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As one proceeds up the tributary streams into such settlements as Baay, Likuan, and Lakub, it is noticeable that the typical spirit houses become fewer in number, while the participants in the accompanying ceremonies are limited to recent emigrants from the lower valleys.
The significance of this sprinkling is not known, but the custom is widespread, and is evidently very ancient. In the mountain village of Likuan, a man who wears a very large hat takes the child to a nearby saloko. As he returns, he is sprinkled by a medium, who says, "You are wet from the rain; in what place did you get wet?"
A spear with a colored clout is stuck into the ground close by; and usually an inverted rice mortar also stands here, and supports a dish of basi. In the mountain village of Likuan it is built alone as a cure for sickness. Kalang: A wooden box, the sides of which are cut to resemble the head and horns of a carabao.
Just as the sun is sinking, the raft is carried to the river, and is set afloat, in order that any interested spirits, who may have been prevented from attending the ceremony, may still receive their share of the offering. In Likuan a different explanation is offered for the taltalabong.
The people of Agsimo and Balantai suffered defeat in a raid carried on against Dagara in 1907, and at the time of our visit a number of the warriors still bore open wounds received in that fight. In the same year at least three unsuccessful attacks, probably by lone warriors, were made against individuals of Lagangilang, Likuan, and Lakub.
Even the interior mountain settlements, like Lingey, Ba-ay, and Likuan, are hidden beneath these trees, thus incidentally disposing of the fable that "the coconut tree will not grow out of sight of the sea." Young trees have to be protected by fences during the first two or three years of growth, or they will be uprooted by the pigs, but from that time on they require little or no care.
In the village of Manabo, thunder is known as Kidol; in Likuan and Bakaok, as Kido-ol; and in each place he is recognized as a powerful spirit. In Ba-ay, two types of lightning are known to be spirits. The flash from the sky is Salit, that "from the ground" is Kilawit. Here thunder is Kadaklan, but the sun is the all powerful being.
In Lakub a new house or protection is placed above the guardian stones, and offerings are made to them at the time of the Sagobay, while in Likuan the participants wear neck and ankle bands of bamboo as a further protection from the sickness. Ngorong-or. Lumaba and the Tinguian villages of Ilokos Sur hold this ceremony, whenever a person is seriously ill with stomach trouble.
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