102 THE MANOBOS OF MINDANAO— GARVAN 1MBM0 !vo? A ™ L 



[Vol. XXIII, 



tinued, A and his party doling out the marriage effects as sparingly as possible, taking care to 

 make presents to the more vehement and unyielding parties on the other side. 



This operation always lasts a few days, during which B keeps his prospective relatives in 

 high glee with pork and potations, until A consents. 



THE MARRIAGE FEAST AND PAYMENT 



The marriage feast almost invariably takes place during the harvest, for the simple reason 

 that food is more abundant and also because the harvest days are the gladdest of all the year. 

 When the time for the marriage is close at hand the father-in-law makes an announcement to 

 friends and neighbors, sending out messengers and leaving at each house a rattan strip 4 to 

 indicate the number of days to elapse before the marriage. If his own house is not sufficiently 

 large for the expected attendance, he changes to another and awaits the eventful day. 



The whole country flocks to the house at the appointed time, the relatives of the bride- 

 groom being loaded down with the marriage presents, which are all carefully concealed in baskets, 

 leaf wraps, etc., and are deposited secretly in the woods adjoining the house. Of course the 

 omen bird must be consulted. On this occasion above all others it is essential that the omens be 

 favorable, as there are no means, so I have been informed, to counteract an inauspicious marriage 

 omen. While preparations are being made for the banquet by the bridegroom's party, the inter- 

 minable parley* is continued. The bride's father and relatives make their last efforts for secur- 

 ing all they can in worldly effects. They almost repent of the bargain — it was too cheap — 

 think of the price paid for the bride's mother — the expenses incurred during a long illness of the 

 bride in her infancy — and compare the modicum demanded for her marriage; it is outrageous! 

 no, the marriage can not go on, the girl is not in good health, and the ordeal might increase her 

 ailment. Every sort of trick is resorted to in order that the other side may be more generous in 

 the bestowal of gifts. The discussion is thus one big tissue of simulation, and is carried on in suc- 

 cession by the elders on each side. The bridegroom's father keeps offering betel nut and brew 

 to his new "cofather-in-law" 6 and selects a favorable moment to make him a big present, possibly 

 of an old heirloom, a jar, or a venerable old spear, the value of which he estimates at j*50, although 

 it may be worth only 1*8. 



The meal is finally spread out on the floor. The roasted part of the pig has been hacked into 

 small chunks and is piled up on plates, leaves, bark platters, and shallow baskets. The boiled 

 portion remains in charred bamboo internodes placed close at hand. The rice is loaded on 

 plates, or placed in large baskets lined with leaves, and the beverage is put in the ancient family 

 jars, or is left in long bamboos: The host, in this case the bridegroom's father or nearest male 

 relative, assisted by a few others, distributes the meat, carefully selecting the pieces according 

 to weight, size, and quality, so that no one can complain of not having had as good a share as his 

 neighbor. Such toothsome parts as the brains, heart, and liver are divided among the relatives 

 who enjoy greater prestige, the tougher and more gizzly pieces falling to the lot of the people of 

 lesser importance. This operation takes up the better part of an hour. It is needless to say that 

 a hubbub of voices helps to give animation to the occasion. The Manobo speaks in no angelic 

 whisper on ordinary occasions, but at a solemn time like this his vocal chords twang with all the 

 intensity of which they are capable. 



Finally all squat down on the floor, armed with the inseparable bolo if suspicious visitors are 

 present. Hands are washed by pouring a little water out of a bowl, tumbler, or bamboo joint; 

 the mouth is rinsed, and the meal is begun. With their right hands on their bolos, if they have 

 notungirded them, they lay their left hands over their portions of rice, knead handfuls of it into a 

 compact mass, and raising their hands to their mouths ram it in with the palms. 



The two " cof athers-in-law " pay special attention to each other, each trying to get the other 

 intoxicated, and each feeding the other with chunks of fat and other things. This custom is 

 called daiydpan and is universal among the non-Christian tribes of the Agiisan Valley. It is a 

 mark of esteem and the highest token of hospitality. A few pieces of fat and bone are scooped 



' Ba-Un-ttu. ' Bi-ta. • Bd'-l. 



