“Have you kin yonder?” said Umbumabakal.
“Yes,” said Bugan, “we have kin in the village of X.”
“Let us thither,” say the Gods of Animal Fertility. They come westward to Tulbung. They continue to X. [The priest “pushes” the deities step by step on the way to the village in which he is performing the invocation. When they arrive, the same occurs as shown in the tulud inserted above.]
The halupe feast.—The halupe are a class of deities that keep an idea constantly before the mind of one whom they are sent to harass. They are most frequently used against debtors; but they may be sent to soften the wrath of an enemy or the stubbornness of a pretty girl, or for other purposes. They are induced to serve the end of him who invokes them by the sacrifice of a pig or chicken and by offerings of betels and rice wine. There are about a hundred of these deities.
After the ancestral spirits have been invoked, and beseeched to intercede with the halupe for the purpose desired, the halupe themselves are invoked, in some such words as the following:
“Ye halupe of the Skyworld, of the Underworld, of the West Region, and of the East Region, are beseeched to attend. It is prayed ye that ye go and harass (name) so that he will not sleep for thinking of his debt to me. If he goes to get water, go with him; if he goes to get wood, go with him; if he goes on a trading trip, go with him. Harass him to the extent that he will give me his pigs, his rice, his chickens, his death blankets, his money, his rice fields, his “irons,” his house furnishings: [There is no danger of asking too much of a deity or a white man!] May the speech of the go-between make him ashamed to refuse! Do not let him sleep till he pays the debt.”
A subclass of the halupe deities have, for their especial function, the soothing of obstinate debtors so that they may not get angry at the words of the go-between, nor run away from him when they see him coming. These are also invoked.
The priest then is possessed by the halupe one by one, and through him, each of the halupe takes a sip of rice wine, and states that he will harass the debtor and that he will not allow him to sleep till he pays.
After this ceremony, a fowl or pig is sacrificed and given the halupe. The meat is cooked and spread out on some cooked rice. Myths relating how some ancestor successfully invoked the halupe, are then recited for the magic power that lies in the recital, and are followed by tulud, ceremonies of witchcraft in which the deities are “pushed along” by the compelling power of the word of the priest to do his bidding. More frequently than not, the myth changes abruptly into the tulud. The following instance is taken verbatim from a series of ceremonies that I had a priest perform against a delinquent debtor who owed me a sum of money. I regret to say that the ceremonies were not efficacious.
Bukad (Myth).—Oadda kano da Tumayaban ud Kakunian ke da Panubok ke da Binantawan ke da Banaban ke da Dimpuyu. Kon-da takon da monnigi, dola-da ’d Kabunian. Panganun-da amaiyu da. Ahi da peman padapadan. Inhungal di amaiyu. Bohwagon-da hagiit. Punayaman ’d Kabunian, ya nunudnud-da ud Pangagauwan. Unudun di halupe ya dimatong ud Pangagauwan. Agan-da ya domatong-da amaiyo. Mondaiyo-da ud Baladong ya hidi peman kano balobgon-da. Buyangon-da ta dauntan-da. Oadda Halupe Binantawan ya ibaga-na banting. “Maid banting-ko,” konan Tumayaban. Oadda kano Bugan da nak Tadona ud Kiangan ya monbuliwong, te “Eak,” kano, “monbaga di mangigamal ke haoy ta kaliwak di gimauwat an haoy, an adi-da umidet di guwat-da.” Pitaowan-na paiyo ud Kiangan. Oadda, kano, Binantawan ya inanang-na Bugan, an “Eka, Tumayaban,” konana, “ta tumutung-ka ’n Bugan! Ime Tumayaban hi kadwan Bugan ya Konana Tutung-ok nihbo! Bugan” Kimali Bugan, ya konana “Kon manahauliu-ka? “Antipi?” konan Tumayaban. “Ya te monbuliwong te eak manila mangigamal ke haoy,” “Antipi?” konan Tumayaban. “Om te maato-ak an mangibaga di gimauwat an haoy.” “Antipi, tuali adi-da mitugun?” konan Tumayaban. “Ibangad mo hi balei-yo, ta itugun-mo dakami ’n halupe.”