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Hudhud
The hudhud is a form of Ifugao chanted epic from the Cordillera. Ifugao people, mostly women, sing the long stories at harvest time and at wakes. UNESCO lists the hudhud as intangible heritage. We give only a short note here, not the texts.
Folklore is retold; versions differ.
Sources: Wikipedia: Hudhud (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikidata (CC0) · Wikipedia: Hudhud ni Aliguyon
The story
The hudhud is a long sung epic of the Ifugao people of the Cordillera. It has no single author, and people pass it on by mouth. UNESCO named it a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001. The full set has more than 200 chants, and each chant has about 40 episodes. A full telling can last three or four days.
Women usually perform it. A group of about ten to twelve women sings, led by one soloist. Members of the chorus do not need to know the whole chant. People sing it at rice harvesting and weeding, at funeral wakes and at bone-washing rites. Sacred words are not written out, because they belong to the community.
One well-known story is Aliguyon. He is a young warrior from the village of Hannanga, the son of its leader. He feuds with the leader of the next village, Daligdigan. The fighting goes on for years. Then the two sides respect each other and make peace. Each man marries the other's sister, which ends the feud.