Bulul, Ifugao

Granary figures("bululs")

DESCRIPTION

Bululs are consecrated wooden figures central to Ifugao life. They are invoked to ensure plentiful rice harvests and are regarded as ancestral presences that mediate between human and spiritual worlds. Carved in male–female pairs and often kept in granaries, bululs are distinctive in an Ifugao pantheon of more than a thousand deities, as they are the only ones given physical form.

This pair was likely created in the early 1900s by master carver Taguiling as a commission from Owen A. Tomlinson (b. 1882), an American Constabulary officer and colonial administrator in Ifugao during the early years of U.S. rule. The bululs’ facial features reflect the likeness of their colonial patron. While serving as ritual guardians of rice, they also capture a moment when Indigenous carving traditions engaged with colonial power, demonstrating both cultural continuity and local agency.

26 PERSPECTIVES
5 PEOPLE
Stephen Acabado headshot

Stephen

Acabado

Professor, Department of Anthropology at University of California, Los Angeles

Armand Camhol headshot

Armand

Camhol

Doctoral candidate

National Chengchi University in Taiwan

Paulette Crespillo headshot

Paulette

Crespillo-Cuison

President of the Kiyyangan Weavers Association (a member organization of the Save the lfugao Terraces Movement (SITMo))

Eulalie Dulnuan headshot

Eulalie

Dulnuan

Tourism and Cultural Officer

President of the Ifugao Intangible Heritage and Performing Arts Society

Headshot of Marlon Martin

Marlon

Martin

Executive director of Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement

Co-director of Ifugao Archaeological Project

Stephen Acabado headshot

Stephen

Acabado

Professor, Department of Anthropology at University of California, Los Angeles

Armand Camhol headshot

Armand

Camhol

Doctoral candidate

National Chengchi University in Taiwan

Paulette Crespillo headshot

Paulette

Crespillo-Cuison

President of the Kiyyangan Weavers Association (a member organization of the Save the lfugao Terraces Movement (SITMo))

Eulalie Dulnuan headshot

Eulalie

Dulnuan

Tourism and Cultural Officer

President of the Ifugao Intangible Heritage and Performing Arts Society

Headshot of Marlon Martin

Marlon

Martin

Executive director of Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement

Co-director of Ifugao Archaeological Project

Stephen Acabado headshot

Stephen

Acabado

Professor, Department of Anthropology at University of California, Los Angeles

Armand Camhol headshot

Armand

Camhol

Doctoral candidate

National Chengchi University in Taiwan

Paulette Crespillo headshot

Paulette

Crespillo-Cuison

President of the Kiyyangan Weavers Association (a member organization of the Save the lfugao Terraces Movement (SITMo))

Eulalie Dulnuan headshot

Eulalie

Dulnuan

Tourism and Cultural Officer

President of the Ifugao Intangible Heritage and Performing Arts Society

Headshot of Marlon Martin

Marlon

Martin

Executive director of Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement

Co-director of Ifugao Archaeological Project

10 THEMES

Copyright © 2025 Fowler Museum.

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2025 Fowler Museum.

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2025 Fowler Museum.

All Rights Reserved.