CEREMONIAL OFFERINGS
Offerings consist, in the main, of the blood11 and meat of pig and fowl, betel-nut quids, rice, cooked or uncooked, and an exhilarating beverage. But occasionally a full meal, including every obtainable condiment, is set out, even an allowance of water, wherewith to cleanse12 the hand, being provided for the visiting deities. Such offerings are set out upon consecrated plates13 which are used for no other purpose and can not be disposed of.
11No reference is here made to human blood, a subject which will be found treated in Chapter XXVI.
12Pañg-hú-gas.
13A-pú-gan.
As a rule the offerings must be clean and of good quality. The priest is very careful in the selection of the rice, and picks out of it all dirty grains. Cooked rice given in offering is smoothed down, and, after the deity has concluded his mystic collation is examined for traces of his fingering.
The color of the victims is a matter of importance, too, for the divinities have their special tastes. Thus Sugúdan, the god of hunters, prefers a red fowl, while the tagbánua display a preference for a white victim.