BEX EDICT, BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH 15 



who gave me the myth of Lumabat wound up by saying that, 

 after entering heaven, "he became the greatest of all the diwata." 

 At another time the same young man mediatively proffered the 

 remark that he thought Salamiawan was the highest god. That 

 many Bagobo regard Pamulak Manobo, in his function of creator, 

 as the supreme divinity, is undoubtedly true; but I have been 

 present at a ceremony when the aged celebrant addressed the Malaki 

 t'OJu k'Waig as u the head of all the anito," and this god is appealed 

 to, again and again, as the all-knowing and the all-powerful helper. 

 Yet it is not to any one of the above-named spirits, but toward 

 Mandarangan and the Tolus ka Balekat that the central ritual acts 

 of the fundamental ceremonies are directed. 



Therefore, in speaking of the composition of the Bagobo pantheon, 

 I shall make no attempt to place the supernatural beings according 

 to rank, but shall try to cluster them with a view to their special 

 functions as determined by the interests of the Bagobo, or in relation 

 to mythical associations. Two main groups may be recognized : — 



A. The myth-gods of the nine heavens ; 



B. Gods associated with human interests. 



Myth-Gods of the Nine Heavens 



Above the sky is a region of indefinite topography in which lie 

 nine heavens, perhaps one directly above another, perhaps spread 

 out more or less irregularly in space. They are inhabited by a 

 considerable number of diwata and are ruled over by nine deities. 

 some male, some female, of whom one hears occasionally in the 

 songs and in mythical romances. Two or three of them were once 

 mortals. 21 All of the diwata in these upper regions exist bliss- 

 fully, without ever experiencing hunger, yet able to summon food 

 magically by a word; chewing betel like the Bagobo; riding on 

 horses and sailing in boats; living in houses built on the con- 

 ventional Malay pattern. The manner of this celestial life is not 

 very clearly visualized by the Bagobo, nor does it at all concern 

 them, for the diwata of the nine heavens have only an abstract 



2 1 The Sarasin brothers note that in Minahassa the gods who have their dwellings on 

 mountain-tops, in water-falls, among great trees or under the earth, are simply deified 

 herous of antiquity. Cf. Reisen in Celebes, vol. 1, p. 44. 1905. 



