The second medium secured a live rooster, and using its wings as a brush, she took up the blood and the two halves of the pig, and put them in the tangpap. “The rooster is the spirits' brush, and when the dirt In front of the tangpap is cleaned up, then the people will be clean and well inside their bodies.” At the command of the medium, the husband of the patient went to the opposite side of the tangpap; then she threw a bundle of rice over the structure to him. He caught it, and immediately threw it back. This was repeated six times, but on the seventh the bundle lighted on the roof, where it was allowed to remain. “The spirit threw away the lives of the people, but the man returned them. The bundle is now on the tangpap, so now the people's lives will remain safe.”
An unnamed spirit was next to appear, and at his command the fore part of the pig was stood upright in the winnower, and a stick was placed in each nostril. These were seized by the spirit, who pumped them up and down, then withdrew them, and stroked each member of the family, while he chanted, “I did this to your lives, so now I must do it to you.”
Saking, a lame spirit, called for one of the pig's legs, and with it rubbed the limbs of each member of the family, “so that they will not become ill in their legs.”
One of the mediums now became possessed by Mangamian, who carried a feather which he used as a fighting knife. The onlookers seized similar weapons and defended themselves, or drove the spirit away by threatening him with a small dog. A fire had been built near the tangpap, and from time to time the spirit would rush up to this, thrust his feather into the flames, and then put it into his mouth. Later it was explained, “He is an evil spirit who tries to kill people. The feather is his bolo. He is like a blacksmith, and when his knife gets Page 339dull, he puts it in the fire, then puts it in his mouth to wet it, so as to make it ring.” Three spirits now appeared in quick succession, and discussed with the old men the advisability of adopting the Americans[29] as Īpogau. Finally the leader Ilabdangan called them to the mat before him and told them their names, and also recited a list of their relations. Then, filling a coconut shell with basi, he drank half and presented the shell to each candidate, who had to drain it to the last drop. A circle was formed, and for the balance of the afternoon the new members of the tribe had to dance tadek with their relations.
Just before dusk, the Igorot spirit Daliwáya, who had been present the night before, appeared and demanded that the American give her cloth for her clout. When she received this, she sang and then instructed the men how to dance in Igorot fashion. When finally they were doing her bidding, she danced beside them with outstretched arms in the manner of the Igorot women. Later, when the medium was again herself, we questioned her concerning her knowledge of this dance, but she professed absolute ignorance.
That evening the people danced tadek, for a short time, near to the pala-an, then a fire was built beside the tangpap, and by its light the visitors danced da-eng until far into the night (cf.p. 440).
Early the next morning, the men went to some banana trees near to a rice granary, and there constructed a little spirit house, which resembled the pala-an, except that it was only about four feet high. This was called balitang, and was made in fulfilment of the orders given by the spirit Imalbi on the previous evening. When it was finished, the medium placed a dish of broken rice on it, and then tied a rooster with a belt close enough, so that the fowl could eat of the rice. Returning to the dwelling, she took down a small shield which was attached to the wall, placed new leaves and a dish of oil on it. Then as she stirred the oil, she sang the Talatal (Plate [XXXII]). The significance of this song, which consists only of mentioning the names of prominent men of various villages, seems to be lost. The kalang, or spirit box, was then redecorated, food was dropped through the slits in the floor for visiting spirits, and finally the medium held the shield over the heads of the family, beat upon it with a head-axe, while Page 340in a loud voice she asked the spirits that, since the family was now celebrating tangpap, they would please make them well again. The shield was fastened to the wall, new offerings of basi were placed in the kalang, and after it had been swung over the head of the patient, it was again fastened above the house beam near to the roof.
For the next hour the mediums summoned spirits to them. The first five had little of interest to offer, except that each demanded that his liquor be served to him on a head-axe. When the spirit Amangau arrived, he spent the time boasting of his head-hunting exploits; he told of how he had gone to one village, and had killed all the people, except one pregnant woman, and of the dance which followed. Finally he claimed the credit of having killed a man who had recently died in Manabo, and assured the people that his friends were then dancing about the head. The spirit Banbanyalan, who followed, disclaimed any part in the killing just mentioned, but verified the statement of his predecessor.
Tomakdeg came, and after filling his mouth with rice, blew it out over the people, in the same way that the sickness was to be spit out. Meanwhile Bebeka-an, armed with a wooden spoon, tried to dig up the floor and the people on it, “for that is the way she digs up sickness.” Awa-an, a spirit of the water, came to inform the people that the spirit of a man recently drowned was just passing the house. Everything else was abandoned for a few moments, while basi was poured out of the window, so that the dead might receive drink.
Two female spirits, Dalimayawan and Ginlawan, came at the same time and danced together, while they informed the people of their beauty and their expertness in dancing. Suddenly they stopped, and said that Andayau, the mother of Lakgangan, was near by; then they instructed the host that he should wrap a gourd in a cloth and tell Andayau that it was her son's head, and that he had been killed, because he had stolen carabao. Scarcely had the two visitors departed, when the mother appeared, and being informed of her son's death, she began to wail, “He is lost. No one works the fields, where we planted calabasa. Lakgangan is lost, he who has been killed. Why did you go to steal carabao? We have put Lakgangan in a hammock; we take him to Tomakdang. The basi put out for Lakgangan is good. He is lost whom they went to kill. Lakgangan is lost. We take him to Tomakdang.”