272 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



number of ceremonial elements characteristic of Bagobo tradition 

 and Bagobo worship that have not as yet been reported from other 

 Malay peoples. 



Perhaps the most striking of these characteristic elements is the 

 treatment of the sugar cane liquor at the agong ceremony, and also 

 on the last night of Ginum, during the rites before the balek.it. 



Tl Id men stir the balabba with a green spray and dip out a few 



drops with a leaf spoon having a knotted handle. The officiating 

 functionary offers the sacred liquor to the gods with these words: 

 •• I >i> you take the first draught, and we will drink the rest." The 

 part which balabba plays in the ceremonial suggests the cult of the 

 soma, in Indian rites, and the Iranian cult of the sacred haoma. 

 Manv passages in the Yedas and in the Avestas contain allusions 

 to ceremonies associated with the sacred liquor. 505 



Another feature of Bagobo worship that has a distinctly Indo- 

 Iranian flavor is the use of a cluster of medicinal branches ami 

 leaves for the lavations at the river. Lines of frequent occurrence 

 in the Yondidad refer to the hunches of sacred twigs bound tip 

 with a vegetal tie. This is the J:>irrs)ii<t : r ""'' which is one of the 

 essential instruments in the purification of the body, at the offering 

 of sacrifice and when reciting the prayers. This element of puri- 

 fication occurs also, as has been noted, in Peninsular rites; hut there, 

 to,,, it may have a non-Malay origin. Swettenham inclines to the 

 opinion that seven hundred years ago the faith of Malaya was a 

 form of Brahmanism, which had succeeded the original form of 

 spirit worship. : '" ; 



Other ceremonial elements which may. perhaps, hark hack to 

 an Aryan source are the attitude toward the creator of the world 

 and of man; 508 the importance of making the agricultural or blood- 



•»• Cf. J. 1> \i: m i sii ii .11 (tr.) "The Zend-Avesta: pt. 1, The Vendidad." The sacred 



I I.- ol the East, vol. 4, pp. 61, 74, 126, 169, 212, 289. 1895. Cf. also, P. Petebson 



(ed.): Bymns from the Rigveda, pp. 26, 46, 37, 119. 1888. 



-'•« i r. .i. Dabmesteteb (tr.): op. cit., p. 22. (Editor's note): "The BareBma (now 



I'M-. mi is a bundle of sacred l\vi'_ r s which the pries! holds in his hand while 

 ng the prayers Cf also ibid., r>. 215. "The priesl shall cut off a twig of 

 Baresma . . . The. faithful one, holding it in his left hand, shall keep his Byes upon it 

 w it In hi t ceasing, whilst he is offering ap t<> the Ahurs Ma/da... the high and beautiful 

 golden Baomas..." See also |>. 160. "Von shall wash your bodies three times, you 

 shall wash yonr clothes three times... you shall bind ap the bundles of BareBma, you 

 shall bring libations to thi raters..." See also pp. 211 — 215, 867 et eel. 



■ u7 Cf. Malaj sketches, p. L92. 1908. 

 '■ Cf. J. DAEME8T] hi; (tr.): op. cit., p. lxiv. 



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