Religion
Spirit belief
The basis of Igorot religion is every man's belief in the spirit
world -- the animism found widespread among primitive peoples. It is
the belief in the ever-present, ever-watchful a-ni'-to, or spirit
of the dead, who has all power for good or evil, even for life or
death. In this world of spirits the Igorot is born and lives; there
he constantly entreats, seeks to appease, and to cajole; in a mild
way he threatens, and he always tries to avert; and there at last he
surrenders to the more than matchful spirits, whose numbers he joins,
and whose powers he acquires.
All things have an invisible existence as well as a visible, material
one. The Igorot does not explain the existence of earth, water, fire,
vegetation, and animals in invisible form, but man's invisible form,
man's spirit, is his speech. During the life of a person his spirit is
called "ta'-ko." After death the spirit receives a new name, though
its nature is unchanged, and it goes about in a body invisible to
the eye of man yet unchanged in appearance from that of the living
person. There seems to be no idea of future rewards or punishments,
though they say a bad a-ni'-to is sometimes driven away from the
others.
The spirit of all dead persons is called "a-ni'-to" -- this is the
general name for the soul of the dead. However, the spirits of certain
dead have a specific name. Pin-teng' is the name of the a-ni'-to of
a beheaded person; wul-wul is the name of the a-ni'-to of deaf and
dumb persons -- it is evidently an onomatopoetic word. And wong-ong
is the name of the a-ni'-to of an insane person. Fu-ta-tu is a bad
a-ni'-to, or the name applied to the a-ni'-to which is supposed to
be ostracized from respectable a-ni'-to society.
Besides these various forms of a-ni'-to or spirits, the body itself
is also sometimes supposed to have an existence after death. Li-mum'
is the name of the spiritual form of the human body. Li-mum' is seen at
times in the pueblo and frequently enters habitations, but it is said
never to cause death or accident. Li-mum' may best be translated by
the English term "ghost," although he has a definite function ascribed
to the rather fiendish "nightmare" -- that of sitting heavily on the
breast and stomach of a sleeper.
The ta'-ko, the soul of the living man, is a faithful servant of man,
and, though accustomed to leave the body at times, it brings to the
person the knowledge of the unseen spirit life in which the Igorot
constantly lives. In other words, the people, especially the old men,
dream dreams and see visions, and these form the meshes of the net
which has caught here and there stray or apparently related facts
from which the Igorot constructs much of his belief in spirit life.
The immediate surroundings of every Igorot group is the home of the
a-ni'-to of departed members of the group, though they do not usually
live in the pueblo itself. Their dwellings, sementeras, pigs, chickens,
and carabaos -- in fact, all the possessions the living had -- are
scattered about in spirit form, in the neighboring mountains. There the
great hosts of the a-ni'-to live, and there they reproduce, in spirit
form, the life of the living. They construct and live in dwellings,
build and cultivate sementeras, marry, and even bear children;
and eventually, some of them, at least, die or change their forms
again. The Igorot do not say how long an a-ni'-to lives, and they
have not tried to answer the question of the final disposition of
a-ni'-to, but in various ceremonials a-ni'-to of several generations
of ancestors are invited to the family feast, so the Igorot does not
believe that the a-ni'-to ceases, as an a-ni'-to, in what would be
the lifetime of a person.
When an a-ni'-to dies or changes its form it may become a snake --
and the Igorot never kills a snake, except if it bothers about his
dwelling; or it may become a rock -- there is one such a-ni'-to rock
on the mountain horizon north of Bontoc; but the most common form for
a dead a-ni'-to to take is li'-fa, the phosphorescent glow in the
dead wood of the mountains. Why or how these various changes occur
the Igorot does not understand.
In many respects the dreamer has seen the a-ni'-to world in great
detail. He has seen that a-ni'-to are rich or poor, old or young,
as were the persons at death, and yet there is progression, such
as birth, marriage, old age, and death. Each man seems to know in
what part of the mountains his a-ni'-to will dwell, because some one
of his ancestors is known to inhabit a particular place, and where
one ancestor is there the children go to be with him. This does not
refer to desirability of location, but simply to physical location --
as in the mountain north of Bontoc, or in one to the east or south.
As was stated in a previous chapter, with the one exception of
toothache, all injuries, diseases, and deaths are caused directly by
a-ni'-to. In certain ceremonies the ancestral a-ni'-to, are urged
to care for living descendants, to protect them from a-ni'-to that
seek to harm -- and children are named after their dead ancestors,
so they may be known and receive protection. In the pueblo, the
sementeras, and the mountains one knows he is always surrounded by
a-ni'-to. They are ever ready to trip one up, to push him off the
high stone sementera dikes or to visit him with disease. When one
walks alone in the mountain trail he is often aware that an a-ni'-to
walks close beside him; he feels his hair creeping on his scalp, he
says, and thus he knows of the a-ni'-to's presence. The Igorot has a
particular kind of spear, the sinalawitan, having two or more pairs
of barbs, of which the a-ni'-to is afraid; so when a man goes alone
in the mountains with the sinalawitan he is safer from a-ni'-to than
he is with any other spear.
The Igorot does not say that the entire spirit world, except his
relatives, is against him, and he does not blame the spirits for the
evils they inflict on him -- it is the way things are -- but he acts
as though all are his enemies, and he often entreats them to visit
their destruction on other pueblos. It is safe to say that one feast
is held daily in Bontoc by some family to appease or win the good
will of some a-ni'-to.
At death the spirit of a beheaded person, the pin-teng', goes above
to chayya, the sky. The old men are very emphatic in this belief. They
always point to the surrounding mountains as the home of the a-ni'-to,
but straight above to chayya, the sky, as the home of the spirit of the
beheaded. The old men say the pin-teng' has a head of flames. There
in the sky the pin-teng' repeat the life of those living in the
pueblo. They till the soil and they marry, but the society is exclusive
-- there are none there except those who lost their heads to the enemy.
The pin-teng' is responsible for the death of every person who
loses his head. He puts murder in the minds of all men who are to
be successful in taking heads. He also sees the outrages of warfare,
and visits vengeance on those who kill babes and small children.
In his relations with the unseen spirit world the Igorot has certain
visible, material friends that assist him by warnings of good and
evil. When a chicken is killed its gall is examined, and, if found to
be dark colored, all is well; if it is light, he is warned of some
pending evil in spirit form. Snakes, rats, crows, falling stones,
crumbling earth, and the small reddish-brown omen bird, i'-chu,
all warn the Igorot of pending evil.
Exorcist
Since the anito is the cause of all bodily afflictions the chief
function of the person who battles for the health of the afflicted
is that of the exorcist, rather than that of the therapeutist.
Many old men and women, known as "in-sup-ak'," are considered more or
less successful in urging the offending anito to leave the sick. Their
formula is simple. They place themselves near the afflicted part,
usually with the hand stroking it, or at least touching it, and say,
"Anito, who makes this person sick, go away." This they repeat over
and over again, mumbling low, and frequently exhaling the breath to
assist the departure of the anito -- just as, they say, one blows
away the dust; but the exhalation is an open-mouthed outbreathing,
and not a forceful blowing. One of our house boys came home from
a trip to a neighboring pueblo with a bad stone bruise for which
an anito was responsible. For four days he faithfully submitted to
flaxseed poultices, but on the fifth day we found a woman in-sup-ak'
at her professional task in the kitchen. She held the sore foot
in her lap, and stroked it; she murmured to the anito to go away;
she bent low over the foot, and about a dozen times she well feigned
vomiting, and each time she spat out a large amount of saliva. At no
time could purposeful exhalations be detected, and no explanation of
her feigned vomiting could be gained. It is not improbable that when
she bent over the foot she was supposed to be inhaling or swallowing
the anito which she later sought to cast from her. In half an hour
she succeeded in "removing" the offender, but the foot was "sick"
for four days longer, or until the deep-seated bruise discharged
through a scalpel opening. The woman unquestionably succeeded in
relieving the boy's mind.
When a person is ill at his home he sends for an in-sup-ak', who
receives for a professional visit two manojos of palay, or two-fifths
of a laborer's daily wage. In-sup-ak' are not appointed or otherwise
created by the people, as are most of the public servants. They are
notified in a dream that they are to be in-sup-ak'.
As compared with the medicine man of some primitive peoples the
in-sup-ak' is a beneficial force to the sick. The methods are all
quiet and gentle; there is none of the hubbub or noise found in the
Indian lodge -- the body is not exhausted, the mind distracted, or
the nerves racked. In a positive way the sufferer's mind receives
comfort and relief when the anito is "removed," and in most cases
probably temporary, often permanent, physical relief results from
the stroking and rubbing.
The man or woman of each household acts as mediator between any sick
member of the family and the offending anito. There are several of
these household ceremonials performed to benefit the afflicted.
If one was taken ill or was injured at any particular place in the
mountains near the pueblo, the one in charge of the ceremony goes to
that place with a live chicken in a basket, a small amount of basi
(a native fermented drink), and usually a little rice, and, pointing
with a stick in various directions, says the Wa-chao'-wad or Ay'-ug
si a-fi'-ik ceremony -- the ceremony of calling the soul. It is
as follows:
"A-li-ka' ab a-fi'-ik Ba-long'-long en-ta-ko' is a'-fong sang'-fu." The
translation is: "Come, soul of Ba-long'-long; come with us to the
house to feast." The belief is that the person's spirit is being
enticed and drawn away by an anito. If it is not called back shortly,
it will depart permanently.
The following ceremony, called "ka-taol'," is said near the river,
as the other is in the mountains:
"A-li-ka' ta-en-ta-ko is a'-fong ta-ko' tay la-ting' is'-na." Freely
translated this is: "Come, come with us into the house, because it
is cold here."
A common sight in the Igorot pueblo or in the trails leading out is a
man or woman, more frequently the latter, carrying the small chicken
basket, the tube of basi, and the short stick, going to the river or
the mountains to perform this ceremony for the sick.
After either of these ceremonies the person returns to the dwelling,
kills, cooks, and, with other members of the family, eats the chicken.
For those very ill and apparently about to die there is another
ceremony, called "a'-fat," and it never fails in its object, they
affirm -- the afflicted always recovers. Property equal to a full
year's wages is taken outside the pueblo to the spot where the
affliction was received, if it is known, and the departing soul is
invited to return in exchange for the articles displayed. They take a
large hog which is killed where the ceremony is performed; they take
also a large blue-figured blanket -- the finest blanket that comes
to the pueblo -- a battle-ax and spear, a large pot of "preserved"
meat, the much-prized woman's bustle-like girdle, and, last, a live
chicken. When the hog is killed the person in charge of the ceremony
says: "Come back, soul of the afflicted, in trade for these things."
All then return to the sick person's dwelling, taking with them the
possessions just offered to the soul. At the house they cook the hog,
and all eat of it; as those who assisted in the ceremony go to their
own dwellings they carry each a dish of the cooked pork.
The next day, since the afflicted person does not die, they have
another ceremony, called "mang-mang," in the house of the sick. A
chicken is killed, and the following ceremonial is spoken from the
center of the house:
"The sick person is now well. May the food become abundant; may the
chickens, pigs, and rice fruit heads be large. Bring the battle-ax to
guard the door. Bring the winnowing tray to serve the food; and bring
the wisp of palay straw to sweep away the many words spoken near us."
For certain sick persons no ceremony is given for recovery. They are
those who are stricken with death, and the Igorot claims to know a
fatal affliction when it comes.
Lumawig, the Supreme Being
The Igorot has personified the forces of nature. The personification
has become a single person, and to-day this person is one god,
Lu-ma'-wig. Over all, and eternal, so far as the Igorot understands,
is Lu-ma'-wig -- Lu-ma'-wig, who had a part in the beginning of all
things; who came as a man to help the survivors and perpetuators
of Bontoc; who later came as a man to teach the people whom he had
befriended, and who still lives to care for them. Lu-ma'-wig is the
greatest of spirits, dwelling above in chayya, the sky. All prayers
for fruitage and increase -- of men, of animals, and of crops --
all prayers for deliverance from the fierce forces of the physical
world are made to him; and once each month the pa'-tay ceremony,
entreating Lu-ma'-wig for fruitage and health, is performed for
the pueblo group by an hereditary class of men called "pa'-tay -- a
priesthood in process of development. Throughout the Bontoc culture
area Lu-ma'-wig, otherwise known but less frequently spoken of as
Fu'-ni and Kam-bun'-yan, is the supreme being. Scheerer says the
Benguet Igorot call their "god" Ka-bu-ni'-an -- the same road as
Kam-bun'-yan.
In the beginning of all things Lu-ma'-wig had a part. The Igorot
does not know how or why it is so, but he says that Lu-ma'-wig gave
the earth with all its characteristics, the water in its various
manifestations, the people, all animals, and all vegetation. To-day
he is the force in all these things, as he always has been.
Once, in the early days, the lower lands about Bontoc were covered
with water. Lu-ma'-wig saw two young people on top of Mount Po'-kis,
north of Bontoc. They were Fa-tang'-a and his sister Fu'-kan. They
were without fire, as all the fires of Bontoc were put out by
the water. Lu-ma'-wig told them to wait while he went quickly to
Mount Ka-lo-wi'-tan, south of Bontoc, for fire. When he returned
Fu'-kan was heavy with child. Lu-ma'-wig left them, going above
as a bird flies. Soon the child was born, the water subsided in
Bontoc pueblo, and Fa-tang'-a with his sister and her babe returned
to the pueblo. Children came to the household rapidly and in great
numbers. Generation followed generation, and the people increased
wonderfully.
After a time Lu-ma'-wig decided to come to help and teach the
Igorot. He first stopped on Ka-lo-wi'-tan Mountain, and from there
looked over the young women of Sabangan, searching for a desirable
wife, but he was not pleased with the girls of Sabangan because they
had short hair. He next visited Alap, but the young women of that
pueblo were sickly; so he came on to Tulubin. There the marriageable
girls were afflicted with goiter. He next stopped at Bontoc, where he
saw two young women, sisters, in a garden. Lu-ma'-wig came to them and
sat down. Presently he asked why they did not go to the house. They
answered that they must work; they were gathering beans. Lu-ma'-wig
was pleased with this, so he picked one bean of each variety, tossed
them into the baskets -- when presently the baskets were filled to the
rim. He married Fu'-kan, the younger of the two industrious sisters,
and namesake of the mother of the people of Bontoc.
After marriage he lived at Chao'-wi, in the present ato of Sigichan,
near the center of Bontoc pueblo. The large, flat stones which were
once part of Lu-ma'-wig's dwelling are still lying in position,
and are shown in Pl. CLIII.
Lu-ma'-wig at times exhibited his marvelous powers. They say he could
take a small chicken, feed it a few grains of rice, and in an hour
it would be full grown. He could fill a basket with rice in a very
few moments, simply by putting in a handful of kernels. He could cut
a stick of wood in the mountains, and with one hand toss it to his
dwelling in the pueblo. Once when out in I-shil' Mountains northeast
of Bontoc, Fa-tang'-a, the brother-in-law of Lu-ma'-wig, said to him,
"Oh, you of no value! Here we are without water to drink. Why do you
not give us water?" Lu-ma'-wig said nothing, but he turned and thrust
his spear in the side of the mountain. As he withdrew the weapon a
small stream of water issued from the opening. Fa-tang'-a started to
drink, but Lu-ma'-wig said, "Wait; the others first; you last." When
it came Fa-tang'-a's turn to drink, Lu-ma'-wig put his hand on him as
he drank and pushed him solidly into the mountain. He became a rock,
and the water passed through him. Several of the old men of Bontoc
have seen this rock, now broken by others fallen on it from above,
but the stream of water still flows on the thirsty mountain.
In an isolated garden, called "fil-lang'," now in ato Chakong,
Lu-ma'-wig taught Bontoc how best to plant, cultivate, and garner her
various agricultural products. Fil-lang' to-day is a unique little
sementera. It is the only garden spot within the pueblo containing
water. The pueblo is so situated that irrigating water can not be
run into it, but throughout the dry season of 1903 -- the dryest
for years in Bontoc -- there was water in at least a fourth of this
little garden. There is evidently a very small. but perpetual spring
within the plat. Taro now occupies the garden and is weeded and
gathered by Na-wit', an old man chosen by the old men of the pueblo
for this office. Na-wit' maintains and the Igorot believe that the
vegetable springs up without planting. As the watering of fil-lang'
is through the special dispensation of Lu-ma'-wig, so the taro left
by him in his garden school received from him a peculiar lease of
life -- it is perpetual. The people claim that all other taro beds
must be planted annually.
Lu-ma'-wig showed the people how to build the fawi and pabafunan,
and with his help those of Lowingan and Sipaat were constructed. He
also told them their purposes and uses. He gave the people names for
many of the things about them; he also gave the pueblo its name.
He gave them advice regarding conduct -- a crude code of ethics. He
told them not to lie, because good men do not care to associate with
liars. He said they should not steal, but all people should take
care to live good and honest lives. A man should have only one wife;
if he had more, his life would soon be required of him. The home
should be kept pure; the adulterer should not violate it; all should
be as brothers.
As has been previously said, the people of Bontoc claim that they
did not go to war or kill before Lu-ma'-wig came.
They say no Igorot ever divorced a wife who bore him a child, yet
they accuse Lu-ma'-wig of such conduct, but apparently seek to excuse
the act by saying that at the time he was partially insane. Fu'-kan,
Lu-ma'-wig's wife, bore him several children. One day she spoke very
disrespectfully to him. This change of attitude on her part somewhat
unbalanced him, and he put her with two of her little boys in a large
coffin, and set them afloat on the river. He securely fastened the
cover of the coffin, and on either end tied a dog and a cock. The
coffin floated downstream unobserved as far as Tinglayan. There the
barking of the dog and the crowing of the cock attracted the attention
of a man who rushed out into the river with his ax to secure such a
fine lot of pitch-pine wood. When he struck his ax in the wood a voice
called from within, "Don't do that; I am here." Then the man opened the
coffin and saw the woman and children. The man said his wife was dead,
and the woman asked whether he wanted her for a wife. He said he did,
so she became his wife.
After a time the children wanted to return to Bontoc to see their
father. Before they started their mother instructed them to follow
the main river, but when they arrived at the mouth of a tributary
stream they became confused, and followed the river leading them
to Kanyu. There they asked for their father, but the people killed
them and cut them up. Presently they were alive again, and larger
than before. They killed them again and again. After they had come
to life seven times they were full-grown men; but the eighth time
Kanyu killed them they remained dead. Bontoc went for their bodies,
and told Kanyu that, because they killed the children of Lu-ma'-wig,
their children would always be dying -- and to-day Bontoc points
to the fewness of the houses which make up Kanyu. The bodies were
buried close to Bontoc on the west and northwest; scarcely were
they interred when trees began to grow upon and about the graves --
they were the transformed bodies of Lu-ma'-wig's children. The Igorot
never cut trees in the two small groves nearby the pueblo, but once a
year they gather the fallen branches. They say that a Spaniard once
started to cut one of the trees, but he had struck only a few blows
when he was suddenly taken sick. His bowels bloated and swelled and
he died in a few minutes.
These two groves are called "Pa-pa-tay'" and "Pa-pa-tay' ad So-kok',"
the latter one shown in Pl. CLIV. Each is said to be a man, but among
some of the old men the one farthest to the north is now said to be a
woman. The reason they assign for now calling one a woman is because
it is situated lower down on the mountain than the other. They are
held sacred, and the monthly religious ceremonial of patay is observed
beneath their trees.
It seems that Lu-ma'-wig soon became irritated and jealous, because
Fu'-kan was the wife of another man, and he sent word forbidding her
to leave her house. About this time the warriors of Tinglayan returned
from a head-hunting expedition. When Fu'-kan heard their gongs and knew
all the pueblo was dancing, she danced alone in the house. Soon those
outside felt the ground trembling. They looked and saw that the house
where Fu'-kan lived was trembling and swaying. The women hastened
to unfortunate Fu'-kan and brought her out of the house. However,
in coming out she had disobeyed Lu-ma'-wig, and shortly she died.
Lu-ma'-wig's work was ended. He took three of his children with
him to Mount Po'-kis, on the northern horizon of Bontoc, and from
there the four passed above into the sky as birds fly. His two other
children wished to accompany him, but he denied them the request; and
so they left Bontoc and journeyed westward to Loko (Ilokos Provinces)
because, they said, if they remained, they would die. What became of
these two children is not known; neither is it known whether those
who went above are alive now; but Lu-ma'-wig is still alive in the
sky and is still the friendly god of the Igorot, and is the force in
all the things with which he originally had to do.
Throughout the Bontoc culture area Lu-ma'-wig is the one and only
god of the people. Many said that he lived in Bontoc, and, so far as
known, they hold the main facts of the belief in him substantially
as do the people of his own pueblo.
"Changers" in religion
In the western pueblos of Alap, Balili, Genugan, Takong, and Sagada
there has been spreading for the past two years a changing faith. The
people allying themselves with the new faith call themselves
"Su-pa-la'-do," and those who speak Spanish say they are "guardia
de honor."
The Su-pa-la'-do continue to eat meat, but wash and cleanse it
thoroughly before cooking. They are said also not to hold any of the
ceremonials associated with the old faith. They keep a white flag
flying from a pole near their dwelling, or at least one such flag
in the section of the pueblo in which they reside. They also believe
that Lu-ma'-wig will return to them in the near future.
A Tinguian man of the pueblo of Pay-yao', Lepanto, a short journey
from Agawa, in Bontoc, is said to be the leading spirit in this faith
of the "guardia de honor." It is believed to be a movement taking
its rise from the restless Roman Catholic Ilokano of the coast.
In Bontoc pueblo the thought of the return of Lu-ma'-wig is laughed
at. The people say that if Lu-ma'-wig was to return they would
know of it. However, two families in Bontoc, one that of Finumti,
the tattooer, and the other that of Kayyad, a neighbor of Finumti,
have a touch of a changing faith. They are known in Bontoc as O-lot'.
I was not able to trace any connection between the O-lot' and the
Su-pa-la'-do, though I presume there is some connection; but I learned
of the O-lot' only during the last few days of my stay in Bontoc. The
O-lot' are said not to eat meat, not to kill chickens, not to smoke,
and not to perform any of the old ceremonies. However, I do not believe
they or in fact the Su-pa-la'-do neglect all ceremonials, because
such a turning from a direct, positive, and very active religious
life to one of total neglect of the old religious ceremonials would
seem to be impossible for an otherwise normal Igorot.
Priesthood
That the belief in spirits is the basis of Igorot religion is shown in
the fact that each person or each household has the necessary power
and knowledge to intercede with the anito. No class of persons has
been differentiated for this function, excepting the limited one of
the dream-appointed insupak or anito exorcists.
That belief in a supreme being is a later development than the belief
in spirits is clear when the fact is known that a differentiated class
of persons has arisen whose duty it is to intercede with Lumawig for
the people as a whole.
This religious intercessor has few of the earmarks of a priest. He
teaches no morals or ethics, no idea of future rewards or punishments,
and he is not an idle, nonproductive member of the group. He usually
receives for the consumption of his family the food employed in the
ceremonies to Lumawig, but this would not sustain the family one week
in the fifty-two. The term "priesthood" is applied to these people
for lack of a better one, and because its use is sufficiently accurate
to serve the present purpose.
There are three classes of persons who stand between the people
and Lumawig, and to-day all hold an hereditary office. The first
class is called "Wa-ku'," of which there are three men, namely,
Fug-ku-so', of ato Somowan, Fang-u-wa', of ato Lowingan, and
Cho-Iug', of ato Sigichan. The function of these men is to decide
and announce the time of all rest days and ceremonials for the
pueblo. These Wa-ku' inform the old men of each ato, and they in turn
announce the days to the ato. The small boys, however, are the true
"criers." They make more noise in the evening before the rest day,
crying "Teng-ao'! whi! teng-ao'!" ("Rest day! hurrah! rest day!"),
than I have heard from the pueblo at any other time.
The title of the second class of intercessors is "Pa'-tay," of whom
there are two in Bontoc -- Kad-lo'-san, of ato Somowan, and Fi'-Iug,
of ato Longfoy.
The Pa'-tay illustrate the nature of the titles borne by all the
intercessors. The title is the same as the name of the ceremony or
one of the ceremonies which the person performs.
Once every new moon each Pa'-tay performs the pa'-tay ceremony in
the sacred grove near the pueblo. This ceremony is for the general
well-being of the pueblo.
The third class of intercessors has duties of a two-fold nature. One
is to allay the rain and wind storms, called "baguios," and to drive
away the cold; and the other is to petition for conditions favorable
to crops. There are seven of these men, and each has a distinct
title. All are apparently of equal importance to the group.
Le-yod', of ato Lowingan, whose title is "Ka-lob'," has charge
of the ka-lob' ceremony held once or twice each year to allay the
baguios. Ang'-way, of ato Somowan, whose title is "Chi-nam'-wi,"
presides over the chi-nam'-wi ceremony to drive away the cold
and fog. This ceremony usually occurs once or twice each year
in January, February, or March. He also serves once each year in
the fa-kil' ceremony for rain. Cham-lang'-an, of ato Filig, has
the title "Po-chang'," and he has one annual ceremony for large
palay. A fifth intercessor is Som-kad', of ato Sipaat; his title is
"Su'-wat." He performs two ceremonies annually -- one, the su'-wat,
for palay fruitage, and the other a fa-kil' for rains. Ong-i-yud',
of ato Fatayyan, is known by the title of "Ke'-eng." He has two
ceremonies annually, one ke'-eng and the other tot-o-lod'; both
are to drive the birds and rats from the fruiting palay. Som-kad',
of ato Sigichan, with the title "O-ki-ad'," has charge of three
ceremonies annually. One is o-ki-ad', for the growth of beans;
another is los-kod', for abundant camotes, and the third is fa-kil',
the ceremony for rain. There are four annual fa-kil' ceremonies,
and each is performed by a different person.
Sacred days
Teng-ao' is the sacred day, the rest day, of Bontoc. It occurs on
an average of about every ten days throughout the year, though there
appears to be no definite regularity in its occurrence. The old men
of the two ato of Lowingan and Sipaat determine when teng-ao' shall
occur, and it is a day observed by the entire pueblo.
The day is publicly announced in the pueblo the preceding evening. If
a person goes to labor in the fields on a sacred day -- not having
heard the announcement, or in disregard of it -- he is fined for
"breaking the Sabbath." The old men of each ato discover those who have
disobeyed the pueblo law by working in the field, and they announce the
names to the old men of Lowingan and Sipaat, who promptly take from the
lawbreaker firewood or rice or a small chicken to the value of about 10
cents, or the wage of two days. March 3, 1903, was teng-ao' in Bontoc,
and I saw ten persons fined for working. The fines are expended in
buying chickens and pigs for the pa'-tay ceremonies of the pueblo.
Ceremonials
A residence of five months among a primitive people about whom no
scientific knowledge existed previously is evidently so scant for
a study of ceremonial life that no explanation should be necessary
here. However, I wish to say that no claim is made that the following
short presentation is complete -- in fact, I know of several ceremonies
by name about which I can not speak at all with certainty. Time was
also insufficient to get accurate translations of all ceremonial
utterances which are here presented.
There is great absence of formalism in uttering ceremonies, scarcely
two persons speak exactly the same words, though I believe the purport
of each ceremony, as uttered by two people, to be the same. This
looseness may be due in part to the absence of a developed cult having
the ceremonies in charge from generation to generation.
Ceremonies connected with agriculture
Pochang
This ceremony is performed at the close of the period Pa-chog',
the period when rice seed is put in the germinating beds.
It is claimed there is no special oral ceremony for Po-chang'. The
proceeding is as follows: On the first day after the completion of
the period Pa-chog' the regular monthly Pa'-tay ceremony is held. On
the second day the men of ato Sigichan, in which ato Lumawig resided
when he lived in Bontoc, prepare a bunch of runo as large around as
a man's thigh. They call this the "cha-nug'," and store it away in
the ato fawi, and outside the fawi set up in the earth twenty or more
runo, called "pa-chi'-pad -- the pud-pud' of the harvest field.
The bunch of runo is for a constant reminder to Lumawig to make the
young rice stalks grow large. The pa-chi'-pad are to prevent Igorot
from other pueblos entering the fawi and thus seeing the efficacious
bundle of runo.
During the ceremony of Lis-lis, at the close of the annual harvest of
palay, both the cha-nug' and the pa-chi'-pad are destroyed by burning.
Chaka
On February 10, 1903, the rice having been practically all transplanted
in Bontoc, was begun the first of a five-day general ceremony for
abundant and good fruitage of the season's palay. It was at the close
of the period I-na-na'.
The ceremony of the first day is called "Su-yak'." Each group of kin --
all descendants of one man or woman who has no living ascendants --
kills a large hog and makes a feast. This day is said to be passed
without oral ceremony.
The ceremony of the second day was a double one. The first was called
"Wa-lit'" and the second "Mang'-mang." From about 9.30 until 11 in
the forenoon a person from each family -- usually a woman -- passed
slowly up the steep mountain side immediately west of Bontoc. These
people went singly and in groups of two to four, following trails to
points on the mountain's crest. Each woman carried a small earthen
pot in which was a piece of pork covered with basi. Each also carried
a chicken in an open-work basket, while tucked into the basket was a
round stick about 14 inches long and half an inch in diameter. This
stick, "lo'-lo," is kept in the family from generation to generation.
When the crest of the mountain was reached, each person in turn voiced
an invitation to her departed ancestors to come to the Mang'-mang
feast. She placed her olla of basi and pork over a tiny fire,
kindled by the first pilgrim to the mountain in the morning and fed
by each arrival. Then she took the chicken from her basket and faced
the west, pointing before her with the chicken in one hand and the
lo'-lo in the other. There she stood, a solitary figure, performing
her sacred mission alone. Those preceding her were slowly descending
the hot mountain side in groups as they came; those to follow her
were awaiting their turn at a distance beneath a shady tree. The fire
beside her sent up its thin line of smoke, bearing through the quiet
air the fragrance of the basi.
The woman invited the ancestral anito to the feast, saying:
"A-ni'-to ad Lo'-ko, su-ma-a-kay'-yo ta-in-mang-mang'-ta-ko
ta-ka-ka'-nen si mu'-teg." Then she faced the north and addressed the
spirit of her ancestors there: "A-ni'-to ad La'-god, su-ma-a-kay'-yo
ta-in-mang-mang'-ta-ko ta-ka-ka'-nen si mu'-teg." She faced the east,
gazing over the forested mountain ranges, and called to the spirits
of the past generation there: "A-ni'-to ad Bar'-lig su-ma-a-kay'-yo
ta-in-mang-mang'-ta-ko ta-ka-ka-nen si mu'-teg."
As she brought her sacred objects back down the mountain another
woman stood alone by the little fire on the crest.
The returning pilgrim now puts her fowl and her basi olla inside her
dwelling, and likely sits in the open air awaiting her husband as he
prepares the feast. Outside, directly in front of his door, he builds
a fire and sets a cooking olla over it. Then he takes the chicken from
its basket, and at his hands it meets a slow and cruel death. It is
held by the feet and the hackle feathers, and the wings unfold and
droop spreading. While sitting in his doorway holding the fowl in
this position the man beats the thin-fleshed bones of the wings with a
short, heavy stick as large around as a spear handle. The fowl cries
with each of the first dozen blows laid on, but the blows continue
until each wing has received fully half a hundred. The injured bird
is then laid on its back on a stone, while its head and neck stretch
out on the hard surface. Again the stick falls, cruelly, regularly,
this time on the neck. Up and down its length it is pummeled, and as
many as a hundred blows fall -- fall after the cries cease, after the
eyes close and open and close again a dozen times, and after the bird
is dead. The head receives a few sharp blows, a jet of blood spurts
out, and the ceremonial killing is past. The man, still sitting on
his haunches, still clasping the feet of the pendent bird, moves
over beside his fire, faces his dwelling, and voices the only words
of this strangely cruel scene. His eyes are open, his head unbending,
and he gazes before him as he earnestly asks a blessing on the people,
their pigs, chickens, and crops.
The old men say it is bad to cut off a chicken's head -- it is like
taking a human head, and, besides, they say that the pummeling makes
the flesh on the bony wings and neck larger and more abundant --
so all fowls killed are beaten to death.
After the oral part of the ceremony the fowl is held in the flames
till all its feathers are burned off. It is cut up and cooked in the
olla before the door of the dwelling, and the entire family eats of it.
Each family has the Mang'-mang ceremony, and so also has each
broken household if it possesses a sementera -- though a lone woman
calls in a man, who alone may perform the rite connected with the
ceremonial killing, and who must cook the fowl. A lone man needs no
woman assistant.
Though the ancestral anito are religiously bidden to the feast,
the people eat it all, no part being sacrificed for these invisible
guests. Even the small olla of basi is drunk by the man at the
beginning of the meal.
The rite of the third day is called "Mang-a-pu'-i." The sementeras of
growing palay are visited, and an abundant fruitage asked for. Early
in the morning some member of each household goes to the mountains
to get small sprigs of a plant named "pa-lo'-ki." Even as early as
7.30 the pa-lo'-ki had been brought to many of the houses, and the
people were scattering along the different trails leading to the
most distant sementeras. If the family owned many scattered fields,
the day was well spent before all were visited.
Men, women, and boys went to the bright-green fields of young palay,
each carrying the basket belonging to his sex. In the basket were
the sprigs of pa-lo'-ki, a small olla of water, a small wooden dish
or a basket of cooked rice, and a bamboo tube of basi or tapui. Many
persons had also several small pieces of pork and a chicken. As they
passed out of the pueblo each carried a tightly bound club-like torch
of burning palay straw; this would smolder slowly for hours.
On the stone dike of each sementera the owner paused to place three
small stones to hold the olla. The bundle of smoldering straw was
picked open till the breeze fanned a blaze; dry sticks or reeds
quickly made a small, smoking fire under the olla, in which was put
the pork or the chicken, if food was to be eaten there. Frequently,
too, if the smoke was low, a piece of the pork was put on a stick
punched into the soil of the sementera beside the fire and the smoke
enwrapped the meat and passed on over the growing field.
As soon as all was arranged at the fire a small amount of basi was
poured over a sprig of pa-lo'-ki which was stuck in the soil of the
sementera, or one or two sprigs were inserted, drooping, in a split
in a tall, green runo, and this was pushed into the soil. While the
person stood beside the efficacious pa-lo'-ki an invocation was voiced
to Lumawig to bless the crop.
The olla and piece of pork were at once put in the basket, and the
journey conscientiously continued to the next sementera. Only when
food was eaten at the sementera was the halt prolonged.
A-sig-ka-cho' is the name of the function of the fourth day. On that
day each household owning sementeras has a fish feast.
At that season of the year (February), while the water is low in
the river, only the very small, sluggish fish, called "kacho," is
commonly caught at Bontoc. Between 200 and 300 pounds of those fish,
only one in a hundred of which exceeded 2 1/2 inches in length,
were taken from the river during the three hours in the afternoon
when the ceremonial fishing was in progress.
Two large scoops, one shown in Pl. XLIX, were used to catch the
fish. They were a quarter of a mile apart in the river, and were
operated independently.
At the house the fish were cooked and eaten as is described in the
section on "Meals and mealtime."
When this fish meal was past the last observance of the fourth day
of the Cha'-ka ceremonial was ended.
The rite of the last day is called "Pa'-tay." It is observed by two
old Pa'-tay priests. Exactly at high noon Kad-lo'-san left his ato
carrying a chicken and a smoldering palay-straw roll in his hand, and
the unique basket, tak-fa', on his shoulder. He went unaccompanied and
apparently unnoticed to the small grove of trees, called "Pa-pa-tay'
ad So-kok'." Under the trees is a space some 8 or 10 feet across,
paved with flat rocks, and here the man squatted and put down his
basket. From it he took a two-quart olla containing water, a small
wooden bowl of cooked rice, a bottle of native cane sugar, and a
head-ax. He next kindled a blaze under the olla in a fireplace of
three stones already set up. Then followed the ceremonial killing
of the chicken, as described in the Mang'-mang rite of the second
day. With the scarcely dead fowl held before him the man earnestly
addressed a short supplication to Lumawig.
The fowl was then turned over and around in the flame until all its
feathers were burned off. Its crop was torn out with the fingers. The
ax was struck blade up solid in the ground, and the legs of the
chicken cut off from the body by drawing them over the sharp ax
blade, and they were put at once into the pot. An incision was cut
on each side of the neck, and the body torn quickly and neatly open,
with the wings still attached to the breast part. A glad exclamation
broke from the man when he saw that the gall of the fowl was dark
green. The intestines were then removed, ripped into a long string,
and laid in the basket. The back part of the fowl, with liver, heart,
and gizzard attached, went into the now boiling pot, and the breast
section followed it promptly. Three or four minutes after the bowl
of rice was placed immediately in front of the man, and the breast
part of the chicken laid in the bowl on the rice. Then followed these
words: "Now the gall is good, we shall live in the pueblo invulnerable
to disease."
The breast was again put in the pot, and as the basket was packed up
in preparation for departure the anito of ancestors were invited to a
feast of chicken and rice in order that the ceremony might be blessed.
At the completion of this supplication the Pa'-tay shouldered his
basket and hastened homeward by a different route from which he came.
If a chicken is used in this rite it is cooked in the dwelling of
the priest and is eaten by the family. If a pig is used the old men
of the priest's ato consume it with him.
The performance of the rite of this last day is a critical half hour
for the town. If the gall of the fowl is white or whitish the palay
fruitage will be more or less of a failure. The crop last year was
such -- a whitish gall gave the warning. If a crow flies cawing over
the path of the Pa'-tay as he returns to his dwelling, or if the dogs
bark at him, many people will die in Bontoc. Three years ago a man
was killed by a falling bowlder shortly after noon on this last day's
ceremonial -- a flying crow had foretold the disaster. If an eagle
flies over the path, many houses will burn. Two years ago an eagle
warned the people, and in the middle of the day fifty or more houses
burned in Bontoc in the three ato of Pokisan, Luwakan, and Ungkan.
If none of these calamities are foretold, the anito enemies of Bontoc
are not revengeful, and the pueblo rests in contentment.
Suwat
This ceremony, performed by Som-kad' of ato Sipaat, occurs in the
first period of the year, I-na-na'. The usual pig or chicken is
killed, and the priest says: "In-fi-kus'-na ay pa-ku' to-mo-no'-ka
ad chay'-ya." This is: "Fruit of the palay, grow up tall, even to
the sky."
Keeng
Ke'-eng ceremony is for the protection of the palay. Ong-i-yud',
of ato Fatayyan, is the priest for this occasion, and the ceremony
occurs when the first fruit heads appear on the growing rice. They
claim two good-sized hogs are killed on this day. Then Ong-i-yud'
takes a ki'-lao, the bird-shaped bird scarer, from the pueblo and
stealthily ducks along to the sementera where he suddenly erects the
scarer. Then he says:
U-mi-chang'-ka Sik'-a
Ti-lin' in kad La'-god yad Ap'-lay
Sik'-a o'-tot in lo-ko-lo'-ka nan fu-i'-mo.
Freely translated, this is --
Ti-lin' [the rice bird], you go away into the north country and the
south country
You, rat, you go into your hole.
Totolod
This ceremony, tot-o-lod', occurs on the day following ke'-eng,
and it is also for the protection of the rice crop. Ong-i-yud' is
the priest for both ceremonies.
The usual hog is killed, and then the priest ties up a bundle of palay
straw the size of his arm, and walks to the south side of the pueblo
"as though stalking deer in the tall grass." He suddenly and boldly
throws the bundle southward, suggesting that the birds and rats follow
in the same direction, and that all go together quickly.
Safosab
This ceremony is recorded in the chapter on "Agriculture" in the
section on "Harvesting," page 103. It is simply referred to here
in the place where it would logically appear if it were not so
intimately connected with the harvesting that it could not be omitted
in presenting that phase of agriculture.
Lislis
At the close of the rice harvest, at the beginning of the season
Li'-pas, the lis-lis ceremony is widely celebrated in the Bontoc
area. It consists, in Bontoc pueblo, of two parts. Each family cooks
a chicken in the fireplace on the second floor of the dwelling. This
part is called "cha-peng'." After the cha-peng' the public part of the
ceremony occurs. It is called "fug-fug'-to," and is said to continue
three days.
Fug-fug'-to in Bontoc is a man's rock fight between the men of Bontoc
and Samoki. The battle is in the broad bed of the river between the
two pueblos. The men go to the conflict armed with war shields, and
they pelt each other with rocks as seriously as in actual war. There
is a man now in Bontoc whose leg was broken in the conflict of 1901,
and three of our four Igorot servant boys had scalp wounds received
in lis-lis rock conflicts.
A river cuts in two the pueblo of Alap, and that pueblo is said
to celebrate the harvest by a rock fight similar to that of Bontoc
and Samoki.
It is said by Igorot that the Sadanga lis-lis is a conflict with runo
(or reed) spears, which are warded off with the war shields.
It is claimed that in Sagada the public part of the ceremony consists
of a mud fight in the sementeras, mud being thrown by each contending
party.
Loskod
This ceremony occurs once each year at the time of planting camotes,
in the period of Ba-li'-ling.
Som-kad' of ato Sigichan is the pueblo "priest" who performs the
los-kod' ceremony. He kills a chicken or pig, and then petitions
Lumawig as follows: "Lo-mos-kod'-kay to-ki'." This means, "May there
be so many camotes that the ground will crack and burst open."
Okiad
Som-kad' of ato Sigichan performs the o-ki-ad' ceremony once each
year during the time of planting the black beans, or ba-la'-tong,
also in the period of Ba-li'-ling.
The petition addressed to Lumawig is said after a pig or chicken
has been ceremonially killed; it runs as follows: "Ma-o'-yed si
ba-la'-tong, Ma-o'-yed si fu'-tug, Ma-o'-yed nan i-pu-kao'." A free
translation is, "May the beans grow rapidly; may the pigs grow rapidly;
and may the people [the children] grow rapidly."
Kopus
Ko'-pus is the name given the three days of rest at the close of the
period of Ba-li'-ling. They say there is no special ceremony for
ko'-pus, but some time during the three days the pa'-tay ceremony
is performed.
Ceremonies connected with climate
Fakil
The Fa-kil' ceremony for rain occurs four times each year, on four
succeeding days, and is performed by four different priests. The
ceremony is simple. There is the usual ceremonial pig killing by the
priest, and each night preceding the ceremony all the people cry:
"I-teng'-ao ta-ko nan fa-kil'." This is only an exclamation, meaning,
"Rest day! We observe the ceremony for rain!" I was informed that
the priest has no separate oral petition or ceremony, though it is
probable that he has.
Kalob
Once or twice each year, or maybe once in two years, in January
or February, a cold, driving rain pours itself on Bontoc from the
north. It often continues for two or three days, and is a miserable
storm to be out in.
If this storm continues three or four days, Le-yod', of ato Lowingan,
performs the following ceremony in his dwelling: "Ma-kis-kis'-kay
li-fo'-o min-chi-kang'-ka ay fat-a'-wa ta-a'-yu nan fa'-ki
lo-lo'-ta." A very free translation of this is as follows: "You fogs,
rise up rolling. Let us have good weather in all the world! All the
people are very poor."
Following this ceremony Le-yod' goes to Chao'-wi, the site of Lumawig's
former dwelling in the pueblo, shown in Pl. CLIII, and there he builds
a large fire. It is claimed the fierce storm always ceases shortly
after the ka-lob' is performed.
Chinamwi
Ang'-way of ato Somowan performs the chi-nam'-wi ceremony once or
twice each year during the cold and fog of the period Sama, when the
people are standing in the water-filled sementeras turning the soil,
frequently working entirely naked.
Many times I have seen the people shake -- arms, legs, jaw, and body --
during those cold days, and admit that I was touched by the ceremony
when I saw it.
A hog is killed and each household gives Ang'-way a manojo of
palay. He pleads to Lumawig: "Tum-ke'-ka ay li-fo'-o ta-a-ye'-o nan
in sa-ma'-mi." This prayer is: "No more cold and fog! Pity those
working in the sementera!"
Ceremonies connected with head taking[35]
Kafokab
Ka-fo'-kab is the name of a ceremony performed as soon as a party
of successful head-hunters returns home. The old man in charge at
the fawi says: "Cha-kay'-yo fo'-so-mi ma-pay-ing'-an. Cha-kay'-mi
in-ked-se'-ka-mi nan ka-nin'-mi to-kom-ke'-ka." This is an exultant
boast -- it is the crow of the winning cock. It runs as follows:
"You, our enemies, we will always kill you! We are strong; the food
we eat makes us strong!"
Changtu
There is a peculiar ceremony, called "chang'-tu," performed now and
then when i'-chu, the small omen bird, visits the pueblo.
This ceremony is held before each dwelling and each pabafunan in the
pueblo. A chicken is killed, and usually both pork and chicken are
eaten. The man performing the Chang'-tu says:
"Sik'-a tan-ang'-a sik'-a lu'-fub ad Sa-dang'-a nan ay-yam' Sik'-a
ta-lo'-lo ad La'-god nan ay-yam' Sik'-a ta-lo'-lo ye'-mod La'-god
nan fa-no wat'-mo yad Ap'-lay."
This speech is a petition running as follows:
"You, the anito of a person beheaded by Bontoc, and you, the anito of
a person who died in a dwelling, you all go to the pueblo of Sadanga
[that is, you destructive spirits, do not visit Bontoc; but we suggest
that you carry your mischief to the pueblo of Sadanga, an enemy of
ours]. You, the anito of a Bontoc person beheaded by some other pueblo,
you go into the north country, and you, the anito of a Bontoc person
beheaded by some other pueblo, you carry the palay-straw torch into
the north country and the south country [that is, friendly anito,
once our fellow-citizens, burn the dwellings of our enemies both
north and south of us]."
In this petition the purpose of the Chang'-tu is clearly defined. The
faithful i'-chu has warned the pueblo that an anito, perhaps an enemy,
perhaps a former friend, threatens the pueblo; and the people seek
to avert the calamity by making feasts -- every dwelling preparing a
feast. Each household then calls the names of the classes of malignant
anito which destroy life and property, and suggests to them that they
spend their fury elsewhere.
Ceremony connected with ato
Young men sometimes change their membership from one a'-to to
another. It is said that old men never do. There is a ceremony of
adoption into a new a'-to when a change is made; it is called "pu-ke'"
or "pal-ug-peg'." At the time of the ceremony a feast is made. and
some old man welcomes the new member as follows:
If you die first, you must look out for us, since we wish to live long
[that is, your spirit must protect us against destructive spirits],
do not let other pueblos take our heads. If you do not take this
care, your spirit will find no food when it comes to the a'-to,
because the a'-to will be empty -- we will all be dead.