The Tinguian eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 351 pages of information about The Tinguian.

The Tinguian eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 351 pages of information about The Tinguian.
coins, blankets, ceremonial objects, and the like.  Piled on the boxes is a variety of pillows, for no Tinguian house is complete without a number of these (Plate LXVI).  The other house furnishings, consisting of a spinning wheel, loom, coconut rasp, and clothes beater (Fig. 5, No. 10) find space along the other wall.  Behind the door, except in the valley towns, stand the man’s spear and shield; above or near the door will be the spirit offering in the form of a small hanger or a miniature shield fastened against the wall.  The center of the floor affords a place for working, eating, and sleeping.  If there are small children in the family a cradle or jumper will be found suspended from a beam or a bamboo pole placed across one corner of the room (cf. p. 272).

The type of jars made by the Tinguian is shown in Fig. 5, No. 7, while those of foreign introduction have been fully described in a previous publication. [174]

The native jars are used both for cooking and as water containers.  With them will be found pot rings and lifters.  The first is a simple ring of plaited bamboo, which fits on the head or sets on the floor, and forms a support for the rounded bottom of the jar.  The second (Figure 5, No. 3) consists of a large rattan loop, which is placed over the neck of the jar.  The hands are drawn apart, and the weight closes the loop, causing it to grip the jar.  Long bamboo tubes with sections removed are used as water containers, while smaller sections often serve as cups or dippers.  Gourds are also used in this manner (Fig. 5, Nos. 8-9).

Food is removed from the jars with spoons and ladles (Fig. 6) made of wood or coconut shells, but they are never put to the mouth.  Meat is cut up into small pieces, and is served in its own juice.  The diner takes a little cooked rice in his fingers, and with this dips or scoops the meat and broth into his mouth.  Greens are eaten in the same manner.

Halved coconut shells serve both as cups and as dishes (Fig. 5, No. 6).  Wooden dishes are likewise used, but they are employed chiefly in ceremonies for the feeding of the spirits or to hold the rice from which a bride and groom receive the augury of the future (Fig. 5, Nos. 4-5).

Baskets, varying considerably in material, size and type, are much used, and are often scattered about the dwelling or, as in the case of the men’s carrying baskets, are hung on pegs set into the walls.  Somewhere about the house will be found a coconut rasp (Fig. 5, No. 11).  When this is used, the operator kneels on the wooden standard, and draws the half coconut toward her over the teeth of the blade.  The inside of the shell is thus cleaned and prepared for use as an eating or drinking dish.  Torches or bamboo lamps formerly supplied the dwellings with light.  Lamps consisting of a section of bamboo filled with oil and fitted with a cord wick are still in use, but for the most part they have been superseded by tin lamps of Chinese manufacture.  Oil for them is extracted from crushed seeds of the tau-tau (Jatropha grandulifera Roxb.)

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The Tinguian from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.