🇵🇭 TINGLAYAN • Kin-ay: the First Kalinga Tattooed Woman I Met

"A person came close. He gently grabbed Kin-ay's arm and showed me her name. Wow! That was a lovely way of telling her name!"

That was the day when I encountered a living cultural museum. April 7, 2013: a date marked in my memory, tattooed on my heart, adopted by my DNA. She's a beautiful old woman. Her name is Kin-ay, a Kalinga tattooed woman whom I met for the very first time in this space of opportunity.

The reptilian-look arm is tantamount to beauty in her culture.

I've met a lot of tattooed women, some are gangsters, some are achievers, but Kin-ay's tattoo has this design that can beat all the hippest tattoos in town. 

She's one of those Kalinga women breathing the last air of a tattooing culture. She lives in a VILLAGE CALLED BUGNAY

[TINGLAYAN] Bugnay Rice Terraces and that Lucky Village in Kalinga

"The Kalinga prima facie evidence in terms of beauty should not be a subject for debate because if I were to be the judge, the evidence is too strong to put the case to rest."
. The latter village is a living cultural museum with living objects.

After alighting from a mini-bus that had the balls to traverse a killer road, I saw Kin-ay. If FANG-OD

[TINGLAYAN] Fang-Od (Whang-Od): The Last Tribal Tattoo Artist of Kalinga

"She is unwittingly ending a tradition she is not supposed to end. She's ending the tradition not by her choice but by the call of our ever changing society."
owns the BUSCALAN VILLAGE

[TINGLAYAN] 17 Great Memories + First Time Encounters in Buscalan, Kalinga

"She is unwittingly ending a tradition she is not supposed to end. She's ending the tradition not by her choice but by the call of our ever changing society."
, Kin-ay's territory is Bugnay Village.

Unlike Fang-od, she does not have the skill of tattooing but she has this charisma to make every Kalinga tattoo hunter's heart to jump with joy.

Her tattoo is a sign of bravery.

I've met some tattooed women in BONTOC but this group of tattooed women in Kalinga is yet another desire my culture-lustful body is fantasizing.

So upon I stepped on a Kalinga soil for the very first time, I saw Kin-ay. I saw her tattoos marked on that skin with love. Also, she's the first tattooed woman from Kalinga I've ever met. 

Seeing her was like I was transported to a different space and dimension. She is a festival herself, a grandiose event, a living masterpiece. My eyes were witnessing a grand cultural show in the person of her. That's how I reacted for the first time. You know, my first time experiences are the most memorable.

A closer look of that lovely tattoo

Her name is marked on the posterior aspect of her forearm

Her name was tattooed on her skin. I asked her name but she didn't answer me. I knew, she can't understand my Ilocano tongue. A person came close. He gently grabbed Kin-ay's arm and showed me her name. Wow! That was a lovely way of telling her name! K I N - A Y.

My very first exposure in Kalinga was priceless, to think that this is just the start of the journey of meeting the last tribal tattoo artist in Kalinga.

Kin-ay belongs to an endangered culture. Soon it will be extinct. The culture of tattooing is waving goodbye. The younger generation of Kalinga women has learned to let go of the culture.

My photo with her. I paid her 20 pesos for this photo.

I met Kin-ay for the second time

She puts on a traditional headwear and porcelain necklace

She looks like a Westerner here, isn't it?

Our first meet-up with Kin-ay never became the last. The second chance was so generous. She still wears that turban and her necklace.

Usually, a necklace like that is made of porcelain they used to barter with the early Chinese traders in the lowlands.

She's a cultural queen in Bugnay

It's been a year since the last time we met. How is she now? Is she still healthy and fit? Is she still living? I don't know. All I want to do is to go back there because I have a surprise for her.

I hope she'll still be alive for our 3rd meet-up. Otherwise, the surprise will be of no value anymore. /end

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BUGNAY VILLAGE SUB-SERIES | 1

[TINGLAYAN] Bugnay Rice Terraces and that Lucky Village in Kalinga

"The Kalinga prima facie evidence in terms of beauty should not be a subject for debate because if I were to be the judge, the evidence is too strong to put the case to rest."
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