BENEDICT, BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH 175 



«h, '-'' 1 a word meaning "the finish," referring to the close of the 

 season in which rice is grown. 



A shrine is set up in the field, in the shape of a little hut 

 which bears the name of roro. In this shrine is put, as soon as 

 harvested, a small portion of rice for the diwata and for the con- 

 stellation Balatik, which appears in December, one of the months 

 when harvest is celebrated. A portion of the rice in the roro is 

 offered to the three constellations, Mamare, Marara and Buaya — 

 star-clusters under which the rice was sown, and to which the first 

 fruits are now due. 2TS 



The religious performance in the house, following the cutting of 

 the rice, is characterized by such typical ceremonial elements as 

 the offering of manufactured products on an agong altar, the offer- 

 ing of food to the spirits, and the ceremony with betel. 



The harvest ceremony at which I was present took place in the 

 house of Datu Yting, of Santa Cruz, and covered about three hours, 

 from half after one or two o'clock in the afternoon, until five, 

 when the guests dispersed. The arrangements were largely in the 

 hands of the women, 270 one presiding at the altar, and others 

 arranging the sacred utensils. 



A wide, low platform, several feet long, close to the east wall 

 of the main room, served as the altar, and in front of this the 

 priestess Odal officiated, sitting on the floor, while another old 

 woman of distinction, Kaba's wife, sat on a box at the south end 

 of the platform, and from this slightly elevated position super- 

 intended the placing of dishes and other objects concerned in the rite. 



At the north end of the platform, stood one or two large agongs, 

 placed there for the offerings called sonaran. First of all, the 



'"Three other names, 1 have heard applied to the harvest festival: one is Katapusan, 

 the Yisayan word for "the finish;" another is Pokankaro, whose meaning I do not know; 

 a third is Gatog-biaan, which signifies "guessing the season." That guessing games were 

 formerly played at harvest, and perhaps are still in use is certain, although I can give 

 no explanation of them. Sometimes when children are at play, they run to the hemp-field, 

 tear off abaca (hemp) leaves, poke holes for eyes, nose and mouth, and wear them as 

 masks, called linotung, which, they say, are like those used at harvest "in the guessing." 

 One man is said to wear a mask called balekoko. Masks called buso-buso, I have heard 

 from a Bagobo, are worn at one of the Visayan festivals. 



178 The harvest ceremony differs in a number of details at Sibulan. Cf. F. C. Cole: 

 op. tit., pp. 88—89. 1913. 



179 Father Gisbert says that the harvest festival is called "the feast of women." See 

 Blair and Robertson: vol. 43, p. 233. 1906. 



