A Study in Tinguian Folk-Lore

by Fay-Cooper Cole

Of the ceremonies connected with death we learn very little except that the women discard their arm beads, the mourners don old clothing, and all wail for the dead (pp. 44, 90). Three times we are told that the deceased is placed on a tabalang, or raft, on which a live rooster is fastened before it is set adrift on the river. In the tales the raft and fowl are of gold, but this is surprising even to the old woman Alokotán, past whose home in Nagbotobotán all these rafts must go (p. 131).

Up to this time in our reconstruction of the life of "the first times" we have mentioned nothing impossible or improbable to the present day Tinguian, although, as we shall see later, there are some striking differences in customs and ideas. We have purposely left the description of the people and their practice of magic to the last, although their magical practices invade every activity of their lives, for it is here that the greatest variations from present conditions apparently occur.

These people had intimate relations with some of the lesser spirits, especially with the liblibayan, [27] who appear to be little more than their servants, with the evil spirits known as banbanáyo, [28] and with the alan [29] (p. 123). The alan, just mentioned, are to-day considered as deformed spirits who live in the forests: "They are as large as people but have wings and can fly; their toes are at the back of their feet and their fingers point backwards from their wrists." The several references to them in the tales such as "you alan girls whose toes on your feet turn out" indicate they were so considered in the first times (p. 161). Some of them are addressed as "you alan of the springs," and in one instance a man dives down into the water where the alan live (p. 148), but in general their homes seem to be similar to but much finer than those of the people of Kadalayapan and Kaodanan. These spirits appear time after time as the foster mothers of the leading characters: Generally they secure a drop of menstrual blood, a miscarriage, or the afterbirth, and all unknown to the real parents, change them into children and raise them (p. 83). These foster children are pictured as living in houses of gold situated near springs, the pebbles of which are of Gold or beads; [30] the places where the women set the pots while dipping water are big plates or dishes, while similar dishes form the stepping stones leading up to the house. Articles of gold are found in the dwellings and valuable jars are numerous. When the true relationships of these children are established they always go to their blood parents, carrying with them these riches, which are a source of wonder and comment (pp. 43, 64).

The people of Kadalayapan and Kaodanan have many dealings with the celestial bodies. The big star Bagbagak appears as the husband of Sinag—the moon—and father of the star maiden Gaygayóma, who, Aponitolau assures his wife, is a spirit. When this girl comes down to steal sugar-cane she takes off her star dress and appears as a beautiful maiden; [31] she becomes enamored with Aponitolau and takes him to the sky, where he lives with her. They have a child, who later marries in Kadalayapan and thereafter stays below. Upon the occasion when Aponitolau visits his first wife and fails to return to the sky at the appointed time, a great company of stars are sent to fetch him, with orders to devour him if he refuses to obey (p. 109, ff.).

In the first tale Aponitolau himself appears as "the sun," "the man who makes the sun," as "a round stone which rolls," but when it is established that he is the son of a couple in Kadalayapan he apparently relinquishes his duties in the sky and goes to live in the village of his people. With him goes his wife Aponibolinayen, who had been carried above by a vine. While at his post in the heavens, Aponitolau is closely associated with the big star, whose duty it is to follow him in the sky. Again we are told that Aponitolau is taken up by the spirit Kabkabaga-an, whom he marries and by whom he has a son (p. 114). In some instances this hero and his son Kanag converse with thunder and lightning, which appear at times not unlike human beings (p. 100); but in the eighth relation the two kinds of lightning are pictured as dogs who guard the town of Dona.

These people enjoy unusual relations with inanimate things, and we find them conversing with spears and with jars. [32] In one case the latter appear to be pastured like animals, and surround Aponitolau when he goes to feed them with lawed [33] leaves and salt (p. 51). Weapons weep blood and oil when taken down for the purpose of injuring certain persons (p. 43). A nose flute, when played by a youth, tells him of his mother's plight (p. 152), while a bamboo Jew's harp summons the brothers of its owner (p. 162). Animals and birds are frequently in communication with them: The hawk flies away and spreads the news of the fight at Adasin [34] (p. 90); at the bidding of Dalonágan a spider spins a web about the town (p. 124); and Aponitolau is enabled to fulfill the labors assigned him by the ten-headed giant only through the aid of spiders, ants, and flies (p. 101). [35] During certain dances the water from the river flows over the town and fish come up and bite the feet of the dancers (p. 59). Crocodiles are left to guard the sister of Aponibalagen, and when they fail to explain their negligence they are whipped and sent away by their master (p. 87). A great bird is pleased with Aponitolau and carries him away [36] to its home, where it forces him to marry a woman it had previously captured (p. 92). In one instance an animal gives birth to a human child; a frog laps up the spittle of Aponitolau, and as a result becomes pregnant [37] and gives birth to a maiden who is taken away by the spirits (p. 105). Another account states that the three sons of Aponitolau and Aponibolinayen are born as pigs, but later assume human form (p. 116). Kanag becomes a snake when he tries to secure the perfume of Baliwán, but is restored to human form when he bathes in a magic well (p. 137). These and other mysterious happenings, many of which are not explained as being due to their own volition, befall them; thus Ingiwan, while walking, is confronted by an impassable hill and is compelled to cross the ocean, where he finds his future wife, but upon his return the hill has vanished (p. 86). In other instances the finger rings of people meeting for the first time exchange themselves (p. 92). The headband of Ligi flies away without his knowledge and alights on the skirt of a girl who is bathing in the river. As a result she becomes pregnant, and when the facts become known Ligi is recognized as the child's father (p. 144). It seems probable that the superior powers are responsible for these occurrences, for in at least one instance the great spirit Kaboniyan steals a maiden and turns her into a flock of birds, who talk with and assist the owner of a rice field (p. 151).

While they thus appear to be to a certain extent under the control of the spirits and to be surrounded by animals and inanimate things with human intelligence and speech, the people of these "first times" possess great power over nature: Time and space are annihilated, for at their will daylight comes at once (p. 150), or they are transported to a place in an instant (p. 92). At their command people appear: Kanag creates betel-nut trees, then cuts the fruit into bits, Which he sows on the ground. From these come many people who are his neighbors, and one of whom he marries (p. 121). The course of nature is changed: A field is planted in an instant; the crops mature in a few days, and the grain and fruits take themselves to the store-house (p. 150). A strike-a-light turns into a hill which impedes pursuers (p. 75), [38] while a belt or head-axe serves as a ferry across a body of water (p. 84). A storm is called upon to carry a person or a building to a distance (p. 121), and a spring is created by killing an old man (p. 60). [39] Prepared food appears at a word; a stick when cooked becomes a fish, and though it is repeatedly broken and served it always appears ready for service at meal time (p. 33); a small jar containing a single grain of rice supplies an abundance of food; another jar no larger than a fist furnishes drink for a company and still remains a third full; while a single earring fills a pot with gold [40] (pp. 47, 119, 123).

Quite as easy as the creation of beings is the causing of sleep or death. All the people of a village are put to sleep at the will of a single person (p. 145) and Albaga—while still at a distance—causes the death of Aponibolinayen (p. 44). At a word of command the spears and head-axes of the people of Kadalayapan and Kaodanan go out and kill great numbers of the enemy, and the heads and booty take themselves in orderly fashion to towns of their new owners (pp. 66, 75). Many methods of restoring the dead to life are employed; spittle is applied to the wounds, or the victim is placed in a magic well, but the common method is for the hero "to whip his perfume," [41] whereupon the dead follow his commands (pp. 152, 157).

The birth of a child, to a woman of these times, is generally preceded by an intense itching between the third and last fingers, and when this spot is pricked the child pops out "like popped rice." [42] Its growth is always magical, for at each bath its stature increases by a span (p. 102). Within a few days the baby is a large child and then begins deeds of valor worthy of the most renowned warriors (pp. 95, 96).

The power of assuming animal forms appears to be a common possession, and we find the different characters changing themselves into fireflies, ants, centipedes, omen birds, and in one case into oil [43] (pp. 85, 99).