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Jenks, Albert Ernest, 1869-1953

"The Bontoc Igorot"



Storing
No palay is carried to the a-lang', the separate granary building,
or to the dwelling for the purpose of being stored until the entire
crop of the sementera is harvested. It may be carried part way,
but there it halts until all the grain is ready to be carried home.
It is spread out on the ground or on a roof in the sun two or three
days to dry before storing. When the grain is to be stored away an
old man -- any man -- asks a blessing on it that it may make men,
hogs, and chickens well, strong, and fat when they consume it. This
ceremony is called "ka-fo'-kab," and the man who performs it is known
by the title of "in-ka-fa'."
The Igorot granary, the a-lang', is a "hip-roofed" structure about 8
feet long, 5 wide, 4 feet high at the sides and 6 at the ridgepole. Its
sides are built of heavy pine planks, which are inserted in grooved
horizontal timbers, the planks being set up vertically. The floor
is about a foot from the earth. The roof consists of a heavy, thick
cover of long grass securely tied on a pole frame. It is seldom that
a granary stands alone -- usually there are two or more together, and
Bontoc has several groups of a dozen each, as shown in Pl.


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