
RELIGION 183 
different ceremonies; each with its greater or lesser 
offerings and its appropriate formula or prayers. But 
on the side of outward and visible expression, his 
religion has remained undeveloped. Its apparatus is of 
the simplest, and its symbolism meager. He knows no 
temples except the little spirit houses that have been 
described. While he frequently uses altars, these are 
of the simplest type conceivable: a porcelain bowl set 
in a split bamboo stick, a coconut shell or plate hung 
from the rafters, and the like. If an actual offering is 
made in these, it is a handful of rice, a few betel nuts, or 
something equally insignificant. Some of the mountain- 
eers of Luzon dispense even with these paraphernalia. 
The Ifugao seem to use no altars; the Bontok no spirit 
house. Their sacrifices are placed on the ground or 
before the dwelling. Few if any objects are manu- 
factured for express service in worship: an everyday 
knife or spear or ax dispatches the victim, and the 
officiator, while he may put on his best, does not don 
distinctly religious clothing. Symbols of the type of 
our cross and the Mohammedan crescent, or the cloud 
terrace of the Pueblo Indians, the Filipino scarcely 
knows. 
Ceremonial Motives. Theavowed objectsof ritual 
reflect very neatly the profane ideals of the native. By 
far the greatest number of ceremonies are held to cure 
sickness. Often there is a distinct ritual for each recog- 
nized disease or type of disease believed to have been 
caused by one class of spirits. 
Allied to these ceremonies are what might be called 
general welfare rites made by the rich man or chief of 
the community for the good of all. These are supposed 
to promote the longevity, general health, and economic 
prosperity of the groups. From these rites it is only a 
step to the ceremonies previously referred to which 
