% PRESKNTED BY THE AUTTHOR jg^v*. -. i--V:/> -^^It^^s^^' -4 NOV 1 4 1916 A STUDY OF BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH Laura Watson Benedict Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Philosophy of Columbia University [Reprinted from the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. XXV, pp. 1—308. Published 15 May, 1916.] Printed by E. J. BRILL, Leyden (Holland). ^> t [Annals N. Y. Acad. Scl, Vol. XXV, pp. 1—308, pll. I—YIII. 15 May, 1916] o A STUDY OF BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH^ By Laura Watson Benedict {Presented by title before the Academy^ 20 April^ 1914) CONTENTS Page Prefatory remarks 3 Introduction. General characteristics of the religious attitude of the Bagobo 8 Part I. Mythological concepts 13 The Bagobo pantheon 13 Myth-gods of the nine heavens 15 Gods associated with human interests 18 The demons called buso 29 Interpretation of physical evironment 43 The souls of man and life after death 49 Characterization of the two souls 49 Right-hand soul or Gimokud Takawanan 50 Signs of death 51 Summons to the living 51 Onong or travel outfit for the soul 53 The one country of the dead 54 Manner of existence in Gimokudan 55 Topography of the one country 56 Idea of retribution 58 Left hand soul or Gimokud Tebang 58 Dream exploits 58 Fate at death 60 General considerations ' 61 Restoration of the dead to life 61 Cult of the dead 62 Ideas of death 63 Souls of animals and of manufactured objects 64 Traditions of mythical ancestors 65 Part II. The formal ceremonial .... 75 Typical ceremonial behavior 75 General character of ceremonial 75 Fundamental elements of ceremonial 78 Human sacrifice 78 Ceremonial food 79 Ceremonial liquor 79 Betel ritual , 80 Offerings of manufactured products 81 ^ Manuscript received by the Editor, 8 April, 1914. ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Page Purification 81 Recitation of ritual words 82 Ceremonial chant 82 Agoog music 83 Dancing and costumes 85 The feast 87 Manganito 87 Various types of altar 87 Bamboo prayer stands called tambara 87 Hanging altars 90 Tigyama 90 Balekat 90 Agong altars called sonaran 91 Hut shrines 92 Buis or buso houses 92 Parabunnian or rice-sowing altars 92 Ceremonies in detail 93 Festival of drinking called Ginum 93 Introductory remarks 93 Chronology of the preparation and of the four main days of the festival 96 First day of the Ginum 101 First night called tig-kanayan or the beginning 101 Second day 101 Second night called ta dua dukilum 102 Third day 102 Third night 103 Fourth and main day 103 Fourth and last night 103 Ceremony of Awas or offerings of areca-nuts to spirits 104 Preliminary Awas 105 Main Awas Ill Ceremony of Tanung or magic rites against Buso 113 Preliminary Tanung 114 Main Tanung 115 Ceremony of Pamalugu or purification 117 Ceremony of Lulub or washing of water flasks 124 Ceremony of Sonar or offering on the agongs of manufactured products 125 Olfering of manufactured products to the gods 126 Ablutions called Sagmo 'J 28 Visitation of Anito 128 Rites with balabba 129 Ceremonies on the main day of Ginum 131 Arrangement of the long house 151 Festival of Ginum at Tubison 153 Question of head hunting 158 A few ceremonial chants 162 BENEBICT, BAGOBO CEBEMONIAL, MAGIC ANB MYTH 3 Page Rite of human sacrifice called Pag-huaga 166 Ceremonial at rice-sowing called Mariimmas 171 Ceremonial at harvest called Ka-pungaan 174 Marriage rites 180 Trial marriage 181 Formal ceremony called Taliduma 181 Rites attending death and burial 186 Part III. Every-day forms of religious response 193 Interviews with the gods called Manganito 193 Charms and magical rites 203 Charms by actual defense 206 Charms by substitution 208 Charms through association by contiguity 213 Charms having inherent virtue 217 Ordeal or test 222 Disease and healing in their supernatural aspects 223 Diseases that result from breaking tabu 223 Diseases caused by huso 225 Diseases caused by the left-hand soul 227 Methods of healing sickness 229 By an act of devotion 229 By magic 230 By native materia medica 230 Method of burning 232 Method of external use without burning 233 Method of internal use without burning 234 Method of wearing or of carrying medicine on the person 234 Tabu as a factor of the religious life 235 Ceremonial tabu 236 Mythical tabu 238 Class tabu 240 .Esthetic tabu 243 Omens and dreams 245 Omens 245 Dreams 248 Part IV. Problem of sources of cei^emonial and myth 250 Bibliography 279 Index 283 Prefatory Remarks The Bagobo form one of those Malay cultural groups in the mountainous country of southeastern Mindanao which have retained their pagan faith in its entirety and have never accepted the religious dictates of Islam. During the period when the Moro dominated 4 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES the southern coast '^ from Point Tagubnm to Zamboanga, the Bagobo, like the other wild tribes of the Gulf of Davao, doubtless paid tribute to the Mohammedan conquerors, but they retained their independence in customs and in worship. Unlike the lowland peoples of the west, they would not fuse by conversion and by intermarriage with the Moro, though they came into trading rela- tions with Moro groups at the coast. In their remote homes on mountain peaks, which could be reached only by hard climbing through dense and thorny forest growth, the Bagobo remained safe from attack, except as, now and then, a few of their number were caught and pressed into slavery by the Moro. "Within the last sixty years, — that is to say since the Spanish conquest of the gulf of Davao, — the Bagobo have begun to build little villages on the w^est side of the gulf, and there to establish their own cultural conditions. When Datu^ Ali, a chieftain of great distinction, died in 1906, he had lived for fifty years in Ltibu, the old Bagobo name for the present village of Santa Cruz. While a coast culture developed that w^as modified somewhat by Visayan and Moro customs and by new elements from Spanish sources, yet, on the whole, the Bagobo at the coast appear to have been but superficially influenced by these various contacts. They have clung tenaciously to the old industrial processes and to the ancient forms of worship. There is not to be found that sharp dividing line w^hich one would look for between mountain culture and coast culture ; and particularly is this true on the religious side. W^hile there is a considerable range of local variation, not only between coast and mountain but also between different moun- tain groups, yet, as a general characterization, it may be said that * For a discussion of the Moro conquests in Mindanao, see N. M. Saleeby : ''Studies in Moro History, Law and Religion," pp. 50— 61. 1905. ^ Dat?i, a Malay word for grandfather, is now, as applied to the chiefs, restricted to the Moro and the wild tribes; but formerly it was in wide use among the rilipino as well. Blair and E-obektson (The Philippine Islands, vol. 16, p. 157. 1904) quote Pardo de Tavera as saying that the word dait4 or datuls, though not in the present day vocabulary of the Tagal, primitively signified grandfather or head of the family, the term being equivalent to the head of the hdrangay. The reference is given to T. H. Paedo de Tavera : Costumbres de los Tagalos, p. 10, note 1. 1892. Cf. also, Blair and Robertson : cp. cit.y vol. 4, footnote, pp. 184—185, for a discussion of the barangay, as meaning: (1) the slender craft, pointed at both ends and put together with wooden pegs, that formed the distinctive vessel of the Philippines; (2) the small social community of related individuals directed by the same cabeza, or datu, who had been captain of the same family group on the barangay in which they had crossed the water to the new home. BENEDICT, BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH 5 the same rites are celebrated on mountain tops and beside the sea, the same tabus are respected, the same precautions taken against ghosts and demons. Although the new doctrines and the new rites suggested to the Bagobo fresh safeguards against evil spirits, — safeguards which might well be added to their already ample collec- tion of magic spells and of charm objects, — although they eagerly accepted foreign amulets and untried formulae that might, per- chance, subdue a fever or expel a cough, there are unmistakable signs that even those coast Bagobo who have felt most strongly the impelling force of the new forms of worship are at heart as sincere pagans as they ever were. In all essentials, they believe and think and behave like those remote mountain Bagobo who have been scarcely touched by foreign influences. Recent history accounts easily for this situation. The Bagobo who have settled at the coast during the last half century have come with a religion well organized, and fixed by centuries of tradition. Furthermore, there has been continuous and unbroken intercourse between the mountain people and the coast people, particularly on occasions of ceremonial gatherings and for purposes of trade. Intermarriage between mountain Bagobo and coast Bagobo has not been lacking. More than this, there has occurred an inter- mittent flow of whole families from the hills and from the nearer mountains to the coast, and from the sea back to the upland villages, in regulated response to a varying pressure of conditions both ecclesiastical and economic.