Sinoron Ritual - Bago-Tagabawa Culture and Tradition

So I went to Sinoron again on Friday to see the ritual at the spring. We travelled up to the source carrying a goat, two chickens and some other stuff to be used during the ritual. It was surely worth while the effort. Below is a short video. You'll see datu Udal performing the ritual; he is one of the few people who still know these traditions. The intention of the ritual is to ask permission to use the spring as a source for the new water system.

It has to be a full moon to perform the ritual, so Friday was the right time. We hiked up to the spring in the morning; it is a way of clearing your mind. I didn't catch the full meaning of the ritual (it was in Bagobo), but this is what I was able to figure out: the two chickens represent the unity between two tribal territories. The water of the spring is in Salidokun, but the water will be used by the people from Sinoron. Therefore, there is a sort of pact between the tribal leaders of both territories, represented by a male and a female chicken. The chickens have to be white; it symbolizes purity (in fact, we spent two hours looking for two white chickens :) The goat is the sacrifice of the community to Apo Sandawa, a mythic forefather of the Bagobo-Tagabawa. During the ritual, datu Udal also used 7 coins and 7 eggs, which represent the 7 days of the week. It means that the people are asking Apo Sandawa to provide water all the time (all days of the week). all through the ritual, datu Udal was asking questions to Apo Sandawa. He held a bamboo stick in his hands and, after each question, closed his eyes and stretched the stick across his breast, spreading his arms as far as he could; should one end of the stick be too short and the branch slip from his hands, then that means Apo Sandawa does not approve. If there is enough wood on both ends of the branch, then the request is approved. We also drank some jenever. Datu Udal explained this by saying that the white liquid brings whiteness of heart. (a good enough raison to drink jenever, I would say). After the ritual, the goat was cooked and eaten close to the spring.