vm. D, 2 Beyer: Myths Among Mountain Peoples HI 



CENTRAL IFUGAO BELIEFS 



The exact difference between the Central Ifugao and the 

 Kiangan beliefs is not an easy matter to determine. There has 

 been much mixture between the two peoples accompanied by 

 a corresponding exchange of ideas. The effect of this exchange 

 in some cases has been to produce a deceptive similarity in 

 beliefs and myths that originally were fundamentally different; 

 while in other cases myths that were originally the same have 

 been so greatly differentiated in the two areas that their unity 

 can scarcely be recognized. 



However, it would seem that some basic differences really 

 exist, and the probability is that they are survivals from the 

 ancient cultures of the peoples who went to make up the present 

 distinctly composite Ifugao group. But the evidence at hand is 

 not sufficient to warrant a full discussion of this question here, 

 and I shall merely cite one example. Kiangan myths are nearly 

 always told from the standpoint of the gods, and have to do 

 with the dealings of the gods with one another and with men. 

 On the other hand. Central Ifugao myths are told from the stand- 

 point of men in their relations and dealings with the gods. This 

 will be made plain by a comparison of the following Central 

 Ifugao myth with the Origin of the Ifugaos previously given. 



The Golden Age. — Ifugao knowledge of the prediluvian period is very 

 vague. It is known, however, that the Earth World was entirely flat 

 except for two great mountains, one in the east called Amiiyao and one 

 in the west called Kalauitan." This level country was heavily forested, 

 and all of the people lived along a large river that ran through the 

 central plain between the two great mountains. 



The period was something like a Golden Age, when things were much 

 better than they are now. The people were demigods whose life was a 

 happy one and their country a sort of Garden of Eden. To obtain rice, 

 all that they needed to do was to cut down a stalk of bamboo, which 

 was plentiful, and split open the joints which were filled with hulled 

 rice ready to cook. Stalks of sugar-cane were filled with baiyax," and 

 needed only to be tapped to furnish a most refreshing drink. The river 

 was full of fish, and the forests were filled with deer and wild hogs 



"Collected by myself from various Ifugaos of Banauol clan, in 1906. 

 A similar but less complete version was collected at the same place by 

 Levi E. Case, in May, 1905, and published in This Journal, Sec. A (1909), 

 4, 256-260. 



" Or Alauitan in Sub-Ifugao. See Plates I and II. 



"The Ifugao rice drink, usually known as bubiid. | 



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