The MANÓBOS of Agusan: The Bailan, Ceremony & Religious Rites

The Manobo are several people groups who inhabit the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. They speak one of the languages belonging to the Manobo language family. Their origins can be traced back to the early Austronesian peoples who came from the surrounding islands of Southeast Asia. Today, their common cultural language and Austronesian heritage help to keep them connected.

The Manobo cluster includes eight groups: the Cotabato Manobo, Agusan Manobo, Dibabawon Manobo, Matig Salug Manobo, Sarangani Manobo, Manobo of Western Bukidnon, Obo Manobo, and Tagabawa Manobo. The groups are often connected by name with either political divisions or landforms. The Bukidnons, for example, are located in a province of the same name. The Agusans, who live near the Agusan River Valley, are named according to their location.

The eight Manobo groups are all very similar, differing only in language and in some aspects of culture. The distinctions have resulted from their geographical separation.

The contents of this article have been taken from the 1931 memoir THE MANÓBOS OF MINDANÁO by John M. Garvan,  and may not accurately reflect the beliefs of the modern people representing the Manobo language group. Regional beliefs among Manobo language groups can vary significantly from region to region. For instance, if one were to look at the religion and beliefs of the Obo Manobo people around Mt. Apo (see: A voice from Mt. Apo, Melchor Bayawan, Linguistic Society of the Philippines, 2005) it would be almost unrecognizable in comparison to the contents of this article. The bulk of the research in this study was conducted at the beginning of the 20th century and appears to have been gathered  primarily in Upper Agusan and the Agusan Valley. In 1908, as Catholicism spread, Eastern Mindanao was part of a vast religious movement  – the Tungud movement –  so these historical studies are very helpful benchmarks in the evolution of early tradition. Since these are living beliefs, they have continued to evolve over the last one hundred years.

When you read “I” or any other similar subjective or nominative pronoun in the following text, it is referring to John M. Garvan.  The term ‘priest‘ is often used to refer to the Bailan, shaman and (at times) the bagani.

 

_______________________________________________

THE BAILÁN OR ORDINARY MANÓBO PRIESTS

THEIR GENERAL CHARACTER

The bailán¹ is a man or woman who has become an object of special predilection to one or more of those supernatural friendly beings known among the Manóbos as diuáta. This will explain why the word diuatahán is frequently used, especially by the mountain people, instead of bailán. I was frequently told by priests that this special predilection of the deities for them is due to the fact that they happened to be born at the same time as their divine protectors. This belief, however, is not general.

¹Bai-lán is probably a transformation of the Malay word be-li-an, a medicine man. (Mandáya, Bagóbo, and Subánun, ba-li-án.)

As a result of the favor in which the supernatural beings hold him, the priest becomes the favorite and familiar of spirits with whom he can commune and from whom he can ask favors and protection both for himself and for his friends. Hence he is regarded by his fellow tribesmen in the light of a mediator through whom they transact all their business with the other world. In the hour of danger the bailán is consulted, and after a brief communion with his spirit Mends he explains the measures to be adopted, in accordance with the injunctions of his tutelary deities. Should a baléte tree have to be removed from the newly selected forest patch, who else could coax its spirit dwellers not to molest the tiller of the soil, if not the bailán? Should a tribesman have a monstrous dream and no one of all the dream experts succeed in giving a satisfactory interpretation, the bailán is called in to consult the powers above and ascertains that the dream forebodes, perhaps, an impending sickness and that an offering of a white fowl must be made to Manáug, the protector of the sick. And should this offering prove unavailing, he has recourse to his supernal friends again and discovers that a greater oblation must be made to save the patient. And if there is a very unfavorable conjunction to omens, who else but the bailán could learn through his divine friends the significance thereof and whether the home must be abandoned or the project relinquished?

At every turn of life, whether the deities have to be invoked, conciliated, or appeased, the Manóbo calls upon the priest to intercede for himself, for his relatives, and for his friends.

The office of priest may be said to be hereditary. I found that with few exceptions it had remained within the immediate circle of the bailán’s relatives. Toward the evening of life the aged priest selects his successor, recommending his choice to the diuáta. In one instance that I know of the mother, a bailán, instructed her daughter in the varieties of herbs which she had found to be acceptable to her familiars, and I was told that such is the usual procedure when the priest himself has a personal concern in the succession.

But no matter how proficient the bailán-elect may be in the sacred rites and legendary songs of the order, he is not recognized by his fellow tribesmen until he falls into the condition of what is known as dundan, a state of mental and physical exaltation which is considered to be an unmistakable proof of the presence and operation of some supernal power within him. This exaltation manifests itself by a violent trembling accompanied by loud belching, copious sweating, foaming at the mouth, protruding of the eyeballs, and in some cases that I have seen, apparent temporary loss of sight and unconsciousness. These symptoms are considered to be an infallible sign of divine influence, and the novice is accordingly recognized as a full-fledged priest ready to begin his ministrations under the protection of his spiritual friends. I know of one case on the lower Lamlíñga River, a tributary of the Kasilaían, where a certain individual² became a bailán without previous premonition and without any aspirations on his part. He was a person of little guile and one who had never had any previous training in the practices of his order.

²Báya (or Bório) is the young man referred to.

When he receives a familiar deity the new priest becomes endowed with five more spirits or soul companions, for his greater protection and for the prolongation of his life. It is evident that his duties as mediator create a deadly hate on the part of the evil spirits toward him; hence the need of greater protection, such as is said to be afforded by the increase in number of spirit companions. It is generally believed that, due also to this special protection, the priests are more long-lived than ordinary men. I was informed by some that with the increase of each familiar there was an addition of five more souls or spirit companions, but I did not find this to be the common belief.

 

THEIR PREROGATIVES

(1) The priest holds converse with his divine friends, whose form he sees and describes, whose words he hears and interprets, and whose injunctions, whether made known directly by personal revelation or through divination or through dreams, he announces. When under supernal influence he is not a voluntary agent but an inspired being, through whose mouth the deity announces his will and to whose eyes he appears in visible incarnation.

(2) By means of his friendship with these unseen beings he is enabled to discover the presence of the inveterate enemies of human kind, the búsau, and even to wound them. I investigated two  cases (San Luis and San Miguel) of the latter kind and found that not a shadow of doubt as to the truth of the killing and as to the reality of this last-mentioned power was entertained by those who had been in a position to see and hear the facts.

(3) As a result of the favor with which he is looked upon by the beneficent deities, he is enabled to discover the presence of various spirits in certain localities, and he knows the proper means of dealing with them. This statement applies to the spirits of “souls”(Um-a-gád) of the departed whose wishes and wants he interprets; to the spirits of the hills and the valleys, the tagbánua, whose favor must be courted and whose displeasure must not be provoked, and to the whole order of supernatural beings that people the Manóbo world, with the exception of the blood spirits, the worship of whom falls to the war priests.

 

SINCERITY OF THE PRIESTS

On first becoming acquainted with the bailán system, I was very dubious, to say the least, of the sincerity and disinterestedness of these favorites of the gods. But long and careful observation and frequent dealings with them have thoroughly convinced me of their sincerity. They affect no austere practices, no chastity, nor any other observance peculiar to the order of priesthood in other parts of the world. They claim no high prerogatives of their own; they can not slay at a distance nor metamorphose themselves into animals of fierce aspect. They have no cabalistic rites nor magic formulas nor miraculous methods for producing wondrous effects. In a word, as far as my personal observation goes, they are not impostors nor conjurers, plying thrifty trade with their fellow tribesmen, but merely intermediaries, who avail themselves of their intimacy with powers unseen to solicit aid for themselves and for their fellows in the hour of trial or tribulation. “I will call on Si Inimigus” (her diuáta’s pet name, his real name being Si Inámpo), said a priestess of the Kasilaían River to me once when I consulted her as to the sickness of a child, “and I will let you know his answer.” On her return she informed me that the child had fallen under the influence of an evil spirit and that Si Inimigus required the sacrifice of a pig as a token of my good will towards him and also as a gratification of a desire that he felt for such nourishment. She departed as she came, never asking any compensation for her advice.

I might cite many cases of a similar nature that passed under my personal observation and in which I made every endeavor to discover mercenary motives. I frequently interrogated men of political and social standing as to the possibility of hypocrisy and deceit on the part of the priests. The invariable answer was that such could not be the case, as the deities themselves would be the first to resent and punish such deception. One shrewd Manóbo of the upper Agúsan assured me that the Manóbos themselves were wise enough to detect attempts at fraud in such matters.

Moreover, the fact that the priest incurs comparatively heavy expenses is another evidence of his sincerity, for, in order to keep his tutelary spirits supplied with the delicacies they desire, he must offer constant oblations of pig and fowl, since he believes that when these spirits are hungry they lose their good humor and are liable to permit some evil spirit to work malice on him or on some of his relatives. Of course his relatives and friends help to keep them supplied, but at the same time he probably undergoes more expense himself than any other individual.

Finally, as further proof of the absence of mercenary motives, it may be stated that the priest is not entitled to any share of the sacrificial victim except that which he eats in company with those who attend the sacrifice and the subsequent consumption of the victim.

 

THEIR INFLUENCE

The priest has no political influence as a rule. I am acquainted with none and have heard of very few priests, who have attained the chieftainship of a settlement, even among the conquistas, or Christianized Manóbos, who live within the pale of the established government. But in matters that pertain to the religious side of life their influence is paramount, for it is chiefly due to them that tribal customs and conditions are unflinchingly maintained. The following incident is an illustration of this influence:

During a visit which I made to the Lamiñga River, a western tributary of the Kasilaían River, I met Mandahanán, a warrior chief. Among other matters I referred to the ridiculously low price, 0.50 per sack, at which Manóbos were wont to sell rice to the Bisáya peddlers who at that time were swarming in the district. I suggested that they dispose of their rice at the current Bisáya rate of P2.50 per sack. He replied that he had been of that opinion for some time, but that the four priests of his following had decided that an increase of the customary value of rice would entail a mysterious lessening of the present crop and a partial or even total loss of that of next year, the reason assigned by them being that such an action would be displeasing to Hakiádan, the goddess of rice, and to Tagamáling, the protector of other crops. These deities, he assured me, were very capricious, and when they took umbrage at anything, they either caused the rice in the granaries to diminish mysteriously, or brought about a failure in the following year’s crop.

To the priests may be ascribed the rigid adherence to tribal practices and the opposition to modern innovations, even when the change confessedly would be beneficial to them.

 

THEIR DRESS AND FUNCTIONS

The priest has no distinctive dress, but while officiating garbs himself with all the wealth of beads, bells, and baubles that he may have acquired. As a rule he has an abundance not only of these but of charms, talismans, and amulets, all of which are hung from his neck, or girded around his waist. These charms have various mystic powers for the protection of his person and some of them are said to have been revealed to him by his favorite deities. While performing the invocation and the sacred dance on the occasion of a greater sacrifice, he always carries, one in each hand, a parted palm frond with the spikes undetached.

All the rites of the Manóbo ritual consist of one or more of the following elements: Invocation, petition, consultation, propitiation, and expiation. The priest is, in fact, either alone or aided by others of his kind, the officiant in nearly every religious ceremony; laymen merely sit round and take desultory interest in the ceremonial proceedings.

These rites are the following:

(1) The betel-nut offering. (Pag-á-pug) 
(2) The burning of incense. (Pag-pa-lí-na) 
(3) Ceremonial omen taking. (Ti-maí-ya) 
(4) Prophylactic fowl waving. (Kú-yab to má-nuk) 
(5) The death feast. (Ka-ta-pú-san) 
(6) The sacrifice of a fowl or of a pig (Hín-añg to ka-hi-mó-nan)  to his own tutelaries in the event of sickness or in the hour of impending danger.
(7) The offering of a fowl or of a pig to Taphágan, the goddess of grain during the season of rice culture.
(8) The harvest ceremonies in honor of Hakiádan for the purpose of securing an abundant crop and of protecting the rice from sundry insidious enemies and dangers.
(9) The birth ceremony in honor of Mandáit for the protection of the recently born babe.
(10) Conciliatory offerings to the demons during epidemics, as also in cases where the power of the evil spirits is thought to predominate over that of the kindly deities. Madness and inordinate sexual passion, as also the continuance of an epidemic after incessant efforts have failed to secure the aid of the friendly spirits are illustrations of the power of the evil spirits.
(11) Lustration (Paí-as)  either by anointing with blood or by aspersion with water.
(12) The betel-nut omen. (Ti-maí-a to man-ó-on) 
(13) The invocation of the diuáta with the sacred chant. (Túd-um) 

 

THE BAGÁNI OR PRIESTS OF WAR AND BLOOD

The bagáni or warrior priests are under the protection of preternatural beings called tagbúsau, whose bloodthirsty cravings they must satisfy.

This peculiar priesthood is not hereditary, but is a pure gift from warlike spirits, who select certain mortals for favorites, constantly guard them against the attacks of their enemies, teach them the use of various secret herbs whereby to render themselves invisible and invulnerable, bestow upon them an additional number of soul companions that in some indefinable way protect them against the ire of the resentful slain, and in general afford them an immunity from all dangers, material and spiritual.

It is believed that when the warrior priest dies his soul companions return to the war spirits from whom they proceeded, and with whom they take up their eternal abode upon the far-off mountain heights. Upon their return to these heights it is said that they are pursued by a monstrous crowd of inexorable demons and vexed spirits of those that have fallen victims to their arm, but that, owing to the power and vigilance of the mighty gods of war, they reach their last home unscathed.

Like the priest, a war chief is recognized as a priest when he falls into that state of paroxysm that is considered to be of preternatural origin. This condition is usually the result of a wild fight, in which, after slashing down one or more of the enemy, he eats the heart and liver of one of the slain and dances around in ungovernable fury. I have been frequently informed that the companions of a man thus possessed cautiously withdraw while he is under this influence, as he might do something rash. I witnessed the actions of several bagáni during ceremonial performances to the tagbúsau, and I felt no little fear as to what might be the outcome of the warrior chiefs fury.

What has been said of the sincerity of the ordinary priest and of his disinterestedness and freedom from mercenary motives applies equally to the war chief in his position as war priest.

In return for the protection accorded to his select ones the gods of war require frequent supplies of blood and other delicacies, the denial of which would render the favorite liable to constant plaguing by his protectors in their efforts to make him mindful of their needs. In another chapter we shall see the means whereby the bagáni keeps himself in the good graces of his inexorable deities.

 

CEREMONIAL ACCESSORIES AND RELIGIOUS RITES

The differences which I observed in the performance of ceremonies in different localities appear to be due to the vagaries and idiosyncrasies of the individual performers and not to any established system. But in the main these variations are not essential. For example, in certain localities the blood of the pig as it issues forth from the lance wound is sucked from the wound, while in others it is caught in convenient receptacles and then drank. In the following pages I will attempt to give a description of the accessories, the sacrifices, and their associated ceremonies which may be considered general for the Manóbos of the middle and upper Agúsan.

 

THE RELIGIOUS SHED (Ka-má-lig) AND THE BAILÁN’S HOUSE

The priest has no special residence nor any special religious structure except a little wooden shed and a few ceremonial trays that will be described later. His house is not more capacious nor pretentious than that of anyone else, in fact it is often less so, but it may be recognized always by the presence of the drum and gong, by the little religious shed near by, and by the presence of a few lances, bolos, daggers, and various other objects that are considered heritages, (Án-ka)  handed down from his predecessors in the priestly office. It is not unusual for the priest, especially among the Christianized Manóbos, to have two houses, one for the residence of his family and another which, by its seclusion, is better adapted for the celebration of religious rites. Hither he may repair, after assisting perhaps at the Catholic services in the settlement, to perform the pagan ceremonies that for him have more truth and efficacy than the Christian rites. While in the settlement and in contact with Christians, he is to all appearances a Christian, but in the moment of trial or tribulation he hies him to the seclusion of his other house and, in the presence of his fellow believers, performs the primitive rites in honor of beings who, to his mind, are more potent to help or to hurt than the hierarchy of Catholic belief.

In this second house, then, will be found, without fail, not only the priestly heirlooms, but all such objects as have been consecrated (Sin-ug-bá-han)  either by himself or by one of the settlement to the friendly deities. It may be remarked here that these consecrated objects can not be disposed of except by performing a sacrifice, or by making a substitution, usually in the form of pigs and fowl which ipso facto become consecrated, and are eventually sacrificed to the proper deity.

 

EQUIPMENT FOR CEREMONIES

The altar house is a rude bamboo structure consisting of four posts, averaging 1.8 meters high, upon which is a roof of palm thatch. About 45 centimeters beneath this are set one or two shelves for the reception of the oblation bowls and dishes. The whole fabric is decorated with a few fronds of palm trees (the fronds used are one or more of the following palms: Betel nut, anibung, kagyas, and coconut),  and covers a space of approximately 2.4 square meters.

The ceremonial salves (Ban-ká-so)  is a rectangular wooden tray, generally of iláñg-iláñg wood, usually decorated with incised, traced, or carved designs, and having pendants of palm fronds. It is the ceremonial salver on which are set out the offerings of pig, fowl, rice, betel nut, and other things for the deities.

The sacrificial stand (Ta-lí-dung)  also is made out of iláñg-iláñg wood. It consists of a disk of wood set upon a leg, and is used for making the offerings of betel nut and other things.

When it is decided to make an offering of a pig, a sacrificial table (Áñg-ka)  of bamboo is set up close to the house that has been selected as the place of sacrifice. Upon this is bound the victim, lying on its side. Over it are arched fronds of betel-nut and other palms. This stand is used exclusively for the sacrifice of a pig. It is a rude, unpretentious structure.

CEREMONIAL DECORATIONS

Fronds of the coconut, betel nut and other palms are the only decorations used at ceremonies. The betel-nut fronds (ba-gaí-bai), however, enjoy a special preference, being used in every important ceremony when they are obtainable. No other leaves and no flowers, unless the bloom of the betel nut be considered such, are used as decorations.

The consecrated objects, consisting of such things as lances, bolos, daggers, and necklaces, are frequently set out upon a ceremonial structure or put in the ceremonial shed in order to give more solemnity to the occasion, and it is not infrequent to find the structure draped with cloth, preferably red.

 

SACRED IMAGES (Man-á-ug)

Sacred images are of neither varied nor beautiful workmanship. At best they are but rudimentary suggestions of the human form, frequently without the lower extremities. Varying in length from 15 to 45 centimeters they are whittled with a bolo out of pieces of báyud wood, or of any soft white wood when báyud is not obtainable. More elaborate images are furnished with berries of a certain tree (Ma-gu-baí)  for eyes and adorned with tracings of sap from the kayúti or the narra tree, but the ordinary idol has a smearing of charcoal for eyes and mouth and a few tracings of the same for body ornamentation.

Images are made in two forms, one representing the male and distinguished by the length of its headpiece and occasionally by the representation of the genital organ, the other representing the female, and distinguished most frequently by the representation of breasts, though in a good image there is often a fair representation of a comb.

Images are intended for the same use as statues in other religions. They are not adored nor worshiped in any sense of the word. They are looked upon as inanimate representations of a deity, and tributes of honor and respect are paid not to them, but to the spirits that they represent. I have seen rice actually put to the lips of these images and bead necklaces hung about their necks; but in answer to my inquiries the response was always the same that not the images, but the spirits, were thereby honored.

It is principally in time of sickness that these images are made. They are placed somewhere near the patient, generally just under the thatch of the roof.

The priest almost invariably has one, or a set of better made ones, which he sets out during the more important ritual celebrations and before which he places offerings for the spirits represented. In a sacrifice performed for the recovery of a sick man on the upper Agúsan, I saw two images, one male and one female, carried in the hand by the presiding priests and made to dance and perform some other suggestive movements.

Occasionally one finds very crude effigies of deities carved on a pole and left standing out on the trail or placed near the house. These are supposed to serve for a resting place for the deities that are expected to protect the settlement or the house. This practice is very common when fear of an attack is entertained, and also during an epidemic.

 

CEREMONIAL OFFERINGS

Offerings consist, in the main, of the blood (no human reference was made)  and meat of pig and fowl, betel-nut quids, rice, cooked or uncooked, and an exhilarating beverage. But occasionally a full meal, including every obtainable condiment, is set out, even an allowance of water, wherewith to cleanse (Pañg-hú-gas)  the hand, being provided for the visiting deities. Such offerings are set out upon consecrated plates (A-pú-gan)  which are used for no other purpose and can not be disposed of.

As a rule the offerings must be clean and of good quality. The priest is very careful in the selection of the rice, and picks out of it all dirty grains. Cooked rice given in offering is smoothed down, and, after the deity has concluded his mystic collation is examined for traces of his fingering.

The color of the victims is a matter of importance, too, for the divinities have their special tastes. Thus Sugúdan, the god of hunters, prefers a red fowl, while the tagbánua display a preference for a white victim.

 

RELIGIOUS RITES

CLASSIFICATION

 

(1) The betel-nut offering. (Pag-á-pug) 
(2) The burning of incense. (Pag-pa-lí-na) 
(3) The address or invocation. (Tawág-táwag) 
(4) The ceremonial omen taking. (Pag-ti-ná-ya) 
(5) The prophylactic fowl waving. (Kú-yab to mán-uk)
(6) The blood unction. (Pag-lím-pas) 
(7) The child ceremony. (Tag-un-ún to bá-ta’)
(8) The death feast. (Tag-un-ún to bá-ta’) 
(9) The sacrifice of fowl or pig. (Ka-hi-mó-nan) 
(10) The rice planting. (Täp-hag) 
(11) The hunting rite. (Pañg-o-múd-an) 
(12) The harvest feast.
(13) The conciliation of evil spirits.
(14) The divinatory rites.
(15) The warrior priest’s rites.
(16) Human sacrifice. (Hu-á-ga) 

A description of the more important of these ceremonies will be found distributed throughout this monograph under the various headings to which such ceremonies belong. Thus the child ceremony is placed under the heading “birth,” the death feast in the chapter on death, the warriors’ sacrifice in that portion of this sketch which treats of the warrior. For the present only the minor and more general ceremonies that may be performed separately, or that may enter into the major ceremonies as subrites, will be described.

 

METHOD OF PERFORMANCE

The betel-nut tribute.–In all dealings with the unseen world, the offering of betel nut is the first and most essential act, just as it constitutes in the ordinary affairs of Manóbo life the essential preliminary to all overtures made by one man to another. The ceremony may be performed by anyone, but partakes of only a semireligious character when not performed by a bailán.

The ceremony consists in setting out on a consecrated plate (A-pú-gan), or in lieu of it on any convenient receptacle, the ordinary betel-nut quid, consisting of a slice of betel nut placed upon a portion of buyo leaf, and sprinkled with a little lime. The priest who has more than one divine protector, must give a tribute to each one of them. In certain ceremonies seven quids are invariably set out by him, always accompanied by an invocation, the strain of which is usually very monotonous and always couched in long periphrastic preambles. It is really an invitation to the spirit whose aid is to be implored to partake of the offering.

Out in the lonely forest the hunter may set his offering upon a log for the spirit owner of the game, or if in the region of a balete tree, he may think it prudent to show his deference to its invisible dwellers by offering them this humble tribute. Again, should a storm overtake him on his way, and should he dread the “stony tooth” of the thunder, he lays out his little offering, quite often with the thought that he has in some unknown way annoyed Anítan, the wielder of the thunderbolt, and must in this fashion appease the offended deity.

 

The offering of incense.–This ceremony appears to be confined to priestesses. I have never seen a Manóbo priest offer incense. The resin (Tú-gak to ma-gu-bái)  of a certain tree is used for the purpose, as its fragrance is deemed to be especially pleasing to the deities. The priestess herself, or anyone else at her bidding, removes from the pod (this is the pod of a tree called ta-bí-ki)  at her side, where it is always carried depending from the waist, a little of the resin and lights it. It is then set on the altar or in any convenient spot. The direction of its smoke is thought to indicate the approach and position of the deity invoked. As the smoke often ascends in a slanting direction, it frequently directs itself toward the suspended oblation trays. This is taken as an indication that the deity is resting or sitting upon the bankáso tray, in which case he is called bankasúhan, or on the talíduñg, when he is said to be talidúñgan. This ceremony is preliminary to the invocation.

The deities are very partial to sweet fragrances like that of the betel nut frond and of the incense and seem to be averse to strange or evil smells. Hence fire and smoke are usually avoided during the celebration of regular sacrifices, as was stated before. On one occasion I wished to do a favor by lending my acetylene lamp during a ceremonial celebration, but it was returned to me with the information that the smell was not acceptable to the presiding deities.

 

Invocation.–The invocation is a formal address to the deities, and on special occasions even to the demons, when it is desired to make a truce with them. It is the prerogative of the priest in nearly all ceremonies. As a rule it begins in a long, roundabout discourse and extends itself throughout the whole performance, continuing at intervals for a whole night or longer in important ceremonies. It may be participated in by one priest after another, each one addressing himself to his particular set of divinities and beseeching them by every form of entreaty to be propitious.

The invocation to the good spirits is made at the discretion of the officiating priest, either in the house or outside, and in a moderate voice, but the invocation to the evil ones is shouted out in a loud voice usually from the opening around the walls of the house, as it is considered more prudent to keep the demons at a respectful distance.

In addressing his gods the Manóbo proceeds in about the same way as he does when dealing with his fellow men. He starts well back from the subject and by a series of circumlocutions slowly advances to the point. The beginning of the invocation is ordinarily in a laudatory strain; he reminds his divinities of his past offerings, descants on the size of the victims offered on previous occasions, and the general expenses of past sacrifices. He then probably recalls to their minds instances where these sacrifices had not been reciprocated by the deities. Having thus intimated to the invisible visitors, for they are thought to be present during these invocations, that he and his people are somewhat ill pleased, he goes on to express the hope that in the future and especially on this occasion they will show themselves more grateful. He next proceeds to enumerate the expenses which in their honor are about to be incurred. The fatness and price of the pig are set forth and every imaginable reason adduced why they should be well pleased with the offerings and make a bountiful return of good will and friendship. The spirits may be even bribed with the promise of a future sacrifice, or they may be threatened with desertion and the cessation of all worship of them.

After a long prologue the priest makes an offering of something, it may be a glass of brew, or a plate of rice, and confidentially imparts to his spirits the object of the ceremony. In this manner the invocation is continued, interrupted at intervals by the sacred dance or by periods of ecstatic possession of the priest himself.

 

Prophylactic fowl waving.–The fowl-weaving ceremony may be performed by one not of the priestly order. The performance is very simple. A fowl of no special color is taken in one hand and, its legs and wings being secured to prevent fluttering, it is waved over the person or persons in whom the evil influence is thought to dwell and at the same time a short address is made in an undertone to this same influence (Ka-dú-ut), bidding it betake itself to other parts. The chicken may be then killed ceremonially and eaten, but if it is not killed it becomes consecrated and is given to the priest until it can be disposed of in a ceremonial way on a future occasion.

This ceremony is very common, especially after the occurrence of a very evil dream or a bad conjunction of omens or in case of severe sickness or on the erection of a new house or granary. On one occasion it was performed on me under the impression, it is presumed, that I was the bearer of some malign influence.

I have never been definitely informed as to the reason for the efficacy of this rite, nor of its origin. Tradition handed down by the old, old folks and everyday experience are sufficient foundation for the popular belief in its efficacy.

 

Blood lustration.–When a fowl or a pig has been killed sacrificially, it is customary to smear the blood on the person or object from whom it is desired to drive out the sickness, or in order to avert a threatened or suspected danger, or when it is desired to nullify an evil influence. The ceremony is performed only by a priest and in the following way: Taking blood in a receptacle to the person for whose benefit it is intended, the priest dips his hand in it and draws his bloody finger over the afflicted part, or on the back of the hand and along the fingers in the case of a sick person, or on the post of the house, thereby leaving bloody stripes. During the operation he addresses the indwelling evil and bids it begone. This ceremony usually follows the preceding one and is performed in all cases where the previous ceremony is applicable, if the circumstances are considered urgent enough to call for its performance.

I once saw a variation of this ceremony. Instead of killing the fowl the priest made a small wound in one leg and applied the blood that issued to a sick man. The fowl then became the property of the priest and could never be eaten, for the evil influence that had produced the sickness in the man was supposed to have passed into the fowl.

 

Lustration by water.–Lustration by water is somewhat similar in its purpose to the preceding ceremony. It is performed as a subrite among the Christianized Manóbos of the lake region. I am inclined to think that it is only an imitation of an institution of the Catholic Church because I never saw it performed by non-Christian Manóbos.

The following is the ceremony: When the divinities are thought to have eaten the soul or redolence (Bá-ho and um-a-gád)  of the viands set out for them, and to have cleansed their hands in the water provided for that purpose, the priest seizes a small branch, dips it in this water and sprinkles the assembly. Though, on the occasions on which I witnessed this rite, the recipients did not seem to relish the aspersion, as was evinced by their efforts to avoid it, yet it was believed to have great efficacy in removing ill luck and malign influences (Paí-ad).

SOURCE: THE MANÓBOS OF MINDANÁO, John M. Garvan, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LIBRARIES, 1931