Kankanay Ceremonies / (American Archaeology and Ethnology)

by C. R. Moss

You, the fire which did the cooking, shall be the first to eat, in order that the rice shall not cause us to become sick.

He prays a similar prayer to the pots in which the cooking has been done, to the rack on which the rice was dried, and to the mortar in which it was threshed.

This ceremony corresponds to the bakak of the Nabaloi.

Saldi

The ceremony called saldi is held before eating the meat of animals which have died of disease or have fallen from a cliff.

Pieces of the animals’ liver are thrown in various directions while the mambunong addresses the bilig living in the pasture lands of the animal, asking that sickness may not result from eating the meat.

After the meat has been cooked, the mambunong invites the fire and the pot to eat first, in order that the people who eat may not become sick.

This ceremony, which corresponds to the Nabaloi salchi, is celebrated in all Benguet Kankanay towns, and also in Bacun, Amburayan, and in Ampusungan and Mancayan, Lepanto.