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he rituals and dances which are still performed with urgency and vitality by the various cultural communities that comprise about eight per­cent of the country's population are held or performed together or separately on the various occasions of a person's birth, baptism, circumcision, initial menstruation, courtship, wed­ding, sickness and death; or for the celebration of tribal activi­ties like hunting, corn-planting, rice-planting and harvesting, fishing and going to war.

In most rituals, a native priest/priestess, variously called mandadawak, catalonan, bayok, baylan or babalyan, goes into a trance as the spirit he/she is calling upon possesses him/her. While entranced, the priest/ priestess partakes of the sacrifi­cial offering, which may be a chicken, a pig, a carabao (de­pending on the gravity of the spirit's anger) or simply rice uncooked or in cakes, rice-wine and betel nut. This act, which represents the death of the supplicant at the hands of the spirit, adapts itself to the occa­sion for which the ritual is held.

Among the Tagbanua of Palawan in Southern Philip­pines, the ritual of the pagdiwata, which crowns a series of activities addressed to the spirits of ancestors, is held after the rice harvest on the last three days of the last moon, to ask the supreme deity Magin­dusa, the other gods and the spirits of ancestors for a bounti­ful harvest and for the well­being of the supplicants. For this all important socio-eco­nomic-religious event, the interior of the home of the priestess (babalyan) is decorated with stripped palm leaves and bamboo slats with Tagbanua writing and designs. In the center of the large room, the ritual offerings are carefully ar­ranged: a small wooden boat hanging from the ceiling (on this the ancestors ride); a mat on which are spread the bowls or plates of uncooked rice; jew­elry, betel nuts, rice cakes (which are later consumed by the people), ginger, onions; a ritual bamboo swing which the babalyan rides or chants on; a stool on which are placed more food offerings; and the all important wine jars set in a line in front of the swing and pro­vided with oil-rubbed straws through which the spirits will sip the rice-wine (wine is not found in the spirit world so it is the one item that best attracts spirits to the celebration).

To the heady music of gongs and drums, the babalyan's assistant - dressed in a sarong skirt, tight blouse and sash from which the wavy long knife called karis hangs, opens the ritual by performing several dances brandishing in both hands the ugsong (stripped palm leaves with bells), in honor of Magindusa, who is supposed to be perched on the roof of the house. This part ends with the babalyan letting out a scream and pulling the ceremonial staff attached to the ceiling to de­note that Magindusa has de­parted. Soon after, the babalyan herself, also in a similar skirt and blouse, but with a black hood covering her face, works herself into a trance, as she sips wine and swings herself in the middle of the room. Thcn shc dances - balancing on her head a bowl with rice or a bowl with candles or a karis, while brandishing the palm leaves or two porcelain bowls or a piece of cloth in her two hands, and as she is followed by an assistant. With the continued beating of the gongs, the babalyan may then shake the palm leaves vio­lently and strike the sides of the wine jar angrily and sip wine, denoting that a spirit has come down. As other spirits take turns possessing her, the babal­yan's movements may change ­one spirit may prompt her to sip wine or softdrinks or water; another may want to smoke cigarettes with those participat­ing in the ritual; others may dance with a long knife or bolo on their heads, or oil the women's hair, or lead the singing of the spirit song. The series of possessions is capped with those present drinking and smoking and participating in the activities of the ritual (Fox: 1982) .   

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