﻿ix, d, 6 Robertson: The Igorots of Lepanto 491 



for it is a bad omen should a hawk or other bird take away the little 

 chickens. 



7. Cafiao called pasang. This canao is celebrated by married people 

 who have lived together for a certain length of time, but who have 

 neither sons nor daughters, in order that they may have children. 



The ceremony in this cahao is the killing of a hog to be offered up 

 in the yard of the married couple, together with the things needed in 

 the house, such as a turban of beads, camisa, belt, etc., all things used 

 by the man as well as by the woman, and some money in addition to 

 the above things. All these things are put together into a big wide 

 flat basket; the woman takes the basket on her head and starts to 

 dance and the man dances around her for about an hour, accompanied 

 by the beating of a ganza or salibao (drum). The married couple must 

 not do any work for two days. 



8. Cahao called palis. This cafiao is for the protection against poisoners 

 and that the poison used by them may become harmless. 



This cafiao is principally performed when a person is sick; it is for 

 the purpose of finding out the real cause or reason for the person's 

 sickness; but, if it is known that the person was poisoned, then this 

 cafiao is for his cure (medicine) ; the ceremony in this canao is the 

 killing of a dog, a cat, a hen, a turkey, a duck, or a goose. If every 

 one of these animals has a bad liver, the person will die, but should 

 they have good livers then the person will be cured and will become well. 



9. The canao that can be performed daily is the killing of a hen 

 or other chicken; the Igorot can make this canao as an offering or 

 prayer to the anito when anyone is sick; if he kills a chicken the anito 

 will cure his sickness, providing that the chicken has a good liver. 



If anyone intending to go on a trip canaos [that is, makes a cahao 

 with] a young chicken or a hen having a good liver, he will have a 

 good trip; if he is accused of anything or some one makes a complaint 

 against him, he kills a chicken ; if he finds the liver good, he will win ; 

 but if bad then he will surely lose; the meat of these chickens is eaten. 



The person making this kind of a canao is forbidden to go to the 

 country or other place to work for one day and during that day he is 

 also prohibited from speaking to anybody except to members of his own 

 household and no one is allowed to enter his house during that day. 



The real sign of the termination of any one of these nine canaos is 

 that on the morning of the third, fifth, or tenth day, as the case may 

 be, the person giving the canao goes to a brook or river, a little way 

 from his house to bathe; he takes with him his spear and sticks a 

 long 'chicken feather in his hair. In this manner he informs the people 

 that the cahao is over. 



On the last day of the canao and when he goes to the river to 

 bathe, he does not speak to anyone nor does he look behind nor beside 

 him; should anyone speak to him, he will only shake his head. 



Everybody knows just what kind of a canao anyone is performing, 

 because a certain kind of a bunch of green leaves is put up at the gate 

 in front or at the side of the house. 



During the celebration of any one of these nine canaos, no one taking 

 part in them can do any kind of work in the country or other places, 

 [but] in their own houses they are allowed to do certain kinds of 

 work. The people are prohibited from working or from leaving their 



