This extremely secretive tribe rarely makes contact with civilized people. And those, I must say, are in no hurry to contact the Igorots, who became famous for chopping off the heads of their enemies, and not by chance during the battle, but with a ritual purpose. I can understand such tourists - who wants to become such a part of an exotic ritual?
The magic head is a temptation that cannot be resisted
The name of the tribe is translated into Russian simply - "highlanders", although sometimes it is translated with some ridiculous distortions, such as "head choppers". In fact, this is nonsense, and they chopped off their heads not because maniacs, but simply as admirers of traditions and people who care about their future.
They needed the heads of their enemies as a way to attract magical power, courage and bravery to themselves. In addition, such a head provided more successful hunting, fishing, and farming, and besides, it also improved the quality of health of its owner. Well, tell me, how can you resist the temptation of chopping off someone's head when such tempting prospects open up before you?
True, now the Igorots are not the same - they were christened. It cannot be said that they have become exemplary followers of the teachings of Christ, but something in their heads has changed. Now they only imitate hunting for heads, which have now become not real, but wooden. The last time they cut off a real head was half a century ago - in the late 70s.
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Igoro Wars
They did not resemble war in our understanding. Rather, it looked like fights in the districts from my youth, when everything was limited to inflicting bodily harm of various severity with periodic murder. Only the Igorots had a higher frequency of murders.
This is how it looked: some warrior brings the head of a representative of the neighboring community - and they will be offended. They are sending their Igorot diplomats to demand compensation for their Igor's head. If the school of Igorotsky diplomacy was at its best, everything ended in the Igorotsky world. And if not, the Igorot war was declared, the duration of which rarely reached an hour.
In some cases, they had their own Igorot world wars, which could last for several days. In general, it makes no sense to tell them about the Hundred Years War - it's just non-Igorot insanity, which is beyond their understanding.
They fought as best they could, and if someone found themselves on the ground, his enemy immediately strove to chop off his head. When the Europeans brought firearms here, it became much easier to get the heads.
But then the Europeans decided to master the Philippines, and ran into resistance from local residents. First, the Spaniards tried to seize, then the Americans, and they all needed the gold of the Igorot lands. Then the Japanese came here, and then the patience of the Igorots snapped, and they joined the war against them.
The historical legacy played a role and the players were passionate as ferocious. From time to time they could not restrain themselves, and cut off the heads of the defeated Japanese, although the command forbade this. However, the Japanese should not be particularly pitied, since, following the traditions of the samurai, they generally ritually ate the raw liver of killed enemies (not all, of course, are only gourmets).
But then the war ended, and the Igorots who converted to Christianity now only partially remember their former pagan traditions. They are engaged in agriculture, fishing and hunting. By the way, the rice plantations on which they work are considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as they are very beautiful and, moreover, were built by local residents more than 2 millennia ago. And on them grows a unique lilac rice, which is not found anywhere else in the world.