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Omens and Rites

The cultivation of good fortune begins with marriage. Once a couple has a child, "their blood is out and their luck runs with it." A feast must therefore precede the first birth; if it does not, the union is jinxed. The newlyweds must watch for supernatural signs; if, for example, they spy near their house a lizard facing east, they may rejoice, but a reptile turned to the west will force a short period of separation. Other favorable omens may be encountered at any time throughout one's life; those associated with dreams, insects, or other natural signs (sangbo ) call for expert interpretation so that the promised luck can be captured. Since predicted good fortune can sometimes be expropriated by another more aggressive person, action must be prompt.

Having performed the required rites, a family may not realize the sangbo's promise for some time—occasionally for several generations. Nor will luck ever appear as a mere windfall. Usually it must be activated by undertaking new economic endeavors, or at least through diligent work. But the reception of a sangbo is often motivation enough to strive. As one Buguias resident put it, "I must work hard in my garden because my grandfather had a sangbo, and I am waiting for its manifestation."

Arduous labor alone will not ensure that the sangbo will be realized. While awaiting fortune, one must fulfill all ritual obligations, lest the luck should seek a more worthy beneficiary. If a couple neglects the ancestors their luck will simply "come and go." It is only by supporting sangbos with ritual action and diligent labors that prosperity may be achieved.

Stories of sangbos, both realized and lost, reinforce Pagan ideology by demonstrating the efficacy of ritual. One tale, recounted as far away as Kapangan municipality, tells of a momentous sangbo received by Stafin Olsim; after he was pestered repeatedly by a large, red-striped bee, the elders determined that this presaged success in the truck, bus, or heavy equipment business (the ubiquitous Dangwa buses are red and black). Although Olsim's bus company failed, his family has dramatically prospered in trucking and bulldozing, apparently fulfilling the prophesy.

Other stories recount the foolishness of ignoring supernatural signs. A swarm of bees, for example, once entered the house of a


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newly married couple who, being Christians, declined to capture the fortune. The bees then moved to a Pagan household, but one too poor to perform the necessary dawat ceremony. Finally the swarm settled with a couple who, willing and able to seize the promised luck, subsequently rose to become top vegetable traders. Even those already wealthy must heed such messages; one prosperous trader supposedly refused to butcher a pig after consulting a medium over a troublesome dream, arguing that the recommended procedure only reflected the ritualists' greed for meat. Soon thereafter his fortunes reversed, and one by one he lost his trucks and his friends.

To cultivate good fortune, Buguias Pagans perform several rituals other than those concerned with omens or designed specifically to honor the ancestors. Prayers for specific business endeavors cultivate momentary luck and ward against misfortune. Such rites, performed in the prewar period before trading expeditions, were readily adapted to commercial farming. In buton , a ritualist determines the promise of a proposed venture through chicken gallbladder divination; if it is positive, the individual may perform bunat to garner additional luck. Buton and bunat may serve for any risky occasion, including political contests, card gambling, court battles, and, of course, the vegetable trade. Several local manbunungs have even found a lucrative market in the cockpits near Baguio. This has engendered priestly conflict, however, for the more conservative Pagan leaders feel that cash payments (often 250 pesos per cockfight), rather than the traditional emoluments of meat, threaten to undercut the power of the ritual and to discredit Paganism in general.


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10 Religion in Modern Buguias
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