ZAMBALI of the Municipality of Cabagan I Ybanag Culture & Tradition

Zambali or Tribal War Dance of the Municipality of Cabagan usually performed aduring the Barangay Patronal Fiesta honoring their Patron Santo Domingo de Guzman at Barangays of Casibarag Norte & Casibarag Sur Sur, Cabagan, Isabela every 4th Day of August.
According to sources, after the conquest of Cabagan by the Spaniards, the relationship with the neighboring trade partner Kalingas of the Cordillera degenerated into one war due to the Spaniards avowed goal of conquering the Cordillera as well. Thus, the birth of SAMBALI.
The main event in the town fiesta of Cabagan is the SAMBALI which seems to be a prehispanic war dance developed into a “Christian-pagan” mock war dance (Roces 1988:17). Here, the Christians are represented by the Ibanag, the non-Christians by Kalingas who opposed the reduction efforts of the Spanish missionaries. (“Kalinga,” in Ibanag vocabulary, means “enemy.”) Like the theatrical production of the Spanish period komedya, the SAMBALI performers use costumes to identify each side. The Ibanags are in white baag, white being the catechumenical color for baptism, while the Kalingas are in red baag, the color associated with insurrections. As warriors, the performers are armed with spears and shields. To symbolize bravery, they wear headdress decorated with feathers, similar to the Kalinga lawi.
The SAMBALI starts with an Aeta warning the two groups of imminent attack. The warning is ignored by the warring camps. However, they proceed anyway and march to battle. They meet face to face, the battle starts. Similar to the battles between Christians and the Moros in the komedya and the moros y christianos, the ritual culminates in the defeat of the non-Christians at the hands of the Christians (G. Zafra with notes from E.A. Manuel and R. Obusan.)
Since then, SAMBALI became a showcase every fiesta particularly in the barrio of Casibarag and has spread throughout the other Ibanag municipalities of Isabela such as Sta. Maria, Sto. Tomas and San Pablo.
Source:
SAMBALI: An Ethnographic Study of an Ibanag War Dance as a Purposive Theatrical Form
by: Hansmert Dejan Winter
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