BENEDICT. BAGOBO CEBEMONIAL, MAGIC AXD MYTH 105 



Finally, there is a short a was performed over a great number 

 of extremely small leaf-dishes, with an intention not materially 

 differing from that of the two preceding Awas. This last I shall call 

 simply a supplementary awas. It forms an element of the ritual 

 on the last night of Ginum. 



Preliminary Awas. The preliminary Awas, though attended by 

 few, is an extremely important ceremony, at which the offerings 

 of areca-nuts and the accompanying devotions are directed toward 

 the following spirits : Pamulak Manobo (creator of the world), the 

 various buso, and the gimokud or ghosts, both those that have been 

 long dead and those recently departed from this earth. 



"We celebrate the Awas," old Datu Oleng said to me as wo 

 conversed about the Ginum, "because the earth and the sky could 

 not have been made by man. Pamulak Manobo made the world, 

 and made all the different kinds of men : Bagobo, American, Bila-an, 

 .Moro, Ubii (Ata), Kulaman ; and he made all the trees and all 

 things that grow on the earth ; this is why we prepare areca-nut — 

 because we pray to Pamulak Manobo. As for all the Tigbanua Kayo 

 and all the dead buso. we place areca-nut for them to keep us 

 from being sick." 



An element of pure worship may be recognized here, as of making 

 an act of thanksgiving to Pamulak Manobo for the creation of the 

 earth and of the things that grow on it. From this aspect, the 

 Awas stands out rather distinctly from other Malay rites, the 

 greater number of which are permeated by suggestions of bargaining 

 with deity. 



Several of the old women had charge of the first Awas; they 

 made the preparation and performed the ceremony, assisted at one 

 point only by Datu Oleng. The women were Miyanda, sister to 

 Oleng and the leading woman of the group ; Singan and Ikde, 

 Oleng's wives, and Huge, a priest doctor. The only one of the 

 younger women taking part in the rite was Sigo, the eldest of 

 those of Oleng's daughters who were still virgin. This girl, 

 during the devotions at the shrines, stood near to the old women 

 while she held a branch full of thick-clustering areca-nuts, which, 

 one by one, she plucked off and handed to the old women, or 

 laid in a little pile ready for their use. 



Shortly before sunset on the second night of Ginum, the women 

 began to place areca-nuts in a number of small dishes ■ twenty- 

 three in all which they had made from hemp leaves during 



