Note 34 — The Cycle of Life

A ceremony, not witnessed by the writer, is said to take place when evil spirits have persistently annoyed the mother and the child, when the delivery is long overdue, or when an anito child34 has been born to a human mother. The husband and his friends arm themselves with long knives or head-axes, and enter the dwelling, where they kill a rooster. The blood is mixed with rice; and this, together with nine coconut shells filled with basi, is placed beneath the house for the anitos to eat. While the spirits are busy with this repast, the mother, wrapped in a blanket, is secretly passed out a window and taken to another house. Then the men begin shouting, and at the same time slash right and left against the house-posts with their weapons. In this way the evil spirits are not only kept from noticing the absence of the mother, but are also driven to a distance. This procedure is repeated under nine houses, after which they return to the dwelling with the woman. As soon as they reach the top of the ladder, an old woman throws down ashes “to blind the eyes of the Page 270anitos, so that they cannot see to come up.”35 She likewise breaks a number of small jars, “which look like heads,” as a threat of the treatment which awaits them if they attempt to return to the house.