Description - The Tinguian by Fay-Cooper Cole
Excerpt: ...served in shell cups, but on this night a sort of pan-pipe, made of bamboo tubes, is filled with liquor. The guest drinks from the lowest of the series, and as he does so, the liquor falls from one to another, so that he really drinks from all at one time. Bamboo tubes attached to poles by means of cords are likewise filled with basi and served to the dancers. While the others are enjoying themselves, the mediums and the hosts are attending strictly to the business in hand. Dressed in their best garments, the husband and wife go to each one of the spirit houses, and touch them with their feet, a circuit which has to be repeated ten times. Each time as they pass the little porch-like addition, known as sogayob, the mediums sprinkle them with water. When they have completed their task, the mediums spread a mat in front of the pig, which lies below the sogayob, and on it they dance, pausing now and then to give the animal a vicious kick or to throw broken rice over it. And so the night is passed without sleep or rest for any of the principals in the ceremony. The sixteenth day is Kadaklan, --"the greatest." Soon after daybreak, the people accompany the medium to the guardian stones near Page 348 the gate of the village, and watch her in silence, while she anoints the head of each stone with oil, and places a new yellow bark band around its "neck." As soon as she finishes, the musicians begin to play vigorously on their gongs and drums, while two old men kill a small pig and collect its blood. The carcass is brought to the medium, who places it beside four dishes, one filled with basi, one with salt, one with vinegar, and the last with the pig's blood. She drinks of the liquor, dips her fingers in coconut oil, and strokes the pig's stomach, after which it is cut up in the usual manner. The liver is studied eagerly, for by the markings on it the fate of the host can be foretold. Should the signs be unfavorable, a chicken will be...
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Chinese Pottery in the Philippines: The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao
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