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Eugpamolak Manobo. At Cibolan only brass objects are placed in this tambara. At Digos the mabalian does the planting and harvesting about the tambara, and the rice grown there is reserved as seed, for the next season. FATHER GISBERT relates that it is the custom to sacrifice a slave at this time, but this is denied by the datu consulted by the writer.
At last the children were forced to leave their home and seek out new habitations in other parts. They traveled in pairs, in different directions, until they came to favorable locations where they settled down. From them have sprung all the tribes known to the Bagobo. One pair was too weak to make the journey from the drought-cursed land, and staid at Cibolan.
She also knows how to weave and dye the turban worn by the magani, and because of this accomplishment is considered to be under the protection of Baitpandi, and is permitted to wear garments made of red cloth, the same as the magani. There are five mabalian in Cibolan, all of whom are women past middle life. A medicine is used with the idea that it assists in driving away evil influences.
In some cases this is taken out to the fields, where it is eaten by the wife, or wives of the host; but in Cibolan it is kept in the house until the next morning, when it is eaten by all the members of the family. The ceremonial eating of this rice causes the supply to last longer and assures abundant rains for the succeeding crop.
Upon his death he bequeathed the leadership of a united people to his son Manib. The new datu did not prove to be a great warrior and his decisions in matters of dispute were not always just, so that bad blood arose between the people of Cibolan and Talun.
The afterbirth is placed in a bamboo tube, is covered with ashes and a leaf, and the whole is hung against the side of the dwelling where it remains until it falls of its own accord or the house is destroyed. In Cibolan the midwife applies a mixture of clay and herbs called karamir to the eyes of all who have witnessed the birth "so that they will not become blind."
Gohn informs me that at midnight during the last GinEm made by Datu Ali in Santa Cruz, a gun was fired, and the datu said that a sacrifice should have taken place at that time. The festival may last one or more days. The last held in Cibolan extended through two days and nights.
This seems to be the only occasion when human flesh is tasted, despite the fact that the members of this tribe have been frequently referred to as cannibals. The warriors of Cibolan and Malilla formerly carried heads of enemies to their towns and made use of them during the GinEm ceremony, while at Bansalan and Digos a lock of hair, cut from the head of the slain, answered the same purpose.
Each district has its head man, or petty datu who is supposed to be subject to the datu of Cibolan. This seems actually to have been the case until a few years ago, when some of the local rulers withdrew their allegiance. The office is hereditary and usually passes from the father to his eldest son.
These spirits may return to their old home for short periods, and talk with the gimokod of the living through dreams, but they never return to dwell again on earth. In the districts to the west of Cibolan the general belief is that there are but two gimokod, one inhabiting the right side of the body, the other the left.
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