Fertility. They gathered pigs and chickens as gifts to Balitok
and Bugan. "Return to Kiangan," they said. "We will go with you."
[At this point, some priests change the myth into a tulud, while
some continue it as a myth. We will here insert the method of
this change.]
[Fiat by the priest, i.e., a statement of the priest's will:]
It is not formerly, but now; not to Kiangan that they come but
here to our village of X, in order that they relieve A and B
of childlessness; in order that they increase the life here in
our village of X. They bring children and pigs and chickens and
miraculous increase of rice to A and B here in our village of X.
They return to Lumbut. They come west to Agab. They continue
to X. [Here follows a detailed "pushing" of the party from the
East Region to the village in which the priest is performing the
invocation, and to the house of the childless couple.] They look
up. "Why, it is our children in X," they say.
"Yes," [says the priest,] "for they are childless. Give them
children. Let some be male and some be female. Let there be a
myriad of shields [figuratively: men] and a myriad of tudong
[women's sweet potato baskets; figuratively: women] here in our
village of X. Let the pigs and the chickens become many. May the
rice be miraculously increased. Bring us much life here in our
village of X.
[If the priest does not change the myth to a tulud at the point
above, he continues it as follows:]
They continued with Bugan to Kiangan. They gathered together the
"sitters" [priests] at Kiangan. They sacrificed the pigs and the
chickens. The Gods of Animal Fertility taught them how to perform
the bubun ceremony. They divided [as a tribute] the meat with
Ambahing [who takes semen from the womb of women and carries it
off in his hip-bag] and with Komiwa [who stirs up semen in the
womb so that conception is prevented].
Bugan and Balitok multiplied at Kiangan. There came to be a myriad
of shields [men] and a myriad of sweet-potato baskets [women]
in Kiangan. The pigs and the chickens became many. Their children
scattered throughout the hills of Pugao [the Ifugao's earth]. The
rice dikes climbed up the mountains. The hills smoked day by day
[from the burning off of clearings for sweet-potatoes]. Life was
miraculously increased.
[Fiat by the priests:] It is not then but now; not in Kiangan,
but here in our village of X. It shall be the same with these
children, A and B. Their children will be many. Let some be male
and some female. Let their pigs and the chickens, etc., etc.
[Tulud.] "We will go now," said Umbumabakal. "All right," said
Bugan. "There is a calling above," said Ngilin.
"Have you kin yonder?" said Umbumabakal.
"Yes," said Bugan, "we have kin in the village of X."
"Let us thither," say the Gods of Animal Fertility. They come
westward to Tulbung. They continue to X. [The priest "pushes"
the deities step by step on the way to the village in which he
is performing the invocation. When they arrive, the same occurs
as shown in the tulud inserted above.]
The halupe feast.--The halupe are a class of deities that keep an idea
constantly before the mind of one whom they are sent to harass. They
are most frequently used against debtors; but they may be sent to
soften the wrath of an enemy or the stubbornness of a pretty girl,
or for other purposes. They are induced to serve the end of him who
invokes them by the sacrifice of a pig or chicken and by offerings
of betels and rice wine. There are about a hundred of these deities.
After the ancestral spirits have been invoked, and beseeched to
intercede with the halupe for the purpose desired, the halupe
themselves are invoked, in some such words as the following:
"Ye halupe of the Skyworld, of the Underworld, of the West Region,
and of the East Region, are beseeched to attend. It is prayed
ye that ye go and harass (name) so that he will not sleep for
thinking of his debt to me. If he goes to get water, go with him;
if he goes to get wood, go with him; if he goes on a trading trip,
go with him. Harass him to the extent that he will give me his
pigs, his rice, his chickens, his death blankets, his money,
his rice fields, his "irons," his house furnishings: [There is
no danger of asking too much of a deity or a white man!] May the
speech of the go-between make him ashamed to refuse! Do not let
him sleep till he pays the debt."
A subclass of the halupe deities have, for their especial function,
the soothing of obstinate debtors so that they may not get angry at
the words of the go-between, nor run away from him when they see him
coming. These are also invoked.
The priest then is possessed by the halupe one by one, and through him,
each of the halupe takes a sip of rice wine, and states that he will
harass the debtor and that he will not allow him to sleep till he pays.
After this ceremony, a fowl or pig is sacrificed and given the
halupe. The meat is cooked and spread out on some cooked rice. Myths
relating how some ancestor successfully invoked the halupe, are
then recited for the magic power that lies in the recital, and are
followed by tulud, ceremonies of witchcraft in which the deities are
"pushed along" by the compelling power of the word of the priest to
do his bidding. More frequently than not, the myth changes abruptly
into the tulud. The following instance is taken verbatim from a series
of ceremonies that I had a priest perform against a delinquent debtor
who owed me a sum of money. I regret to say that the ceremonies were
not efficacious.
Bukad (Myth).--Oadda kano da Tumayaban ud Kakunian ke da Panubok
ke da Binantawan ke da Banaban ke da Dimpuyu. Kon-da takon da
monnigi, dola-da 'd Kabunian. Panganun-da amaiyu da. Ahi da peman
padapadan. Inhungal di amaiyu. Bohwagon-da hagiit. Punayaman
'd Kabunian, ya nunudnud-da ud Pangagauwan. Unudun di halupe ya
dimatong ud Pangagauwan. Agan-da ya domatong-da amaiyo. Mondaiyo-da
ud Baladong ya hidi peman kano balobgon-da. Buyangon-da ta
dauntan-da. Oadda Halupe Binantawan ya ibaga-na banting. "Maid
banting-ko," konan Tumayaban. Oadda kano Bugan da nak Tadona ud
Kiangan ya monbuliwong, te "Eak," kano, "monbaga di mangigamal
ke haoy ta kaliwak di gimauwat an haoy, an adi-da umidet
di guwat-da." Pitaowan-na paiyo ud Kiangan. Oadda, kano,
Binantawan ya inanang-na Bugan, an "Eka, Tumayaban," konana,
"ta tumutung-ka 'n Bugan! Ime Tumayaban hi kadwan Bugan ya
Konana Tutung-ok nihbo! Bugan" Kimali Bugan, ya konana "Kon
manahauliu-ka? "Antipi?" konan Tumayaban. "Ya te monbuliwong te
eak manila mangigamal ke haoy," "Antipi?" konan Tumayaban. "Om
te maato-ak an mangibaga di gimauwat an haoy." "Antipi, tuali
adi-da mitugun?" konan Tumayaban. "Ibangad mo hi balei-yo, ta
itugun-mo dakami 'n halupe."
Bimangad Bugan, ya patayon-na manok ya ayago-na
halupe. "Umetako," konan Banaban, "te intugan ditako di nak
Tadona 'd Kiangan. Higupan-mi dola-da ud Kiangan. Ibaga-da
punbagaan da. Badangan-mi tulang-mi ud Kiangan." Ime-da halupe,
ya halupaiyan-da punbagaan an gimauwat di babui 'n di tulang-da
ud Kiangan, ya ununud Bugan, ya monbaga, ya inala-na babui-da ya
peho-da ya gumok-da ya manok-da ya page-da ya paiyo-da. [Then he
waves his hand.]
[The priest blows, in the direction of his debtor.]
Bokun ud Kiangan, te hitu, ta ume-ak hi bigat ta alak di babui
Kodamon ya gamong-na ya paiyo-na peho-na ya manok-na. Balinan
di hapihapito-ko. Kai-ak halupe, kai-ak Banaban, ta idet-na ta
magibu ta maid di pangidoh-dohana.
[Here the myth changes into a tulud, "pushing."]
Oadda, kano, halupe, ya monbaga-da ya "Monbangad, tako" konana
dolatako ud Kakunian. "Oadda tugun," konan Tumayaban. "Tipi oadda
tugun ud tapâ? Dehidi iba-yo?" "Om," konan Bugan. "Dehidi iba mi
'd tapâ."
Oadda halupe, ya tikidan da ud Tataowang. Agan ud
Kulab. Ladangon ud Gitigit. Ladangon ud Pangibanutan. Tikidan
ud Nunbalabog. Itanglig-da tungun ud Baay ya Pindungan ya
maid. "Aha! ud Ablatan di montugun" kalion-da. Mondotal ud
Panaangan. Mondayu ud Iwakal. Paadan ud Upupan. Agan-da ya
ladangan ud Tobal. Buduan-da ud Uhat. Agwatan ud Nungimil. Abatan
ud Boko. Agan-da ud Pugu. Montikid ud Takadang. Humabiat
ud Domok. Mondotal ud Palatog. Dongolon-da tugun. Mihidol ud
Palatog. Monbanong ud Kabonwang. Agwatan ud Tudunwe. Ladangon ud
Umbul. Domatong ya belibelion-da, ya "Kon da Barton ya Patikwal"
konan Tumayaban. "Daan di punbagaan-yo?" konana. Dehidi hi Kodamon
an adi-na idet di gauwat-mi. Ume-kayo ta mipong alitaangan-na ta
halhalupayan-yo ta nemnemon-na gauwat-na; ta takon di adi mahuyop
hi tonga 'n di labi. Balinan-yo. Banabanan-yo. Halupayan-yo ta
maid di udum an nemenemon-na, ta gibuan-na gauwat-na, ta igatang-na
paiyo-na, ta idetan-na peho-na ya manok-na ya babui-na ya page-na
ya gumok-na.
[The priest blows and waves his hand in the direction of Kodamon's
house]. Ooo-of! Hadon-yo, ta umeak hi bigat!
Translation.--And it is said that Tumayaban and Panubok and
Binantawan and Banaban and Dimpuyu of the Skyworld decided to go
hunting there in their region of the Skyworld. They fed their
dogs. And then, indeed, they sent them on the chase. The dogs
found a trail. They started up a wild boar. They chased it about
the Skyworld, and followed down to Pangagauwan [the mountain
that towers over Kiangan]. The halupe [the deities above named]
followed after. They came up with their dogs, and there, it is
said, they speared the quarry. They spread grass on the earth
and cut it up. And Halupe Binantawan asked for fire.
"I have no flint and steel," said Tumayaban.
And it is said that Bugan, the daughter of Tadona of Kiangan, was
sick of life; for she said, "I will beg some one to eat me up in
order that I may forget my debtors who will not pay the debt they
owe me." She set out across the rice fields at Kiangan. Binantawan
saw her and said: "Go, Tumayaban; get fire from Bugan." Tumayaban
got up and went to where Bugan was.
"Let me have fire, Bugan."
"Are you in a hurry?" said Bugan.
"Why?" said Tumayaban.
"For I am tired of life, and am hunting for somebody to eat me up,"
said Bugan.
"Why?" said Tumayaban.
"Yes, "for I am tired of beseeching my debtors to pay their debts."
"Why, indeed, will they not listen to reason?" said Tumayaban. "Go
back to your house and call upon us halupe."
Bugan returned, and sacrificed chickens, and called upon the
halupe. "Let us go, for the daughter of Tadona has called upon
us at Kiangan," said Banaban. [The old Kiangan about four miles
below the village now called Kiangan by American officials.] "They
have gathered together in Kiangan. Let us assist our kinsfolk
there." The halupe went and they harassed those of whom it was
asked [the debtors], those who had borrowed pigs of the kin in
Kiangan. And Bugan followed after and took their pigs and their
"irons" and their money and their chickens and their rice and
their rice fields and their death blankets.
[The priest blows and waves his hand in the direction of his
debtor's house.]
Let it be so, not at Kiangan, but here, so that I may go in the
morning and take Kodamon's pigs, death blankets, rice fields,
money, chickens. May my words carry shame to him. May I be like a
harasser and like a soother, in order that he pay, in order that
it may be finished, in order that there come no serious result
of the controversy.
[Here the myth changes into a tulud, "pushing".]
The halupe speak, saying, "Let us return to our village in the
Skyworld."
"There is a calling," said Tumayaban. "Whence comes this call
from above? Have you kin there?"
"Yes," said Bugan, "we have kindred above."
And the halupe ascend at Tataowang. They come on to Kulab. They
continue to Gitigit. They continue to Pangibautan. They climb up to
Nunbalabog. They listen for a calling at Baay and Pindungan. [These
are villages in the vicinity of Urnbul, the village where the
priest was performing the ceremony.] "Aha! the calling is at
Umbul!" they say. They walk on the level at Panaangan. They descend
at Iwakal. They come to Upupan. They continue to Tobal. They come
out at Uhat. They wade at Nungimel. They go around the hill to
Boko. They continue to Pugu. They climb at Takadang. They ascend
to Domok. They walk on the level at Palatog. They listen for
the calling. They hear it there. They travel on the rice dikes
at Kabonwang. They wade at Tudunwe. They come round the hill at
Umbul. They arrive and, "Why, it is Barton and Patikwal," says
Tumayaban. "Where are your refractory debtors?"
"There is Kodamon. He does not pay his debts to us. Go and disperse
yourselves in the vicinity of his house, and harass him continually
with the remembrance of his debt, so that he may not sleep, even
in the middle of the night. Make him ashamed. Soothe him (so that
he will not be angry). Harass him so that he may think of nothing
else than his debt; so that he will finish with it; so that he
will sell his rice fields (in order to pay); so that he will give
us his pigs, his money, his irons, his rice, and his rice fields."
[The priest blows and waves his hand in the direction of Kodamon's
house.] "Ooo-of! Wait there till I come in the morning."
The collector of a large fine performs an unpretentious series of
ceremonies directed to the gods of animal fertility and growth. The
fact that he has won out in collecting the fine shows that his
star is in the ascendancy and that a more pretentious feast is
not needed.
Peace-making ceremonies.--A full account of these ceremonies would
be too extended to give here. The following are two of the myths
that are recited in the course of these ceremonies:
(1) And it is said that the father of Amtalao of the Skyworld spoke
to his son, saying: "Go down and cause the enemies of earth to make
peace, in order that there be no longer coughings, and shortness of
breath, and bleedings from the nose, and quick fatigue among them."
Amtalao packed his betels, put on his hip-bag, and took his spear
in hand. He descended to Habiatan. [Here the myth goes into a
detailed account of the places passed in the journey.] He arrived
in Kiangan. He went to the house of Balitok [the hero ancestor
of the people of Kiangan culture area]. He thrust the shod point
of his spear handle into the flat stone used as a seat in front
of the house. It crackled like a dry leaf.
"You have spoiled the flat stone," said Balitok. Amtalao kicked
the pieces of stone with his foot. They all joined together as
if never broken apart. "I did not spoil it," said Amtalao.
"Why is it, Balitok, that you do not make peace with your
enemies? Is it that you wish to be afflicted by the hidit?"
"I do not know how," said Balitok. Amtalao went to the sons of
Imbalitayan. "Make peace with Balitok, in order that ye be not
afflicted with coughings and snorings and bleedings from the nose
and shortness of the breath," said he.
And they caught their pigs and chickens, the sons of Imbalitayan,
and the people of Kiangan, and Amtalao taught them to make
peace. And when they had finished, Amtalao ascended into the
Skyworld.
"How many did you cause to make peace?" said his father.
"There are no more enemies on earth," said Amtalao. Even though the
Ifugao travel far, they are safe. Even though spears be thrown,
they do not scathe. No longer is there shortness of the breath,
and labored breathing, bleeding from the nose, and coughings and
quick fatigue. The people are like unto gold, which tarnishes not,
like unto the waters of the river, which never become small, and
like unto the dancing plumes of the cogon and runo grass. They
talk and talk, and talk straight. They ask for what they want
and get it."
Let it be so, not at Kiangan, but here; not then, but now; in order
that there be no more shortness of breath and coughing and labored
breathing [the priest's will being that the benefits mentioned
by Amtalao in the paragraph immediately preceding become existent].
(2) The Thunderer of the Skyworld was sitting on his lounging
bench in the Skyworld. "Alas! why do the people keep fighting
all the time?" he said. He took his spear in hand. He descended
unto Kiangan. He went to the house of Balitok. "Why do you not
make peace with the sons of Imbaluog?" said he.
"I desire to make peace, but they will not," said Balitok.
"Come with me," said the Thunderer. They went to the village of
the sons of Imbaluog. The Thunderer shouted to them. They came
down out of their houses, spears in hand, and carrying their
shields. They advanced toward Balitok. The Thunderer was angry.
"Why did the people of Kiangan offer to make peace, and ye would
not?" shouted he. The Thunderer snorted. The branches fell from
the trees. The sons of Imbaluog were blown to pieces. Their limbs
were torn from their trunks and went hurtling hither and thither.
And below every house was heard the wailing of the old women. And
every woman's head was encircled by mourning bands.
Let it be so, not then, but now, with those that do not keep
the peace! Let them be blown to pieces and scattered hither and
thither, and may there be none to avenge them.
The chewing of betels together by the reconciled enemies is the
essential part of the peace-making ceremony. Three constituents
are used in betel chewing: the betel leaf, the areca nut, and the
lime. The priest takes position between the two (as yet) enemies. One
of the enemies then gives the other an areca nut, and his courtesy
is returned by his enemy giving him a betel leaf. Both are then
supplied by the priest with lime. They proceed to chew betels then,
and the priest prays as follows:
"Ye are chewed, Betel Leaf, Areca Nut, and Lime. Let not them
who were enemies be afflicted with coughings, shortness of
breath, quick-coming fatigue, bleeding from the nose, nor labored
breathing. Let them, instead, be like gold, which tarnishes not;
like the tail feathers of the full-grown cock, which never touch
the earth; like the waters of the river, which never cease coming;
like Talal of Ambuaya, who ate his own children, yet was not
afflicted by the hidit. Let them be as active as the waters of
Inude (a cataract) or the feathery plumes of the cogon and runo
grass. Let them be like the rising sun, like the Cobra of the
White Mountain, like the Full-grown Cock of Dotal, like the Hard
Stone of Huduan. [28] May their enemies stand aside from them in
fear. May their valor be heard of in all the hills."
Ceremonies connected with the payment of large fines.--At the
termination of a controversy in which a large fine is paid, the two
parties perform the hidit, peace-making ceremonies, as a matter
of self-interest. To leave them unperformed would be to subject
themselves to the wrath of the hidit deities who would afflict them
with tuberculosis, shortness of breath, etc. The peace so made is
theoretical, oftentimes, rather than actual. Usually there is a great
deal of ill feeling smoldering in the breasts of the controversants.
He who pays any large fine invariably performs a general welfare
feast soon afterward. To this feast he invites all the deities of
the Skyworld, the Underworld, the Fabulous Region of the East and
the Fabulous Region of the West. In addition, if he feels great
resentment against the fine collector, he secretly performs the
following ceremony:
Tulud (Pushing).--"The Ender of the East Region sits on his
lounging bench there. He hears a call. He arises and puts betels
in his hip-bag and takes his spear in hand. He hesitates, and then
starts westward. He comes on to Payya. [The priest "pushes" him,
as in the preceding tulud, stage by stage through the following
places: Ulikon, Hapid, Ulalahi, Lana, Kudug, Lingay, Balahiang,
Lau, Bayukan, Ula, Tuktukbayahan, Kituman, Kiangan. From Kiangan
onward the route is variable, depending on the village of the
priest.]
He arrives at [village]. He receives the chicken. He chops off its
head. [The priest at this stage chops off the chicken's head.] Even
so [he says] I chop off the life of the fine collector. [The priest
blows and swings his arm in the direction of the fine-collector's
house.] Travel thither, Ender, to the house of him who took from
us the death blankets. Stay with him. If he goes to get wood,
turn the axe into his body. If he travels, push him off the
steep. If he sleeps, sleep with him. In the middle of the night
stab him, and we will hear about it with the rising sun. For we
are poverty stricken. We owed them no debt, yet they have taken
our pigs and our chickens and our death blankets and our rice
[etc.]. We are to be pitied, alas!"
Other deities that may be sent against the fine collector are the
Spider-webbed One, the Smotherer, Dysentery, the Short-winded One,
the Trapper, the Twister.
APPENDIX 3: PARRICIDE
A rather startling case was called before the Court of First
Instance in Kiangan in December, 1913. Limitit of Ayangan was
charged with having murdered his father. The phrase "Are you guilty
or not guilty?" translated into Ifugao changes significance slightly,
and stands "Are you at fault or not at fault?" With a candor almost
pitiable, Limitit admitted the facts in the case, but pleaded "not
at fault." "He was my father," he said. "I had a right to kill him. I
am blameless, for I provided a generous funeral feast for him."
Interrogation developed that Dilagan, the father, was a spendthrift. He
had raised a sum of money--possibly for the purpose of gambling--by
pawning, balal, his son's rice field. The son was angry, but Dilagan
promised faithfully to redeem the field by planting time. But planting
time came round, and Dilagan was unable to keep his promise and
redeem the field. In a quarrel over this matter, the son lost patience
and killed his father. So far as I am able to ascertain, his act is
justified, or at the very least, condoned by his co-villagers. They
excuse him on two grounds:
First, the old man was worthless, and deserved killing for having
wronged his son. Even though the damage done was not irremediable, it
was probable that it would be repeated, and that he would impoverish
his son for life.
Second, the old man was Limitit's father, and Limitit had the right
on that account to kill him if he wanted to; at least it was the
business of nobody else.
The American court, if I remember aright, sentenced Limitit to life
imprisonment. He died shortly after being incarcerated.
Another case of parricide was that of Bayungubung of Kurug. He killed
his father for the same reason that Limitit killed Dilagan: that is,
for the wrongful pawning of a field.
The essence of the attitude of the people in both these cases seemed
to be that the son had the right to kill his father if the latter
imperiled the family livelihood or position in society. It seems to
us an inhuman doctrine. But remember that the be-all and the end-all
of Ifugao existence is the family, and not the individual. With us,
the opposite is true: the rights of the individual supersede those
of the family. The fields in question had been handed down from past
generations. The son in each case was responsible at the time of the
parricide for the welfare of future generations of the family. The old
man in each case was a traitor to the welfare of the family. He had
had his day, and was worse than useless. Remember that in a country
where a living must be eked from a tough, stony mountain-side with a
wooden spade, the means to life handed down from the sweat of former
generations is a thing as sacred, as it is precious.
Besides these considerations, there is the principle on which Ifugao
society is based: The family exists principally for the youthful and
future generations of it.
APPENDIX 4: CONCUBINAGE AMONG THE KALINGAS
The Kalingas are a tribe having a culture remarkably similar to the
Ifugao. In respect of warfare, head-hunting, and social organization,
it is an even more dazzling example of a barbarian culture, I
believe. Concubinage is universally practiced by the wealthy. The
concubine has a legal status. A man must secure his wife's consent
to take a concubine, but the consent is universally forthcoming.
During a six months' residence in Kalinga I became quite well
acquainted with the unusually intelligent wife of a Kalinga headman. I
asked her one day why the women permitted their men to take unto
themselves additional wives.
"Oh, that's the custom of us Kalingas."