First there must be a purpose for the raid.  There must be a person with some burden that wishes to remove it through the process of headhunting.  So someone organizes a raid.  Other men who also carry a burden may get in on the raid so that they can be relieved of it.  An agreement has to be made at the start on the sequence of who gets to take a head first.  This is usually the person who requested the raid.  Then from there it is determined who is to 2nd, 3rd, and so on.  Novices among the group generally receive priority.  The day before they raiders leave at high noon the men gather on the yard of the raid organizers house.  Here they place a woven bamboo basket which they fill with betel nut, sugar cane, and sweet potato as an offering for a spirit they called “from the forest.”  As the offering is made a man chants “Now, you, eye of the sun; there now, you are on high.”  His voice then changes to a high pitch and makes a series of sounds to lure the victims “hearts” which were something like birds.  Then his voice becomes deep because the victims’ hearts are near.  They are said to “hover for a time near their beheaders-to-be and then perch on the upper lobes of their ears.”  Then “`the person of knowledge’ drew near and grabbed the hearts where he found them perched…” which would be in succession from the first man to behead a victim to the last.  The hearts are then placed in the bamboo basket and then the men used their bolos to “encircle” the basket.  Next “the person of knowledge” would look to see if any of the men were going to be wounded on the raid.  If everything is good they leave the next day.  The next morning the men are accompanied by women “to sing farewell, inspiring the men and lending beauty to their departure.”  The women carry a supply of rice for the men on their raid.  The women only accompany the men part of the way.  They stop just outside town to cook the rice.  A large portion of the rice is put into bamboo tubes so the men can eat them later.  The reason behind this is so the men can eat without giving away their position by cook fires.  While the women do this the men fish.  What is left of the rice is eaten along with the fish in a farewell feast.  Afterward the feast each woman would give tied betel quid to her husband, brother, or lover.  These quids were to be saved and chewed later just before the men attacked their victim.  As they do this the women say “Take this now, it is my betel quid,” and the men answer by saying “May you [the betal offering] make me light of foot.  Let all the reeds blossom [ an allusion to the feather headdress worn only after taking a head].”  At this point the men leave and the women stay singing farewell.  The men would often travel a great distance making sure not to be seen until they reached their destination.  They often became very hungry and bitter towards each other on their journey.  Upon finding victims or traces of victims scouts would head out to determine how to set up an ambush.  Novices often had to be warned no to cut each other.  They are usually so excited about the kill they could end up harming each other.  It was the older men who warned them.  Men would often promise to watch out after one and another during a raid.  Once the ambush was determined how to take place the men would chew the quids given to them by the women.  While chewing the betel quid they would think of the woman who gave then it and would be “inspired.”  The men would dress to distinguish themselves from the victims by wearing only g-strings and a white kerchief “tied for easy visibility in the buns of their long hair.”  Men who had already taken a head were allowed to wear feather headdresses.  This is also said to make the novices more eager about taking a head.  Once the ambush was set up the raiding party would wait in their positions until a victim or victims would come by.  When this happens the men spring the ambush.  For the Ilongot tribe it did not matter who actually killed the victim or even who cut of the victims head, the honor of taking a head is done by throwing the head away which is done in the predetermined order. Doing so is said to relieve the burden the raid was carrying.  After the decapitation is complete and all the victims are dead the raiders flee stopping only to sing songs of celebration which are supposed to make them “light of foot.”  Once returning to the village the men shout out ‘a’ee’u’u once to indicate that they have taken a head.  Upon arriving the raiders are asked is everyone is alive and well and the same is asked of whoever greets them.  The men return to the house of the man who organized the raid and are greeted by women singing in chorus.  They play the gongs and the men and women dance into the early morning.  Such is the process of a raid (Rosaldo 1980, p 156-164).