos.

6.       BELIEFS

They believe to Cain and Abal as their gods. They have their anitos too like “palasekan” and Lampoy.

7.       THEIR LAWS

    Though it was not written, the following were part of their laws long time ago..

1.       Do not kill/murder your brother

2.       Do not covet your brothers wife

3.       Do not lie

4.       Do not disobey your husband

5.       Do not forget to pay your obligations

6.       Do not steal.