﻿in. i). 6 Robertson: The Igorots of Lepanto 475 



Thus, when they are going to celebrate the wedding, the parties on both 

 sides are first gathered together to see if the subsistence for the canao is 

 sufficient; they then tell the old men to give a canao called begnas" in the 

 old men's tribunal," and after that they go from house to house to sing a 

 canao song, and after this, the wedding of the couple to be married is 

 performed and then they will again have nine days of wedding prayer 

 until it is finished; they should not work for three years [sic] and are not 

 allowed to go to Candon ,s or any place until the three years are completed. 



In general the townsmen must celebrate a iteast called begnas M thrice 

 a year and after each they are not allowed to work for a week if it is well 

 done; if an earthquake or some other bad thing is predicted by the old 

 men, they cannot work for a long time. 



The immediate ancestors of the people of the barrio of Malideg 

 migrated into the mountains from the Ilocano town of Santa 

 Maria, in order to escape the baptism which the Spaniards were 

 forcing on them and in order to live in accordance with Igorot. 

 customs. Until American rule, this barrio was a part of the 

 town of Tubo;-" subsequently, it was separated from that town 

 and placed within the jurisdiction of Lepanto. During Spanish 

 times, the tax amounted to 12 centavos per person, and until 

 the rule by the Katipunan 21 the same moderate sum was required 

 for the registration, of a license for a carabao or horse. The 

 Americans increased the taxes to 1 peso for a personal cedula 

 and a license of 1 peso for carabaos, horses, and cows. 22 The cus- 

 toms as related by the old men are as follows: 



The custom we inherited from our fathers and grandfathers is that 

 when a young man and woman want to get married there must be one 



10 The religious ceremony called begnas corresponds to the Ifugao honga, 

 which is a ceremony for the general welfare of a group of people. The 

 group may be of any size, from a single family, or a party of travelers, 

 to a village or a whole clan. Freedom from sickness and crop failure, 

 health, happiness, and increase of rice, chickens, pigs, and children are the 

 chief things prayed for at a honga. — Beyer. 



" The building here referred to as a tribunal is the Lepanto structure cor- 

 responding to the Bontoc pabafunan or faivi. See Jenks, Pub. P. I. Ethnol. 

 Surv. (1905), 1, 50-52.— Beyer. 



18 A town of Ilocos Sur, with which the Igorots carried on considerable 

 trade. Many other instances of taboo will be noticed in the following pages. 



18 See footnote 16. The ceremony here referred to is evidently for a 

 large group of people. Small begnas are held frequently. — Beyer. 



20 By Act No. 293, this rancheria was placed in Abra Province. 



B Meaning the short period of control exercised over the mountain dis- 

 tricts of Luzon by the Filipino insurgents. The expression is in general 

 use in Mountain Province. 



52 In addition to the taxes named, there was also for the earlier years 

 of American occupancy a slaughterhouse tax of from 25 to 50 centavos for 

 each animal killed. The taxes are higher than the legitimate taxes during 

 the Spanish regime. 



