The Manóbos of Mindanáo / Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume XXIII, First Memoir

by John M. Garvan

The custom of sipping, with a sucking sound, the scalding soup from a plate or bowl and of then passing it on to one's neighbor is almost universal. Great predilection is shown for this soup, even though it be, as happens in a great many instances, practically nothing but hot water. In the upper Agúsan, the taro-top soup previously mentioned is the ordinary soup and substitute for meat and fish.

Another peculiar feature in eating is the method of cutting meat from the bone. The carver, who is in a squatting position with his feet close to the body, holds the bolo with the handle between the big first toe in a vertical position, the back of it being toward him. He draws the meat over the edge, thereby doing the carving in a quicker, more convenient, and more effective manner than do a great many more civilized men.

No one may retire from the meal without giving notice to his neighbors. A violation of this custom constitutes a gross breach of Manóbo etiquette. The reason for this custom is that the chances for a sudden attack are thereby lessened.

It is not polite to remain seated in the same place after a meal. If the place can not be changed, it is necessary to rise and then sit down again. I can give no explanation for the practice, unless it be a precaution against treachery.

FESTIVE MEALS

Festive meals are indulged in more especially on the occurrence of the great religious and social celebrations that recur with such frequency in the Manóbo world. The arrival of a visitor, or even an unusual catch of fish, is also an occasion for such enjoyments. I have had ample opportunities of witnessing them, because during a trading expedition I was frequently honored with invitations, the reason for which was, of course, to secure from me good bargains, or credit.

Before the meal the house is a scene of indescribable animation. The guests, together with the members of the household, rarely number less than 20 and may reach 100 or more. The pig is cooked in bamboo joints, earthern[sic] pots and iron pans, both in the host's house and, if necessary, in neighboring houses. The same may be said of the rice and camotes. If the host has enough drink, and if there is a little meat or fish to serve as a lunch, he has the food brought out and orders a part of the drink to be distributed to the guests according to their importance. Joyous laughter and loud conversation, together with chewing of tobacco and betel nut, fill up the interval before the meal.

When all is ready, the available number of plates, bowls, glasses, bark platters, and leaves are set out and the boiled meat is apportioned in small pieces, with great exactitude as to size and quality, to the several plates. The same thing is done for the broiled meat after it has been hacked into suitable sizes. No one is forgotten, not even the children of the guests, nor the slaves. The rice is then brought along in bamboo joints, in pots, and even in baskets lined with leaves, and to each person is assigned a heaping portion. When all has been impartially and equally distributed, the guests are bidden to take their places on the floor, each one at his appointed plate, for where visitors other than relatives are present, no precaution is omitted to safeguard the guests against trouble. Experience has proved that the festive board may be tinged with blood before the end. This even distribution of the food and the collocation of the guests often occupies the better part of an hour. If these duties are not properly performed envious feelings and a quarrel might ensue before the end of the meal. The guest of honor is always given preference and the host may also especially favor others whom he may have reason to honor but he always makes public the reason for his partiality.

All being seated the meal begins with a goodly quaff of homemade brew. Then all begin to eat. As the feasters warm under the kindling influence of the drink, they express their good will by giving material tokens, each one to his friend or to one whose friendship he desires to gain. These tokens consist of handfuls of meat--lean, fat, bone, gristle, or anything--smeared with salt and pepper, and bestowed by one friend into the mouth of another without any consideration of the proportion existing between the size of the mouth and the size of the gift. It is not good etiquette to refuse this gift or to remove it from the mouth. This offering is followed probably by a bamboo jointful of beverage which must be received in the same friendly spirit and is gulped down with a mumbled expression corresponding to our "Here goes." The recipient of these favors returns the courtesy in kind, and so the meal goes on in mutual goodfellowship[sic] and congeniality till the food has completely disappeared, for it is against the conventionalities of Manóbodom to leave a scrap on the plate. Indeed the Manóbo loves a good eater and drinker. It is an honor to gorge and a glory to get drunk. Now it happens at times at a Manóbo banquet, as it does in all drinking bouts the world over, that a quarrel ensues and recourse is had to the ever present bolo to settle an argument that wild shouts and frantic gestures can not decide. For this reason the Manóbo eats with his left hand and rolls his eyes from side to side in constant vigilance.