THE MAMANWA PEOPLE OF
THE PHILIPPINES

Recent findings published in the American Journal of Human Genetics
have shown that Australian Aborigines have a Siberian ancestor
common to New Guineans and an indigenous tribe in the Philippines
known as the Mamanwa.

DNA was extracted from a
finger bone excavated in the freezing temperatures of Siberia to analyse the
vast movement of people to tropical parts of Asia and Australia more than
40,000 years ago. The little finger bone, uncovered from a cave by Russian
archaeologists in 2008, holds the key to explaining how humans intermixed
since they left Africa.

Examining the finger's
nuclear genome, researchers from the Harvard Medical School and the Max Planck
Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology concluded that Denisovans, a primitive
group of humans descended from Neanderthals, migrated from Siberia to tropical
parts of Asia. They contributed DNA to Aborigines in Australia along with
present-day New Guineans and an indigenous tribe in the Philippines known as
Mamanwa. The researchers concluded that Denisovans (who migrated to South-East
Asia and Oceania in the first wave) interbred with modern humans in South-East
Asia 44,000 years ago, before Australia separated from Papua New
Guinea.

The Mamanwa population in
the Philippines split from the Denisovans before the New Guineans and the
Australian Aborigines. Later migrants have relatives in East Asia, who are now
the present population of South-East Asia. These findings have certainly helped
fill in some empty pieces in the evolutionary puzzle that began after early
humans left Africa and reinforces the view that humans have intermixed
throughout history.

Mamanwa lady and Mamanwa
dwelling

The Mamanwa people of the
Philippines were once considered a Negrito group (a class of several ethnic
groups that inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia), but now are thought to
comprise an older group entirely distinct from other Filipino populations.
Mamanwa (also spelled Mamanoa) means 'first forest dwellers', from the words
man (first) and banwa (forest). They speak the Mamanwa language (or Minamanwa),
an adaptation of the language of a dominant nearby group. The Mamanwa language
is a Central Philippine language spoken in the provinces of Agusan del Norte
and Surigao in Mindanao, Philippines. It had about 5,000 speakers as of
1990.

Some Mamanwas have the characteristics of the New Zealand Maoris
and the Papuans in their general physical features of slenderness and height.
The Mamanwas are genetically distinct from other ethnic groups in the
Philippines exhibiting curly hair and much darker skin tones.

The
Mamanwas are a respectable people who have a distinctive way of worship. They
show respect on things and places which are beyond their comprehensions. The
sun, moon, stars, big rocks, mountains, rivers, seas and lakes have special
places in the hearts and minds of the Mamanwas. Anything that gives goodness
and food to them is to be respected. The lights from the heavenly bodies, the
fishes from the waters, the big rocks that sometimes become their temporary
homes in their nomadic lives are to be honoured by them. The mountains that
give them food like wild berries, fruits, birds, animals and reptiles are
likewise given respect. For them, things and places that are sources of foods
seem to be gods.

Some old Mamanwas of today tell of their ancestors'
early habitats along river mouths, seashores, islets and islands. They cannot,
however, pinpoint particular areas as their permanent settlements for they did
not have any. They transfer from place to place and travel as far as their
minds could imagine and their feet could carry them. The transfers usually
happen in case of deaths for it was the old customs to pack up and leave the
place when death occurs even if their plants are ready for harvest.

Mamanwa
dwellings

The Mamanwas have the
characteristic habit of building constant and eternal fires at the sides or
under their makeshifts. The purpose is to drive away mosquitoes and flies,
their most dreaded insects. Until now, some Mamanwas still believe that flies
bring bad omens. To them, these insects are harbingers and heralds of deaths as
the old Mamanwas said. One of the causes of their being nomadic is the
prevalence of flies. Although the above custom is ebbing with the advent of
Christianity, many still cling and adhere to the belief of building fires to
drive the evil spirits away.

The Mamanwas have a ritual for the full
moon. From moon rise in the early evening to the setting of the moon, they
dance their moon dance - generally regarded as a form of spirit dance which
involves a repetitive chant.

The political system of the Mamanwas is
informally democratic and age-structured. Elders are respected and are expected
to maintain peace and order within the tribe. The chieftain, called a Tambayon,
usually takes over the duties of counselling tribal members, speaking at
gatherings, and arbitrating disagreements. They believe in a collection of
spirits, which are governed by the supreme deity Magbabaya. The tribe produce
excellent winnowing baskets, rattan hammocks, and other household
containers.

The Mamanwas are not fond of weaponries and seldom wear
necklaces, armlets, and other trinkets. They only wear the ordinary rubber
bands in lieu of the bracelets but the rubber bands are never considered by
them as adornments.

The Mamanwas are concentrated primarily in Kitcharao
and Santiago; however, they are quite mobile, and continually relocate. As
hunting has declined in importance, the bow and arrow have largely fallen into
disuse. The Mamanwas receive some of their subsistence from other groups with
whom they have labour arrangements. Settlements consist of three to twenty
households arranged in a circle in a high ridge or valley. The houses generally
lack walls. Communities are kin-based, with leadership vested in the oldest and
most respected male.

By habit or compulsion, the Mamanwas do not mix
with the Manobos. The Manobos are another early tribal group who belong to the
original stock of proto-Philippine or proto-Austronesian people who came from
South China thousands of years ago. The different Manobo languages belong to
the Philippine subfamily of the super family of languages called Austronesian.
In this respect they may well be part of the early Polynesian migration to the
Pacific/Oceania region.

There is a wide glass wall which traditionally
separates these ethnic groups. The modern Mamanwas, however, like the Manobos,
mix with the lowland people they call Bisayans. The big difference, however,
between the two cultural minorities is that the Mamanwas are lesser in number
and more scattered and nomadic than the Manobos. The Mamanwas are a different
breed of people in their looks and physical features compared to the lowlanders
and the upland living Manobos. Unlike the Manobos, the Mamanwas did not adopt
the lowlanders' way of living. They have retained for centuries their
indigenous culture which to an outsider is often very difficult to understand.
The speak their own dialect and do not go to school to learn either Filipino or
English.

Like the Manobos, the Mamanwas are python meat-eaters. Bagging
one of a sizeable python would mean a fiesta for the tribe and the neighbouring
tribal settlements which could hear the beatings with messages of the agong.
They congregate and partake of the commonly broiled or roasted python meat.
(Python meat is a delicacy of the Mamanwas who are experts in trapping or
killing this dangerous reptile.)

A big snake or python would also mean
money for these people. Not a few lowlanders would buy and eat python meat that
the Mamanwas trap. Aside from the meat, the Mamanwas get the skin and bile of
the reptile, the latter is used for medicinal purposes along with the extracted
lard from the fatty meat.

Austronesian People

Melanesia
Origins

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