ones of the village, and there offers rice mixed with
blood; she oils the stones, places new yellow headbands on each one,
and after dancing _tadek_, returns to the gathering. Often she is
accompanied by a number of men, who shout on their return trip "to
frighten away evil spirits."

Near the house a chair is made ready for the deceased, and in it are
placed clothing and food. In the yard four crossed spears form the
frame-work on which a shield rests (Plate XVIII) [111] and on this
are beads, food, and garments--offerings for the spirits; while near
the house ladder is the spirits' table made of inverted rice mortars.

The duration of this ceremony depends largely on the wealth of the
family, for the relatives must furnish everything needed at this
time. Games are played, and there is much drinking and singing; but
before the members of the family may take part, they are dressed in
good garments, and the blood and oil ceremony is repeated on them. At
the conclusion of the dancing, they go into the house, roll up the mat
used by the dead, open the doors and windows, and all are again free
to do as they wish. Should they fail to roll up the mat at this time,
it must remain until another _Layog_ is held; and during the interval
all the former restrictions are in force. [112]

About twenty years ago, a great number of people in Patok died
of cholera; and since then the people of that village have held a
_Layog_ in their honor each November, to the expense of which all
contribute. As this is just before the rice-harvest, a time when all
the people wear their best garments, it is customary for the old men
to allow bereaved families to participate in this ceremony and then
release them from mourning.

_Beliefs Concerning the Spirit of the Dead_.--Direct questioning brings
out some differences of opinion, in the various districts, concerning
the spirit of the dead. In Manabo, a town influenced both by the
Igorot of the Upit River valley and the Christianized Ilocano of San
Jose, the spirit is said to go at once to the great spirit Kadaklan,
and then to continue on "to the town where it lives." "It is like a
person, but is so light that it can be carried along by the wind when
it blows." [113] The people of Ba-ay, a mountain village partially
made up of immigrants from the eastern side of the Cordillera Central,
claim that the spirits of the dead go to a mountain called Singet,
where they have a great town. Here, it is als