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Ragragsakan

DanceRagragsakan
MeaningTo celebrate; merry-making
Dance CultureHighland Cordillera
Place of OriginLubuagan, Kalinga
Ethnolinguistic GroupKalinga
ClassificationSocial
Background / Content

The Kalinga borrowed the beautiful word ragragsakan from the Ilocano, which means merriment. The biggest occasions for a ragragsakan in a Kalinga village are two, the homecomingsof successful headtakers and the culmination of a peace-pact between warring tribes Both these celebrations and other smaller ones are moments for all the village to come out in a display of oneness.

Food and wine mix with victory cries, songs, music and dance, no one hardly ignores ganza music and the Kalinga perform what they are best known to do – dance. Bodies are tattooed, expensive beads, headtaker’s feather crowns, festve costumes and emblem blankets are brought out on display. Since it is the men who are mostly involved in the machismic activities of kayaw (headhunt) or budong (peace-pact), the women confine themselves to food preparation and other chores related to servicing the men at council. If not busy cooking they are moving kitchen items, utensils, water to wherever they are needed. A carry-all basket called labba serves as container for anything to be transferred

Taking inspiration from the sight of Kalinga maidens balancing labba baskets on their heads
snaking through the dikes of terraces and skipping through breaks in the path, the ragragsakan
dance came to be. Tribal blankets came as additions to the dance as well as short saldumay songs

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