Manaldek[27] was the next arrival, and as he was one of the spirits who was supposed to have caused the patient's illness, his visit was of considerable importance. He was presented with a spear and prepared betel-nut. The latter was attached to the point of the weapon, and this was pressed against the body of the pig, then the spirit touched each member of the family in order to drive the sickness from them.
Mamonglo ordered the family under a white blanket, and then Page 336touched the head of each person with a lead sinker, while his companion spirit waved a bundle of rice and a firebrand over them, “To take away the sickness which they had sent.” Six other spirits came long enough to drink, then Bisangolan occupied the attention of all for a time. He is an old man, a giant who lives near the river, and with his head-axe keeps the trees and driftwood from jamming, and thus prevents floods. For quite a time he chatted about himself, then finally blew smoke over the people, at the same time assuring them that the sickness would now vanish like the smoke. Just before departing he informed the family that a spirit named Imalbi had caused the trouble in the patient's eyes, and that on the next morning they must build a little house, called balitang, among the banana trees, and place in it a live chicken.
Gayangayan, a female spirit from Lagayan, followed, rubbed the head of each person, blew smoke over them, and then announced thus: “The people of Layogan[28] must not close their doors when it rains, or it will stop.”
The attitude of the people toward the weaker and less important spirits was well shown when Ambayau, a wild female spirit, arrived. She demanded to know where she could secure heads, and immediately the people began to tell her all sorts of impossible places, and made jests about her and her family. Finally they told her to take the head of a certain Christianized native; but she refused, since she had short hair, and it would be hard for her to carry the skull. While she was still talking, the men started to carry the pig from the room, but she detained them, to explain that the people cut the meat into too large pieces, for “we spirits eat only so much,” indicating a pinch. The spirit Soyau came for a drink, and then all the people went out to the tangpap, where the pig was killed, singed, and cut up. A small pig was laid beside the pala-an, and for a time was guarded by the son of the sick woman, who for this event had placed the notched chicken-feathers in his hair, and had put on bracelets of boar's tusks. As soon as she had finished at the tangpap, the medium came to the pala-an, and having recited the proper dīam over the pig lying there, ordered it killed in the manner already described for this structure (cf. p. 329). Both animals were then cooked, and soon all the guests were eating, drinking and jesting.
Late in the afternoon, the spirit mat was spread in the yard near to the tangpap, and the mediums began summoning the spirits. The Page 337first to come was Mamabᴇyan, an Igorot spirit for whom the people showed the utmost contempt. They guyed him, threw dirty water on his body, and in other ways insulted him, until in his fury he tried to climb the house posts to punish a group of girls, the worst offenders, but men and women rushed up with sticks and clubs, and drove him back. After a time he calmed down, and going to a bound pig, he addressed it as “a pretty lady,” and tried to caress it.
While this clown spirit was amusing the crowd, a second medium brought out ten coconut shells, one of which was filled with blood and rice. These she placed on a winnower, which in turn was set on a rice-mortar. Soon the spirit Ilongbósan entered her body, and commanded the son of the patient to take some of the blood and rice from the one dish, place it in all the others, and then put it back again, “for when the spirits make a man sick, they take part of his life, and when they make him well, they put it back. So the boy takes a part of the blood and rice away, and gives it to the spirits, then puts it back.” The spirit was followed, by Gīlen, who bade the lad take hold of one side of the winnower, while he held the other. Raising it in the air, they danced half way round the mortar, then retraced their steps. “This is because the spirits only partially took the life away. Now they put it back.” As they finished dancing, Gīlen struck his spear against the boy's head-axe and departed.
The medium, now with her own personality, leaned a shield against the rice-mortar, and in the Λ thus formed she hung a small bundle of rice and a burning cord, while over the whole she spread a fish net. Scarcely had she completed this task, when she was possessed by the spirit of Kibáyen, this being walked round and round the net, seeking for an opening, but without success. Later the medium explained, “The rice and fire represent the woman's life, which the spirit wishes to take; but she cannot, since she is unable to pass through the fish net.”
The next visitor was Yangayang, who began to boast of his power to make persons ill. Suddenly the medium fell to the ground in convulsions, and then stretched out in a dead faint. The writer examined her closely, but could not detect her breathing. After a moment, the second medium seized a rooster and waved it over the prostrate form, while an old man gave a sharp stroke on a gong close to her head. The medium awoke from her faint and thus “the death was frightened away.”
Mamonglo, who had been present during the morning, returned for a moment to again rub the family and guests with his lead sinker. Page 338While he was thus engaged, the second medium was possessed by Baniyat, a female who made a bit of fun by trying to steal the beads of the young girls, “so the men would love her.” Several times she tried to scale the house ladder, but was always repulsed, and each failure was greeted with jeers and ridicule.
Gomogopos, who causes stomach troubles, came, and after dancing before the rice-mortar, demanded that a small pig be laid before the tangpap. Scarcely had the animal been deposited, when the spirit seized a head-axe and cut it in two at one blow. Then he dipped the weapon in its blood and applied it to the stomach of each member of the family. “The pig is his pay, and now he takes away his kind of sickness.”