340 The Tinguian 



While he was thus engaged, the second medium was possessed by 

 Baniyat, a female who made a bit of fun by trying to steal the beads 

 of the young girls, "so the men would love her." Several times she 

 tried to scale the house ladder, but was always repulsed, and each 

 failure was greeted with jeers and ridicule. 



Gomogopos, who causes stomach troubles, came, and after dancing 

 before the rice-mortar, demanded that a small pig be laid before the 

 tangpap. Scarcely had the animal been deposited, when the spirit 

 seized a head-axe and cut it in two at one blow. Then he dipped the 

 weapon in its blood and applied it to the stomach of each member of 

 the family. "The pig is his pay, and now he takes away his kind of 

 sickness." 



The second medium secured a live rooster, and using its wings as a 

 brush, she took up the blood and the two halves of the pig, and put 

 them in the tangpap. "The rooster is the spirits' brush, and when the 

 dirt in front of the tangpap is cleaned up, then the people will be 

 clean and well inside their bodies." At the command of the medium, 

 the husband of the patient went to the opposite side of the tangpap; 

 then she threw a bundle of rice over the structure to him. He caught 

 it, and immediately threw it back. This was repeated six times, but on 

 the seventh the bundle lighted on the roof, where it was allowed to 

 remain. "The spirit threw away the lives of the people, but the man 

 returned them. The bundle is now on the tangpap, so now the people's 

 lives will remain safe." 



An unnamed spirit was next to appear, and at his command the 

 fore part of the pig was stood upright in the winnower, and a stick 

 was placed in each nostril. These were seized by the spirit, who 

 pumped them up and down, then withdrew them, and stroked each 

 member of the family, while he chanted, "I did this to your lives, so 

 now I must do it to you." 



Saking, a lame spirit, called for one of the pig's legs, and with it 

 rubbed the limbs of each member of the family, "so that they will not 

 become ill in their legs." 



One of the mediums now became possessed by Mangamian, who 

 carried a feather which he used as a fighting knife. The onlookers 

 seized similar weapons and defended themselves, or drove the spirit 

 away by threatening him with a small dog. A fire had been built near 

 the tangpap, and from time to time the spirit would rush up to this, 

 thrust his feather into the flames, and then put it into his mouth. Later 

 it was explained, "He is an evil spirit who tries to kill people. The 

 feather is his bolo. He is like a blacksmith, and when his knife gets 



