The Ceremonies 319 



dipped the spear in the oil, and allowed it to fall drop by drop on the 

 stomach of the sick woman ; later he touched the heads of all present 

 with the spear, saying, "You will not be sick any more," and departed. 



PInaing or Pinading (Plate XXX). — At the gate or entrance 

 of nearly every village will be found a number of peculiarly shaped, 

 water-worn stones, either beneath a small shelter, or nestling among 

 the roots of some great tree. These are the "guardian stones," and 

 in them lives Apdel ("the spirit who guards the town"). Many stories 

 cluster about these plnding, 1 but all agree that, if proper offerings 

 are made to them at the beginning of a great ceremony ; when the men 

 are about to undertake a raid ; or, when sickness is in a nearby village, 

 the resident spirit will protect the people under his care. Thus it hap- 

 pens that several times each year a group of people may be seen early 

 in the morning, gathered at the stones. They anoint the head of each 

 one with oil, put new bark bands on their "necks," after which they 

 kill a small pig. The medium mixes the blood of the slain animal with 

 rice, and scatters it on the ground while she recites the story of their 

 origin. Then she bids the spirits from near and far to come and eat, 

 and to be kindly disposed. 



In Bakaok and some other villages it is customary for the medium 

 to summon several spirits at this time, and this is followed by the 

 dancing of tadek. The people of Luluno always hold a ceremony at the 

 plnaing before the planting of the rice and after the harvest. 



Following this ceremony in the village of San Juan, a miniature 

 raft (taltalabong) was loaded with food and other presents, and was 

 set afloat, to carry provisions to any spirit, who might have been pre- 

 vented from enjoying the feast. 



These stones are of particular interest, in that they present one of 

 the few instances in which the Tinguian associates supernatural beings 

 with natural objects. 



Saloko (Plate XXV). — Besides the houses, in the fields, and at 

 the gate of many villages, one often sees long bamboo poles with one 

 end converted into a basket-like receptacle. Offerings of food and 

 betel-nut are now found in them; but, according to some of the older 

 men, these were, until recently, used to hold the heads of slain enemies, 

 as is still the case among the neighboring Apayao. 



The ritual of the Saloko ceremony seems, in part, to bear out this 

 claim; yet the folk-tales and equally good informants assure us that 

 the heads were placed on sharpened bamboo poles, which passed 



1 See Traditions of the Tinguian, this volume, No. 1, pp. 178-179. 



