Li-mum' may best be translated by
the English term "ghost," although he has a definite function ascribed
to the rather fiendish "nightmare" -- that of sitting heavily on the
breast and stomach of a sleeper.
The ta'-ko, the soul of the living man, is a faithful servant of man,
and, though accustomed to leave the body at times, it brings to the
person the knowledge of the unseen spirit life in which the Igorot
constantly lives. In other words, the people, especially the old men,
dream dreams and see visions, and these form the meshes of the net
which has caught here and there stray or apparently related facts
from which the Igorot constructs much of his belief in spirit life.
The immediate surroundings of every Igorot group is the home of the
a-ni'-to of departed members of the group, though they do not usually
live in the pueblo itself. Their dwellings, sementeras, pigs, chickens,
and carabaos -- in fact, all the possessions the living had -- are
scattered about in spirit form, in the neighboring mountains. There the
great hosts of the a-ni'-to live, and there they reproduce, in spirit
form, the life of the living. They construct and live in dwellings,
build and cultivate sementeras, marry, and even bear children;
and eventually, some of them, at least, die or change their forms
again.
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