Origin of the Kalinga Axe

[Nonoy Tan]

The mention of the term "Buneng" (refering to the axe) by the Ibanag in the 17th century is interesting.

The reference to an axe was made by my favorite historian, William Henry Scott, in his book "Barangay: Sixteenth Century Philippine Culture and Society" (1994). In the section covering the Ibanag, Scott wrote (using the work of Fray Jose Bugarin as source):

“Maengel raiders sent out with the plumes of the dalaw bird on their heas and the hair of defeated foes on their spears, to which they added gold ornaments during victory dances around their trophies. An illustration in the Boxer Codex shows a Cagayan warrior … Their weapons were leaf-shaped daggers 20 to 30 centimeters long (inalag) spears (suppil if plain, saffuring if barbed), and one which in modern times would be called a head axe – bunang, “machete of the natives,” Father Bugarin said, “like a crescent moon with a long point.”

Dominican priest Jose Bugarin in the 17th century collected Cagayan Ibanag words which would later be published in an 1854 dictionary (in Spanish).

This is signficant because it provides a possibility that the so-called "Kalinga head-axe" had an Ibanag (not Kalinga or Igorot) origin.

I checked Bugarin's work (in the 1854 document) and discovered that there is no attribution of the Bunang to an axe. In fact, he was specifically refering to a "machete" with a blade that was half-moon shaped (not crescent moon shaped, as Scott had misinterpreted). Thus, the possibility that the head-axe was of Cagayan origin is unlikely, in my opinion.

From the time I posted this topic in October 2009, my research on the origin of the "Kalinga axe" has not ceased. I have since then obtained new and interesting information. I will share these when the research is completed.