Rice deity "bulul"

Description

wood, greyish brown patina, partly encrusted, male figure in characteristic seated posture, rising from waisted wooden block, helmet-like headdress, ears with two drilled holes each, slightly dam. (nose), traces of insect caused damage (frontside of the base)

The Ifugao are an ancient Malay ethnic group living in the hard-to-reach Philippine Cordilleras on northern Luzon and belong to the Igorot.

The focus of their culture is the cultivation of rice on artificial terraced fields. To promote and secure their rice harvest, they carve figures like this one. “Bulul” are “charged” with magical power by priests, ceremonially sacrificed and placed in the rice stores to protect the harvest.