Punnuk is a traditional

tug of war Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport in which two teams compete by pulling on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal of bringing the rope a certain distance in one direction against ...

from the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

practiced by the Tuwali-speaking people who live in

Hungduan Hungduan, officially the Municipality of Hungduan is a municipality in the province of Ifugao, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 8,866 people, making it the least populated municipality in the province. Through ' ...

Ifugao Ifugao, officially the Province of Ifugao (; ), is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Lagawe and it borders Benguet to the west, Mountain Province to the north, Isabela t ...

. The competition, held in Hapao River, is observed after the completion of harvest. It formally puts to a close the farming cycle, and signals the beginning of a new one.

Setting

The

barangays The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the precolonial polities of the same name, modern barangays are political subdivisio ...

of Hapao Proper, Nungulunan and Baang in Hungduan, Ifugao practice ''punnuk''. The three barangays are distinctive for their terraced ricefields with stone-walling. Hapao River, the setting for ''punnuk'', flow from Mt. Alawitan and Mt. Polis, and is fed by tributaries from Mt Kapiligan.

Participants

Traditionally, only men join ''punnuk'' in the river while the women cheer only. In 2012, a tug-of-war exclusively for women was held.

Game

''Punnuk'' needs two elements: a ''tinaggu'' (also known as ''kinaag'') and a ''pakid''. The ''tinaggu'' is a figure made up of rice stalks and tightly bundled with vines. The figure often resembles a

scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin that is often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops. ...

or a

monitor lizard Monitor lizards are lizards in the genus ''Varanus,'' the only extant genus in the family Varanidae. They are native to Africa, Asia, and Oceania, and West African Nile monitor, one species is also found in south America as an invasive species. A ...

. It is the object thrown into the middle part of the river and the subject of tugging between two contending groups that are situated on opposite sides of the river across the current. To pull the tinaggu to their side, each of the groups uses a ''pakid, the'' stem of an attoba tree with a root that can be firmly hitched on the ''tinaggu''. The first group to pull the ''tinaggu'' to their side is the winner. It is believed that the winning side will always have their rice granary replenished and full. Meanwhile, the losers will have their harvest be easily consumed and thus will not last until the next harvest season.

UNESCO Recognition

''Punnuk'', together with tugging rituals and games in

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, and

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, were collectively included in

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity List in 2015. The decision was made at the 10th Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage meeting held in

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External links

Tugging rituals and games
UNESCO

References

{{reflist Culture of the Philippines Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity