Social Stratification and Religious Expense

On the surface, ritual expenditures disproportionally taxed the rich. This was especially marked in funerals and above all in pedit, where each step entailed geometrically inflated expenses. But on all occasions, elite couples demonstrated their stature by redistributing lavishly. This also extended to the nonritual feasts (saliw ) that accompanied such occurrences as the completion of a house or the engagement of one's child.

The Buguias ideology demanded the redistribution of wealth. The elite could accumulate only so much; eventually public pressure, or the desire for supernatural favor, would force them to some extent to decapitalize.^[6] No one could live on the fruits of wealth alone, and even the richest had to pursue income actively. But, in the great irony of Buguias religion, a favored method of reacquiring wealth was to exploit the religious observations of the commoners. Here was a fine opportunity for usury.

Every self-respecting commoner had to begin adult life with a series of expensive rituals, beginning with the wedding ceremony. Social pressure motivated laggards; villagers denigrated any woman who married a man too poor or frugal to supply a buffalo ("Are you so cheap that he could take you with just a chicken?"). Couples who failed to perform the postwedding ceremony of sabang humiliated their parents, who feared for their own status—both on earth and in the afterlife. If a couple did not at least initiate the pedit series they suffered continual shame. Everyone was obligated to entertain the ancestors and to feast the living; the wellbeing of the entire village rested here. Further costs were encountered with sickness, and, more importantly, with funerals. Only members of the servile class could ignore the demands of the spirits and the corresponding responsibilities of community life.

One may well wonder how people of little property were able to afford such celebrations. The only answer was long-term debt. Few managed easily to return the principal, and interest charges—often hidden—exacerbated their plight. Most commoners remained constantly in debt, often owing their labor as well as their livestock to

the village financiers. This put them at a psychological and monetary disadvantage in communal affairs. Debtors were often cowed, and wealthy creditors could argue with little opposition the right to dictate a poor couple's ritual schedule, saying, "You couldn't do anything if we didn't lend you money, therefore you should do as we say."

Interest arrangements for ritual expenses varied. Loans were often "on the hoof," in which case the lender immediately received a large chunk of flesh as partial compensation. On other occasions the baknang would lend money for the purchase of a specific animal. In this instance, several parties might claim "interest meat," including the creditor, the animal's caretaker, and its owner. Interest on simple cash loans also varied; usually a year's grace period was allowed, after which rates ranged between zero and 30 percent annually, depending on the generosity of the lender and on the familial ties of the two parties.

A few debtors escaped altogether by moving away, either to Baguio City or to a more remote district within Benguet. But most commoners continued to pay off their old debts—although they usually accumulated new ones in the interim. If a borrower owned rice terraces, the lender could take possession after several years of nonpayment and eventually claim them outright. One baknang in particular was alleged to have amassed extensive terrace holdings in this manner.

One could not claim baknang standing if one did not lend animals for prestige feasts. This was a responsibility of rank, albeit one that could be used to advantage. But by exploiting the poverty of neighbors and relatives the unscrupulous baknang would arouse community censure. In characteristic circularity, however, communal approbation could readily be reacquired through further ritual expenditures. Both despite and because of their considerable outlays, a few powerful individuals retained control of the community's underlying financial structure.