Pala-an.—­The Pala-an is held when some member of the family is ill, or when the structure of that name needs repair.  Many spirits visit the people during this rite, but the one chiefly interested is Idadaya, the spirit of the east.  He and his ten grandchildren wear in their hair the notched tail-feathers of a rooster, which are known as igam. From time to time these lose their luster, and they can only be refreshed by having some mortal celebrate Pala-an.

When it appears that these ornaments need attention, the Idadaya will notify some family, either through a medium or by sending illness to them.

A family having received such a notification summons a medium, and she at once begins to gather saklag (Justicia gendarussa L.) and sikag (Lygodium sp. near scandens) and a grass known as bildis, while the men secure the bamboo and other materials used in building the spirit structure.  One corner of the living room is screened off with a large white blanket called tabing, and behind it the medium places unthreshed rice and jars which she has decked with vines and leaves.

While she is thus engaged, the men are busy building the pala-an (Plate XXIV).  This consists of four long poles—­three of bamboo and one of a resinous tree, anteng, [143] set in a square and supporting, near the top, a platform of bamboo.

A number of women have been invited to assist the family, and they now proceed to beat out sufficient rice to serve the guests.  When the pounding is finished, a rice-mortar is set out in the open, and a little rice is placed in it.  The women, armed with long pestles, gather around and, keeping time to the music of copper gongs, they circle the mortar contra-clockwise, striking its edge three times in regular beats of 1, 2, 3; on the next beat the leader strikes the bottom of her pestle against that of her neighbor, on the first and second beats, but on the third she pounds the rice in the mortar.  This is repeated by the woman on her right and so on around the circle.  Then the leader strikes the top of her pestle against the top of the one held by the women next her on two beats and on the third pounds rice, and this is repeated by all.  The music now becomes much faster, and, keeping time with it, the leader strikes first into the rice, then whirls clear around and strikes the pestle of the woman on her left; again she turns and strikes that of the woman on her right.  Each follows her in turn, and soon all are in motion about the mortar, alternately pounding the rice and clashing pestles.  This is known as kitong, and is the method prescribed by the great spirit Kaboniyan for the breaking of a part of the rice to be used in this and other ceremonies (Plate XXXI).

As soon as the pounding is finished, the medium places some of the newly broken rice in a bamboo dish, and places this on a rice winnower.  She also adds a skirt, five pieces of betel-nut, two piper leaves, and a little dish of oil, and carries the collection below the pala-an, where a bound pig lies.  The betel-nut and leaf are placed on the animal, then the medium dips her fingers in the oil, and strokes its side while she recites the following diam:—­