FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93  
94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   >>   >|  
andard. Natural production It would be impossible for the Bontoc Igorot at present to subsist themselves two weeks by natural production. It is doubtful whether at any time they could have depended for even as much as a day in a week on the natural foods of the Bontoc culture area. The country has wild carabaos, deer, hogs, chickens, and three animals which the Igorot calls "cats," but all of these, when considered as a food supply for the people, are relatively scarce, and it is thought they were never much more abundant than now. Fish are not plentiful, and judging from the available waters there are probably as many now as formerly. It is believed that no nut foods are eaten in Bontoc, although an acorn is found in the mountains to the south of Bontoc pueblo. The banana and pineapple now grow wild within the area, but they are not abundant. Of small berries, such as are so abundant in the wild lands of the United States, there are almost none in the area. On the outside, near Suyak of Lepanto, there is a huckleberry found so plentifully that they claim it is gathered for food in its season. Hunting A large pile of rocks stands like a compact fortress on the mountain horizon to the north of Bontoc pueblo. Here a ceremony is observed twice annually by rich men for the increase of ay-ya-wan', the wild carabao. It is claimed that there are now seventeen wild carabaos in Ma-ka'-lan Mountain near the pueblo. There are others in the mountains farther to the north and east, and the ceremony has among its objects that of inducing these more distant herds to migrate to the public lands surrounding the pueblo. The men go to the great rock, which is said to be a transformed anito, and there they build a fire, eat a meal, and have the ceremony called "mang-a-pu'-i si ay-ya-wan'," freely, "fire-feast for wild carabaos." The ceremony is as follows: Ay-ya-wan ad Sa-ka'-pa a-li-ka is-na ma-am'-mung is-na. Ay-ya-wan ad O-ki-ki a-li-ka is-na ma-am'-mung is-na. Fay-cha'-mi ya'-i nan a-pu'-i ya pa'-tay. This is an invitation addressed to the wild carabaos of the Sakapa and Okiki Mountains to come in closer to Bontoc. They are also asked to note that a fire-feast is made in their honor. The old men say that probably 500 wild carabaos have been killed by the men of the pueblo. There is a tradition that Lumawig instructed the people to kill wild carabaos for marriage feasts, and all of those killed -- of which
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93  
94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Bontoc

 

carabaos

 

pueblo

 

ceremony

 
abundant
 

people

 

mountains

 

Igorot

 

killed

 

natural


production

 

migrate

 

distant

 
objects
 
inducing
 
Lumawig
 

surrounding

 

tradition

 

public

 

farther


increase

 

seventeen

 

claimed

 
carabao
 

feasts

 

marriage

 
instructed
 
Mountain
 

transformed

 
Mountains

Sakapa
 

closer

 
addressed
 

invitation

 
annually
 

called

 

freely

 
considered
 

supply

 

chickens


animals

 
scarce
 

thought

 

judging

 
waters
 

plentiful

 

subsist

 

present

 
impossible
 

andard