208 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



and the peninsula of Malaysia, suggests a brief comparison of the 

 religious elements in the two areas. 



Certain constant factors in worship that appear pretty regularly 

 in the religious system both of the Bagobo and of several penin- 

 sular tribes seem to indicate a relationship — that is to say, so far 

 as those religious practices that are fixed below the veneer of Islam 

 are concerned. In addition to the points that have already been 

 noted in our treatment of Bagobo ceremonial and mythology, other 

 similarities may now be considered. 



Observances in sowing 479 and in reaping 4S0 and the magical spells 

 employed to ensure the success of rice crops in Malacca, while 

 forming a much more elaborate complex than the simple Bagobo 

 ceremonies, carry the same spirit and oiler a like plan in the 

 general form. We may note, in particular, the following details: 

 the necessity of planting rice in early morning 481 and at a set 

 season of the year; 42 '- the platform altar erected in the rice-field 

 for offerings, 483 and the branches surrounding it for magical pur- 

 poses; the gifts to the gods of textiles, rice, ete., 4s4 at harvest; 

 the ceremonial use of yellow rice stained with saffron; 483 rules 

 regarding exactness in posture, movements 480 and so forth. Of 

 course, a Malay ceremonial in Malacca is so overlaid with Moham- 

 medan ritual that the analogy is to be found rather in the whole 

 animistic attitude toward rice culture than in identity of rites. 

 Perhaps the sacrifice of blood that Filipino tribes offered shortly 

 before the sowing, or at the time of tilling the fields, finds its 

 counterpart in the peninsular custom of sacrificing a goat 487 to the 

 earth hantu at the rice sowing season. 



The ceremony of purification by water, which plays such an im- 

 portant part in Bagobo ritual, is common among peninsular Malays. 

 who have "annual bathing expeditions... which are supposed to 

 purify the persons of the bathers and to protect them from evil." 488 



tan 



1 U 1 



7 " W W. Smm: Malay magic, pp. 218—223, 228—235. 1900. 



Cf. ibid., pp. 235—249. 



Cf. ibid., pp. 218. 



-•>* Cf. ibid., p. 219. 



»•■ Cf. ibid., p. 281. 



*■* Cf. ibid., p. 237. 



"° 6 Cf. ibid., p. 243. 



k "" Cf. ibid., p. B48 et acq. 



" %1 Cf. ibid., pp, 232, 288—284. 



»•■ Cf. ibid., p. 81. 



