Mandit
The mandit of the Kankanay corresponds to the pachit of the Nabaloi. The Nabaloi use the word manchit, meaning “to celebrate the pachit.” The Kankanay always substitute “d” for the “ch” of the Nabaloi.
However, there is a difference in the purpose for which the Nabaloi and the Kankanay of Kibungan and surrounding towns celebrate this ceremony. In Kibungan it is given neither to cure nor to prevent sickness, but only to cause the person celebrating it to become rich and to be honored by the people. In the Kankanay town of Buguias it is celebrated to cure or prevent sickness as well as to enhance the prestige and to increase the wealth of the giver.
The following is an account of a mandit which I saw on the 3rd and 4th of October, 1916, at the house of Damadan, a rich Igorot living in Kibungan:
The ceremony began about nine o’clock in the morning. The mambunong took a cocoanut shell filled with tapuy, and squatted in front of the house. He then prayed as follows, while holding the tapuy in his hand:
Sikayao ay pinading ay kayilinganmi, ipitikĕnmi dakayos nan tapuy ut makikan kayo; ut adayo golgolidan di pakanĕnmi.
You, the pinading living near us, we are giving you tapuy and food to eat and drink with us; so do not permit what we feed to have a skin disease.
The old men then squatted around in a group and sang the bayog, which is as follows:
Linmayad si Taydak, linmayad si Dakodak;
Ginmosad si Soyaan, linmayad si Taydak;