Introduction

The people of prewar Buguias believed that their lives were continually touched by a host of gods and spirits, both benign and malevolent. The most influential of such beings were the souls of their ancestors. These amed involved themselves in virtually all Buguias activities, dispensing luck on their descendants according to the care they received from the living. And they were demanding; lonely for human companionship and hungry for the spiritual essences of earthly things, the amed called for repeated celebration. To placate them, the living were obligated periodically to invite the dead back to earth where they could be honored through feast and dance. The rituals in which this took place formed the focus of communal life, and the climax of most economic endeavors.

Human power relations were inseparable from religious activities. The more wealth a couple possessed, the more they had to dispense in ritual. Yet by adhering to these expectations, the elite found twofold advantage within the system: their earthly prestige was legitimated and enhanced, and their spiritual futures were blessed. True, their wealth was diminished by such expenditures in the short run, but the commoners too had exacting ancestors. With commoners borrowing heavily from the wealthy to carry out their own smaller sacrifices, the baknang class was able to gather in with one hand what it had distributed with the other.

Even outside of ritual context, the supernatural pervaded day-to-day life. Omens called for careful readings, while nonancestral spirits demanded watchfulness, for they could wreak great mischief if not properly propitiated. Accidents, illnesses, and mental disturbances could all originate with supernatural agents, and thus call for sacrifice.