BENEDICT, BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH 241 



It is tabu for a youth who has never killed a man to eat the 

 flesh of the limokun pigeon. The boys are taught that if they 

 should dare to eat it they would feel very sick, that their skin 

 would turn yellow, and that they would grow thin and die; but 

 the man who has killed other men may safely eat this pigeon, for 

 the reason that the limokun is the king of birds. There seems to 

 be no feeling of hesitation about killing this bird on account of 

 its sacred association with omens, but only as to making it common 

 food. Limokun is set aside for those who have achieved renown, 

 just as certain articles of dress are reserved for old people and for 

 warriors. 



The wearing of the head-cloth called tankulu is tabu to any man 

 who has never killed another man, for the tankulu is a ceremonial 

 badge, indicating that the wearer has given Mandarangan human 

 blood to drink. This much-valued kerchief is made by women 

 specialists, who employ a method of over-lacing cotton or hemp cloth 

 before dyeing it. After coloring, the binding threads are removed 

 and, wherever the dye has not penetrated, a decorative design in 

 cream-color is left on a dark red background. The color varies from 

 a claret tint to a dark chocolate shade in a progressive series, the 

 lighter tints indicating that the wearer has killed but few men, 

 the darker tints that he has killed many. 



This beautifully decorated tankulu cloth, which gives the appear- 

 ance of having been stamped with pattern blocks, is often made 

 up into shirts, trousers and carrying-bags for the men, and into 

 short waists and separate sleeves for the women. The use of this 

 cloth is tabu, however, to all except those who have won the right to 

 wear the tankulu kerchief and their near relatives. For example, 

 a young man who has never taken life, but is nephew to a datu 

 or other brave man, is often seen wearing the tankulu but a 

 youth who has no distinguished relatives must earn his own exploit 

 badge. 



Another textile, the use of which is prohibited to young men 

 and to young women, is Mnombus, a hemp fabric that is dyed a 

 solid color in the rich claret dye extracted from the root of the 

 sikarig tree, and made into closed, tight shirts for old men and 

 women. It is said that in former times, before cotton cloth was 

 imported at the coast, all Bagobo women, young and old, wore the 

 linombus waist. At present, there is an attempt to preserve the 

 ancient colors in the short waist of shop cotton, with its body of 



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