An Ifugao burial ceremony, by H. Otley Beyer ... and Roy Franklin Barton ...

240

BEYER AND BARTON.

and middle classes. Children and old people do not attend. The gathering is held on the paved place, called daulon, underneath the house, and
usually begins at about '8 or 9 o'clock in the evening. The host as a
rule sits in the center beside the jar of rice-drink and the baskets or bowls
containing the betel nuts, leaves, and tobacco. A small fire of pitch
pine, both for light and warmth, is also built near the center. In the
earlier part of the evening the women usually gather in a group on one
side of the fire while the men sit on the other, but by midnight or after,
when all have become warmed with the wine and the fervor of the
songs, they mix together freely. No person is responsible for anything
that he or she may do at a liu-liua, and no enmities or hard feelings are
ever retained.23
The principal purpose of the gathering is the singing of certain
ceremonial songs, and this is kept up during the whole night. The
songs are of two distinct types: the a-dpox di gimaiyang and the munliu-liua. The former are of mutual criticism on the part of the men
and women, and the latter are of love and war. The latter are sung at
all liu-liua ceremonies, throughout the year, and are in a curious,
secret language utterly different from the spoken Ifugao.24
The a-dpox di gimaiyani are sung only after the munhimiuigr ceremony,
and never at liu-liua held on other occasions. They are in the ordinary
spoken language and, unlike most Ifugao songs, are not sung by a
leader and chorus but by all the men singing together in one group
and the women in another. The following extract from one of these
songs was obtained at the house of Kiinggingan of Pasnakan, on the
second night after Bahatan's burial, and will show their general
character. It is given both in the original 25 and in a free translation:
"The Ifugaos ordinarily have a very strict moral code, and the crime of adultery,is punishable by death, but there is no doubt that formerly general license
of every sort was permissible at a lfu-liua. At the present time improper intercourse is very much frowned upon, and the younger married people will not
attend a liu-liua where anything improper is liable to occur.
24 This secret language is used only in certain religious and ceremonial songs,
such as the munhanial of the Central Ifugao priests and the munhadhad harvest
song of the KiAnian women. It is so different from the spoken language that I
have listened to it for hours without being able to recognize a single word, except
an occasional proper name. Indeed, the Ifugaos themselves have largely forgotten the meaning of these words. They know the general meaning only, and
can not translate it word for word into the spoken language.
z5 A-dp6x di (GmaiyanR.
MEN. Dakyu hi binabaii, le-le-6-lin-um-an, isda-yu gininga-yu hi nan payo,
le-le-I-lin-um-an.
WoMEN. Dakyu hi linalaki, le-le-d-lin-um-an, ya isda-yu hi wart'wan~ di inug6diu-u, le-le-ll-lin-um-an.
MEN. Dakyu hi binabaii, le-le-u-lin-um-an, ya e ipipluk hi payo di ginini7a-yu,
le-le-d-lin-um-an.