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Updated: June 16, 2025
All prayers for fruitage and increase of men, of animals, and of crops all prayers for deliverance from the fierce forces of the physical world are made to him; and once each month the pa'-tay ceremony, entreating Lu-ma'-wig for fruitage and health, is performed for the pueblo group by an hereditary class of men called "pa'-tay a priesthood in process of development.
It is believed to be a movement taking its rise from the restless Roman Catholic Ilokano of the coast. In Bontoc pueblo the thought of the return of Lu-ma'-wig is laughed at. The people say that if Lu-ma'-wig was to return they would know of it. However, two families in Bontoc, one that of Finumti, the tattooer, and the other that of Kayyad, a neighbor of Finumti, have a touch of a changing faith.
Bontoc went for their bodies, and told Kanyu that, because they killed the children of Lu-ma'-wig, their children would always be dying and to-day Bontoc points to the fewness of the houses which make up Kanyu.
Once when out in I-shil' Mountains northeast of Bontoc, Fa-tang'-a, the brother-in-law of Lu-ma'-wig, said to him, "Oh, you of no value! Here we are without water to drink. Why do you not give us water?" Lu-ma'-wig said nothing, but he turned and thrust his spear in the side of the mountain. As he withdrew the weapon a small stream of water issued from the opening.
The Igorot does not know how or why it is so, but he says that Lu-ma'-wig gave the earth with all its characteristics, the water in its various manifestations, the people, all animals, and all vegetation. To-day he is the force in all these things, as he always has been. Once, in the early days, the lower lands about Bontoc were covered with water.
As the watering of fil-lang' is through the special dispensation of Lu-ma'-wig, so the taro left by him in his garden school received from him a peculiar lease of life it is perpetual. The people claim that all other taro beds must be planted annually. Lu-ma'-wig showed the people how to build the fawi and pabafunan, and with his help those of Lowingan and Sipaat were constructed.
They keep a white flag flying from a pole near their dwelling, or at least one such flag in the section of the pueblo in which they reside. They also believe that Lu-ma'-wig will return to them in the near future. A Tinguian man of the pueblo of Pay-yao', Lepanto, a short journey from Agawa, in Bontoc, is said to be the leading spirit in this faith of the "guardia de honor."
What became of these two children is not known; neither is it known whether those who went above are alive now; but Lu-ma'-wig is still alive in the sky and is still the friendly god of the Igorot, and is the force in all the things with which he originally had to do. Throughout the Bontoc culture area Lu-ma'-wig is the one and only god of the people.
Soon the child was born, the water subsided in Bontoc pueblo, and Fa-tang'-a with his sister and her babe returned to the pueblo. Children came to the household rapidly and in great numbers. Generation followed generation, and the people increased wonderfully. After a time Lu-ma'-wig decided to come to help and teach the Igorot.
A man should have only one wife; if he had more, his life would soon be required of him. The home should be kept pure; the adulterer should not violate it; all should be as brothers. As has been previously said, the people of Bontoc claim that they did not go to war or kill before Lu-ma'-wig came.
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