Beyond the Mythical God Label: Healing and Multifunctionality in the Bulul

The bulul—Ifugao human-like woodcarvings—are made in a series of rituals that concludes with ensouling. Kept in the granary, they are thought to guard and magically increase rice according to current scholarship. In this article I use primary data to show that they are also crafted to serve as healing vessels under a cross-cultural class of figures in substitution rituals. I also argue that Euro-Christian traditions have led to their misidentification as deity, something that has been internalized by locals. The Ifugao view the bulul in a continuum—empty wooden objects on one end and family members on the other.