374 The Tinguian 



and consequently lose much time, or they will have their legs and feet 

 pierced with these needle-like blades. 



Upon their return to the village, the warriors were formerly met 

 at the gate by their relatives, who held two ladders in A shape, thus 

 forming a pathway over which each had to climb. Once inside the 

 town, the heads were placed on a bamboo spike known as sagang 

 (cf. p. 310), or in the saloko (cf. p. 310), and for three days were 

 exhibited beside the gate. In the meantime messages were sent to 

 friendly villages to invite the people to the celebration. 



On the morning of the last day, the heads were carried up to the 

 center of the village, where, amid great rejoicing, the men sang the 

 praises of the victors or examined the skulls of the victims. Sometime 

 during the morning, the men who had taken the heads split them open 

 with their axes and removed the brains. To these they added the lobes 

 of the ears and joints of the little fingers, and they placed the whole 

 in the liquor which was afterwards served to the dancers. There seems 

 to be no idea here of eating the brains of the slain as food. They are 

 consumed solely to secure a part of their valor, an idea widespread 

 among the tribes of Mindanao. 1 The writer does not believe that any 

 people of the Philippines indulges in cannibalism, if that term is used 

 to signify the eating of human flesh as food. Several, like the Tinguian, 

 have or still do eat a portion of the brain, the heart or liver of brave 

 warriors, but always, it appears, with the idea of gaining the valor, or 

 other desirable qualities of the victims. 



The balance of the head festival consisted in the drinking of sugar 

 cane rum, of songs of praise by the headmen, and finally all joined 

 in dancing da-eng. Just before the guests were ready to depart, the 

 skulls were broken into small bits, and the fragments were distributed 

 to the guests so that they might taken them to their homes, and thus 

 be reminded of the valor of the takers. 2 This disposition of the skull 

 agrees with that of many Apayao towns, 3 but it does not conform 

 with the description of ancient times afforded us in the tales, 4 nor 



1 See Cole, Wild Tribes of Davao District (Field Museum of Nat. Hist., 

 Vol XII, No. 2, p. 94). 



2 This description is partially taken from the account of Paul P. de La 

 Gironiere, probably the one white man, who has witnessed this rite (see Twenty 

 Years in the Philippines, p. 108, London, 1853), and from the stories of many 

 old men, who themselves have participated in the head-hunts and subsequent 

 celebrations. 



8 See Cole, Distribution of the Non-Christian Tribes of Northwestern 

 Luzon (Am. Anthropologist, N. S., Vol. XI, No. 3, 1909, p. 340). 



4 Traditions of the Tinguian, this volume, No. 1, p. 22. 



