Lu-ma'-wig is the
greatest of spirits, dwelling above in chayya, the sky. All prayers
for fruitage and increase -- of men, of animals, and of crops --
all prayers for deliverance from the fierce forces of the physical
world are made to him; and once each month the pa'-tay ceremony,
entreating Lu-ma'-wig for fruitage and health, is performed for
the pueblo group by an hereditary class of men called "pa'-tay -- a
priesthood in process of development. Throughout the Bontoc culture
area Lu-ma'-wig, otherwise known but less frequently spoken of as
Fu'-ni and Kam-bun'-yan, is the supreme being. Scheerer says the
Benguet Igorot call their "god" Ka-bu-ni'-an -- the same road as
Kam-bun'-yan.
In the beginning of all things Lu-ma'-wig had a part. The Igorot
does not know how or why it is so, but he says that Lu-ma'-wig gave
the earth with all its characteristics, the water in its various
manifestations, the people, all animals, and all vegetation. To-day
he is the force in all these things, as he always has been.
Once, in the early days, the lower lands about Bontoc were covered
with water. Lu-ma'-wig saw two young people on top of Mount Po'-kis,
north of Bontoc. They were Fa-tang'-a and his sister Fu'-kan.
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