The Philippine Journal of Science, 



D. General Biology, Etlinology ami Antliropology. 



Vol. Vr, No. 2, April, 1911. 



THE HARVEST FEAST OF THE KIANGAN IFUGAO. 



By Roy Franklin Barton. 



The Ifugao has some hundreds of spirits of various ranks ranging 

 from gods to demons, monsters, imps, and spirits dwelling in trees and 

 stones; and in addition to these, there are the souls, linauiva, of his 

 ancestors, who are nearly as powerfxil as the other spirits. A very large 

 share of the Ifugao's life is spent in obtaining animals and other things 

 needed for religious feasts. 



Whenever a member of the family falls ill, chickens, ducks, pigs, or 

 a carabao, according to the wealth of the family and the seriousness of 

 the case, are killed; one or more jars of rice wine and a quantity of 

 betel nuts and betel leaves are provided. An enormous number of spir- 

 its, including all the spirits of the ancestors for six or seven genera- 

 tions, and the ancestral spirits in a direct male line from Bugan and 

 Balitok, the survivors of a great flood, are invited by name to the feast. 

 If an Ifugao leaves on a journey far from home; if he enlists in the 

 Constabulary; or cuts his son's hair for the first time, he makes a reli- 

 gious feast. If he happens to go to Nueva Vizcaya to buy a carabao, 

 he makes a feast to which he invites certain spirits, praying to them to 

 put it into the mind of whomsoever he may try to buy from, to sell the 

 animal cheap. If an Ifugao marries or is divorced; if a child is born 

 to him ; if he makes a loom ; if he becomes angi-y with a man of another 

 village and desires his death; if he moves into another house; if he is 

 apparently unsuccessful in a love affair ; if he finds that he is consuming 

 his supply of rice too rapidly ; if a bird called pitpit flies into his house ; 

 if he names his baby ; if a bad debtor delays payment — a proper feast is 

 the invariable accompaniment. 



Certain feasts rank higher in importance, expense, and pretentiousness 

 than others. The most expensive and the one which invests the giver 

 with great prestige is the wjauc_} the feast of the kadangyan, a class of 

 rich men that approaches an aristocracy. The koJating, or harvest feast, 



' In writing Ifugao words in this article, a phonetic system of spelling is used. 

 It may be noted that the vowels have the Continental values and that the g is 

 always hard. 



81 



