Vibal Foundation, Inc. (VFI) will be launching Narciso C. Tan's Púgot: Head Taking, Ritual Cannibalism, and Human Sacrifice in the Philippines at VFI’s monthly virtual tertulia this October. Encyclopedic and analytical in its approach, this scholarly book dissects the ritualized forms of violence such as human sacrifice, ritual cannibalism, and head taking in the prehistoric Philippines.
Púgot:
Head Taking, Ritual Cannibalism, and Human Sacrifice in the Philippines
Púgot
weaves together historical data and archaeological studies with traditional
myths, legends, and songs to create a seamless narrative of some of the most
misunderstood aspects of Philippine culture and to shed light on deeply rooted
cultures of violence.
Preceding
the emergence of Islam and Christianity, deeply held religious beliefs led various
Philippine communities to sanction ritualized forms of violence: human
sacrifice, cannibalism, and head taking. Today, many Filipinos see these
practices as “primitive,” “barbaric,” or pertaining only to so-called “tribes”
and therefore not related to the national dynamic. Púgot forces Filipino
readers to contemplate and confront the not-so-ancient past, when their
ancestors sported loincloths, battle gear, and talismans, and participated in
violent community-wide celebrations and rituals.
The
book also reveals these practices not in isolation, but as part of the wider
Southeast Asian and Austronesian milieu. The multilingual primary and secondary
texts used for this work are sourced from across centuries and disciplines,
including thirteenth to eighteenth-century Chinese records, Spanish-period
missionary chronicles, and European and American ethnographies from the late
nineteenth to the early twentieth century, as well as folkloric accounts and
epics.
This
book is the latest addition to VFI’s Academica Filipina+, which is an
interdisciplinary series that pushes the boundaries of scholarly publishing
with smart, literate, and thought-provoking works exploring the Philippine
past, present, and future.
For
interested readers, copies of Púgot: Head Taking, Ritual Cannibalism, and Human
Sacrifice in the Philippines will be available for online purchase at the Vibal
Online Shop at https://shop.vibalgroup.com/, Lazada
https://www.lazada.com.ph/shop/vibal-books/, and Shopee https://shopee.ph/vibalgroup. For bulk orders or if you have queries, you may reach us
through customercare@vibalgroup.com and marketing@vibalgroup.com or call us at
+63 (2) 8580.7400 or 1-800-1000-VIBAL (84225).
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