Sagausau
Among the Kankanay of Benguet the sagausau is generally celebrated before starting on a journey, and always before starting on a journey to trade.
A chicken is first killed and its gall examined. If the gall is full and smooth the trader will have luck, but if the gall does not look right, the trip is delayed and the next day another chicken is killed. When the prospective trader finds a chicken whose gall is all right, he then proceeds to celebrate the sagausau.
In the western Benguet Kankanay towns, the person giving the sagausau prays as follows:
Sika agou ya boan, nay ay manaugasauak; sina yamo amoya sin amoyak, ya yaanda sakun si galiko ya takoanda sakun ni nalaka.
You, Sun and Moon, I am now celebrating the sagausau; and if I go, wherever I go, make them give me blankets and sell to me cheap.
In Buguias, where a large number of people make their living by acting as middlemen, between the Nabaloi and Ilocano on the one hand, and the Ifugao on the other, the prayer which is spoken by the mambunong is as follows:
You, Sun and Moon, come; witness the sagausau. —— is about to start on a journey to trade. May he be successful in trading. May he be able to collect all that is due him and evade payment of what he owes. Cause the people to give him food and blankets.
In the Lepanto town of Mancayan the sagausau is celebrated, but I do not know whether or not it is held in the other Lepanto towns.
The sagausau of the Nabaloi is celebrated for a different purpose and is an entirely different ceremony.
[1] All the ceremonies described in this section were recorded among the Benguet Kankanay in the townships of Kibungan, Kapangan, and Buguias. All the texts were recorded in Kibungan except those of the kiad, which were recorded in the central barrio of Kapangan, and those of the ampasit and tanong, which were recorded in the barrio of Legleg, Kapangan. Kibungan is a town in the northwestern corner of Benguet. It is inaccessible, and has been affected very little by outside influence. It adjoins the Amburayan town of Bacun, and the Lepanto town of Ampasungan. Legleg is about midway between Kibungan and the Nabaloi boundary; the barrio of Kapangan is on the line between the Nabaloi and Kankanay; and Buguias is in the northeastern part of Benguet, north of the Nabaloi town of Kabayan. The dialect is spoken with some difference of pronunciation in the various towns. It is believed that all public ceremonies celebrated by the Benguet Kankanay are described in this section, but some of the private ceremonies were probably overlooked.
[2] See note 7, p. 354.
[3] A kind of root eaten by the Igorot when the supply of rice or camotes is limited.