Tag Archives: Buklog

Reaction to the Lecture of Joy Enriquez on the Subanen Festival Called Buklog

I must have been five years old the first time I attended a grand buklog. At that time I did not have any idea what it was all about except that there was much cooking and eating going on, and chanting which to me did not have any meaning at all.  I remember the house moved like a giant trampoline and there was a great mixture of strange sounds of people in jubilation, of the sound of gongs and shields, of voices of chanters and singers and the sonorous sounds of anklets and bronze bells and of the rustling of the  rattan leaves.
Much later, when I was High School in another town and boarding with the distant cousin of my mother, a Chavacano, she told me stories of month-long buklog in the house of my great grandfather, Thumuay Imbing who ruled the Subanos in Baganian Peninsula and what presently makes up the first and second districts of the Province of Zamboanga del Sur. The house of my great-grandfather was in Sung Lupa which was then  the seat of Subanen power. Today Sung Lupa is an eerie and “mesena” place, that is, a forbidden place held sacred by the people for here is found the burial place of Thimuay Imbing and his wives and other relatives.  It was in this place where Thimuay Imbing received Governor General Leonard Wood who was escorted by white and black American soldiers on horseback. As my grandfather, Datu Purohan Imbing tells it, the sight of the strange animals with black men on top of them sent the Subanen running into the forest. Only when the black men alighted from the horse that they realized that the horse and the black man were two separate beings. And that the black men were really black because when they took a bath in the river, the skin color did not wash off. Lola Loleng Domingo, my landlady, during my high school days (she is still alive and living in Zamboanga City has described vividly to me the food, the merrymaking on the khogan (buklog platform) and the whole town across Dumanquilas Bay being fetched in a kumpit and brought to Sung Lupa. This town is Margosatubig and it is the mother-town of all municipalities in Zamboanga del Sur. Margosatubig has been a town since the Spanish times when Pagadian City was not yet on the map. Lola Loleng says that the sound of the buklog can be heard across the bay, its rhythmic cadence melting with the night air, seeming to embrace one with a warm invitation.
Much later, I learned that it was during a buklog in Shelembuyan that my mother, a Chavacano pioneer teacher, was paired off with my father. At that time, my father was only 17 but before that year ended, my dad and mom got married, first in a Catholic ceremony and then later in a Protestant ceremony.

As I was growing up my father used to go on long trips – to distant Subanen communities to attend buklog festivals. The journey was usually done on foot since during those days good roads were rare or non-existent. In 1969, my father’s cousin Guinonghop I. Sia sponsored a buklog but her death the following year was attributed to the non-observance of the complete rituals attendant upon the celebration of the buklog. This particular buklog was held to welcome then Executive Secretary Ernesto Maceda who was proclaimed an adopted brother to the Subanens and conferred the title of Thimuay Lenghap. Then in the early 70’s, my dad’s cousin, Mayor Coco I. Sia was “in charge” of a buklog held in Pagadian City. The occasion was the anniversary of the foundation of the Province and at that time the honored guests was headed by the Australian ambassador. Expenses for the buklog was shouldered by the Governor.
The following year after this buklog, Uncle Coco died, and again the people in Lapuyan pointed to the buklog as the cause of his death. Some people say that the buklog is sacred and it is held in honor of the gods in thanksgiving or supplication and that, there-fore, it is sacrilege to hold it purely for display and entertainment. It is amusing to note here that within the week of Uncle Coco’s death, his cousin Manonggilid Imbing also died, barely a few months after he sponsored a 3-day buklog, the purpose of which was to secure healing of his arthritis.

In 1976, my paternal grandfather, Datu Purohan ordered the excavation of heirloom jars which lay buried for 53 years. The jars were originally a collection of 500 pieces and which were buried often the end of a one-month buklog, celebrating the first death anniversary of Thimuay Imbing. But we unearthed only 59 pieces, 13 of these damaged and broken by robbers. We found out the robbers were excavating under cover of darkness for the last 20 years or so.

The “last” buklog held in the family was that sponsored by Lantay Imbing sometime in 1975(?). It was a 3-day affair held to prove his worth to take on the leadership.

This was the buklog Joy and Tony Enriquez filmed on video. In the history of the Subanens, this was the very first time that a buklog was documented on video, camera and tapes. This is a turning point for the tribe. As I watched the video in this hall, I am overwhelmed with nostalgia and great sadness. The chanter shows on film, Si King Bagutao is one of the last of her kind alive. Perhaps in the years to come, a Subanen with some buklog blood in his veins will raise up anew the “khogan“. Chanters will surely be absent. In their place, will be high-tech equipments. As my Apu Dlibun used to exclaim, “Sugghata!”

Legend of the Buklog

The tale of the origin of the buklog was told to Thimuay Mangura of Vicente L. Imbing by his grandfather, Datu Lumok Imbing, who was the tribal leader from 1921-1958, and who in turn had heard it from his great ancestor Thimuay Imbing who ruled his people in the late 1800s. This story has been retold many times  over and is a tale known to the balians or shamans who specialize in the buklog rituals. The     tale embodies sacred rites and beliefs associated with the various rites of passage among the Subanen people. The ceremony is still practised by the tribe.

A long, long time ago, there was this man, the son of    the union of an earthling and a supernatural, who lived on earth for a thousand years. His name is Jobrael. Sometimes he is called Jobraim. This Jobrael who lived for a thousand years was considered overstaying by Diwata Magbabaya. This Diwata Magbabaya is the Supreme God, the creator of heaven and earth.

The angel Palmot went down to earth, and he looked for Jobrael and when he found him he delivered the Creator’s message.

The messenger had no choice but to go back to heaven without Jobrael. He told Diwata Magbabaya what happened. “Jobrael refuses to obey your orders, he likes to continue living and staying on earth.”

When Magbabaya heard this, he told Palmot, “You go back to earth, bring this kettle with you” (the kettle is similar to the one in which you boil water), but instead of containing water, it was filled with rice bran, which is very light. “The moment,” Magbabaya continued,” you reach earth, you put this on the ground and you let Jobrael lift this kettle up, if he can lift up, then I will permit him to continue staying on earth.”

Palmot brought the kettle full of rice bran to earth and he placed it on the ground as he was instructed by Magbabaya. He called Jobrael, he said, “There is a kettle sent by the Creator, if you like to continue your stay here on earth you better lift this up, if you cannot lift it, you will by all means have to go back to the Creator.”

Jobrael held the kettle and when he tried to pull it up, the whole earth followed (it was like a magnet); when he tried to turn it, the whole earth turned around seven times with it. So Jobrael, in order to show that he can really challenge Magbabaya, the Supreme God, jumped and tried to pull the kettle up. When he did that, he realized that his human body was left on earth, and that he was already in spirit form, floating, flying around.

He then floated around a bit, and he drifted towards the east. When he reached the east, Jobrael was surprised to see so many people, and they were celebrating, dancing and making merry. So, he asked, “Why are you having this celebration here?”

The people answered, “Don’t you know, that Jobrael the overstaying person is now dead? That is why we have to celebrate.”

Jobrael answered , “No, I’m still alive, I’m still around.” Getting no response from the people he floated to the west, he witnessed the same thing, he met people who were celebrating because “Jobrael was now called by God.”

Again, Jobrael insisted, “No, I’m still alive, I’m here, I’m the one.”  But this statement did not have any effect on the people.

He floated to the north, to the south, it was the same scene that he saw, people were having a celebration because Jobrael at last was recalled to heaven. He could not convince the people that he was still around and very much alive. Finally, he was thrown to heaven and caught and imprisoned by the messengers of the Supreme God, Magbabaya.

The Creator said, “You Jobrael are trying to defy my orders, because of this you will be imprisoned here in heaven and you will not be permitted to go anywhere, anymore.”

Jobrael answered, “What will happen to my son and family on earth?”

Magbabaya said, “Your son will be given seven years to stay on earth, after which he will also be recalled back to heaven.”

Once again, Magababaya sent his messenger Palmot to earth to look for the son of Jobrael to deliver him the message.

Inasmuch as he was still single his friends said, “We better look for a wife for the son of Jobrael because he has only seven years to stay on earth and he has no descendants yet.”

So they went on a quest to look for the right woman to become the wife of Jobrael’s son. They went to the east, to the west, to the north, it was all the same, they could not find a woman that will match, or that was fit to be the wife of the son of Jobrael. Then, finally, they went to the center of the earth. There they found a Gomotan.

This Gomotan had a Daughter who was also very beautiful and very intelligent. His companion decided, “Now we have found a match for the son of Jobrael.” And they let him get married.

Although they were now married, she did not submit to him as a wife. She refused to offer food or the betel nut chew (mamaq) to the son of Jobrael. They were also living separately. When asked about this situation she replied, “We have to do something because you will only be staying here on earth for seven years.”

On the first year of their marriage, after harvest time, she gave instructions to her people to mount crosses on the ground facing the east. On these she told them to offer betel nut and lime. The people followed exactly what she had told them to do, because they believed she was a very wise woman.

The following year, she again requested the people to make an altar. The platform is square-like, on it offering were also placed. This altar will be hung inside the sala or living room of the house. Underneath, the altar is supported by a bamboo post. The altar was then decorated with buri leaves, or palm-like leaves called pisa. On this altar offerings will be placed, the blood of the chicken butchered for the occasion, a boiled egg, rice molded into balls and pieces of pork meat boiled without salt. Beside the altar is placed an earthen jar containing rice wine or gasi.

Then, after harvest, on the third year of their marriage, the wife of the son of Jobrael instructed her people to make an altar; buntings of cloth of black and yellow colors were decorations. Then she instructed them to cut wood and make carvings on it. This altar was later placed in the lamin, which is located in the ceiling of a Subanen house.

On the fourth year of their marriage, the wife of the son of Jobrael told the people to procure a large earthen jar. She then instructed them to mount bamboo sticks inside the jar, to tie them with strings and to place on the tips of the bamboo sticks mosala, colored strips of cloth and Subanen sweets tied on the tips of the bamboo sticks. This jar, the wife of the son of Jobrael said, was to be placed near the main post of the house.

Meanwhile, the people wondered if the wife of the son of Jobrael was being given instruction by Diwata Magbabaya, because she was able to execute all of these offerings. But of course, they knew that she was also a very wise woman, so they did not question or doubt her wisdom, but instead followed all of her instructions.

On the fifth year, she requested the people to go to the forest and gather a certain kind of wood to be used for a post. She told them to being this to the house, after which she asked the balian to apply some “medicine’ on the post, and to offer prayers to prevent evil happenings, sickness or any untoward incidents to take place in their community.

Then, on the sixth year, she told her trusted people to go to the forest to gather a special kind of wood called bayug to be made into a mortar. She gave specific instructions that the tree, after it is felled, had to be carried on the shoulders of the men instead of having the carabao drag or pull it. When they went to the forest, they beat the going and were chanting prayers. They got the trunk of the bayug tree as per instructions and brought it back to the house and presented it to the woman. She then called the balian to hew a mortar out of the wood, and told her people to have this placed under the house. She told them to cover it with nipa leaves to protect it from people who might step or fall on it. Then she told the people to play the gongs, to dance and also to butcher a pig for the occasion.

The following year- the last year that was given by the Creator to the son of Jobrael so he can continue living on earth- the wife then gave an order to her people to go to the forest and gather a special wood called labalud. She told them to cut eight trunks of this kind of wood. Third time they brought it back to the house by having a carabao pull the sled where they placed the tree trunks.

A few days later she instructed them to dig eight holes in square formation, the holes three meters equidistant from each other. On these holes a center post was placed or mounted facing the east. This is the first post that they erected in the platform site, facing the house. On the post, the balian applied some “medicine,” after which the other remaining seven posts were mounted.

Then she told them to prepare the bamboos, which were split and flattened. These she said were to be used as the flooring of the platform. Since they were not to used nails as they did not have them yet, the posts and the flooring were tied with rattan vines which they also had gathered from the forest. All told, the platform construction was completed by sundown and there was much feasting, dancing and drinking of gasi to accompany the construction of the platform by the people of the wife of the son of Jobrael.

As per instructions of the wife of the son of Jobrael, in all of the seven years of yearly activities that she had given to his people to fulfill, they always had to butcher pigs and provide food and drinks for the people who were involved in the various stages of the ritual. There is also the continuous beating of the gongs day and night to provide accompaniment for the dancing from the time they have started gathering the materials which were ordered by the wife of the son of Jobrael.

And so it came to pass that in the seventh year, Palmot the messenger of the Creator Magbabaya was again sent back to earth to fetch the son of Jobrael. When he arrived on earth he looked for the son of Jobrael. Finally, when he couldn’t find on earth, he went to the center of the earth, the place where the son of Jobrael and his wife lived.

Upon reaching the center of the earth and finding the son of Jobrael, Palmot said, “I am here to get you now as ordered by the Supreme Creator, you have to go back to heaven for your time is up already.’

Upon hearing this, the wife of the son of Jobrael answered and said, “No, you cannot get the son of Jobrael now, you see,” she told Palmot, “we have made all these things, and we do not even know how we will call or name all of them. Perhaps of you can give us the names of what we have made, then maybe you can bring my husband back to heaven with you.’

She continued, saying, “Inasmuch as I have not even offered any food or betel nut chew to my husband, you cannot get him now, because we have not been living together. We have to make or perform all these things, even if we do not know what we could call all of these. ”

Palmot could not do anything. He scratched his head and said, “I myself do not know the name of all these. I will have to go back to the Creator and ask him what this is all about.”

So Palmot, the messenger of the Creator, went back to heaven. When he reached heaven, the Creator asked him, ‘Where is the son of Jobrael? Did I not tell you to bring him back?”

Palmot replied, “Yes, oh, Supreme Creator, but when I reached the earth, I had to look for him. When I finally found him, I was confronted by his wife who told me I couldn’t bring her husband back to heaven because she said they will have to know the name of the things that they have made in behalf of her husband, the son of Jobrael. Since I do not know them myself, I had to come back here to ask you.”

The Supreme Creator said, “Why don’t you describe these things to me?”

Palmot then proceeded to describe the figures that the wife of the son of Jobrael made beginning from the first year of their marriage.

The Creator said, “Ah, that is what you call the salangsang. You tell the people on earth that is how it should be called.”

Then Palmot continued to describe the various activities and materials produced and made by the people for the wife of the son of Jobrael.

The Creator called the altar constructed during the second year, out of the seven years he had permitted the son of Jobrael to stay on earth, binalay.

The altar and offerings given during the third year ware called palasanding. The bamboo sticks tied with rattan and decorated with mosala and mounted in an earthen jar, were named banghaso.

Then the Creator said, “The mortar is to be called dulugan, and the pestle, pathaw; the master post, guingho ran tumayam; the wood is flexible and does not break easily will be called labalod.” The naming of the various parts was completed up to the seventh year by the Creator.

And finally, Diwata Magbabaya declared the whole structure and its attendant activities as the buklog.

After this, the Creator said, “Since the wife of the son of Jobrael has done this, we do not have the right to get him to return to heaven. They have offered these things for him, his wife has redeemed her husband now.”

And so the son of Jobrael stayed on earth for many years and he lived together with his wife and grandchildren.

“That is the story of how the Subanen came to know about the buklog,” Thimuay Mangura Vicente L. Imbing said. “Perhaps,” he continued, “this might as well be the origin of other related rituals and celebrations in our Subanen culture.”

“You know, some of the rituals here that have been observed within the seven-year period are also part of our rites of passage, like the putting up of a banghaso during our wedding ceremony, or the setting up  of a binalay or the salansang during healing ceremonies.”

With these statements Thimuay Imbing concluded our conversation regarding the buklog.

The Subanen Buklog

This presentation is based on field research carried out by the writer among the Subanens in the Zamboanga peninsula; Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, and in Misamis Occidental, over the period of some fifteen odd years, in an attempt to describe and document some important aspects of Subanen culture particularly their folklore. The project was generously funded by Toyota Foundation.

By folklore, I choose Archer Taylor’s broad definition and scope of the area which includes the whole of traditional culture — materials that are handed on by tradition either by word of mouth or by custom and practice. Folklorists are also particularly interested in other verbal subject matter like legends, myths and epics which reflect beliefs and value systems or those folk traditions which do not rely upon verbal communication in fixed forms such as folk medicine, food, festivals, taboos, folk aesthetics, etc.

Data for this paper were gathered from various places that still practice the buklog festival, although, I have also interviewed several informants in different places who have valuable information regarding the subject matter. Facts about the Subanen Buklog will be presented in this paper, some interpretations, to be sure, are unavoidable, but I have done it very objectively and sparingly Supporting information have also been gathered from LimpapaSiocon, Sindangan and Zamboanga del Norte Subanens. These areas have celebrated the buklog and this researcher had the opportunity to participate and also observe the activities.

The Subanens

The term is given to a group of Philippine ethnic community that inhabit areas in the Zamboanga or Sibugal peninsula, and the mountain areas of Misamis Occidental. The name means riverdwellers, from the word suba, river, and “nun”, “nen”, or “non” an adjective postfix indicating origin or inhabitation. This term was applied to the tribe and to the Moros and Christians of Zamboanga peninsula who are coast dwellers. Probably, the term was first applied to the Subanens by Christian and Moros, but it is now well known to the tribe and used by it . It is not, however, the only term applied by these people to themselves. A Subanen when asked as to who he is will often answer tau bukid, or tau buid, hill man.

Many years ago the coastal areas of Zamboanga peninsula and Misamis Occidental were home to the nomadic, timid and shy Subanen, but they were always harassed by other tribes particularly the dominant Moros who were inhabiting the nearby islands and were constantly marauding the shoreline inhabitants to capture and later sell them as slaves. Then, later the Islamized Moros were also trying to convert them to Islam. Folk oral history has it, that only one of the four brothers accepted Islam, the rest fled and settled somewhere else. The group is also continually being pushed farther into the interior by Christian settlers and their kaingins have been taken over by Christian homesteaders. These people had no recourse but to move deeper and deeper into the forest and stayed there for many generations. It was only when they were converted to Christianity or have been influenced by their Christian neighbors that they stopped their nomadic life and settled in places they found abundant with food and the soil is fertile. The Subanens are relatively friendly and peace-loving people, but because of the many years of constant harassment from the more dominant groups, they learned to fight back. Their epics and folktales have accounts of their ancestors being good swordsmen and fine warriors. Their men and women fought side by side to survive. Through the centuries they struggled to gain some form of identity as a people, to maintain their cultural heritage and also be able to continue practising the traditions handed down to them their ancestors.

A traditional Subanen in hsi lifetime would wish that he can sponsor or put up a buklog. But because of the cost involved in the festivities most Subanens die without having fulfilled their dream.

By and large, the Subanen Buklog is a socio-religious activity. Perhaps one can safely say that this is one of the few Subanen observances that involves the whole settlement or community. When word circulates around that a family is going to put up a buklog, the women prepare their fineries, i.e., clothes and ornaments, and the men hone their expertise in dancing especially on the platform where tournaments in the form of who can topple his opponent by tripping his feet while dancing around the pestle of puthaw. They also prepare their own contributions of gasi or rice wine. If they had experience death in the family, and wished to “send” goods to their dearly departed, they can also prepare clothes and signify to the main sponsor their desire to do so, provided that the Buklog is celebrated for the benefit of the dead. Most of the preparation goes to the sponsor.

While an average traditional Subanen will be able to verbalize some aspects of his culture, it is not easy to get him to talk about what he believes in. In most conversations one can infer that they acknowledge the existence of environment spirits who are either benevolent or melevolent, and who will have to be propitiated or appeased when on incurs their anger, or have trespassed their territory. Hence the Subanene observes the buklog for various reasons. According to my informant Thimuay Vicente Imbing, the buklog can be offered as fulfillment of a promise upon recovery from illness, a bountiful harvest of crops and most importantly, in memory of the dead. The said activity has also sub-categories, like a buklog can be for prestige purpose or when a Subanen assumes leadership in the community.

The festival was known to be regularly practised in Subanen country, but for some reasons or another onlt a few places now observe the buklog festival. An informant in Lapuyan told me that some places do not practice putting up the buklog because of their fear of binaloy curse or petrifucation, or turning to stone. They even have evidence to show for it. In Lapuyan, they still observe the buklog, but with much discussion and deliberation among the tribal leadership. Perhaps, this is brought abotu by the conflict of religious ideals, since most of the Lapuyan Subanens have been converted to Christian Alliance Protestantism, which has taken root or is now deeply rooted in the hearts of Subanens living in this area. The Lamassons’ were the first American Christian missionaries who worked with the Subanens as early as 1920. Lapuyan is even known as “little America” because you can communicate with the Subanen in English. The first time I visited these people in 1977 I was really caught by surprise when I went to the market to drink coffee when someone behind me asked if I wanted cream with coffee. I turned by back and was met face to face with a very old woman, who had wrinkled face, about two or three teeth remaining … asking me, if I wanted cream to go with my coffee. Anyway, this was my introduction to Subanen Country.  Linguistic communication with other groups of Subanens in other places was not at all difficult, in Sindangan for instance, they spoke Visayan quite fluently, in the Limpapa-Siocon area by they either spoke Visayan or Chavacano, and those who have resided in the lowland areas, speak Visayan, English or Tagalog. In other place Subanens are either Roman Catholics or Protestants.

While the festival of the buklog has been mentioned so many times in the epics, folktales and legends, it is, however, only in E.B. Christie’s, The Subanons of Sindangan Bay that the buklog is described in detail. His work has been of great help when I was doing my own field research in an effort to establish traditional Subanen customs, practices, oral literature and other form or folklore.

Generally, when a man or his family decides to give a buklog, for some reason or another, he begins to store rice, and to collect a large amount of chickens, pigs, and eggs. A festival of this sort lasts three to seven days, and is frequently participated by a large number of persons coming from the locality and nearby communities, so that consumption of food and gasi (rice beer) is enormous, relatively to Subanen resources. As the time for the feast approaches, friends and relatives from all the surrounding localities bring contributions of food and very frequently the guests at the festival bring with them some small contribution in the way of a chicken, several pieces of eggs or a measure or two of rice but in spite of aid rendered by friend and guests, it is safe to say that most of the food and drink are usually furnished by the hosts.

The buklog festival derives its name from the platform that is erected for this purpose. It is prepared as a structure some 10 to 18 ft. high, although in Limpapa the height was about 40 ft. above the ground, consisting of a highly resilient platform supported at the corners by upright beams. A beam passes through the middle of the platform which above extends like a maypole and below reaches to a short, thick log, laid on the ground. The log is hollowed out like a drum and is laid over a number of large earthen jars sunk in the earth which serve as resonators. A few leaves and sticks are interspersed to prevent the jars from breaking. A crosspiece which joins the long central pole of beam to the platform makes it go up and down with the latter as the Subanen dance around the pole. The long beam as it comes down strikes the hollow log and makes a loud booming sound which animates the dancers. This is actually their only music.

the materials needed for the platform have also been prepared and gathered months before the actual construction begins. In fact, my informant, Datu Agdino Andres from Sandingan, said that even during the gathering of the wood to be used for the platform, some ceremonial, offerings have already been made, and certain taboos are also observed. For instance, the log used for the mortar comes from the bayug. While it is being cut and carried down from the forest, the Memwati singer or chanter asks the bayug tree god to protect them from harm and that He be with them as they celebrate the buklog, this goes with the debalod, another type of wood which is used for posts and beams. The Memwati chanter addresses the tree god for their blessing and protection. The bayug becomes the impersonation of the god, the moment it is taken or cut down, and Subanens treat it with reverence and respect. The pestle could either be made of bakhawan (a certain tree species that grow in marshy places) or ilang-ilang, and should be felled or cut down together with the tree for the mortar. This, too, is also given some form of respect, i.e., the wood is carried, never dragged on the ground.

The buklog platform cannot be constructed until the idol (fetish or carved representation of Apo Asog) on one of the pots is carved. A series of purification rites are also done. After this is done, the men who earlier had dug eight holes for the posts that will hold the platform, will start mounting the posts. As in the previous activity, and as the poles are being put up, there is music and dancing. The pole with the fetish (idol) is the main post which is placed into the second hole facing north, the idol facing east. The posts are placed not straight up but radially, going outwardly. This is done so that the flooring made out of split bamboo swings sideward and forward as the dancing is done on the platform. During the placing of the posts into the hole, the out kitchen is also build. Balaba or bigger strips of rattan are used to hold the wood together. No nails are used in putting up the buklog.

The workers start digging the hole for the mortar or the hollowed out log. At this time they start to play music in their agongs, dancing this time is done by a female. The jars are also laid in their place. It is now late in the evening, the buklog structure has just been completed. Musical instruments and the Memwati singer continues singing, describing everything that is taking place. Her songs are extemporaneous compositions, based of traditional tunes, melodies that are exclusively used for buklog activities only.

The balian now prepares for the formal opening of the structure. Three chicken are brought in.  A female dancer starts dancing, she is joined by another female, music and dancing continues, the gasi or rice wine is also brought out and a table is decorated by palm fronds of pisa, cooked rice wrapped with the coconut leaves in the shape of a crocodile, the feet are represented with unripe banana fruit, and the tail, midportion and eyes, of boiled eggs. Music and dancing stops; the balian invites the elders to go up with him to the buklog structure after having passed incence on the table where the offering for the diwata is placed.  He passes incense on the gasi jars, prayers are said by the balian, then he puts on his bolo, and together they go up the ladder leading to the buklog platform. Prayers are said and everyone is invited to take a sip of the gasi. The chicken and pig is also brought up the platform, incense is also in place, a porcelain bown and two plates are placed in front of the Thimuay (or tribal leader), who goes up the platform with the balian, gasi jars are also brought up.

The pig and white chicken are tied tot he floor of the platform near the pestle. The blood of the chicken will be shed down the hole so that it will fall directly on the wooden or hollow drum, below the elevated platform. At one corner to the east and west of the buklog are altars, these are where offerings  are placed. Then the balian invites people to come up the platform, mostly elderly men and women, no young girls are permitted. They are made to dance, so that the hollowed drum underneath the platform will sound. The tied pigs gets loose, blood is flowing through his mouth and nose, it is permitted to run around the platform; after a while the pig is caught and tied to the floor again. The dancers have to continue dancing until they are able to produce a “good sound”. It is the balian who determined this. Finally a “good sound” is produced and another set of seven persons are invited to come up the buklog platform, and dancing continues.

The balian is ready to make the offering, gets out his bolo and hands it over to the sponsor of the Buklog, the rooster is killed, blood flows down the pestle and the pig is butchered too. With the white rooster and the pig killed, the buklog is formally opened. Everybody is enjoined to come up the platform and dance. Those who had been dancing and tired may sit on the benches on the sides of the platform provided for them. Those who are old and can no longer dance but want to participate can still go up and just sit on the side.

The activity goes on for three to seven days – for as long as there are people who would want to go up the buklog and dance. It is the obligation of the host to serve food and drinks. While the activity goes on, extemporaneous singing by the balian continues, gongs are beaten, stories are told, there is a renewal of ties ans friendship. Meanwhile the balian sits in a phintuan or a small hut just outside the house and he continuously beats the porcelain bowl. The buklog comes to a close with the balian going about the house with a lighted torch … and a piece of grass and leaves, putting them in a basket and upon reaching the hearth, puts out the torch. Lastly, the balian leaves the house with his assistants but the activity i.e., dancing, eating, socializing continues. Incense is burned and the chanter or Memwati sings describing what is going on. If for example the thimuay or datu observed unusual things happening then he informs the balian to pray more to avert the curse of the binaloy. If, signs of turning to stone is taking place then the datu will be forced to kill the balian and his blood will be sprinkled on the people to prevent them from turning into stone.

Concluding Remarks

The description gives some idea of the atmosphere in which the religious ceremonies of the buklog are performed. It is apparent that there is nothing that can properly be called solemnity. While the dancing, eating and drinking among the people go on, it is the balian and his assistants who carefully perform the ceremonies; for the Subanens the less they mix in the delicate matters of the supernatural world, the safer for them.

The buklog exemplifies man’s concerns for himself, his fellowmen and his environment. The very fact that when he or a member of his family gets sick, he makes a promise to put up a buklog conditional on the recovery of that sick member which he has to fulfill otherwise he will incur the ire of the diwatas; for a Subanen believes that become sick could be cause by an environmental spirits because one has displeased that spirit or an ancestral spirit has been neglected and to remind the living causes a member of the family to get sick. The buklog shows environmental concerns, especially so when the materials that are to be used for the platform are gathered. These are not cut down without a proper rituals and offerings.