Chapter 22 of 28 · 3797 words · ~19 min read

Part 22

"How many snakes and birds now," said the Ipogau. [322] "Go! command to make _Sangásang_" said the married ones.

"We shall wait the blood of the rooster mixed with rice, because they remember to command to make _Sangásang_" said those who Maganáwan of Nagbotobotán commanded. They took the blood of the rooster mixed with rice, which was put in the _saloko_ [323] in the yard; they arrived to their master. "How slow you are," said Maganáwan. "We are only slow, because there was no one who listened to us where we arrived first," said those whom he commanded; "we went up (the river) until there was one who remembered to command to make _Sangásang_, which is what we now bring to you--the blood of the rooster mixed with rice." They gave; he put in his mouth--the one who commanded them--he spit out. "Like this which is spit out (shall be) the sickness of the Ipogau who remember me," said Maganáwan of Nagbotobotán. After that it is as if nothing had happened to the family.

38 [324]

The Ipogau are digging where they make stand the poles of their houses. "You go to give the sign," said the master of the sign to the _siket_. [325] _Siket_ went. "Why do we have a bad sign? We remove the poles," said the Ipogau, and they removed that there might be no bad sign. The deer went to call when they were digging where they removed those poles which they made stand. "We remove again the poles," said the Ipogau, and they removed again. When they were digging, where they made to stand those poles which they removed, the wild pig went to grunt. They removed again the poles which make the house.

As before, the snake went to climb the pole with which they made the house, and they removed again. When they were digging again where they made the poles stand with which they made the house, the _labeg_ [326] skimmed over, and as they had a bad sign the Ipogau moved again the poles with which they made the house. "Koling," and "Koling" and again "Koling" (the bird cried); they removed again the log which they made stand, with which they made the house. The _salaksák_ clucked, who flew where they dug, where they made those poles stand, with which they made the house.

Since they have the bad sign again, they say to the others--those who make the poles stand--"We are very tired always to dig and dig, and to make stand and make stand those poles, we go ahead to make the house," and they placed their lumber and they went--one family of the Ipogau. Then they finished what they built, their house. There was nothing good for them, and there was nothing which was not their sickness (i.e., they had all manner of sickness).

"My wife," said Kaboniyan, "give me the coconut oil, that I oil my spear, for I go to see those Ipogau who are sick." When those Ipogau who were sick were in their house, his spear fell in their house. "What is the matter with you, Ipogau?" said Kaboniyan. "What is the matter with you, you say, and there is nothing which we do not do for our sickness, and we are never cured," said those Ipogau. And Kaboniyan answered, "How can you become cured of your sickness when you have a bad sign for that which you made--your house? The reason of your sickness is because you do not make _Sangásang_. The good way (is) you find a rooster, and that you command the one who knows how to make _diam_ of the _Sangásang_ to make _Sangásang_. I (am) always the one for whom you make _diam_," said Kaboniyan. And truly, before they had finished making _Sangásang_, it was as if there had been nothing wrong, that family was cured of their sickness.

39 [327]

The poles of the Ipogau's house were quarreling. Said the floor supports to the poles who were quarreling, "What can you do if I am not?" "What can you do if I am not?" said the foot-boards to those floor supports who are quarreling. "What can you do if I am not?" said the cross supports to those floor supports who are quarreling. "What can you do if I am not?" said the cross supports to those foot-boards who are quarreling. "What can you do if I am not?" said the floor to those cross supports who are quarreling. "What can you do if I am not?" said the wall to the floor boards who are quarreling. "What can you do if I am not?" said the beams to the wall boards who are quarreling. "What can you do if I am not?" said the _pongo_ [328] to the beams who are quarreling. "What can you do if I am not?" said the _daplat_ [329] to the _pongo_ who are quarreling. "What can you do if I am not?" said the end pole to those _daplat_ who are quarreling. "What can you do if I am not?" said the _salabáwan_ to those end poles who are quarreling. "What can you do if I am not--who am _legpet_?" said those _legpet_ to those _salabáwan_, "Though you are _legpet_, you can do nothing if I am not," said the _gakot_, "because you fall," said the _gakot_ to the _legpet_ who are quarreling. "And what can you all do if I am not, who am grass? you all decay if I am not," said the grass (roof) to those who are quarreling. "Therefore we are all the same use to the house of the Ipogau; we will unite our thoughts and breath, so that in the same manner the thoughts of the Ipogau are united, who live in us," said those who are quarreling. And they united their thoughts and breath. After that the Ipogau who were sick were cured, those who lived in the house. It was as if there was nothing bad for that family.

40 [330]

The great spirit lives in the sky, and he is carrying the goods of the people. He says to himself, "To whom shall I give these goods which I am carrying? I shall take them to the earth." He looked down on Bisau, for the people there promised to make _Ubaya_. Soon the people saw a man entering the town and they sent a man to prevent him [331]. He said, "Let me come in, for I bring goods for you. Your food and animals and other things which you need shall be increased." After that he said, "Let all the people in the world know of this so that they will make _Ubaya_ for me, and I will aid them also."

Dayapán was a woman who lived in Ka-alang. For seven years she was sick. She went to the spring to bathe and while she was in the water a spirit sent by Kadaklan [332] entered her body. The spirit held sugar-cane and rice. He said to her, "Take this sugar-cane and rice and plant them in the ground. After you reap the sugar-cane and rice, you will build a bin to hold the rice, and a sugar mill for the cane; after that you will make _Sayang_ and that will make you well." Dayapán took those things and went back home. She planted the sugar-cane and rice. When she was planting, the spirit entered her body again and taught her how to plant. When she reaped the sugar-cane and rice, she began to make _Sayang_. The spirit Kaboniyan went again into her to teach her how to make _Sayang_. The spirit said, "Send a man to get _bolo_ (bamboo) and weave it into _talapitap_. [333] Take _lono_ and _bolo_ as big as a finger and make _dakidak_, and put a jar with water upstairs in the house. Dance _daeng_ [334] for ten nights. You will pass seven evenings, then you will build _balaua_. [335] Send some persons to get wood and bamboo and rattan and cogon, and take ten baskets with cooked rice to follow the number of nights (i.e., on the first night one basket of cooked rice on the _talapitap_; the second night, two; and so on). When you finish the time you will know how to make _dawak_ and to call all the spirits, and you will teach the people how to do _dawak_."

When she finished the _dawak_, the spirit sent her to wash in the river as a sign that she had finished _Sayang_. He told her to get a dog and a cock. She went to the river and she tied the cock and the dog by the water, and while she was gone, the dog killed the cock. Dayapán wept, but for a long time the spirit did not come. When Kaboniyan came again, he said, "If the dog had not killed the cock, no person would die, but this is a sign and now somebody will die and some will be well."

Dayapán went home and when she arrived there she began to learn to make _dawak_, and she called all people to hear her and she told all she had seen and heard. Then the people believed her very much. When somebody was sick, they called Dayapán to see them and to show them how to make them well. So Dayapán taught them all kinds of _dawak_ which the spirit had told her because before when Dayapán was sick, no one knew the _dawak_. [336]

Many years ago there was a woman whose name was Bagutayka. She had had only one daughter whose name was Bagan. A boy who lived in Lantágan wished to marry Bagan, but she did not wish to marry him because she had no vagina, and she was ashamed. Her mother said, "Take this little pot with pictures on the outside, and this sucker of banana and go to the roadside where people are passing. When people are passing, you will make them sick in their knees or feet." Then poor Bagan went by the roadside. In a short time a man passed by her; after that he was sick in his knees and did not walk, he only lived in his house, and could not move his hands or feet. His parents were troubled to find medicine for him, for none they found did him good. They used all the medicine that they knew. Then Bagan went to see him in his house and told him to make _bawi_. [337] The sick man said to her, "How do we make _bawi_, for we have never heard about that?" Bagan said, "Bring me a white cloth, a basket of rice, some thread, a betel-nut, coconut, a rooster, and _toknang_." [338] They brought all of these, and Bagan took them. Then they built a _bawi_ in the garden and planted the sucker by it. They broke the coconut shell, killed the rooster, and took his feathers to put in the coconut husk, and they broke the coconut meat.

They made _sablau_ near the _bawi_ and put the coconut meat in it. When they had done this, the man who was sick was as good as if he had not been sick, he could walk just as before. This is the way the Tinguian people learned to make _bawi_.

43 [339]

In the first times Kaboniyan told a sick man to go to the mango tree at the edge of the village. "Take a feather for your hair, a clay dish with oil, a headaxe, a spear, and a small jar of _basi_, when you go to the tree." He did as he was bidden, and when he reached the tree the _pináing_ [340] were there. "Ala! now kill a small pig and offer its blood mixed with rice. Oil the heads of the stones well, and decorate them with yellow head bands. When you do this Apadel will always guard the town." The man and his companion always did as Kaboniyan said, and when they made _balaua_, or were sick, or went to fight, they did this. They ate of the pig, they played the _gansas_ and danced. All who obeyed were always well, but one man who urinated on the stones became crazy.

One day when the people were preparing to go and fight against Manabo, [341] they went to the _pináing_, and while they danced a red rooster with long tail feathers came out of the stones and walked around them. When they stopped dancing, he went again into the stones. Since that time a white cock has sometimes appeared and once a white dog came out while the people danced.

44 [342]

One night a man saw a woman, who wore a black cloth, walking near the _pináing_. When she would not speak to him, he cut her in the thigh with his _bolo_. [343] She ran to the stones and vanished. Next morning the man went to the guardian stones and found one of them cut in the middle, as it is now. The man soon died of smallpox.

45 [344]

In the first times, the old men saw the stones traveling together down the river. Above them flew many blackbirds. Then the people went down to the river and watched the stones on their journey. After that they caught them and put them near to the gate of the town, where they still remain.

The evil spirit Ibwa once had a body like a man and used to visit the people. In those days they kept the body of the dead person seven days, and when the fat ran from the body they caught it and placed it in the grave. [345] One day when he visited a funeral, a man gave Ibwa some of this fat to drink. Since that time he has always been bad and always tries to eat the body of the dead and steals his clothes. He comes to the funeral with another evil spirit Akóp, who has a large head, long slim arms and legs, but no body.

Kaboniyan has told us how to keep the evil spirits away, but if we fail to do as he said, they always make trouble.

A man died. He had a wife and married son. They buried him under the house and made _bagongon_. [346] After that his wife was in the field and was watching their corn. His daughter-in-law was in the house watching her baby. While she was swinging the baby, the dead man said, "Take this _saloyot_ [347] to Gadgadawan." The girl took it. The spirit said to her, "Let me swing the baby and you cook the _saloyot_ in Gadgadawan." When she cooked it, the spirit ate it, and he asked, "Where is your mother-in-law?" She said, "She is in the field watching the corn." The spirit went there. When he reached there, his wife was afraid of him, but she did not run. He slept there that night with his wife, and he did what he wished with her that night. In the daytime he went away. His wife got big stomach, but had no baby, and died. The spirit did that because the fire for the dead man was not out yet and she had gone from the town before the _kanyau_ [348] was past.

One man in Solay [349] said to another, "Tomorrow we meet on the mountain to get wild carabao." The other man agreed, and early the next morning the first man set out on horseback. The second man died that night, but the first man did not know this. When he got to the place agreed, he said "Sh-sh" through his teeth, and the spirit of the dead answered a little way off. The man went towards the answer and signalled again. The spirit again answered, and then the man saw the spirit of the dead, which was very big, was running to catch him. He ran his horse at full speed, but the spirit was gaining when the _lasta_ [350] on the saddle caught on a dead limb and was jerked away. "Very good that you leave that or I would take your life," said the spirit. Then the man ran his horse until he got to Solay. When he got there, he could not get off his horse, for his legs were stuck very tight to each side of the horse, so a man had to pull each leg loose and lift him from the saddle. That is why we know that the spirits of the dead men sometimes do harm and go places.

A man and his wife were living in the field where they planted corn and rice. When they were there, the man died. The woman did not want to go to the town, because there was no one to watch the dead man. She could not bury him. The Ibwa [351] noticed that there was a dead man in the house. He sent one of his sons to get the dead man. When the Ibwa came in the house, the woman took the headaxes and cut him in the doorway. The Ibwa went under the house. His father could not wait for him; he sent his second son and his third son. The boys could not take the body, because they were afraid of the headaxes, for the woman had one in each hand. The Ibwa went there. He said to his sons, "Why do you not take the dead man?" His sons said, "We could not take him, because if we go up in the house the woman takes the two headaxes and tries to kill us." Ibwa went up into the house; he broke the door of the house. He said to the woman, "Now I am your husband." The Ibwa took the two ears of the dead man; he ate one and gave the other to the woman to chew, like betel-nut, to see the sign. The sign of the saliva was good. He made the woman's two breasts into one in the center of her chest. He took her to his house.

The stems of the _alangtin_ are good charms against the spirits of the dead, and are often worn concealed in the hair or hat.

There were two brothers, and one died. The other went to hunt and killed a deer. While he had it over the fire to singe, his dead brother's spirit came to him. [352] Then the man began to cut the meat into small pieces, and as fast as he cut it up, the spirit ate it; and as fast as he ate it, the meat came out of his anus. When the meat was almost all gone, the man became very much afraid and started to run, and the spirit chased him. When he ran where some _alangtin_ grew, the spirit stopped and said, "If you had not gone to the _alangtin_, I would have eaten you also."

One person was dead in a town. They buried him under the house. They did not put _banal_ [353] and a plow iron over the grave. The Ibwa went there and saw there was no _banal_ on the grave, so he was not afraid. He went there and took the dead man. He put one foot of the dead man over each shoulder and let him hang down over his back. A man saw him while he was walking in the street. The man told the people in the town what he had seen. The people did not believe it and went to see the grave. No dead man there, only the clothes and mat.

It is good to put some branches of trees in the ground near your head when you sleep out doors, so the spirits can not spit on you, for if they do, you will die.

One man who had lost his carabao went to the mountains to find; and at night he did not find, so he lay down near the path to sleep. He did not put any branches near his head, and in the night an evil spirit came and wanted to eat him; but when the spirit saw that he had the skin disease, he did not care to eat, so he spit on him. The man got up and went home, but soon he got sick and died.

When Itneg [354] go to hunt or have to sleep anywhere that spirits can get them it is good to use _sobosob_ [355] or _banal_ under them for a mat.

Two men were in the mountains and had no mats to sleep on, so they pulled much _sobosob_ and put it under them. That night the evil spirits came to get them but did not come very near. The men heard them say that they wanted to get them, but that it was bad for them if they got near the _sobosob_, so they left them alone.

(_Sobosob_ and _banal_ are sometimes put with the plow iron over a new grave as an added protection.)

In the first time, three Tinguian went to hunt. At night they lay down to sleep and one of them, who had a _kambaya_, [356] had not gone to sleep when two spirits came near and saw him under the blanket. One turned to the other and said, "Here we have something to eat, for here is a little pig." Then that man took the blanket from the other man and put his blanket in its place, and the spirits came and ate that man. So we know it is bad to use that kind of blanket when you go where the spirits can get.

A man and woman had a beautiful daughter whom they always kept in the house. [357] One day while they were away in the fields, the girl went outside to pound rice. While she pounded, the spirit Bayon who lives in the sky came to see her. He was like a fresh breeze. Then the girl was like a person asleep, for she could not see nor hear. When she awoke in the sky, she dropped her rice pounder so that it fell near her home and then the people knew she was above. Bayon changed her two breasts into one large one, which he placed in the middle of her chest. When her parents made _Sayang_, the mediums called Bayon and his wife to come. They still come when some one calls them in the _Sayang_. The woman's name is Lokadya.