AN IFUGAO BURIAL CEREMONY. 237 



in the bowls, it is a veiy favorable sign. Had that oceurred in this 

 ease, the hogs would have been sacrificed immediately in the vengeance 

 ceremony and on the following night a party of warriors would have 

 started for Liiigai. However, no idu appeared at the ceremony for 

 Bahatan, and to make clear what really did occur it is necessary here 

 to describe briefly a few of the general beliefs regarding the omen 

 spirit and the significance of its appearance at the munhimung ceremony : 



Most of the omens are unfavorable, and whenever an omen spirit appears, its 

 every movement is watched with anxiety. Of special significance are the direction 

 of its flight and the character of its cries. If it flies slowly overhead in any 

 direction away from that of the inimical elan, at the same time uttering a low 

 mournful cry, it is a bad sign; but if it flies rapidly to the rear of the observers, 

 uttering a sharp cry of fright, it is the worst sign of all. Either of these things 

 indicates that vengeance will not be obtained for some time to come, and that 

 any war party sent out at once would surely meet with disaster. Many other 

 things may be learned from the idu — but it sometimes happens that none appears 

 before 12 o'clock, as was the case at Bahatan's munhimung. This is not taken 

 as a bad sign but merely indicates that the time is not ripe and that a series of 

 vengeance ceremonies must be held on the days following the burial. 



THE BUBIAI,. 



xlt all munhimung, no matter how the ceremonies on the hill turn 

 out, the burial in no case is delayed — it always begins exactly at noon. 

 The time is determined by the Eice Chief ^^ of the clan. The Rice 

 Chief of Banauol is Bundinlan of the village of Ambaliu. At the 

 ceremony for Bahatan he sat with the priests in the r'wwo-enclosed circle 

 on the plateau, and shortly after 11 o'clock he removed from his 

 hip-bag five little wooden pegs which he thrust in the ground in ■ a 

 vertical position. From watching the shadows cast by these pegs he 

 was able to determine when the sun had reached the meridian. Even 

 had the day been cloudy he would have guessed the hour with great 

 exactness. 



As noon approached, the men who were to take pai-t in the proces- 

 sion sought ■ their assigned positions, and when Bundinlan rose to an- 

 nounce the hour a long line of nearly a thousand men in single file 

 reached from the plateau to a point far beyond Bahatan's house. A 

 few minutes before 12 o'clock, the priests sent eight men down to the 

 house to prepare the body by tying it on a pole in the same manner in 

 which it had been tied when brought home. They also sent several 

 other men to open and prepare the tomb and cut the grass around it. 



'' The Rice Chief is called twnunoh in Central Ifugao and mimlapu in Kiftiigan 

 Ifugao. In the former area the position is nearly always filled by a man, in the 

 latter either by a man or a woman. The Rice Chief is the astronomer and 

 meteorologist of the clan, in addition to being its leader in agriculture. The 

 tumunoh of Central Ifugao have considerable astronomical knowledge and have 

 evolved an excellent calendar. 



