2. The Sulod acquired their name because of the sandwich-like location of
their territory, the term "sulod" meaning "interior" or "closed place". They
are also called "montesses" by lowlanders, meaning literally "mountain
dwellers." To distinguish them from the Ati who live in the foothills,
the Christian lowlanders have given these hill tribesmen distinct names.
Those in the mountains of Capiz and Aklan are called "mundos" while those
in Iloilo and Antique are called "buki", short for "bukidnon" or "mountain
folk" which has become a derogatory term. The dialects of these upland
peoples are genetically related and very similar to the lowland Kiniray-a. The
mountain dialects, however, are characterized by many archaic expressions,
thus accounting for the difficulty which Kiniray-a-speaking lowlanders
meet when talking to these upland dwellers. Most of the mountain people are
monolingual.
4. PURO
Small, autonomous settlements consisting of from five
to seven houses, one or two houses being clustered a
number of adjoining hills
located on top of a high ridge, although a settlement is
occasionally found at the foot of a fingerlike slope,
beside a river or stream
5. The house is a poorly constructed, four-walled, one-room
dwelling, raised about three meters on bamboo or timber
posts and supported on all sides by props. The roof is of
cogon thatch and the walls of flattened bamboo or the bark
of trees. Bamboo slats are preferred material for flooring. In
front of the house is a small, low, pyramid-like structure
covered with long cogon grass roofing which touches the
ground. This hut is called an urub and is used for emergency
purposes, such as the sudden occurrence of storms.
7. Subsistence is chiefly by shifting cultivation of upland rice,
maize, sweet potatoes, and other edible tubers, supplemented by
hunting, fishing, and gathering. The Sulod do not stay in one place
for more than two years, due primarily to their pattern of land use.
Tough grasses and secondary growth that usually follow the harvest
render the swidden difficult to recultivate, particularly as the
Sulod do not have work animals or plowing implements. Hence they
move to another place where trees are growing abundantly and
where the soil is free of grass. The abandoned site is called lati and
may be used again after five or more years, when the second growth
has become established.
9. PARANGKUTON
literally, "one to be asked“
Leadership is assumed by the oldest man in each settlement
directs activities such as hunting, house building, and moving to a
new kaingin site
settles disputes and heads annual social and religious activities
assisted by a young man called timbang (literally "helper" or
"assistant").
When the parangkuton dies, the next oldest man in the settlement
assumes leadership.
11. BINUKOT
practice of keeping "binukot",
hiding their beautiful women in
closed rooms away from the eyes
of any man
The binukot, who also became the
record keepers of their people,
later became primary sources of
many Visayan epics such as
Hinilawod, Humadapnon, and the
story of Labaw Donggon.
13. Religion is an intimate part of Sulod life. Every
activity is in conformity to the wishes of the spirits
and deities, and the Sulod does everything within his
power to please these divinities, even to the extent of
going into debt in order to celebrate a proper ceremony
for the chief spirit known as diwata. There are 16
annual ceremonies and a number of minor ones, most of
which are conducted by the religious leader known
as baylan.
15. When a Sulod dies, everyone in the community condoles the bereaved family by
contributing material things needed for the balasan, "wake of the dead." If
the deceased is an important man, a baylan or parangkuton for example, he is
not buried in the ground. A coffin is prepared for him by chopping down a
large tree, cutting it to a convenient length, shaping it like a boat and
hollowing it out. Carvings are made on the cover and on the sides. The corpse is
encoffined and the slits glued with a gumlike sap. Then the coffin is placed
underneath a special shed made of cogon grass, called the kantang, which has
been built on top of a solitary hill. Finally, a hole is bored in the bottom of one
end of the coffin and a small bamboo tube called pasuk inserted to facilitate
the flow of the tagas or decomposing body fluids. After two or three months,
the bones are removed, washed, wraped in a black cloth, and suspended under
the eaves of the house. If the deceased is an ordinary man, he is simply buried
in the ground, to one side of a kantang.
