The VICAR of the World

Gulgol is a tradition widely practiced by the Ilocano tribe in the northern part of Luzon island in the Philippines to drive away the spirit of a dead relative recently buried that he or she may go straight to heaven. It is customarily done the morning after the dead was buried. It is participated in by all relatives who joined the burial.

Participants to the gulgol proceed to the river, where the gulgol is to be performed, through a specific route and must not take the same route when going back, presumably so that the dead's spirit may not find its way in returning home (and proceed right away to heaven).

Gulgol is literally translated "hair rinse". It is performed by pouring a mixture of fresh chicken blood and vinegar through burnt rice hay stuffed in a coconut shell with a hole on one end. Blood extracted, the chicken is thrown away to the river as an offering to the gods. Each participant's hair is "rinsed" with the gulgol mixture while facing east, where the sun rises. He or she dips in the river water right after the rinse. Only a widow is deputized to performed the gulgol.

A prayer for the dead's spirit concludes the traditional rite.

Upon returning home, all participants feast on a prepared food, normally a butchered pig cooked in different recipes.