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.
to this spot the mediums go to conduct the rite known as Dawak. [213] Before its conclusion a diam is recited over the pig, which is then killed and prepared for food.  Meanwhile the chief medium beseeches the supreme being Kadaklan to enter her body.  He comes, and after telling the people what must be done to insure the crop, he designates some one man who must, on the following morning, celebrate Padiam.

After all the visiting spirits have been given food and drink, a small covered raft (taltalabong) is constructed, and in it are placed a live chick, a cooked rooster, and other articles of food.  Four sturdy men carry this to the river and set it afloat, while the people shout and beat on gongs to drive away evil spirits who might wish to steal the raft and its contents.  The purpose of this offering is to supply food to any spirits who may be unable to attend the ceremony.

Early the next morning, the man who has been designated by Kadaklan to perform the Padiam makes ready, at his own expense, a large pig and cooked rice, and carries these to the fields.  He must be dressed in striped garments known as ginalit, must carry a headaxe, and wear on his head the cloth band of the medium, beneath which are thrust two igam, that is, chicken feathers notched or decorated with bits of colored thread (cf. p. 313).  He is accompanied by his wife, attired in a red jacket (sinasaya) and a skirt (pinapa), and by a medium who also wears the igam beneath a headband of sikag; [214] while the townspeople follow behind.  Arrived at the field, the medium squats before the bound pig, and holding a spear, betel-nuts, and oil, begins to recite a diam, meanwhile she strokes the animal from time to time with oiled fingers.  This concluded, she stabs the pig, and having mixed its blood with rice, scatters it over the field, calling to the spirits to come and eat, and then to grant a full harvest.  The people eat part of the animal while in the field, but before returning home, the head of each family receives a small strip of uncooked flesh, which he fastens above the door as a sign that the ceremony has been held. [215] The following day, the owner and the medium return to the field and break a little soil with a spear, and the ceremony is complete, but for some days these two are barred from eating shrimp, carabao, or wild pig.  The owner must also pay the medium ten bundles of rice for her assistance in insuring his own crops, as well as those of the community.  Should lightning strike a field or a tree in it, this ceremony is repeated, with the exception that the strips of flesh are not distributed, nor is the soil broken with a spear. [216]

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The Tinguian from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.