Friday, August 5, 2011

The Dumagat Tribe in Luzon

Dumagats origin is the same with Aeta's in Northern Luzon. Their ancestral origin is traced from Negrito's which is one of the earliest inhabitants in the Philippines. They are found in the hillsides and mountains of Quezon, Bulacan, Rizal and Laguna provinces. The term "Dumagat" is thought to be derived from the word "rumakat", "lumakat" or  "lumakad" which signifies the migration of early Negritos in Philippines by walking in land and not by the sea.

Dumagats before are nomadic people, they stay for a while in a place, build their temporary house and get their food from natural resources around them through hunting and gathering crops in the wild. After the sources are depleted, they move in another place to gather again food in the wild. They don't know how to cultivate soil for multi-cropping and no sustainable living. They wear G-string for men and skirts wrap around the body for women. Dumagats before are animists and their belief is differ from person to person. They have their own language used among themselves. They did not have wedding ceremony but a simple conversation only between two parties during a union.  

Today, many of them wears the same as the lowlands. Some of them were already literate after some efforts of governments, missionaries and volunteers in the past. They stay now in one place and start to cultivate land for multi-cropping. They are producing native products like rattan in exchange for the goods of lowlanders. Some of them are working with lowlander's farm. There is also improvement in their religion, they adopted some belief of Christians for believing in only one God.
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Dumagat's are preparing food using traditional method using fire from dried wood
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A Dumagat boy standing in front of the school in Quezon Province
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Dumagat mother and child in Angat Dam 
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A Dumagat boy with straight hair, a blend between lowlanders and pure Dumagat people
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This Dumagat man shows some inheritance from Negrito with curl hair, thick lips and flat nose
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Dumagats before builds simple house because they are Nomadic people
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This is the house of settled people of Dumagat
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Dumagats settled in one place and started to make rattan products, make farming, and eat rice 
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Dumagats are trained how to make reforestation, plant ratational crops for sustainable food supply
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Dumagat's attend schooling for literacy and awareness of environment and sustainable living
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The modern dumagat family


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