Hanging Coffins in Sagada


Hanging Coffins in Sagada

Hanging coffins are one of the funerary practices among the Kankanaey people of Sagada, Mountain Province, in the island Luzon of the Philippines. They have not been studied by archaeologists, so the exact age of the coffins is unknown, though they are believed to be centuries old.

The reason for hanging the coffins is based on the belief that the higher the dead were placed, the greater chance of their spirits reaching a higher nature in the afterlife. This is also implied by Marco Polo's brief observation of the Bo rituals, saying that "when deceased [they] had their bodies put in a box and taken to the mountains to be put in caves, or hung out where others can not reach."

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