When the rice is ready to be stored, the Palpalaem[32] ceremony is held in honor of the spirit of the granary. Vines and shrubs[33] are tied to each supporting post of the granary and above the door, while Page 401a bit of sīkag is also hidden inside a bundle of rice, which has been placed at each corner pole. Near one post is a small pig with its head toward the east, and over it the medium recites a dīam. As usual, the animal is killed, and its blood mixed with rice is offered to the spirits. A part of the flesh is wrapped in banana leaves, and a bundle is buried at the foot of each post. The skull is cooked, and after being cleaned, is hung up inside the roof. The rest of the meat is cooked, and is served with rice to the little company of friends who have gathered. Each guest is also given a few stalks of the rice from the bundles at the corner posts.
Just before the new rice is placed in the granary, a jar of basi is placed in the center of the structure, and beside it a dish filled with oil and the dung of worms. Five bundles of palay are piled over these, and the whole is presented to the spirit, who will now allow the rice to multiply until it is as plentiful as the dung.
In Buneg and nearby villages, all of which are strongly influenced by immigrants from the Cagayan valley, a small clay house known as lablabon or adug is placed with the rice, and from time to time offerings are put in them for the spirit who multiplies the rice (Plate [XXIX]).
Certain restrictions always apply to the granary. It may never be opened after dark, for evil spirits are certain to enter, and the crop will vanish quickly. It can be opened only by a member of the family “whom the spirit knows;” and should another attempt to remove the grain, sickness or blindness will befall him. So rigorously is this enforced that a bride never opens her husband's granary until he has presented her with a string of beads, which she wears about her neck to identify her. It is further necessary that she receive a similar gift before she eats of his rice, otherwise she will become ill. However, this does not apply to others, even strangers being fed without this gift being made.
A custom which formerly prevailed, but is now falling into disuse, was for the bride and groom to visit the family fields, where the youth cut a little grass along the dividing ridges. He then took up a bit of earth on his head-axe, and both tasted of it, “so that the ground would yield them good harvests, and they would become wealthy,”
Cultivated Plants and Trees.—Near every settlement will be found a number of small gardens, in which a variety of vegetables are grown. Occasionally a considerable planting of bananas will be found, while many villages are buried beneath the shade of coconut trees, but Page 402in comparison with rice the cultivation of other crops becomes insignificant. Nevertheless, a considerable amount of food stuff, as well as of plants and trees used in household industries, are planted in prepared land; while many of wild growths are utilized. The following list is doubtless incomplete, but still contains those of special value to this people.[34]
Next to rice the camote (Convolvulus batatas) is the most important food product. Occasionally it is raised in the gardens or rice terraces, but, as a rule, it is planted in hillside clearings from which one or two crops of rice have been removed. The tuber is cut into pieces, or runners from old plants are stuck into the ground, and the planting is complete. The vine soon becomes very sturdy, its large green leaves so carpeting the ground that it even competes successfully with the cogon grass. If allowed, the plants multiply by their runners far beyond the space originally allotted to them. The tubers, which are about the size of our sweet potatoes, are dug up as needed, to replace or supplement rice in the daily menu. Both roots and plants are also cooked and used as food for the pigs and dogs.
Aba (Colocasia antiquorum Schott) is raised,[35] but as it requires a moist soil, and hence would occupy land adapted to rice, it is chiefly limited to the gardens. It has large fleshy roots which are used like those of the camote, while the leaves and young shoots are also cooked and eaten. Other tubers known as obi (Dioscorea sp.), gakad (Dioscorea divaricata Blanco), annaeg (Dioscorea fasciculata), and kamas (Pachyrhizus angulatus D.C.) are raised to a limited extent in the gardens.
Corn, maīs, bukel, and red corn, gasīlan (Zea mays L.) seems to have been introduced into Abra in comparatively late times, for despite the fact that it is one of the most important crops, it has neither gathered to itself ceremonial procedure, nor has it acquired a place in the folk-lore. A considerable amount is raised in the village gardens, but generally it is planted by dibbling in the high land. When ripe, the ears are broken from the stalk, the husks are turned back, and several are tied together. These bunches are then placed over horizontal poles, raised several feet from the ground (Plate [LVIII]), and after being thoroughly dried, are hung from the house rafters. The common method of grinding is to place the corn on a large stone, over which a smaller Page 403stone is rocked until a fine flour is produced (Plate [LIX]). Stone disk grinders, imported from the coast, are also in use. These consist of grooved stones, the upper of which revolves on the lower. Grain is fed into an opening at the top as needed. Dried corn, popped in the embers of a fire, is much relished by the children.
Several varieties of squash,[36] and beans, as well as peanuts (manī) are among the common products of the garden. The former are trained to run over a low trellis or frame to prevent injury to the blossoms from a driving rain. Both blossoms and the mature vegetables are used as food.