_The Layog_. [110]--Several months after the burial (generally after the lapse of a year), the friends and relatives are summoned in the _Layog_,--a ceremony held with the avowed intention "to show respect for the dead and to cause the family to forget their sorrow." Friends come from near and far; and rice, pigs, cows or carabaos are prepared for food, while _basi_ flows freely. It is said that the liquor served at this time is "like tears for the dead." A medium goes to the guardian stones of the village, and there offers rice mixed with blood; she oils the stones, places new yellow headbands on each one, and after dancing _tadek_, returns to the gathering. Often she is accompanied by a number of men, who shout on their return trip "to frighten away evil spirits." Near the house a chair is made ready for the deceased, and in it are placed clothing and food. In the yard four crossed spears form the frame-work on which a shield rests (Plate XVIII) [111] and on this are beads, food, and garments--offerings for the spirits; while near the house ladder is the spirits' table made of inverted rice mortars. The duration of this ceremony depends largely on the wealth of the family, for the relatives must furnish everything needed at this time. Games are played, and there is much drinking and singing; but before the members of the family may take part, they are dressed in good garments, and the blood and oil ceremony is repeated on them. At the conclusion of the dancing, they go into the house, roll up the mat used by the dead, open the doors and windows, and all are again free to do as they wish. Should they fail to roll up the mat at this time, it must remain until another _Layog_ is held; and during the interval all the former restrictions are in force. [112] About twenty years ago, a great number of people in Patok died of cholera; and since then the people of that village have held a _Layog_ in their honor each November, to the expense of which all contribute. As this is just before the rice-harvest, a time when all the people wear their best garments, it is customary for the old men to allow bereaved families to participate in this ceremony and then release them from mourning.