6 feet apart for the 6 feet under: An Analysis on the Burial and Death Rituals of Ibalois in Bokod, Benguet before and during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The Ibalois is one of the many indigenous ethnic groups found in the Cordillera region with the majority of them occupying two-thirds of the Southeastern part of Benguet (Albano, 2017). Compared to the funeral practices done in Metro Manila, the Ibaloi have several other elements in their traditional burial and death rituals. In relation to their belief wherein death is not considered as the end of life, but rather, translocation to the spirit world, the dead are regarded as being half alive and that they respond to the acts of the living by either providing blessings, protection from evil, or punishing by spreading disease (Laugrand et al., 2020). The burial rites of Ibaloi include performing Du-dyang and Ba-diw done by the members of the deceased family and sacrificing animals in honor of the spirit. The length of the funeral also greatly depends on the age of the deceased with the children having the shortest and the elders having the longest no matter how their financial status is (Afable, 1975; Leaño, 1965). However, due to the suppressed and restricted funeral practices being implemented by quarantine protocols in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, these rituals are replaced by same-day and mass burials as observed in countries like India and Iraq (Frayer et al., 2020). Currently, there is not enough published qualitative and quantitative research about Ibaloi burial and death rituals despite their complex and intriguing nature such as the practice of exhuming bodies and mummification.