BENEDICT, BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH 89 



wayside ; and still others in the Long House to receive offerings 

 that have been on the agongs, and to serve as centers for ritual 

 recitations. Tambara thus used tend to be placed singly in dif- 

 ferent spots, rather than in pairs. When a human victim is to be 

 sacrificially slain, it is customary to set up near the place of sacri- 

 fice a tambara, where betel may be offered and prayers repeated. 



It is not unlikely that in former times these bamboo stands w T ere 

 regularly placed at centers of special industries to insure the success 

 of the process and the protection of the spirits. I have seen in 

 Talun two of these bowls in their rods of bamboo standing at the 

 foot of the bellows of a blacksmith's forge, with two old and 

 blackened brass bracelets in the bowls, while on the left-hand side 

 of the bellows hung a small parcel of charcoal wrapped in a bit 

 of petati which the blacksmith called medicine (bawi) for the forge. 



Regarding the final disposition of objects placed on the tambara, 

 one hears statements that seem contradictory, for the same Bagobo 

 will at one time tell you that gifts put in the bowls for the diwata 

 must be left there always, while the next day he assures you that 

 the offerings may be taken away after one night, but must never 

 be sold. My own observations on Bagobo behavior wherever gifts 

 to the gods' are concerned, correlated with information given me 

 by individuals, suggest the following explanation. Offerings made 

 on these bamboo prayer-stands are of three classes. 



a) Agricultural products, particularly areca-nuts, betel-leaf and 

 tobacco which, once placed on the shrine, may never be removed, 

 but are left to dry up, to decay, or to be blown away. 



b) Old objects believed to have become automatically sacred on 

 account of age, and hence are called ikut, — such as brass armlets, 

 fibre leglets, little bells, small trinkets in general that may be laid 

 in the bowls, and old spears and war-shields that are fastened to 

 the w r all or stood up near the shrine. Such objects, once offered 

 on a tambara, belong permanently to the gods and must remain there. 

 It would appear that such gifts are not frequently made, for the 

 accumulation of them at any one tambara is small. Indeed, there are 

 few Bagobo wealthy enough to be able to make pious disposition of 

 manufactured articles that are still of material value. What I have 

 been told of the essence or soul (gimokud) of manufactured objects 

 leads me to the conclusion that when the material part has become 

 old and useless to the owner, the spiritual part is in no whit injured, 

 but may confidently be offered to the spirits for their enjoyment. 



