BENEDICT, BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH 159 



largo a portion of the devotional exercises, that is, the Tolas ka 

 Balekat, is a point we have already noted; that the poles are asso- 

 ciated with exploit factors which include the shedding of human blood 

 is demonstrated by the war cry at the entrance of the poles, by 

 the attaching to them of spears, by recitations of the number of 

 lives taken, and by the detail of grasping hold of a ceremonial pole 

 and of maintaining this position as long as the narration continues. 



Father Mateo was convinced that the decoration of the poles was 

 a sign that a human sacrifice had just been made. He mentions 

 this conclusion in two different letters, written about six months 

 apart. In his valuable description of Bagobo ceremonial, he says: 

 "From the place of the sacrifice they then go to the house of their 

 chief or the master of the feast, holding branches in their hands 

 which they place in a large bamboo, which is not only the chief 

 adornment, but the altar of the house in which they meet." And 

 again, "Curious persons who are present at those feasts, do not 

 understand the language of the old men nor see anything that hints 

 of a human sacrifice, but those who are fully initiated in the 

 Bagobo customs, will note immediately the token of the human 

 sacrifice which was made in the woods on the preceding day among^ 

 the branches placed in the bamboo or drum, before which the old 

 men above mentioned make their invocation to Darago." These 

 passages were written after Father Mateo had been ministering to 

 the coast Bagobo for about two- years. 



My own findings agree with those of Father Gisbert, in regard to 

 the bamboos. At an interview with the anito, this association of 

 the poles with the sacrifice was stressed, and the Bagobo were told 

 by the god that the reason they were sick was because they no 

 longer followed the old Bagobo custom of killing a man before 

 pei forming the ritual with the bamboo poles; and the point was 

 made that it was formerly the custom after the man was killed to 

 get sprays of areca and certain plants to take into the house, and 

 to set up the two kawayan, and to sing the war song. But in 

 addition to their connection with the sacrifice, the bamboo poles 

 may have a larger significance. 



During my observation of the bringing in of the poles and of 

 the rites that followed, I was impressed by the resemblance of these 

 activities to the sort of celebration that one would look for at the 

 close of a successful expedition against an enemy. The behavior 

 of the men suggested forcibly the return of a war party from some 



