After the meal has been eaten, the family gathers up the skirt and dishes, to return them to the village, but the other offerings remain.
Rain, like all other things needed, is sent by Kadaklan or Kaboniyan. If it does not come as desired, or if the crop is not progressing Page 398favorably, a ceremony known as Komon or Ubaiya[26] is held. Each person of the village is assessed a sopa of rice, a bundle of palay, or a small coin with which pigs, basi, and other things necessary, can be purchased.
Early in the morning of the appointed day, the mediums, accompanied by many people, go to the guardian stones, oil the head of each, and place a bark band around it. Then having recited a proper dīam over a small pig, they slaughter it and scatter its blood mixed with rice among the stones. Likewise they place a dish of basi among them for the use of the spirits. A part of the slain animal is then cooked and eaten, after which all go back to the village. At some appointed place, rice, eggs, betel-nuts, and a large pig have been assembled, and to this spot the mediums go to conduct the rite known as Dawak.[27] Before its conclusion a dīam is recited over the pig, which is then killed and prepared for food. Meanwhile the chief medium beseeches the supreme being Kadaklan to enter her body. He comes, and after telling the people what must be done to insure the crop, he designates some one man who must, on the following morning, celebrate Padīam.
After all the visiting spirits have been given food and drink, a small covered raft (taltalabong) is constructed, and in it are placed a live chick, a cooked rooster, and other articles of food. Four sturdy men carry this to the river and set it afloat, while the people shout and beat on gongs to drive away evil spirits who might wish to steal the raft and its contents. The purpose of this offering is to supply food to any spirits who may be unable to attend the ceremony.
Early the next morning, the man who has been designated by Kadaklan to perform the Padīam makes ready, at his own expense, a large pig and cooked rice, and carries these to the fields. He must be dressed in striped garments known as gīnalīt, must carry a headaxe, and wear on his head the cloth band of the medium, beneath which are thrust two īgam, that is, chicken feathers notched or decorated with bits of colored thread (cf. p. 313). He is accompanied by his wife, attired in a red jacket (sinasáya) and a skirt (pīnápa), and by a medium who also wears the īgam beneath a headband of sīkag;[28] while the townspeople follow behind. Arrived at the field, the medium Page 399squats before the bound pig, and holding a spear, betel-nuts, and oil, begins to recite a dīam, meanwhile she strokes the animal from time to time with oiled fingers. This concluded, she stabs the pig, and having mixed its blood with rice, scatters it over the field, calling to the spirits to come and eat, and then to grant a full harvest. The people eat part of the animal while in the field, but before returning home, the head of each family receives a small strip of uncooked flesh, which he fastens above the door as a sign that the ceremony has been held.[29] The following day, the owner and the medium return to the field and break a little soil with a spear, and the ceremony is complete, but for some days these two are barred from eating shrimp, carabao, or wild pig. The owner must also pay the medium ten bundles of rice for her assistance in insuring his own crops, as well as those of the community. Should lightning strike a field or a tree in it, this ceremony is repeated, with the exception that the strips of flesh are not distributed, nor is the soil broken with a spear.[30]
In Lumaba, a town strongly influenced by the Igorot, the Ubaiya regularly precedes the rice planting, as well as the first use of a newly constructed field. While conforming, in general, to that already described, a part of the procedure is somewhat different. On the day before the ceremony, the men go to the mountains and gather lono stalks, one for each house and two for the town gate. The two reeds are placed crosswise of the entrance to the village and serve as a sign of taboo, and thereafter no one may enter until they are officially removed. To do so would necessitate the repetition of the ceremony, and the offender would be obliged to provide all the things necessary for it. Likewise, no one may wear a hat or prepare food during the period of taboo.
The next day is known as Bignas, and at dawn all the men arm themselves with bamboo poles. With these they beat about under the houses and throughout the town, in order to drive away any evil spirits who may be lurking about. Having effectively rid the town, they force the invisible beings ahead of them to the river, where they deposit the poles. They return to the village singing and shouting, and are met at the gate by the women, who hold ladders, one on each side of the entrance, so that they meet at the top and thus form a path by which the men may enter without breaking the interdict. At Page 400the guardian stones, they pause long enough to sacrifice a pig and a rooster, and offer blood and rice to the spirits, and then they proceed to the center of the village, where they dance tadek and da-eng until dusk. At nightfall a pig is killed, its flesh is divided among the people, and a lono stalk, after being dipped in the blood, is given to a member of each family. This is carried home, and is placed on the outside wall as a sign that the ceremony has been held.
If the sun is shining the following morning, the lakay will go outside the town to gather wood. Upon his return the people are again free to fish and hunt, but work is forbidden until evening. Should the sun fail to appear, all remain quietly in the village until the lakay can remove the taboo by his wood gathering.
In Manabo the ceremony is a mixture of the two types just described, and is always held at the time of planting and when droughts occur.[31]
The procedure at harvest time varies considerably in different districts, but the usual custom is for a woman, from each family, to go to the fields and cut alone until she has harvested one hundred bundles. During this time she may use no salt, but a little sand is placed in her food as a substitute. No outsider may enter the dwelling during this preliminary cutting. So strictly is this rule observed that the writer has been absolutely excluded from homes where, on other occasions, he was a welcome guest. In Lumaba and vicinity it is the custom to sacrifice a chicken two days before the harvest begins, and to cook its neck and intestines without salt. These are then divided into nine parts, are placed in dishes, and are carried to the spirit house in the field. At the end of the second day, the feathers of the fowl are stuck into the sides of the structure, and the spirits are entreated to grant a good harvest and health for the workers. The dishes are then returned to the village, and on the following morning the women may begin cutting.