CHAPTER XLIII

Of the false religion which these Indians held in their heathendom; and of their superstitions and omens.

432. The great slothfulness and natural carelessness of these Indians is recognized by its results; for as yet not the slightest scrap of writing concerning their religion and ceremonies, or their ancient political government, has been found. Only by tradition and old songs which have been preserved from father to son, and from other things which they have still in use, has it been possible to trace somewhat of their antiquity by means of some careful ministers. The first who took his pen for this purpose, at the instance of the superior government, was our venerable Fray Juan de Plassencia, one of the most zealous workers in the vineyard of this archipelago, in the year 1589. [348] So great credence was given to him in this, that his relation of the customs of the Indians, having been received by the royal Audiencia, was imparted to the alcaldes-mayor of the provinces for their government. Later, in the year 1598, with but little difference in time, Doctor Don Antonio de Morga, auditor and lieutenant-governor of Philipinas, wrote his description. In it the same matter is treated, taken from the other. Our Fray Antonio de la Llave, [349] afterward (in the year 1622) used this in his description. In the year 1660, Father Colin wrote his description, adding anew the best form. Since this is a matter in which we cannot exceed the ancients, yet with them all it will be necessary for me to write something, in order that I may not leave this treatise of my description faulty.

433. These Indians had various sorts of adorations: now to animals and birds, as did the Egyptians; now to the sun and the moon, as did the Assyrians. The Tagálogs adored now Tigmamanoquìn, which was a blue bird of the size of a turtledove; now the crow, which they called Meylupa, which signifies "Lord of the soil," as if he were the god Pan, or the goddess Ceres of the ancients; now the crocodile, which they called nono, which signifies "grandfather," to which they offered various sacrifices in order that it might not harm them. Sometimes they adored any old tree, especially the one they call balete, and even those now living show respect to it; now they adored and offered gifts to the stones, crags, reefs, and promontories of seas and rivers. All was the result of their natural fear, so that all these things should cause them no harm. Nevertheless, they had a knowledge of one sole God; and accordingly they adored Him as the principal God, and greater than all. The Visayans called Him Lauon, which signifies "ancient;" and the Tagálogs Bathalà Mey capal, signifying "God, the Maker, or Creator of all things."

434. Besides these they had other idols, which the Visayans called Diuata, and the Tagálogs, Anito, each of which had its special object and purpose. For there was one anito for the mountains and open country; another for the sowed fields; others for the sea and rivers; another for the house of their dwelling. These anitos they invoked in their work, according to the functions of each one. Among these they also made anitos of their ancestors, and to these was due the first adoration of all. The memory of this anito is not even yet erased. They kept some small badly-made figures of all these, of gold, stone, ivory, or wood; and they called them Lic-hà or Laràuan, which means a "figure" or "image" among them.

435. They also venerated as anitos those who came to disastrous ends, because either the lightning, or the shark, or the sword, killed them; for they thought that such immediately went to glory, by way of the rainbow, which they call balangao. With such barbarous beliefs lived and died the old people, puffed up and vain, considering themselves as anitos. As such they caused themselves to be respected and worshiped; and buried after death in places set apart and of distinction among them all, as they were reverenced there. There are many cases of this known, and it required all the valor and zeal of the father ministers to destroy tombs, fell trees, and burn idols. But it is yet impossible to tear up the blind error of the pasingtabì sa nonò, which consists in begging favor from their aged dead whenever they enter any thicket or mountain or sowed fields, in order to build houses and for other things. For if they do not do this, they believe that their nonos will punish them with some evil result. This is found among an ignorant people without malice, who do not know why they do this, but only that they do it because they saw that their aged people do it here. The ministers labored hard to remove this error, especially in the remote villages; for in those that are now civilized the people at present laugh at it.

436. For all these adorations and sacrifices it is not evident that they had any common and public temple. For although these places had the name of simba or simbahan, which signifies "place of adoration and sacrifice," and the people attended them and resorted thither, they were not like our temples common to all, but, as it were, certain private oratories belonging to the houses of their chiefs, where those of their families, or their dependents, or those related by marriage, met to make a feast for any special object. For this purpose they made a bower in the house itself, which they call sibi, dividing it into three naves and lengthening the fourth. They adorned it with leaves and flowers on all sides, and many lighted lamps. In the middle was placed another large lamp, with many ornaments. Such was their simbahan or oratory. This feast was called pandot; it was their most solemn one, and lasted four days. During that time they played many musical instruments, and performed their adorations, which is called nag àanito [350] in Tagálog. When the feast was ended and all the adornment removed, the place had no longer the name of church or temple, and remained a house like all the others.

437. Their sacrifices always redounded to the advantage of their bodies; for they were reduced to all eating, drinking, and making merry. In proportion to the motives, so were the ceremonies of their sacrifices. If it were only for the entertainment of their chief, they made a bower in front of his house, which they filled with hangings, according to their Moorish custom; and there they all ate, drank, danced, and sang. For this it was the usual practice to fetch a hog, which the catalôna or priestess ordered the most graceful girl to stab with the knife, amid certain dances. That done, and the hog having been cooked according to their custom it was divided among all the company, as if it were a relic; and they ate it with great reverence and respect, with the other food of their feast. They drank more than they ate, as they always do. With this was ended the greatness of their sacrifice, without God to whom to offer it, or altar therefor.

438. If the sacrifice was for the health of some sick person, the priest of the sacrifice ordered a new house to be built at the expense of the sick one. That done (which took but a very short time, as the materials are close at hand, and many assemble for that purpose), they removed the sick person to it, and arranged what was to be sacrificed. That was sometimes a slave, but most generally some hog or marine animal; its flesh they set before the sick person, with other food according to their custom. The catalôna performed her usual dances, wounded the animal, and with its blood anointed the sick person, as well as some of the others among the bystanders. Then it was divided and cleaned, in order that it might be eaten. The catalôna looked at the entrails, and making wry faces and shaking her feet and hands, acted as if she were out of her senses--foaming at the mouth, either because she was incarnate as the devil, or because she so feigned so that credit might be given her. In this way she prophesied what would happen to the sick man, either adverse or propitious. If it were propitious, there was great feasting; and if adverse, means were not lacking to her to evade it--as they were also not lacking in case that her prophecy was not fulfilled. If the sick man died, she consoled them all by saying that their gods had elected him as one of their anitos, because of his prowess and merits; and she began to commend herself to this saint, and made them all commend themselves to him, and everything ended in drunkenness and rejoicing. Then the catalôna took all the gifts, which all had offered her according to their custom, and returned home, wealthier, but not with more reputation; for those who exercised that office among the Indians were held in no estimation, for they were considered lazy persons who lived by the toil of others.

439. When the sick person died, he was followed by the lamentation of his relatives and friends and even by other and hired mourners, who had that as their trade. In their lamentation they inserted a melancholy song, with innumerable extravagant things in praise of the dead. They bathed, smoked, and shrouded the corpse, and some embalmed it in the manner of the Hebrews, with certain aromatic liquors; and thus did they bury it, with all due respect.

440. The grave of the poor was a hole which was dug under the house itself, and was called sìlong. The rich and influential were kept unburied for three days, amid the weeping and singing. A box or coffin was made out of one piece, which was the dug-out trunk of a tree; and the cover was tightly fitted on, so that no air could enter. There they buried the deceased, adorned with rich jewels and sheets of gold, especially upon his mouth. As the coffins were usually of incorruptible wood, which was used for this purpose, in this way some bodies have been found uncorrupted after many years.

441. The coffin with the body was placed in one of three places, according to the direction of the deceased: either in the highest story of the house itself, in a place like a cock-house, where they usually keep their treasures and other goods; or under the house, which is the sìlong, elevated from the ground; or if they place it in the ground itself, they dig a hole, and enclose it with a small railing and there they deposit the box with the body without covering over the hole. They buried others in the fields, and lit fires in the house, and then set sentinels so that the deceased should not come to take away the living with him. Others had themselves buried in a lofty place on the seashore, in order that they might be venerated and worshiped; and sentinels were posted so that no boats should pass there for a certain time.

442. Another box, filled with the best clothes of the deceased and various viands on their dishes, were set near the grave; if the deceased were a man, various weapons that he used were left there; if a woman, her loom, or other work-utensils that she had used. If the deceased had while living been employed in sea-raids, as a pirate, his coffin was made in the shape of a boat which they call barangay. As rowers they placed in it two goats, two hogs, two deer, or more, as they wished, male and female paired, with a slave of the deceased as pilot in order to take care of them all. Some food was put in for their sustenance, and when that food was consumed, they dried up with hunger and thirst, and all perished. If the deceased had been a warrior, a living slave, bound, was placed under him, and was left there to die with him. After the burial, although the lamentation ceased somewhat, the revelry in the house of the deceased did not cease. On the contrary, it lasted a longer or shorter time, according to the rank of the deceased.

443. On the third or fourth day of the funeral, all the relatives assembled at the house of the deceased, for they said that he returned that day to visit them. At the landing of the stairway of the house, they set water in a basin or tub, so that the deceased might wash his feet there, and rid himself of the earth of the grave. They kept a candle lit all that day. They stretched a petate, or reed mat, on the floor and sprinkled ashes on it, so that the deceased might leave the marks of his feet there. At meal time they left the best place at table vacant for the dead guest. They ate and drank, as at the most splendid banquet; and then spent the balance of the day in relating and singing the prowess of the deceased; then each one went home. This ridiculous ceremony is called tibao. The Indians even yet retain the oldtime custom of this assembly, but all superstition and error have been removed from it, and they unite to pray for the deceased; but it is not without inconveniences that ought to be remedied.

444. The mourning consisted in fasting, and during the days of mourning they lived only on vegetables. This fasting or abstinence was called sipà by the Tagálogs. In dress the Visayans wore white, as do the Chinese in sign of mourning, and this is even yet the custom in some villages; but black is the most usual color for mourning in the rest of the islands. With this kind of mourning they cover all the body, so that the face may not be seen, especially if they are women and if the mourning is thorough. During the mourning the men may not wear a hat; but, instead, a black cloth wound about the head. They wear mourning for any deceased relative, even though he be related only very distantly; but the mourning is greater or less according to the degree of relationship, both in manner and in duration of time.

445. From the above is inferred the belief of these Indians in the transmigration of the souls of the deceased. In this they agree not only with the Chinese, who believe in this peculiar error, but also with other Indians whom Torquemada mentions in his second volume. The similarity that they might relate in rites, both with the Indians of Nueva España and Perû, and with other nations of greater antiquity, may be compared by the curious reader, by reading the entire book of the Origin of the Indians, and by tracing there that of these Indians. [351]

446. It is an assured fact that the oldtime heathen of these islands knew that after this life there was another one of rest, or let us say paradise (for Bathàla Maycapàl alone in their belief lived in the sky); and that only the just and valiant, those who had moral virtues and lived without harming anyone, went thither to that place as a reward. In the same way, as all of them believed in the immortality of the soul in the other life, they believed in a place of punishment, pain, and sorrow which they called casanàan, where the wicked went, and where, they said, the devils dwelt. Consequently, the transmigration of the souls of their deceased to other living bodies was a sign of rest to them. Since no one desired his relatives to be numbered among the condemned in casanàan, the error of the Chinese found in them an easier entrance, for it was built upon the foundation of their own errors.

447. The superstitions and omens of these Filipinos are so many, and so different are those which yet prevail in many of them, especially in the districts more remote from intercourse with the religious, that it would take a great space to mention them. They merit tears, although they are all laughable. They are being continually preached against, but we have not succeeded in extinguishing them; and the people obey the customs of their barbarous ancestors rather than the Christian prudence which the ministers teach them. And although I do not at this time consider it as an explicit error, ut in plurimum, yet the error implied in the tenacity with which these people follow the errors of their ancestors is dangerous.

448. Now they ask permission of the nonos for any task, with the pasingtabi sa nono. Now they have innumerable fears if the owl which they call covàgo hoots; if they find a snake in a new house, or on a journey that they have undertaken; if they hear anyone sneeze; if any rat squeals, or if the lizard sings, or if any dog howls; and other things like these. There must be no talk of fish in the house of the hunter, nor of hunting nor dogs in that of the fisherman; while in neither the one nor the other house must there be any mention of new implements for work, unless they have already been used. Sailors must name nothing of the land, nor landsmen anything of the sea: for all these were omens.

449. Pregnant women could not cut their hair, for they said that the children that they would bear would have no hair. When a woman is about to give birth, some men undress until they are stark naked. Then taking shields and catans, one takes his stand in the silong, and another on the ridge of the house, and they continually fence with the wind with their catans as long as the parturition lasts. I have removed some from this performance by force of punishment. They say that it is to keep the patiànac and the osuàng away from the woman. These are witches among them who come to obstruct the success of the childbirth, and to suck out the souls of children; and the people act thus in order to prevent them. He who does not wish to have this observed in public, through fear of punishment, removes his wife to another house for the parturition, if he thinks that the witch is in his. The procurer of this witch they say is the bird tictic, [352] and that this bird, by flying and singing, shows the witch or osuàng the house where there is a parturition, and even guides him to work other misfortunes. Consequently, whenever they see or hear the tictic, they all grow melancholy, in their fear lest some harm come to them.

450. They greatly fear and reverence the tigbàlang or bibit. This is a ghost, goblin, or devil; and as it knows the cowardice of these Indians, it has been wont to appear to them in the mountains--now in the guise of an old man, telling them that he is their nono; now as a horse; and now as a monster. Consequently, the Indians in their terror make various pacts with it, and trade their rosaries for various articles of superstitious value, such as hairs, grass, stones, and other things, in order to obtain all their intents and free themselves from all the dangers. Thus do they live in delusion until God wills that the evangelical ministers undeceive them, which costs no little [effort], because of the very great fear with which they are filled.

451. In order to discover any theft, they generally burn fresh rock-alum, and after it has vaporized and then crystallized they say that the figure which those crystals form is the living picture of So-and-so, and that he is the author of the theft. Since they believe such nonsense as easily as it is difficult to make them believe the divine mysteries, they all agree to that statement, even though the face should be that of a dog; and they make a charge in court against So-and-so, and impute the theft to him. Sometimes they take a screen or sieve (which they call bilào), in which they fasten some scissors in form of a cross, to which a rosary is hung. Then they proceed to call the name of each one who is present at this exercise. If the bilào shakes when the name of Pedro is called, then that poor Pedro is the robber, and pays for the theft, without having perhaps eaten or drunk of it. [353] Sometimes they light a candle to the saint of miracles, my St. Anthony of Padua, misapplying his peculiar protection for all lost things; they believe that if the flame of the candle should flare up in the direction of any of those present at this act, he is thus shown to be the robber. For these and like deceitful artifices, there are not wanting masters, Indian impostors, both men and women, who, in order to gain money, deceive the simple-minded in this manner, without paying any heed to the claims of conscience in these wrongs.

452. The different kinds of these ministers of the devil in the olden days, so far as I have examined them, are twelve, and they are as follows, according to their own old names for them: sònat, catalònan, mangagávay, manyisalàt, mancocòlam, hoclòban, silàgan, magtatangàl, osuàng, mangagayoma, pangatahòan, and bayòguin.

453. The sònat was equivalent to a bishop among them; and they all reverenced him as one who pardoned sins, and ordained others as priests and priestesses. They expected salvation through him, and he could condemn them all. This office was general throughout these islands, but it was held only by the chiefest and most honored, as it was of great esteem among them. It is said that this office came from the Borneans. Some try to make out that he was the master of a kind of exercise that is not decent, but I have found nothing certain among the much that I have examined.

454. The catalònan (as remarked above) was the priest or priestess of their sacrifices; and although his office was an honorable one, it was only while the sacrifice was pending, for after that they paid but scant attention to him.

455. The mangagàvay were the sorcerers who gave and took away health and life by their sorceries. It was an office general throughout this archipelago.

456. The manyisalàt was the sorcerer appointed for lovers. The mancocòlam was the sorcerer or witch who belched forth fire from himself, which could not be extinguished with any application except by his rolling himself in the ordure and filth that falls from the houses into the silong; and the master of the house where he rolled himself died and there was no remedy. The hoclòban was another kind of sorcerer more efficacious than the others, since without any medicine he could kill, overturn houses, and work other destruction. This is in Catanduanes, but the two preceding ones are general.

457. The silàgan's duty was to draw out the entrails and eat them, from all persons whom he saw dressed in white. That happened toward Catanduanes; and it is not fable, since our Fray Juan de Mérida buried a Spanish clerk in Calilàya to whom this misfortune had happened. The magtatàngal is said to have been a man who left his body without head and intestines, and that the head wandered about hither and thither during the night in different parts of the world, and in the morning reunited with his body, leaving him alive as before. This story is current in Catanduànes, but it is regarded as a fable, although the natives assert that they have seen it.

458. We have already spoken of the osuàng. It is only added that human flesh is his usual food. They all saw this one flying, but this is told in the Visayas and not in Tagalos.

459. The mangagayòma was the sorcerer who made use of the natural remedies in his sorceries; but those remedies were often corrupted by pacts with the devil. The pangatahòan is the same as the soothsayer, who prognosticated the future; and this notion was general throughout this archipelago. The bayòguin was an effeminate man [hombre maricon], inclined to be a woman and to all the duties of the feminine sex.

460. This is sufficient as an index of innumerable other errors, superstitions, and omens, in which their ancients were submerged, and some of their descendants now follow their footsteps. However, I am of the opinion that it is born rather of their simplicity than of their malice, ut in plurimum. Yet I would not be so bold as to assert that there are not some who make their contracts with the devil; and, with or without contracts, it is certain that many enchantments are found here, whence follow deaths to some and extraordinary accidents to others. And although that can be attributed to the multitude of herbs of which they have good knowledge, they always leave suspicion of some diabolical art.

461. The oaths which were and are most usual in these Indians are execratory. Since they lie so much, I do not know why they are not brought to confusion in the promissory notes that are always furnished with curses. In the oath of allegiance which the people of Manila and Tondo took to our Catholic monarchs in the year 1571, they confirmed that promise of their obedience in this manner: "May the sun split us through the middle; may we be devoured by crocodiles; may our women not show us favor or affection"--if they should fail to keep their oath. Sometimes they took the pasambahan, which was, to draw the figure of any wild and monstrous animal, and ask to be torn to pieces by that animal if they broke their contract or agreement. Sometimes they lit a candle, and declared that, just as the candle, so might they be melted, if they did not fulfil their promise. Now this is somewhat better, but not, their perjuries; for with great ease and frequency one catches them in false oaths in legal instruments. This is well known, and therefore should be well punished.

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