A Bulul is a carved wooden figure used to guard the rice crop by the Igorot

Igorot

Cordillerans are the people of the Cordillera region, in the Philippines island of Luzon. The word, Igorot is a misnomer term invented by the Spaniards in mockery against the Nortnern Luzon tribes. The word ‘Igorot’ also as coined and applied by the Spaniards means a savage, head-hunting and...

 peoples of northern Luzon

Luzon

Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...

. The sculptures are highly stylized representations of ancestors, and are thought to gain power from the presence of the ancestral spirit.
The Ifugao are particularly noted for their skill in carving bululs.

Use

Bululs are used in ceremonies associated with rice production and with healing.
Creation of a bulul involves a ritual by a priest to ensure that the statue gains power. The bulul is treated with care and respect to avoid the risk of the spirits of the ancestors bringing sickness.
The figures are placed in rice granaries to bring a plentiful harvest.
A large granary may need two bululs, and a wealthy noble may also have one or more bululs in his house.

Form

Male and female Bulul statues are often found together, with sex-related symbols such as the mortar for the female and pestle for the male.
A male bulul may sometimes be decorated with a g-string, and a female with a waist cloth, earrings and anklets.
Although the form varies, the bulul is commonly represented as seated on the ground, with arms crossed over his upraised knees.
The bulul has a simplified form, and is traditionally carved from narra or ipil wood or sometimes stone.
The bulul is touched by hands dipped in blood of a chicken or pig in ritual called tunod during the rice planting season.
Over time the blood imparts a dark color to the figures, overlaid with a patina of grease from food offerings.
Bululs are handed down to the first child of a family. Typically the older statues have beetle holes made by insects in the granary.

Bululs are nowadays mostly manufactured for the tourist trade, but a local family may buy such a bulul and use it for ceremonial purposes, thus in a sense adding authenticity

Authenticity in art

Authenticity in art has a variety of meanings related to different ways in which a work of art or an artistic performance may be considered authentic.Denis Dutton distinguishes between nominal authenticity and expressive authenticity....

.
Some of the carvers, such as Rey Paz Contreras

Rey Paz Contreras

Rey Paz Contreras is a prominent Filipino sculptor working with urban refuse and environmental materials as artistic media...

, have become well-known artists, with their work exhibited and sold widely in the western world. Contreras uses discarded wood from the railways for his carvings of Bululs and other Anito

Anito

Anito is the collective name for Pre-Hispanic belief system that exists in the Philippines. It is also the name for spirits, which may include deceased ancestors and nature-spirits or diwatas. Native Filipinos usually keep statues to represent these spirits and to ask guidance and even magical...

(guardian deity) figures.