The Kalinga people[2][3][4] (IPA: [ka'liŋɡa]) are an indigenous ethnic group whose ancestral domain is in the Cordillera Mountain Range of the northern Philippines.

[6] They are stratified into two economic classes only which are determined by the number of their rice fields, working animals, and heirlooms: the kapos (poor) and the baknang (wealthy).

[6] The Kalinga developed an institution of peace pacts called Bodong which has minimised traditional warfare and headhunting and serves as a mechanism for the initiation, maintenance, renewal, and reinforcement of kinship and social ties.

[6] Eduardo Masferré notes that by the start of American colonial period, the neighboring Bontoc and Gaddang people had begun adapting peace pact customs based on the Kalinga Bodong.

[11] The plight of the Kalinga people during the Marcos dictatorship in the 1970s and early 1980s became a widely discussed national issue[12] because of the Kalinga people's ancestral domain conflicts with the Chico River Dam Project, a proposed hydroelectric power generation project which would have encompassed the municipalities of Tinglayan, Lubuagan, Pasil, and parts of Tabuk in Kalinga Province, and the municipalities of Sabangan, Sagada, Sadanga, Bontoc, Bauko, and parts of Barlig in Mountain Province.

In 1977 alone, numerous Kalinga dam protesters — including tribal leaders Lumbaya Aliga Gayudan and Macli-ing Dulag,[12] and even a 12-year-old child[14] — were rounded up by these forces and incarcerated for up to two months.

[16] As a result, the Chico River Dam Project is now considered a landmark case study concerning ancestral domain issues in the Philippines.

[17][18] In 2007, a Discovery Channel series hosted by American anthropologist Lars Krutak featured the tattoo work of Butbut mambabatok Whang-od Oggay.

[20] Kalinga people migrated to south east Asia in large numbers during 3rd C. BCE after devastating Kalinga war in 261BCE and they went in different phases and they settled in Java, Borneo, Sumatra, Bali, Singapore, Malaysia and some groups also reached Philippines and settled there.They were instrumental in spreading Hindu culture and religion there.

Traditional agricultural practices involved the cultivation wet rice (papayaw) as well as swidden (uwa) farming.

[11] In the 2010s, various government agencies encouraged farmers to return to the planting and harvesting of Cordillera Robusta coffee among the Kalinga.

The women are also tattooed on their arms up to their shoulders and wear colourful ornaments like bracelets, earrings, and necklaces, especially on the day of festivities.

[23][24] Common Kalinga tattoo motifs include centipedes (gayaman), centipede legs (tiniktiku), snakes (tabwhad), snakeskin (tinulipao), hexagonal shapes representing snake belly scales (chillag), coiled snakes (inong-oo), rain (inud-uchan), various fern designs (inam-am, inalapat, and nilawhat), fruits (binunga), parallel lines (chuyos), alternating lines (sinagkikao), hourglass shapes representing day and night (tinatalaaw), rice mortars (lusong), pig's hind legs (tibul), rice bundles (sinwhuto or panyat), criss-crossing designs (sina-sao), ladders (inar-archan), eagles (tulayan), frogs (tokak), and axe blades (sinawit).

[25] Kalinga houses (furoy, buloy, fuloy, phoyoy, biloy)are either octagonal for the wealthy, or square, and are elevated on posts (a few as high as 20–30 feet), with a single room.

They also believe in numerous spirits and deities, including those associated with nature (pinaing and aran), and dead ancestors (kakarading and anani).