206 THE MANOBOS OF MINDANAO— GARVAN [MEUO (vo?xxin; 



being provided for the visiting deities. Such offerings are set out upon consecrated plates 13 

 which are used for no other purpose and can not be disposed of. 



As a rule the offerings must be clean and of good quality. The priest is very careful in the 

 selection of the rice, and picks out of it all dirty grains. Cooked rice given in offering is smoothed 

 down, and, after the deity has concluded his mystic collation is examined for traces of his 

 fingering. 



The color of the victims is a matter of importance, too, for the divinities have their special 

 tastes. Thus Sugudan, the god of hunters, prefers a red fowl, while the tagbdnua display a 

 preference for a white victim. 



RELIGIOUS RITES 



CLASSIFICATION 



(1) The betel-nut offering." 



(2) The burning of incense. 15 



(3) The address or invocation. 16 



(4) The ceremonial omen taking. 17 



(5) The prophylactic fowl waving. 18 



(6) The blood unction. 19 



(7) The child ceremony. 20 



(8) The death feast. 21 



(9) The sacrifice of fowl or pig. 22 



(10) The rice planting. 23 



(11) The hunting rite. 24 



(12) The harvest feast. 



(13) The conciliation of evil spirits. 



(14) The divinatory rites. 



(15) The warrior priest's rites. 



(16) Human sacrifice. 25 



A description of the more important of these ceremonies will be found distributed through- 

 out this monograph under the various headings to which such ceremonies belong. Thus the 

 child ceremony is placed under the heading "birth," the death feast in the chapter on death, 

 the warriors' sacrifice in that portion of this sketch which treats of the warrior. For the present 

 only the minor and more general ceremonies that may be performed separately, or that may enter 

 into the major ceremonies as subrites, will be described. 



METHOD OF PERFORMANCE 



The betel-nut tribute.— In all dealings with the unseen world, the offering of betel nut is 

 the first and most essential act, just as it constitutes in the ordinary affairs of Manobo life the 

 essential preliminary to all overtures made by one man to another. The ceremony may be 

 performed by anyone, but partakes of only a semireligious character when not performed by 

 a baildn. 



The ceremony consists in setting out on a consecrated plate, 26 or in lieu of it on any con- 

 venient receptacle, the ordinary betel-nut quid, consisting of a slice of betel nut placed upon 

 a portion of buyo leaf, and sprinkled with a little lime. The priest who has more than one divine 

 protector, must give a tribute to each one of them. In certain ceremonies seven quids are invari- 

 ably set out by him, always accompanied by an invocation, the strain of which is usually very 

 monotonous and always couched in long periphrastic preambles. It is really an invitation to 

 the spirit whose aid is to be implored to partake of the offering. 



Out in the lonely forest the hunter may set his offering upon a log for the spirit owner of 

 the game, or if in the region of a balete tree, he may think it prudent to show his deference to 



11 A-pu-gan. w Tag^in-Hn to bd-ta'. 



14 PaQ-d-puq. n Ka-ta-piirsan. 



» Pag-pa-lt^na. P Ka-hi-md-nan. 



i« Tawdg-tdwag. M Tap-hag. 



17 Paq-ti-nd-ya. u PaiUj-o-mud-an. 



» Ku-yab to mdn-uk, " Hu-d-ga. 



w Pag4tm-pa». * A-purgan. 



