- Source: Matigsalug
The Matigsalug are an Indigenous group who live in the Tigwa-Salug Valley in San Fernando in Bukidnon province, Philippines. "Matigsalug" means "people along the Salug River" (now known as the Davao River). Although often classified under the Manobo ethnolinguistic group, the Matigsalug are a distinct subgroup from the Manobos.
Way of life
The Matigsalug previously practiced a hunting-and-gathering lifestyle with minimal agriculture. Recently, influenced by migrant farmers and traders from the northern Philippines and the island provinces, the Matigsalug shifted to sedentary land cultivation with more or less permanent villages.
Signs of their earlier lifestyle are now found in their cultural and artistic expression, as evidenced by their costumes of bright colored mid-rib blouses and short skirts, and skilled hunting and gathering techniques. This early lifestyle is also depicted in their music, songs, dances, poetry, epic, and spiritual expressions. Matigsalug men wear knee-length tight-fitting pants and turbans decorated with beads and fringed with goat or horse hair.
The traditional Matigsalug house has modest windows which is used as part of an early warning system against mangayaw (lit. 'someone seeking justice').
Language
SIL Internationalunavailable.
Ancestral lands
Matigsalug-Manobo ancestral domain include a 102,324.818-hectare territory that straddles Bukidnon, Davao City, and Arakan Valley in North Cotabato. The Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) was issued on October 31, 2003.
References
National Commission on Indigenous People
Thinkquest article on Manobos
Matigsalug Language Christian Association, Inc.
External links
Media related to Matigsalug at Wikimedia Commons