10
Religion in Modern Buguias

Introduction

The economic, ecological, and political life of prewar Buguias was guided by a strong community consensus in religious ideology. That consensus has been sundered since the war by a growing Christian presence, the full import of which has yet to be reckoned. Christian converts today account for roughly a third of the village's population, and their continued proselytizing has made religious belief a primary axis of controversy.

The following discussion opens by introducing the central tenets of Pagan thought, a metaphysics in which earthly fortune is firmly tied to ritual performance. Many of the practices based on this belief were described in detail in the discussion of prewar prestige feasts. In this chapter, additional rituals concerned with "capturing luck" are introduced, and the implications of the whole set of Pagan practices for the community's social structure are analyzed. The remainder of the chapter recaps the relatively brief history of Christian missionizing in the area, presenting in detail both sides of the subsequent ideological debate, and exploring the social and geographic contours of the present standoff between the two groups of believers and their numerous syncretic offshoots.

The "Buguias Paganism System"

The pivot of Pagan thought and practice in Buguias is the capturing of luck through ritual. Fate is believed to be in the hands of the ancestors, who bestow it differentially upon the living in accordance with the rectitude of the latter's propitiations. This tenet has, if anything, been strengthened by the transition to commercial agriculture, entailing as it does a continuous gamble.

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

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.

Feasting and Social Stratification

As in the prewar period, ritual expenses do not level class distinctions. Certainly wealth is redistributed during rituals, and the ability of the elites to accumulate is hampered by their continual ceremonial obligations. But couples of modest means must also celebrate, and although their expenses may be smaller, they often entail a greater proportion of their wealth than do the grand feasts of the baknangs. In prewar days the powerful sometimes took advantage of the financial plight of poorer celebrants to acquire their

lands, but this practice seems in abeyance at present, possibly because the Christian challenge has forced greater caution.

Several writers have recently argued that Benguet prestige feasts no longer effectively redistribute resources because the elite can avoid participating (Voss 1983:230; Russell 1983:239). In Buguias, at least, this is not true. None of the wealthy in Buguias is a Christian, and no well-off Pagan can shirk ritual obligations. Along the Mountain Trail, traditional observances are more lax; yet even there, social pressures as well as religious beliefs motivate most baknangs to continue celebrating ritual feasts. The expectations of reciprocity and of noblesse oblige—as mediated by the council of elders and by the mankotoms—remain at the center of what one resident called (in English) "our Buguias Paganism system."

Beyond a doubt, the pedit series has attenuated since the war, even in the traditionalist stronghold of Buguias. In earlier days, the richest continued escalating the scale of their feasts until they reached the level "twenty-five"; now, few surpass "nine," the point at which baknang status is conferred. Yet because of population increase, a modern pedit of "nine" may well entail the same expenditure as a prewar celebration of "twenty-five" (see map 9). In April, 1986, an Abatan couple performed "thirteen," feasting an estimated 5,000 persons at a total cost of some 300,000 pesos (U.S. $15,000)—an outlay unthinkable before the war. Nor do a wealthy couple's ritual responsibilities end with pedit. Memorial and other services for the dead also consume more money than they did previously. The most powerful individuals, those who aim for political careers, also find themselves burdened with numerous minor feasts, as well as with the expenses incurred as negotiators.

If prestige feasts fail to level wealth in Buguias today it is because the poor continue to celebrate beyond their means. Both worldly and spiritual rationales contribute; ritual performance is needed to secure the goodwill not only of the ancestors but of the wealthy Pagans as well. Russell (1983:238) is on track in arguing that ritual expenditure in Benguet may be "a way to increase bargaining power vis-à-vis the village elite through status enhancement," but in Buguias, this is often a matter less of enhancing than of merely maintaining one's position with kinspeople and co-villagers.

Nonelite celebrants sometimes find themselves in uncomfort-

Map 9.
The Spatial Dimension of Pedit Feasts. The dark zone indicates the area invited to a pedit of
"nine" held in Buguias Village; the larger, lightly shaded zone (which fully encompasses the
former zone except for the outliers of Tinoc and Binablayan) indicates the area invited to a pedit of
"thirteen" held in Abatan. The larger the feast, the larger the area invited. Determination of the
villages included depends on their proximity to the host village as well as the residence locations
of close relatives of the celebrating couple (hence the presence of "outliers").

able positions. In May of 1986, for example, a couple in desperate debt was convinced by relatives to perform a memorial ceremony (otong ) for the man's deceased mother combined with a lim-lima, or level "five," pedit. Although both spouses professed Christianity, they felt obligated to perform otong, having promised as much to the dying woman; they however wished to avoid the pedit, but they simply could not withstand the pressure. The husband was from a prominent family, and his relatives argued that backsliding could imperil the entire lineage. The feast thus thrust upon them worsened the couple's financial straits dramatically. Since they still had outstanding debts from previous ceremonies, few neighbors were willing to lend, and loans from relatives fell far short of the 60,000 pesos ($3,000) required. They managed to obtain the requisite sum a few days before the ceremony began, but throughout the proceedings their countenances reflected unrelieved gloom.

The wealthy give feasts in part to enhance their power and prestige. Having reached the level of "nine," a man can expect a position of honor at all public occasions, and can gain a powerful voice in tong tongan councils. Yet if such a man does not continue to meet community expectations, the elders will begin to prod, reminding him of his parents' and grandparents' actions, of the need to balance getting with giving, and of the dangers that lurk for those who ignore the dead. If a wealthy couple fails to legitimate their wealth, people will insult both husband and wife behind their backs, and some may move business dealings to competing elites.

In a recent example, a very wealthy couple living on the Mountain Trail had performed only "seven," and this many years previously. Such stinginess, combined with a reputation for unsavory business dealings, cost the family much of its respect. In 1986, a health problem prompted the husband to seek guidance, and when the elders advised pedit—at a level several jumps ahead of their prior celebration—the couple agreed. Once they completed the ritual, negative feelings began quickly to evaporate.

Feast observations are necessary to legitimate wealth, but they are not always sufficient. Individuals who come into wealth quickly face special problems; they may be dismissed as having merely discovered hidden treasure (a fragment of Yamashita's legendary hoard perhaps), or even condemned for having exploited the poor. Here ritual expenditures are but the first step; the nouveaux riches must

also take on the social responsibilities of wealth. Foremost among these is lending money to poorer villagers who wish to observe their own feasts. This too could potentially act as a hidden form of redistribution, if the capital involved could be more profitably invested elsewhere. But the structure of debt relations ensures that in the long run it is the elite who benefit.

Christian Challenge and Pagan Response

The Spread of Christianity

Although Christianity is relatively new to the area, Paganism has not gone unchallenged in Buguias. Spanish missionaries made little progress in Benguet, in part because "nuevo Christianos" were obligated to pay higher tribute. Catholic priests did missionize several large villages, but they ignored Buguias, by one account because the dispersed settlement pattern made missionizing difficult (Perez 1904:191, 192). American proselytizers also bypassed Buguias, according to local Christians, because the new colonists rushed to convert the headhunting peoples of the north. Only after the war did Christian missionaries arrive in the village.

In the early postwar years, the Catholic Church greatly increased its missionary activity in Benguet. Following a pattern established in the American period, Flemish priests staffed most new missions. In thoroughly Pagan areas, such as Buguias, newly arrived priests sought to understand indigenous beliefs, commonly attending local rituals for a time. Such activities were suspended in the late 1950s, following the establishment of a Catholic church and a high school in Abatan. A satellite church soon followed in Buguias, where the Abatan-based priest would visit for monthly masses.

Protestant missionaries also arrived in Buguias shortly after the war. The Jehovah's Witnesses enjoyed early success along the Mountain Trail after an American missionary reached Natubleng in 1948. When converted laborers returned from the Natubleng farms to their home villages, the religion spread. Its members now constitute a distinct minority in many communities; the congregation in Buguias includes a handful of families. The mainstream Protestant

churches began to proselytize in greater Buguias a few years later. They spread in a geographically discontinuous pattern, each church assigning missionaries to a few specific villages. The Assembly of God established a firm base in Buguias, the Wesleyans set up outposts to the north and south, and the Anglicans attracted a strong following in Lo-o. The Lutherans built a hospital in Abatan but made few converts in the region.

The early missionaries gained converts from a variety of social backgrounds. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Catholicism attracted many college students in Baguio, some of whom saw Pagan practices as thwarting economic development and sometimes as threatening their own educations.^[1] Several students later returned to Buguias to form the community's initial Catholic nucleus. Protestants more often came from poorer families; many saw in their austere new doctrines an escape from the burdens of Pagan ceremonials. But Protestantism attracted a few others also; one fairly wealthy woman joined the Assembly of God after numerous, expensive Pagan rituals failed to relieve her of extreme pain during pregnancy.

Conversion has often followed family lines; this has joined with the usual spatial congregation of kin to form a distinctive geography of religious affiliation in present-day Buguias. One hamlet is predominantly Catholic, whereas others, especially those more remote and those wealthier than average, have remained largely Pagan. Gender also plays a role, since more women than men have converted to Christianity. Men sometimes follow their wives into the church, but not a few remain reluctant Christians.

Members of the three Christian sects of Buguias differ in their relations with the Pagan majority. The Jehovah's Witnesses remove themselves from most aspects of village life. Assembly of God members avoid any activities that smack of Paganism or that call for drinking alcohol, but they do interact with their Pagan neighbors on other public occasions. Roman Catholics are yet more ambivalent, as they are not necessarily prohibited from attending Pagan feasts. While objecting strenuously to the religious content of such rites, the Catholic Church leaders recognize that indigenous ceremonies cement family and community ties. A good Catholic may attend a relative's pedit, but he or she is discouraged from joining in ritual dancing or other sacred activities.

Even among its leadership, however, the Catholic community is divided in its appraisal of Paganism. According to some observers, the local church has waffled considerably over the past thirty years, depending largely on the convictions of the priest stationed in Abatan at any given time. The official position at present advocates toleration and hopes for the eventual "Christianization" of public feasting. Thus, community-oriented redistributive feasts receive favor so long as they are undertaken in a Christian context, such as occurs at a house blessing.

Those most at odds with the Abatan church are the so-called "Chrispas," or Chris[tian]-Pa[gan] syncretists. Members of this group, consisting largely of the metropolitan elite, are Pagan when in Buguias but Catholic when in Baguio. Buguias Christians usually view such heteroclites as true Pagans who only feign Christianity to gain acceptance in the city. The self-styled Chrispas, however, see no inherent contradiction between their two belief systems; each has its own place and each covers its own sphere of activity.

Religious Rivalry: the Christian Position

A few Buguias residents appear to have converted to Christianity primarily to avoid ritual expenses. Devout Christians disparage this motive, and they were not surprised that several economically moved converts returned to Paganism on discovering that their new faith did not bring them wealth. Some persons formerly argued that Christians, being unencumbered by rituals, would become more prosperous than their Pagan neighbors, but this view is no longer tenable. Yet the economic debate continues. The most sophisticated Christian thinkers claim that whereas mass butcherings sensibly disposed of excess livestock in the past, today they only consume scarce capital. Moreover, they argue, a couple that saves in order to educate their children—rather than to feast the community and enhance their own prestige—should be respected as self-sacrificing rather than denigrated as self-serving.

The Christian judgment against Paganism aims squarely at the religious-economic linkage the traditionalists expound. They accuse Pagans of subordinating their religious practices to the base desire for worldly riches. Christians point to the silver coins over

which manbunungs chant prayers as evidence that their Pagan neighbors actually worship money. Similarly, in pedit, taro slices soaked in hog blood symbolize coins, naked evidence of Pagan materialism. Christians accuse traditional priests of asking the ancestors to deliver the wealth of Christian outsiders into the hands of feast celebrants, or to send diseases from Buguias to other communities. Some Christians, most notably the Belgian priest, argue that Paganism is based on fear: fear of the ancestors and spirits, and fear for one's afterlife position. Christianity offers an escape from this fear, they say, through its assurance of love, joy, and salvation for all believers.

Christians also censure fervent Pagans for abusing their bodies by working too hard. Elderly men and women in the Pagan community often continue to toil in their fields even when they are ill, a pattern the Christians interpret as further evidence that they value money above all else. Some also disparage certain devout Pagans for wearing tattered clothing, quipping that one can easily distinguish an elderly Christian from an elderly Pagan at some distance. They also claim that the poor Pagan is effectively more impoverished than a poor Christian because the Pagan has to reserve much of his or her money for religious contingencies.

At least one individual converted to Christianity because he felt betrayed by Pagan practitioners. This man, who was studying to become a Pagan priest, noticed at his father's funeral that the corpse was wrapped in a woman's burial blanket, a grave insult to the dead. He convinced himself that this "error" was actually a deliberate move to anger the ancestors and thus withdraw favor from his family line. Pagan leaders insisted it was an honest mistake, and unsuccessfully urged him to consider his advanced age and investment in traditional learning.

The refusal of the Pagans to allow traditional cultural practices to be unlinked from their religious content has created a final arena of conflict. Unlike their counterparts in most other Cordilleran areas, Pagan leaders in Buguias allow no ritual actions to take place in secular contexts. If one wishes to dance to the gongs and drums, one must mark the event with sacrifices. Buguias schoolchildren's annual community performances thus feature dances from other Cordilleran regions rather than those of their own ancestors. Christians point approvingly to the northern Pagans for their less hidebound attitude in this regard.

Pagan Responses

Pagan rhetoricians are quick to counter the criticisms brought against them, and to level their own charges against what they see as the contradictions of Christianity. Christians are hypocritical, they argue, for while claiming that their faith is based on sharing and love, its real hallmark is selfishness. Pagans feed everyone, even dogs and rats, in their holy ceremonies, but Christians feed only themselves. Pagans sacrifice continually to ensure communal prosperity, but Christians work only for their own families. Several Pagan thinkers go so far as to argue that Pagan ritual embodies true Christian charity, enacting the injunction to love one's neighbor as one's self.

These apologists see no problem in their faith's materialism. Indeed, they point proudly to the intimate connection between the spiritual and physical realms as the cornerstone of their religion, citing empirical evidence to prove that proper ritual performance brings economic prosperity. Their religion, they argue, is based on nature and local tradition and is verifiable through observation; Christianity, in contrast, is supported merely by a foreign book.

Since Buguias Pagans see material fortune as the manifestation of spiritual integrity, they must explain how some Christians become prosperous. The usual explanation for the wealth of the few rich Igorot Christians in other communities is that they received heavenly favor through the actions of their Pagan relatives, if not through their own secret Pagan rites. A case often cited pertains to the Dangwa family of Kapangan. Buguias Pagans insist that the Dangwas continue to honor the ancestors despite their professed Christianity. The wealth of non-Igorot Christians, in contrast, is not considered problematic; lowlanders and westerners merely follow their own customs by adhering to the Christian faith—precisely the goal of the Buguias Pagans in cleaving to their own traditions. Paganism clearly advances no universalistic claims; it is specific to a particular locale and to a people with a common culture and a common group of ancestors.

Pagan thinkers dismiss the allegations that they ignore their appearances and abuse their bodies by turning these supposed vices into virtues. Willingness to wear tattered clothing and to work despite illness show a lofty and spiritual attitude; only the vain spend money on appearance, which does not honor the ancestors and

brings nothing to the community. They also lightly shrug off the charge of "illness transfers." One manbunung countered that neighboring communities can simply respond in kind. "I send a sickness to Kiangan and the Kiangan priest sends it back here—before long we are tossing it back and forth just like a volleyball."

Nor do Pagans apologize for refusing to permit secular performances of ritual dances. To allow this, they claim, would be to debase their religion, offend the ancestors, and risk the well-being of Buguias. They find the prospect of turning their rituals into cultural shows, as has happened in tourist locations in Ifugao and Mountain Province, utterly appalling.

The charge that rituals are so expensive as to preclude education in some families is taken more seriously. The most common response is that a balance must be sought between ceremonial and educational investments. Indeed, the theme of balancing traditional obligations and modern demands runs through much Pagan rhetoric. Several children from Pagan households have received college degrees, and it is difficult to argue that Christians as a group value formal learning more than do Pagans.

An empirical bent underlies both Pagan and Christian beliefs. Arguments for both religions adduce physical evidence in support of supernatural causes. But the same phenomenon may be cited as proof by both sides. In a classic case, a prominent individual on the verge of death converted to Christianity and subsequently recovered. Some Christians argue that conversion saved him; Pagans claim that it was the rituals they performed on his behalf that made the difference.

The Geography of Religion

The ideological standoff between Paganism and Christianity throughout Benguet is reflected in a patchwork pattern of religious affiliation. Most southern Cordilleran regions are of mixed Pagan and Christian population, with some dominated by the former religion, others by the latter. Christianity has made more headway in southern Benguet than in the north, yet distinct pockets of Paganism persist throughout the south. Significantly, several of these lie in the political and commercial core of the province. The provincial capital, La Trinidad, has an especially strong Pagan community,

and its manbunungs are noted for their conservatism. Bekkel, a small village on the outskirts of Baguio, originally settled by Buguias immigrants, is also strongly Pagan. In many of the small gold-mining communities of the middle Agno Valley, miners observe both Christian and traditional rituals.^[2] Catholicism, however, predominates in many of the larger but more isolated Ibaloi villages; Kabayan Central, for example, no longer even supports a single practicing manbunung.

Several remote Ibaloi communities have retained a Pagan orientation, but with markedly simplified practices. This appears to be largely a matter of economics. Throughout Benguet, the prewar bases of wealth (cattle raising, mining, and trade) never reemerged after the war, undermining the elites' ability to finance large ceremonies. Only where commercial vegetables provided wealth could the pedit persist. Many Ibaloi villages saw their last graded prestige feast shortly after the war (see, for example, Barnett 1969: 292), although lesser rituals, such as the memorial service, continue to be observed. A similar movement is apparent in some Kankana-ey districts of northern Benguet, where the more isolated villages, cut off from commercial farming, have lost their ability to support large feasts. Some have turned en masse to Christianity. In Bakun Central, for instance, wholesale conversions to Protestantism and Catholicism occurred in the 1960s (Tauchmann 1974). In Kibungan Central—according to Buguias residents—Paganism remains strong, but it has been refocused on curative rituals as pedit has been abandoned. This tendency is the reverse of that present in Buguias Paganism, where it is curative rituals that are now losing favor.

Along the Mountain Trail within Buguias municipality, diverse practices coexist. Some villages have largely converted to Christianity, but most show a rough split between Pagans and Christians. Voss (1983: 229), for example, found that in Buguias municipality's roadside communities some 52 percent of individuals performed Pagan rituals.

Expensive Pagan ceremonies are less frequent along the Mountain Trail than in Buguias Village. The Mountain Trail Pagans actually tease their valley coreligionists for their incessant feasts. While the Mountain Trail's economy allows lavish ceremonies, its social milieu does not encourage them to nearly the same extent as does

that of the adjacent Agno Valley. The highway villages, having sprouted after the war, did not inherit the intricate religious structure that has been transferred from one generation of elders to the next in long-settled areas. Nor was the geographic structure of "ritual congregations" (traditional village units around which all large rituals are organized) reproduced fully in these new communities. To a large extent, postwar migrants to the Mountain Trail found themselves freed from the dictates of an established elite and a council of elders.

But as prosperous farmers have emerged along the Mountain Trail, many of them have desired to legitimate their wealth in the traditional manner. Thus a significant impetus to perpetuate the old system remains, despite the general relaxing of ritual standards. Indeed, some Buguias residents claim that in the past several years prestige feasts have increased along the ridge, as farmers seek confirmation of their social positions while trying to manipulate the flow of luck. But lacking the strictures of the more conservative Paganism of Buguias Village, successful Mountain Trail residents often try to skip stages in the pedit sequence so they can more quickly rise. The Buguias priests, who often officiate here, generally disapprove of such shortcuts, but sometimes countenance them under the circumstances.

The Eastern Frontier

A distinct religious character marks the villages along the vegetable frontier east of Buguias, an area not missionized until very recently. Owing to economic change, large-scale feasts, never frequent here, largely disappeared after the war. Still, most villages not yet commercialized remain primarily Pagan. With the recent arrival of roads and vegetable growing in select areas came Christian proselytizers, mostly from obscure charismatic sects, who gained numerous converts. Particularly significant is the rise of syncretic cults in this frontier zone. Although these exist elsewhere in Benguet, syncretic movements have had little chance to develop in established areas like Buguias, which are marked by both an elaborate Paganism and an orthodox Christianity. The eclectic faiths are rather concentrated where commercialization is most recent.

Several cults of uncertain lineage thrive in the villages of eastern Buguias municipality. One conspicuous group is Milagro (Spanish

for "miracle"), led by a "high priest" from a small hamlet to the east of Bad-ayan. Lay members also perform the group's characteristic curative rituals, relying on crucifixes and holy water as well as animal sacrifices. Milagro, like true Paganism, emphasizes the acquisition of wealth and the honoring of the ancestors.

Perhaps the most doctrinally complex of the syncretic religions, however, the Church of the Almighty God, is centered not east of Buguias but rather in Abatan. Its tenets are eloquently displayed on a series of needlepoint tapestries. The first, a calendar, indicates the holy days; the second illustrates the "Holy Family of the Three Kings" (the topmost monarch being labeled both with the Pagan "Kabunian" and the Christian "Apo Dios"); and the third presents an unusual map of the Buguias region. Lines representing "underground rivers" form the map's basic structure; some of these are indicated as running hot, others cold. Dots symbolize "growing stones," which are said to cause earthquakes when disturbed. The whole is crowned by the following message embroidered in English: "Believe it or not it is true, but please do not say bad things about the Almighty God." That this small sect so emphasizes underground water may reflect the worsening water crisis that marks each dry season in Abatan.

Buguias as a Center of Modern Paganism

Buguias is now the intellectual and ritual center of southern Cordilleran Paganism. The community no longer supports a practicing spirit medium; for this particular service Buguias residents must travel to Paoay (in Atok municipality), where the southern Cordillera's most famous mansib-ok resides. But as amply attested not only by local residents but by outsiders as well, the all-important pedit feasts, as well as other ritual events, are celebrated here more frequently and by a greater proportion of the populace than in any other Benguet community (see map 10). Moreover, Pagan ideology, especially as it theorizes the relationship between wealth acquisition and propitiating the ancestors, is most explicitly and fully articulated by the mankotoms of Buguias. Indeed, even a few of the leading Christians proudly claim that only in their community does Paganism retain both its traditional spirit and its lavish forms.

Buguias's Paganism is in some respects unique, having evolved

Map 10.
Prestige Feasts Held in Buguias between January and July 1986.

in a direction independent of the traditional religious systems of other southern Cordilleran communities. Among the (once) culturally dominant Ibaloi, the graded prestige feast formerly allowed wealthy couples to legitimate their standing, but it was never viewed as an avenue along which the commoners could advance (see Pungayan 1978). The Buguias ideology, in contrast, holds that all persons may aspire to money and power so long as they are willing to follow the correct path. This tenet, which evidently emerged during the days of the trading economy, has been greatly reinforced by commercial farming. Paralleling this pseudoegalitarian bent is a decline in the position of the manbunung (priest) relative to that of the mankotom (adviser and prophet). In Buguias, the first merely performs rituals, while the latter is both the chief apologist for, and the grand strategist of, Paganism as an explicit ideology. Nowhere else in Benguet is this role so significant (see Hamada-Pawid and Bagamaspad 1985:110).

One index of Buguias's leading position in Benguet Paganism is the frequent employment of its ritual experts by residents of other communities. In June 1986, for instance, the president of the Big Wedge Igorot Mine Association in Itogon Municipality solicited the services of two Buguias manbunungs for a pedit ceremony. Buguias residents in attendance were surprised to find the Itogon youths unfamiliar with the complex procedures and in need of instruction at each step. The resident Bontoc miners were even more baffled, and they took offense on learning that they were expected to eat in village groupings. Buguias manbunungs have also officiated in Baguio City, in migrant Igorot communities in the adjacent lowlands, and on behalf of nominally Christian lowland politicians.

Religious Plurality in Present-Day Buguias

Religious Conflict

While Pagans and Christians debate fervently in Buguias, disputes seldom escalate into open confrontations. At present, leaders of both groups stress mutual respect and seek slow, deliberate change. Relations were more strained in earlier years, with tensions peaking in the 1960s after a Catholic priest hurled to the ground a sacred

Pagan marker, decrying it as the devil's sign. The incensed Pagan community responded with threats, both physical and legal. Later priests acted with more tact, and by the 1970s the two groups had reached an unsteady rapprochement. It is primarily the Jehovah's Witnesses who still occasionally infuriate Pagans, for they alone doggedly try to convert uninterested persons.

The most intense religious struggles occur upon the death of an individual survived by both Pagan and Christian offspring. Unless the deceased leaves explicit funeral instructions—and sometimes even if she or he does—the children may quarrel over the ceremony's religious content. The entire community can become involved in the ensuing arguments and intrigue. According to the resident Catholic priest, Pagan survivors have attempted on several occasions to hide death shrouds in Christian coffins.

Pagans generally respect Christian beliefs, but they nevertheless heavily pressure some converts to return to the fold, willing to accept them as fellow Pagans even if they wish to remain "part-time Christians." Elite family descendants form a particular target, since Pagans believe that even powerful ancestors may falter if denied full homage. The errant cousin or sibling may be reminded time and again of a parent's wish to be honored in the afterlife, of their family's pride and position, and of the need to follow precedent. If such entreaties are unsuccessful, relatives may threaten to deny the recalcitrant couple future business loans. As a result, even confessed Christians occasionally, if grudgingly, celebrate prestige feasts.

Recent Change and Compromise

The leaders of Buguias Paganism by no means espouse an orthodoxy. As elsewhere in the Cordillera, they not uncommonly borrow new observances from neighboring peoples and they often accept innovations in practice. Most elders do argue, however, that change should be gradual and that honoring the ancestors should remain central.

Paganism's postwar history reflects the period's economic and social transformations. A simplified prestige feast ladder now allows young couples to establish themselves more easily. Before the war, a distinct ceremony occurred before the birth of the first child;

this has now been melded with the first pedit. In earlier days, only local sacrificial hogs would do; now, lowland and "mestizo" swine are acceptable, provided they are black. Children now return to school after the first few days of their families' celebrations, whereas before they were kept home for the full duration. The Pagan funeral is also being transformed as the death chair gradually loses favor. Many Pagans now choose to be displayed in an open coffin.

Most Buguias Pagans have also changed their views on the diagnosis and treatment of disease. For a number of years a dual theory has prevailed, holding that illness may result either from natural pathogens (requiring Western medicine) or supernatural agents (calling for ritual and prayers). As late as the 1960s, most Pagans opted first for the spiritual remedy. By the 1980s, however, most had reversed the procedure, consulting the medium only if not cured first by medicine. The Pagan religious leaders see little significance here, since curing-rituals have long occupied a peripheral place in their larger ideological scheme.

A few influential Pagans now seek to establish a deeper understanding with local Christians, particularly Catholics. One Pagan elder moderates the disputes between the two groups, and he counts among his advisees several Christian leaders. He has proposed a compromise through which Pagans would more fully respect Christians while Christians would compensate by holding their own feasts (whether as secular "blow-outs" or to consecrate their own religious occasions). Conciliatory Pagans also ask their Catholic neighbors to honor Buguias's ancestors on All Soul's Day. Indeed, many Pagans acknowledge the efficacy of Christian prayer, especially as demonstrated in the "EDSA Revolution" that overthrew Marcos in February 1986.

The Catholic community, not surprisingly, is divided over the issue of socioreligious compromise. While many Catholics have recently increased their own outlays for feasts, others argue that this would only sustain an unjust economic order and penalize those who cannot afford both schooling and ceremonies.

Catholics face a greater challenge, however, from a new group of charismatic Protestant sects that are aggressively proselytizing in the Cordillera. Foremost in the Buguias region is the "Jesus Is Alive" (JIA) organization, sometimes disparagingly called tumba

tumba , or "falling falling," in reference to its ecstatic prayers. Although much more successful in the eastern frontier zone, JIA missionaries have converted a few Buguias Catholics, a trend worrisome to church leaders. According to one concerned man, the young are more attracted to "jolly religions," like JIA, than to the more contemplative traditional Christian churches.

Trends

One predicts the future of Paganism only at great risk. Most Christians believe that the old religion is in irreversible decline, for both spiritual and economic reasons. Many Pagan leaders are also worried; not only competing religions but also secular education and bachelor cynicism threaten Paganism. One manbunung foresees calamity for the community unless at least one member of each family line continues to mollify the ancestors.

For the moment, the two faiths and a variety of syncretic offshoots uneasily coexist. Despite the reiterated predictions of its demise over the last hundred years, Paganism remains the majority faith in Buguias and in many other parts of the Cordillera as well. Neither education nor economic change consistently undermines its appeal; it is an adaptable faith, which may yet convert or reconvert adherents of other religions. Indeed, a few Ilocanos, Tagalogs, and Chinese, including some wealthy and powerful individuals, have recently called on Benguet's ritual specialists to seek heavenly favor. Clearly it is too soon to say what will become of Buguias's pluralistic religious heritage when the present generation of elders passes away.