A short dance-intermission tale, shouted upon the completion of three double-circles, paligūgu, executed by dancers during a headhunting enactment ritual, bahbah2.
Consists of either a ritualized or extemporaneous short tale by a single person who stands and shouts to the assembled people. The tale ends by a shout in chorus, īag, by all those gathered. Tales are shouted as follows: 1) On the first evening of the ritual, following ritual prayers, two ritualists, mumbā'i, stand and dance ritually. They are both participants in the enactment of taking a head in the forest. After dancing three double circles a third ritualist, who also participated in the enactment, stands and shouts a ritualized tale. The dancing and tale-telling is repeated four times with four different tales. The first tells of a man who went to downriver region and found a crocodile. The second is as follows:
Dagim! Popaha' da'yun manāyaw. Lināmag'uy būludna, ya inah'ūpa din balittiyon an namiyūyuh būnga, ya am'amamūngan di tītit ya guwigwiw, ya wada din ni'yāmung an ababalekaway matāna; ya un'u haplāton ya un kumeekēek, ya mid imbangngaddah awitnah din nunggap nunggāway algaw! Yahēe!
`Hey! I will relate a short tale to you dancers. I climbed to a mountain ridge, and came upon a balittiyon tree ladened with fruit, and there was a large flock of birds chirping and crying, and there was one (a monkey) gathered with them with huge fearsome eyes; I whipped it and it cried out, and they didn't revenge it with anything during the late afternoon of that day! Yahēe!'
The third tale is about chopping down a damayon variety of rattan, and the fourth tells of someone going to the forest to spear a wild pig. 2) On the second, and successive nights, dancing continues. Anyone expert in taletelling can stand and shout a short extemporaneous tale which is supposed to be humorous and provoke laughter. 3) On the final morning of the ritual, deta', the men and women have a contest in which they in turn engage in shouted tale telling, interspersed with dancing. This functions as veiled chiding and advice to someone of the opposite sex for mildly unacceptable social behavior. No names are mentioned and, though the tale is subtle, it is intended to be understood. It is given for someone who is lazy, easily becomes angry, is stingy, steals produce from another's upland field, etc.
For someone (agent muɴ-; s agent maN-) to shout a short dance-intermission tale (theme) to dancers (loc ref -an) during a bahbah ritual, as described above.
egpah; pangpah; mangpah
Gempahan Ballag hi numpepat din nangitāyaw hi banūkal hi dolan Ha'yab ad a''u.
Ballag shouted a dance-termination tale four times to the ones dancing with the decorative dancing aid at the house of Ha'yab last night.