Ritual and Power in Human Society

During rituals the Buguias people generally feasted together in communal harmony. Disputes were put to rest for the nonce, and the few rivalries exhibited were playful. For example, if someone were to fall asleep during a wake, another might regale the corpse by saying: "Look here, this fellow is ignoring you, so why don't you give to me the favors he requested?" But good will did not always infuse human relations, and mundane disputes were sometimes referred to the afterworld. In trial by ordeal, for example, the ancestors and gods were asked to judge, and were expected to give immediate evidence of guilt or innocence. Moreover, the threat of supernatural sanction always made perjury a dangerous litigation strategy. A curse befalling a liar might persist for years, fomenting perennial ill feelings between contesting families.

On the whole, the Buguias people prized amicable settlements and were proud to note that the blood feuds endemic to many other Cordilleran regions did not plague their society. Yet violent disputes did occasionally erupt, and the opposing parties could try to curry favor from the more powerful ancestors. Since both parties could do the same, human quarrels could escalate into contests between different afterworld factions. A few individuals, usually Kalanguya immigrants, were judged guilty of manipulating malignant spirits for their own benefit; these mantala were greatly feared and occasionally killed, secretly or in public.