Served as a guardian for rice crops, the Bulul are carved anthropomorphic wooden figures made by the Igorot people in Cordillera. According to the National Museum of the Philippines’ website, they are effigies of one’s ancestors or guardian spirits. The bululs are also used for a bountiful harvest aside from crop protection. Once they are given proper rituals by the descendant community, their status becomes bulul, transcending beyond being tag-tagu or human figures devoid of any social constructs or signification. The bululs are treated with respect as to avoid a bad harvest.

In Ifugao culture, rice is a core part of their culture, with rice rituals and rice feasts, as such bululs play an important role as well. Due to problems of climate changes, environmental changes tend to disrupt the agricultural cycles that rice rituals are meant to safeguard, making it hard for Ifugao farmers to adhere to traditional planting and harvesting schedules. As climate change accelerates, the viability of the Ifugao Rice Terraces also comes under threat, further complicating the conditions necessary for maintaining these rituals. (Martin, 2022)

In rice rituals, the bululs are held by hands dipped in chicken or pig blood, giving it a rich dark brown color, with the shine it has coming from grease of food offerings. A carved bulul must be ceremoniously activated or installed within a fortnight, otherwise the image will no longer be sacred. The actual activation process involves costly offerings of chickens, pigs, carabaos, rice and tapuy/tapey (rice wine) for at least three consecutive days for the bulul deities. The bululs are often passed down from generation to generation, to the first child of a family.