174 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



this style of shrine. Inside the house is a very small fcambara, 

 with its rod of balekayo split at the upper end to hold a little 

 white bowl, old and blackened. In the bowl are various offerings 

 — a few brass bracelets, tarnished by age, several fresh areca- 

 nuts on betel-leaves, and other small gifts — while a piece of 

 white cloth 275 may be hung beside the shrine. At Egianon's rice 

 planting, there were four brass w r ire armlets in the tambara, a 

 bracelet cast from a wax mould (balinUtung), and six areca-nuts 

 on nine buyo-leaves. On the ground, just outside the little house, 

 five areca-nuts on four buyo-leaves lay in a tiny pile. The Bagobo 

 say that the god (probably Tarabume) will come and chew some 

 of the betel w r hile the festival of Marummas is in progress. 



Around the sacred hut, runs a little fence made of light bamboo 

 split into slender strips. This is the bulituk, and it is like a tiny 

 wicket fence with eight curves. I was told that a the number 

 eight is very good for parabunnian, for with eight curves you 

 could not be sick." Another function of the bulituk is to make 

 the rice plants grow thick together. 



Spikes of rattan, leaves and little branches from plants having 

 magical value are stuck in the ground at different points close 

 around the shrine. Each has a definite effect on the development 

 of the young plants during their sprouting and growth. 276 



Tagbak makes the rice grow and open very quickly. Bon-bon 

 grows abundantly and close together, just as one wants rice to 

 grow, so the use of bon-bon means that there will be a rich 

 sprouting of plants near together. 1'ula (jtalma brava) makes the 

 rice very sturdy, because the trunk of the pula is hard and strong. 

 Patugu also keeps the rice strong. Stalks of balala (a fine rattan) 

 are put there to. keep the leaves of rice moving, just as the balala 

 keeps swaying. Isug causes the rice to stand straight. Lupo 

 (cocoanut-loave8) keep the sun from the rice, because the cocoanut 

 palm never dies from the heat of the sun. 



Ceremonial >if Harvest ('nihil Kapungdan 



The rice is ready to cut from five to six months after the sow- 

 ing. At harvest, ceremonies take place which are called Kapungd- 



J7 ' Small pieces of white cloth are favorite offerings at the out-of-door shrines (kramat) 

 of the Malay peninsula. Cf. Skeat: op. cit., p. 67, 74. 



270 For ceremonies at rice-planting in the Peninsula, cf. Skeat: op. cit., pj>. 228 — 235. 



