28Án-ka.
Offerings made to the dead to appease their ill will are not partaken of by the living. They are supposed to produce baneful effects.29 Hence they are carefully removed to the outside of the house after the departed visitor is supposed to have regaled himself. This applies to betel-nut offerings, and to such offerings as chickens and pigs that in cases of unusual pestering on the part of the dead may be set out with a view to propitiating them.
29Ka-dú-ut.
One or more priests are present invariably in the death chamber. The female priests take up their position near the corpse, and by the use of lemons, pieces of the sa-sá reed, and other things, said to be feared by the demons, protect themselves and those present. Hence, during the average "wake" the womenfolk huddle around the priestesses with many a startled glance. On one occasion I saw a male priest take up his stand at the door, lance poised, ready to dispatch such spirits as might dare to intrude into the death chamber. Drums and gongs are beaten throughout the night, not merely as a distraction for their grief but as a menace to the ever-present demons.
An acquaintance of mine in San Luis, middle Agúsan, is reported to have wounded seven evil spirits in one evening on the occasion of a death. I was assured by many in the town that they had seen the gory lance after each encounter.
Several other precautions besides those mentioned above are taken to secure immunity from the stealthy attacks of the demons. A fire is kept burning under the house, and the usual magic impediments, such as sa-sá reed, lemons, and a piece of iron, are placed underneath the floor as menace to these insatiate spirits. Moreover, the food while still in the process of cooking is never left unguarded, lest some malicious spirit should slyly insert therein poison wherewith to kill his intended victim or to spirit away an unwary soul.
For several days both before and after the death, supper is almost invariably partaken of before sunset, as this is the hour when the most mighty of the demons are supposed to go forth on their career of devastation. If, however, it should be necessary to take supper after sunset, it is the invariable custom to put a mat on the floor and thereby foil the stealthy spirits in their endeavors to slip some baneful influence30 into the plates from below.
30This custom is prevalent among many of the Bisáyas of eastern Mindanáo and may perhaps explain the origin of the peculiar low table used by them.
After the burial it is almost an invariable rule for the inmates of a house to abandon it. This remark, however, does not hold good in the case of the decease of priests, warrior chiefs, and children, nor in the case of those who have been slain in war. Should a stranger, or one who is not a relative of the inmates, die in the house, it is an established custom to collect the value of the house from the relatives of the deceased. Father Pastells in one of the "Cartas de los PP. de la Compañía de Jesús" cites an incident that happened to him in the house of Selúñgan on the upper Sálug in the year 1878. It seems that one of Pastells' followers died and that Selúñgan desired to collect the value of the house. I know of one case where the fine was actually collected. I was asked by a warrior chief on the upper Tágo, who would pay for the house in the case of my death.