Gubbaw: Igorots’ Tradition Of Naming A Child

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Gubbaw is one kind of tradition that makes some of the Igorot people unique. When a child is born, they will wait until the umbilical cord is detached from the child as a sign the baby can be named or “Maigubbawan”.

The ritual is called gubbaw. This is the igorots’ traditional way of giving the child a name. It is like baptizing in Christianity. In the church a priest does the ceremony of baptism, while the igorot’s tradition, the elders do it.

 The priest directs its prayer in heaven, the Igorots call to their God Kabunyan, and to the ghosts of the dead relatives of the family.

The priest use a holy water, the Igorot use a “native” chicken (not cull or broiler). The chicken is killed through “killing me softly way” or a stick is used to whip the wings and neck of the chicken so that the blood accumulate under the skin - until it dies. Some feathers of the wings are taken and be put away. The remaining feathers are pulled off from the body, and what’s left are remove by burning the chicken until all no more feathers left on the skin.  It is burned more until some fats flow out from the skin.

 Butchering chicken for ceremonies is like an art. The focus is that the liver and bladder are left undamaged. The body of the chicken will be carefully incised in half so that the internal organs, especially the liver with its bladder is left intact. The father of the child will do the work, or other relatives appointed to butcher the chicken. First, the thighs of the chicken is cut on the inside but not to completely separate it but is pulled to make way for cutting the breast up to the wings. Here, the wings also are carefully separated by cutting it from the back, on the shoulder joints, so, that the wings are left connected to the breast. The incision will meet the incision started from the inside thighs, then the butcher carefully open up the body of the chicken, exposing its insides, being careful that the liver together with the bile is intact, and not damaged. The position of the bladder in the liver is read by the elder in-charge to determine the luck of the baby when he/she grows up. The elder who is doing the ceremony will look at the position of the bile and its condition whether it is a good sign or bad sign. However, no matter what is the position of the bile, the elder will always pray for good luck. Example, if the bile is hidden, he will read that the sign is that the child will be covered from illnesses, accidents, and pray that Kabunyan protects the baby, and also ask the ghosts whoever are present to not make the child sick, but serve as the guardian and protect it from bad lucks.

 In the contrary, an elder may read it as a bad sign. The baby will be sickly or not lucky about looking for jobs. To counter it, he may ask for another chicken to be butchered.

 If all is alright, the whole chicken will be cooked, and some dried pork meat, called ETAG is added. The etag will give the menu an aroma and make the soup of the meat tastier.

When it is cooked, the whole meat is put in a large plate. In a smaller plate, some rice is placed, A cup of rice wine or commercial wine can do, is also prepared and put next to the plate of rice and meat. The elder will then say the prayer, and give the child her/his Igorot name decided by the parents. He ask the spirits of the dead to protect the child from any harm, then calls them to eat and drink as he also take a piece of rice and meat, then drink a little amount of wine, then the ceremony is done. The family members and some visitors who were especially called will eat the prepared food.

The Igorot name used is from the name of the grandparents, or any relatives whose name were respected during their life here on earth or are still alive. The name will serve as the identity which family the baby belongs.

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