328 The Tinguian 



the right to the Sayang, the greatest social and religious event in 

 Tinguian life. 



Adoption entitles an individual to all the privileges of the family, 

 and as the writer and his wife were adopted into a family possessing 

 the right to all the ceremonies, they became at once participants in all 

 the events which are here described. In this way it was possible to 

 obtain information and instruction on many points which observation 

 alone could scarcely afford. 



The Pala-an ceremony is the first round on the social and religious 

 ladder. It is here given in some detail, and is then followed by others, 

 in the order of their importance. 



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 Ida- 

 daya, 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, 1 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 



1 Canariutn villosum Bl. The resinous properties of this tree are supposed 

 to make bright or clear, to the spirits, that the ceremony has been properly 

 conducted. According to some informants, the pala-an is intended as a stable 

 for the horse of Idadaya when he attends the ceremony, but this seems to 

 be a recent explanation. 



