About

The Ibaloys are the people from Southern Benguet, namely, Atok, Bokod, Itogon, Kabayan, Kapangan (part of), La Trinidad, Sablan, Tuba, and Tublay, including the original settlers of Baguio City.  Some Ibaloys have also settled in Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya; Tinoc, Ifugao; Palawan, and in Mindanao.

Ibaloy/Ibaloi, Ivadoy/Ivadoi, Nabaloy/Nabaloi are used interchangeably by the Ibaloys themselves, although the "oi" sound seems to have been adopted from the English orthography, so, I prefer to use Ibaloy or Ivadoy.  Some linguists would say that Ibaloy refers to the people and Nabaloy or Inibaloy, their LANGUAGE.  The Nabaloy of Kabayan is different from the Nabaloy of Bokod, from Atok and the other towns, hence, there are Nabaloy dialects.

WatWat is written with a capital W because other dialects say it as gwatgwat or vatvat.  WatWat means "to distribute, dispense, or pass out something.  It  also refers to the distribution of meat during a ritual feast, and to one's share of meat itself" (Ibaloy book, 2011).  Everyone in attendance to a ritual feast gets 4-5 big chunks of cooked meat and every household in the community has a share of uncooked meat.  When a neighbor is not able to attend the ritual feast, somebody delivers his share to his house so that when he gets home, he sees it hanging by his doorstep.  WatWat, therefore, is sharing.  It reflects the generosity of the Ibaloys.

Kaladjo, meki-adivay!

photo credits:
background picture: Charles Martin, National Geographic
header picture:  Jonathan Anud
Other photos used herein are the author's unless specified otherwise.