The World of the Spirits
by Gabriel S Casal
(page 3)
To the Maranao, the world is neither round nor flat: it is a heap of seven layers of cushions. The sun flames over this world and the sun is believed to be a young man riding a chariot pushed by angels. When the angels get tired, the wheels go off course and we get a hot day because the sun runs closer to earth. The moon is a lady riding a chariot likewise pushed by angels. But sometimes she meets a giant lion who swallows her up, chariot and angels and all. Then the Maranao beat gongs and make all sorts of noises while they shout: “Lion, release the moon or the world
will come to an end!”
Each layer of the world is inhabited, but people live only on the uppermost. The layer below is inhabited by dwarfs. The seven cushion-layers of the world are held up by a beast bigger than the world. This beast is the Lumbong, and it carries a parasite shrimp which scratches it occasionally. When the shrimp scratches too hard, the Lumbong tries to shake it off, producing earthquakes. Happily for the Maranao, the shrimp does not always scratch.
Hell, the lowermost layer of the world, is really dreadful. There, adulterous couples endlessly eat the babies they bore out of wedlock. There, disrespectful children are interminably being swallowed into the belly of the monster Sakar. On the other hand, the Maranao paradise is the uppermost layer of the seven levels of heaven. There the blessed live in eternal health: they get anything they want just by thinking of it.
The Maranao believe in four kinds of spirit: the Apo of the tornado; the Sakit of disease; the Saitan of the balite; and the Inikadowa that is each person’s spiritual double. Nature itself is alive with other kinds of being. The spirits of water expect a coin to be dropped to them by whoever crosses a lake or stream. Witches fly in the Maranao sky and sorcerers can ruin a crop, a hunting trip, or a battle. A man afflicted with bad luck is being haunted by family ghosts: “He has been cursed by his ancestors!” A feast must be prepared for the spirits when a child is introduced to them; and hinterlanders still offer roast chicken to balite trees.
Such practices antedate the coming of Islam and suggest that the old Ma’i animism and ancestor worship continue to the present, carried on in observances that placate the anito spirits or make them propitious.
At planting time, the Magindanao Muslim place food offerings under a tree. The first seed must be planted by an imam. The celebrant dresses up as a warrior and dances to a chant invoking the spirits and naming their chiefs. No woman may join in these rites.
The Maranao believe that some old men possess the powers of the old religion. Before a youth tills his first field, he must ask one such old man to call the spirits for him and invite them to a meal of chicken and yellow rice. The services of such select old men are also hired to save a field from rats or disease, and to “capture” a spirit. The Maranao say that, in olden days, a captured spirit, or saitan, could be made to do one’s bidding. If a man wanted an enemy killed, he only had to thrust a dagger into a wall: the servant “genie” made sure the intended victim received the thrust.
The Tinggian have mediums who are expert in rituals that attract spirits toward offered food, clothing and blankets, or into the balawa where the villagers
assemble to worship. The shamans of the Isneg enter the supernatural when they go into a deep trance during the ceremonies to placate or drive away evil spirits. Among the Kankanay, only the mambunong or local “priest” may lead in worship, especially if the rites concern planting of rice or safeguarding of a harvest.
The Ifugao village “priests” are in charge of genealogy and must memorize the lineage of each villager, for every sacrifice begins with the invocation of the ancestors of whoever is making the offering. The babaylan of the Tagbanuwa, the marayawan of the Mangyan, and the diwata of the Palawan are medicine men who exorcise illness and preside over ceremonies, performed on the days of the new moon and of the full moon to gain the goodwill of the spirits.
Predisposition for the supernatural is in-born and must be developed. The Tinggian medium, who is called alopagan, is usually female. From childhood she has fits and dreams that indicate her vocation. When grown up, she trains with an experienced alopagan to learn the necessary rites, spells and chants. At the end of her training, she is given a small basket containing thread, a piece of Chinese porcelain and a necklace of crabshells. This is her piling, or talisman, previously used by a medium who had died. If the augury of a pig sacrifice shows that the spirits approve of her, she begins the practice: the summoning of the spirits to enter into her body.
She does this by first placing offerings on a mat. She sits down before the mat and strikes her hand against her talisman basket. Covering her face with her hands, she begins a chant. Suddenly she is possessed; she is no longer herself but the spirit that has entered into her. And it is this spirit that speaks through her, answering questions, making revelations, and directing how the client must act to solve the problem that brought him to this séance.
Some alopagan are possessed only by evil spirits; others are entered by both the good and the bad; and a lofty few are open to the supreme deity, Kadaklan himself. Sometimes the soul of a dead person awaiting burial will sneak into the body of a medium and will relay messages to the family.
An alopagan is paid little for her services: usually just a portion of the sacrificial animal, a few bundles of unhusked rice and some beads. She is forbidden to eat pepper, shrimp, and the meat of carabaos, wild pig and wild chicken.
The Isneg dororakit, usually the daughter of a priestess, is a combination of medicine man and magician. She makes the amulets that ward off evil spells.
The Kankanay have both male and female mediums. The men are called mambunong; the women, manggengey. They occupy more or less hereditary offices. Also inherited is the position of agricultural “priest”, who, however, can be replaced if his rituals fail to bring in good harvests, or if he is widowed. Only a married man, preferably with lots of children, may occupy the post. A part-time “priest” is the balsun, who is called on because he knows the particular rite for a specific occasion.
Among the Bukidnon, the mamumuhat is simply a medicine man, the doctor summoned to sickbeds; but the baylan is a seer who convokes a ceremony. His followers will enjoy an eternal life of abundance if they only follow him to this peak or to that hillside which will open to reveal an earthly paradise of unlimited food and wealth. Baylans are so influential that changes in ancestral law will be accepted only if the innovating council of leaders includes a baylan to guarantee that the innovation is approved by the spirit world of the ancestors.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
