Mummies of Kabayan, Benguet

The Kabayan Mummies  i visited in the 1990s at the Municipality of Kabayan in Benguet, Mountain Province. The Ibalois have a long ritual process of mummifying individuals from the higher social class. The mummification begins before the person dies. The dying person is made to drink a very salty liquid and after death, the body is washed and applied with an herb treatment. It is made to seat in a sangadil (death chair) which is set under fire to collect its fluids which usually takes several months. Then it is brought out to the sun to hasten drying. The elders peel off the outer skin then tobacco smoke is blown into the body to dry the internal organs. The herbal juices is then rubbed gently on the body. Once the body is totally dehydrated, the mummy is transferred into a pinewood coffin and laid in a man-made cave or dug-out from solid rock. However, upon the arrival of the Spaniards in the Philippines, the practice of mummification was abandoned, and dead individuals were placed in wooden coffins interred in natural or man-made burial sites. Of the 200 man-made burial caves discovered in Kabayan, 25 contain preserved human mummies.