Note 66 — Legend Concerning Ban͠ggílît of Hinagán͠gan, and the Jars that He Brought from the Village of Souls68

The frequent repetition of Búgan as the name of a female deity is worthy of further explanation. Búgan is the Ifugao ideal of feminine beauty. There is no single goddess of love and beauty such as Venus or Aphrodite, but an abstract ideal of womanly perfection. Therefore, all beneficent female deities are called Búgan, which is also the most common name among Ifugao women. When a man wishes to praise his wife, he speaks of her as Búgan-ko (my Búgan), and when a young man goes courting he often speaks of it as mum-Búgan (searching for a Búgan). Light, fleecy clouds, high in the sky, are often called “the wavy hair of Búgan.” Such poetic usages are almost innumerable. It is an interesting conception, and is one of the proofs of Ifugao æsthetic development. ↑