The MANÓBOS Of Agusan: Classification Of Deities & Spirits

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.

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GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE DEITIES

Manóbo religion consists primarily of a belief in an innumerable number of deities called úmli and of secondary deities called diuáta. In contradistinction to these is a multitudinous host of demons known as búsau, waging incessant and ruthless war against the Manóbo world. In addition to these there is a numerous array of spirits known as tagbánua to whom is assigned the ownership of the forests, hills, and valleys, while the various other divisions and operations of nature are thought to be under the superintendence of other preternatural beings, beneficent or otherwise.

The conception which the Manóbo has of the supernatural world is very much like his idea of the world in which he lives. His gods, like his warrior chiefs, are great chiefs, no one of whom recognizes the sovereignty of the other. We find no idea of a supreme being as such. The priests of one settlement have their own special deities to whom they and their relatives have recourse, while the priests of another settlement have another set of deities for their tutelaries, with whom they intercede, either for themselves or for such of their friends as may need assistance. It is true that each priest has amongst his familiars a major divinity from whom he may have experienced more help, but in the spirit world there does not exist, according to Manóbo belief, one supreme universal being.⁷ Each priest declares the supremacy of his major deity over those of other priests, and Manóbos declare Manóbo deities to be superior to those of other tribes.

⁷During the great religious movement that was at its height in 1909, there was a general belief in the existence of a Magbabáya, or supreme being, that was to overthrow the world, but before my departure from the Agúsan in 1910, this supreme being was multiplied and was being sold to anyone of Manóbo belief who could afford to pay the equivalent of a human life. Thus one frequently heard that So-and-So had received one or more Magbabáya.

 

CLASSIFICATION OF DEITIES AND SPIRITS The following is a general classification of Manóbo deities and spirits.

BENEVOLENT DEITIES

(1) Úm-li, a class of higher beings who on special occasions, through the intercession of the diuáta, succor mortals.

(2) Diuáta, a minor order of benignant deities, with whom the priests hold communion on all occasions of impending danger, before all important undertakings, and whenever it is considered necessary to feast or to propitiate them.

 

GODS OF GORE AND RAGE

(1) Tagbúsau, a category of sanguinary gods who delight in blood and who incite their chosen favorites, the bagáni or warrior chiefs, to bloodshed and revenge, and ordinary laymen to acts of violence and madness.

(2) Panaíyang, a class of fierce deities related by ties of kinship, and subordinate to the tagbúsau or gods of gore. Their special function seems to be to drive men to madness.⁸

⁸They are called ma-ka-yáng-ug, i. e., “can make mad.”

(3) Pamáiya, retainers of the tagbúsau, and their emissaries, when it is desired to incite men to acts of rage.

 

MALIGNANT AND DANGEROUS SPIRITS

Bú-sau, an order of insatiable fiends, who, with some exceptions, occupy themselves wantonly in the destruction of human kind. The following are some of the classes and individuals who are commonly believed in but who, unlike most of the other búsau, are not of a perfidious nature unless aroused to anger.

(1) Tag-bánua, a class of spirits who are not unkind, if duly respected, and who live in all silent and gloomy places.

(2) Táme, a gigantic spirit, that dwells in the untraveled jungle and beguiles the traveler to his doom.

(3) Dágau, a mischievous, fickle spirit that delights in stealing the rice from the granary. If aroused to anger she may cause a failure of the rice crop.⁹

⁹She is called also Ma-ka-bún-ta-sái, i. e., “can cause hunger.”

(4) Anit or Anítan, is the spirit of the thunderbolt, and one of the mightier class of spirits that dwell in the upper sky world.¹⁰

¹⁰In-ug-tú-han.

(5) Epidemic demons, who hail from the extremity of the world at the navel¹¹ of the ocean.

¹¹Pós’-ud to dá-gat.

 

AGRICULTURAL GODDESSES

(1) Kakiádan, the goddess of the rice, and its custodian during its growth.

(2) Tagamáling, the goddess of other crops.

(3) Taphágan, the harvest goddess, and guardian of the rice during its storage in the granary.

 

GIANT SPIRITS

(1) Mandáyangan, a harmless humanlike giant whose home is in the far-off mountain forests.

(2) Ápíla, an innocuous humanlike giant, the rival of Mandáyanñgan for the wrestling championship.

(3) Táme, the giant demon referred to above.

 

GODS OF LUST AND CONSANGUINEOUS LOVE

(1) Tagabáyau, a dangerous goddess, that incites to consanguineous love and marriage.

(2) Agkui, half diuáta, half búsau, who urges men to consanguineous love and to sexual excesses.

 

SPIRITS OF CELESTIAL PHENOMENA

(1) Inaíyau, an empyrean god, the wielder of the thunderbolt and the lightning, and the manipulator of the winds and storms.

(2) Tagbánua, who, besides being local gods reigning over the forest, have the power to produce rain.

(3) Umoúiuí, the cloud spirit.

 

OTHER SPIRITS

(1) Sugúdon or Sugújun, the god of hunters and trappers, under whose auspices are conducted the operations of the chase and all that pertains thereto. He is also the protector of the hunting dogs.

(2) Libtákan, the god of sunrise, sunset, and good weather; a god who dwells in the firmament and seems to have special power in the production of light and good weather.

(3) Mandáit, the soul spirit who bestows upon every human being two invisible, not indwelling, material counterparts.

(4) Yúmud, the water wraith, an apparently innocuous spirit, abiding in deep and rocky places, usually in pools, beneath the surface of the water.

(5) Ibú, the queen of the afterworld, the goddess of deceased mortals, whose abode is down below the pillars of the world.

(6) Manduyápit, the spirit ferryman, the proverbial ferryman who ferries the departed soul across the big red river on its way to Ibúland.

(7) Makalídung, the founder of the world, who set the world on huge pillars (posts).

 

NATURE OF THE VARIOUS DIVINITIES IN DETAIL

THE PRIMARY DEITIES¹²

¹²Called also úm-li or ma-di-góon-an no di-u-á-ta.

The primary diuáta are a class of supernatural beings that dwell in the upper heavens. It is generally believed that at one time they led a human existence in Manóboland but finally built themselves a stone structure up into the sky and became transformed into divinities of the first order. They stand aloft in a category by themselves and have no dealings with the Manóbo world. On occasions the minor diuáta or those of the second class, when they are unable to afford man the required help, have recourse to these greater deities. During my last trip to the Agúsan Valley, it was the common report that the diuáta of a certain Manóbo clan on the upper Umaíam River, having been unable to protect the people from military persecution had recourse to this higher hierarchy and that it was only a matter of time when the members of the clan would be taken up into the higher-sky regions where the supreme powers dwell and where they would themselves become úmli or madigónan no diuáta.

It is thought that these deities have brass intestines and that they can draw up a house into their ethereal abodes with a gold limbá,¹³ but the conception of them is so vague and so varying that I am unable to give further definite information.

¹³Lim-bá possibly means chain.

 

THE SECONDARY ORDER OF DEITIES

It is with the secondary order of divinities, however, that we have to deal more at length, for they are the guardians and champions of the Manóbo in all the vicissitudes and concerns of life.

They are thought to be beings that in the long forgotten past lived their earthly lives here below and after their mortal course was run were in some inexplicable way changed into diuáta. Though belonging now to a different and more powerful order, they still retain a fondness for the tribesmen who sojourn here below. Selecting certain men and women for their favored friends ¹⁴ they keep in touch with worldly affairs and at the call of their favorites hasten to the help of humankind.

¹³Lim-bá possibly means chain.

¹⁴These are the báilan or priests and priestesses of Manóboland.

In physical appearance these deities are human and Manóbo-like but they are described as being “as fair as the moon.” Warriors they are, to a certainty, for they are said to carry their shield and all the insignia of a Manóbo warrior chief and to fare forth at times to punish some bold demon for his evil machinations against the tribe.

They are said to reside on the highest and most inaccessible mountains ¹⁵in the vicinity of their favorite priests but are ready to fly “on the wings of the wind” to any part of the world in answer to a call for help.

¹⁵We find several mountains and promontories in eastern Mindanáo named after these gods, notably Mount Magdiuáta to the southwest, and the Magdiuáta range to the northwest, of the town of Liañga. Point Diuáta also, to the west of Butuán, is reported as being the dwelling place of Manóbo divinities.

On these lofty heights they ordinarily lead a peaceful life. They are blessed with wives and children and have attendant spirits ¹⁶ to do their bidding. They have slaves, too, in their households, black ill-visaged demons captured in some great raid. They have few material wants, for betel nut is said to be their food but still they love to join in the feasts of mortals and to be regaled with all the good things of this world. They do not consume mortal offerings in a material way, for the offerings remain intact except for some slight fingerings that have been found at times on the surface of the rice and other offerings. It is only the “soul,” or, as is held by others, the redolence of the viands that is partaken of. An exception, however, must be made in the case of the blood of victims, for this is actually consumed by the deities.

¹⁶These retainers are called lim-bó-tung.

So great is their desire for the savory things of life that they are said to plague their mortal friends into providing them. Thus Mandáit, the soul spirit, makes the babe restless, and even indisposed, with no other intention than to induce the people to provide a fatted fowl. It is believed too that Manaúg, the special patron of the sick, causes many a bodily ailment in order that his idol may be set up and that he may be treated to the various delicacies that he is fond of. And the bloodthirsty war lords, Tagbúsau, must have their blood libation periodically, whether it comes from a human being or from an animal victim. It is true that this blood offering is to all appearance taken by the warrior chief or by the priest, for they ravenously suck it from the gory wound, or gulp it down from the vessel in which it has been caught. But it is believed that neither the priest nor the warrior chief drinks it, but the familiar spirits of the former, or the gods of the latter, who at the moment of sacrifice have taken possession of them, and produce in them violent tremblings and other manifestations of preternatural possession. I could get no satisfactory explanation of the manner of this possession. It is said to be effected by a mysterious corporal transformation of the divinity such as even the demons are capable of when they desire to ply their malice on humankind.

It is during this period of ecstatic seizure that the priest reveals to the assembled tribesmen the directions and desires of his deities. Breaking forth with loud voice and great belching into a wild strain, he announces to the people the recovery of the sick one, or a plentiful harvest, but it is not the priest that utters these prophecies and instructions, but the diuáta that speaks through him.

 

THE GODS OF GORE, AND KINDRED SPIRITS

These warlike beings are an order of divinities under whose special protection the priest warrior chief performs his feats of valor, and for whose special veneration he makes sacrifices and other offerings.

The prevailing idea with regard to them is that they are a class of deities whose sole delight is the blood of the human race. This is said to be their choice food, though they are willing, on nearly all occasions, to accept as a substitute that of a pig or of a fowl.

They are said to dwell in high, rocky places on far-away mountains. In order to be supplied with the delicacies of which they are so fond, they select certain individuals for their favorites and servants, and accord to them an immunity from personal danger.

It is seldom that they leave their rocky dwelling places, but when they do it is because they consider themselves neglected by their servants or when they experience an inordinate craving for blood. In such cases they hasten to plague their favorites in divers ways into watchfulness and compliance, and thereby keep themselves supplied with the viands so acceptable to them.

They have messengers, too. These are called pamáiya and are sent by their masters to human haunts to incite men to anger, and thereby bring on an occasion for bloodshed, much as the proverbial devil is said to tempt humankind.

During all ceremonial feasts in their honor they are present and partake of the blood of the victim, human or animal. And when their favorite servants go forth to take revenge upon some long-standing enemy, they accompany him and during the attack are by his side, protecting him and inciting him to superhuman deeds. And when the enemy, men and women, lie bleeding all around and the captives have been bound, these terrible spirits eat, through their favorite’s mouth, the heart and liver and the blood of one of the slain, preferably that of the chief enemy.

 

THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF MALIGNANT DEMONS

Standing out in strong antithesis to the benevolent divinities is an order of maleficent spirits corresponding to the proverbial devils of other cults. Throughout this paper they will be called, for want of a better name, búsau or demons; that is, evil agents holding an intermediate place between the higher divinities and men. No uniform tradition as to the origin of these spirits appears to exist. It is certain, however, from my investigation that the belief in such spirits antedates the recent partial Christian conquest of the Agúsan.¹ It is said that in the old, old days, these spirits were rather well disposed toward men, and that children used to be entrusted to their care during the absence of the parents. Be that as it may, at the present day they have acquired a degree of maleficence that causes them to be considered the implacable enemies of the human race.

¹The introduction of Catholicism among the pagan tribes of eastern Mindanáo was begun on a large scale by the Jesuits about the year 1877.

As frequently described to me by priests and by others who claimed to have seen them, these foul spirits are human in all other respects except that they are unusually tall, 2 fathoms being the average height accorded them. Black and hideous in appearance they are said to stalk around in the darkness and silence of the night. By day they retire to dark thickets, somber caves, and the joyless resting places of the dead.

They have no families nor houses, neither do they experience physical wants and so they wander around in wanton malice toward men. Seizing an unwary human “soul,” they make it a prisoner and, sweeping away with it “on the wings of the wind,” in some mysterious way devour it. Or, again, simulating the shape of a wild boar, an uncommon bird, or even a fish, they inflict bodily harm on their human victim.

The story of “Ápo Bóhon”² illustrates the belief in the metamorphosis of these demons. Ápo Bóhon was a Manóbo of the Kasilaían River. One day, in the olden time, he went forth to hunt but had no luck, though three times he had offered his tributes to the Lord of the Agibáwa marshland. Wearied with this hunt, he lay down to rest toward evening when lo! he spied a monkey and taking his bow and dart arrow he shot it. But he could not cook it. He piled wood upon the fire but still the flesh only blackened with soot and would not cook. In his hunger he ate the flesh raw but he never returned home, for the monkey was an evil spirit and Ápo Bóhon fell into his power. Thus it is that until this day he wanders around the woods of Kasilaían and may be heard toward evening calling his dogs together for his return to his home on Agibáwa marshland. Woe betide the unlucky mortal who may cross his path, for now his quest is human. But if, upon hearing his voice, the traveler calls upon him and offers him a quid, Ápo Bóhon will pass on his way and do no harm.

²A-po means “grandfather” and bo-on “ulcer.”

 

METHODS OF FRUSTRATING THEIR EVIL DESIGNS

THROUGH PRIESTS

Naturally to the priest falls the task of opposing, through his influence with men’s supernal friends, these malicious beings. Having got together the proper offerings he calls upon his friendly gods, one or several, and beseeches them to rescue and release the missing spirit or umagdd, and to punish the offending demons. Well pleased with the tokens of good will offered by the priest and by his earthly friends, the friendly deities are said to hasten to their home and gird themselves for the pursuit. With lance and shield and hempen coat³ they start off on the raid. They are described as having their hair bound up in small wooden hemispheres, their heads turbaned with the red kerchief, and their necks adorned with a wealth of charms, much like the great warrior chiefs of Manóboland. Guiding their footsteps by means of a powerful glass,⁴ and traveling with tremendous speed, they are said to overtake quickly the fleeing enemy, even though they may have to travel to the other side of the world. Then begins a fierce battle between them and the enemy for the recovery of a human soul, or for the purpose of punishing the demons for acts of malice.

³Lim-bo-tung.

⁴Called espiho. There is a universal belief among the Manóbos in an espiho (from the Spanish espejo, looking-glass) by which one can see into the bowels of the earth or to the extremities of the world.

This battle is described in minutest detail by the priests during the period of divine possession through which they pass in the course of the religious ceremonies. At times a hand-to-hand combat between a friendly deity and some more powerful demon is described at great length. Again the capture of many evil spirits is the theme of a story.

A common occurrence during these combats is the use of an iron ball by the friendly deities. The sight of this is said to inspire terror in the demons and leaves them at the mercy of their opponents. Shut up in this ball as in an iron prison they are brought back in triumph to the domains of their conquerors and the rescued companion spirit of man hurries joyously back to its mortal counterpart. These evil demons are said to be held as captives in the houses of the good spirits and to serve them in the capacity of slaves, accompanying and aiding them in their warlike expeditions against other evil spirits.

 

BY VARIOUS MATERIAL MEANS

Besides having recourse to the diuáta the Manóbos make use of a reed,⁵ or vine,⁶ of the branches of a wild lemon tree⁷ and other plants,⁸ in order to counteract the evil influence of these fiends. It may be remarked that 11 of these cause a painful wound on an ordinary human being but that they are said to be particularly irritating to evil spirits; this is especially true of the wound made by the sá sá reed. Hence, on occasions when these demons are expected to be present, the priest secures the above-mentioned plants and sets them in places where it is thought the demons may be enticed to enter. It is mostly on the occasion of a death or of a birth that these precautions have to be taken for the smell of death and of human blood seems to have a great attraction for these monsters. On such occasions branches of lemon trees or of the other plants above mentioned are hung under the house or at any opening in the wall. The priest, also, frequently carries a sharpened sá sá reed in the hope of encountering some overbold demon. Although the wound inflicted by the reed does not kill the demon, yet it is very slow to heal and is said to be at times incurable.

⁵Sá-sá.

⁶U-ág.

⁷Su-á and Ka-ba-yan-á.

⁸Ka-míli and Húás.

Such is the fear which the evil spirits have of these reeds, vines, and branches that the mere mention of them is believed to be sufficient to frighten the demons. Fire and smoke, also, are said to keep them away and for that reason a fire is often kept burning under the house during times of sickness and death. Great care is used to keep alive the fire at night on nearly all occasions of apprehension.

Loud shouts, too, are resorted to in order to intimidate the evil spirits. During funerals the yelling is particularly noticeable; the loud yells which one hears while traveling through solitary places in the mountains and down the rivers are intended as a menace to the malevolent spirits.

BY PROPITIATION

When all other means have proved unavailing, propitiation is resorted to. I witnessed the propitiatory ceremony during several cases of serious sickness. In each case, when the offerings had been set out for the benevolent divinities on the regular sacrificial stands,⁹ a corresponding offering of meat, rice, and other things was set out for the evil demons that were supposed to be responsible for the sickness. Their offerings were not placed in the house but outside, on a log or on the ground, and were not touched again, nor eaten by anyone, for the spirit of evil might have rendered them baneful.¹⁰

⁹Ban-ká-so and ta-lí-duñg.

¹⁰Compare with the customs in vogue in the case of offerings made to the diuáta.

After the various supplications have been made by the priests to the good deities, the evil ones are called upon but not in the same way, for they are not allowed within the precincts of the house, where various objects, like sá sá and lemon branches, have been placed to prevent their entrance. They are addressed from the opening around the house as if they were at a considerable distance, and no very endearing terms are used. During cases of sickness and especially during epidemics the custom of making a ceremonial raft is very common. I have heard numerous accounts both as to the uniformity of this practice and the reason for it.

Sickness of an unusual kind and especially of a contagious nature is supposed to be due to the agency of some very powerful epidemic spirits, who ascend the river, spreading the infection, and eluding at the same time, the diuáta in pursuit. When the priests decide that all efforts to secure aid of the good deities are unavailing, they determine to propitiate the evil epidemic spirits in the following manner: A small raft of bamboo, 1 meter by 5 meters in the instance I witnessed, is constructed. On this is securely bound a victim, such as a pig. Fowl also may be offered on similar occasions and more or less elaborate ceremonies may be performed, like the blood-unction and the fowl-waving rite. In the ceremony which I witnessed the demons in question were formally requested to accept the pig, not to molest the settlement further, and to take themselves and their pig “down the river.” The sickness was then addressed and requested to transfer itself to the body of the pig. After this the raft was freed and in its seaward course floated into the hands of persons who had less fear of demons than their Manóbo friends.¹¹

¹¹I know that the pig in question was taken and consumed in a less religious way by a Bisáya trader.

 

THE “TAGBÁNUA” OR LOCAL FOREST SPIRITS

THEIR CHARACTERISTICS AND METHOD OF LIVING

The tagbánua¹² or lords of the mountains and the valleys, are a class of local deities, each one of whom reigns over a certain district. To them is assigned the ownership of the mountains and the deep forest and all lonely patches and uncommon places that give an impression of mystery and solitude.

¹²Tag a prefix denoting ownership, and bá-n-u-a, “uninhabited place,” the open uninhabited country as distinguished from the territory in the immediate vicinity of the main rivers or of settled regions.

The tagbánua are thought to be neither kindly nor unkindly spirits, and without guile, provided a proper deference is shown them when we trespass upon their domains.

A tagbánua with his family selects a particular place for his habitation, sometimes a lonely mountain, sometimes a solitary glade or some high cliff or gloomy cavern. On one of my trips from Esperanza to the headwaters of the Tágo River, I saw the dwelling place of a tagbánua. It was a huge boulder, called Buhiísan, that stood at the junction of the two torrents that form the Abagá River, a tributary of the Tágo.

A favorite haunt of the tagbánua is a natural open place in the center of the forest. Here he builds a house, or more often makes his domicile in a balete tree. I have heard it said that he may at times select the lauán or any other lofty tree but that his choice is usually the baléte. Here he dwells with his family and is said to lead a quiet, peaceful life. Day by day he wanders through his realm and provides himself with the necessaries of life. Uncommon varieties of plants, such as ferns and ricelike growths, furnish him with the vegetable part of his meal, while venison and pork are obtained from the abundance of wild boars and deer. He and his family return home toward sunset and begin to prepare supper by pounding their rice. Many Manóbos have heard with their own ears, they assured me, not only the sound of the rice mortar but all the sounds that are customarily heard in any Manóbo home.

 

DEFINITE LOCALITIES TENANTED BY FOREST SPIRITS

There are in the vicinity of Talakógon two localities where tagbánua are said to reign. One is called Agibáwa and the other Kasawáñgan. Both of them are remote timberless places in the center of swampy regions. In the former the reigning deity had constructed a house, so I was told by one who claimed to have seen the posts while the house was still in the process of construction. According to other reports this deity had a herd of carabaos whose footprints had been seen by several of my friends and acquaintances.¹³

¹³These carabaos were evidently the remnant, or the offspring, of a small herd that escaped to the woods in the time of the Philippine insurrection.

The Kasawáñgan district was my hunting ground for nearly a year and I had occasion to observe the character and habits of its deity, as interpreted to me by Manóbo guides and companions.

It was with the very greatest fear and reluctance that my first guide introduced me to the marshland. No sooner had I set foot upon it than it began to rain and my guide requested permission to return. In answer to an inquiry as to why he wished to leave me he proffered the information that he was afraid of the tagbánua, who was evidently displeased, for had not this deity already sent down a shower of rain? The guide then went on to say that if we persisted in transgressing on the marshland some greater evil was sure to follow. As I told him that we would make friends with the deity he consented to remain with me.

After all preparations for camping had been completed, my companion set out an offering of betel nut on a rude stand and addressing the invisible owner of the marshland, requested him to accept the betel nut and not to be displeased. My guide offered in his own defense that he had come into this region unwillingly.

After a few hours’ vain endeavors to procure game, my companion made another donation, requesting the lord of the marsh to forego his ill will and permit us to get a wild boar. His prayers were unavailing for no game was forthcoming. When I lost my compass shortly afterwards my guide assured me that the misfortune was due to the persistent ill will of the tagbánua toward me.

I continued to visit this region week after week and had considerable success in getting game, but it was attributed, partly to the fact that the lord of the marsh had taken a liking to me, and partly to the offerings of betel nut and eggs made by my Manóbo boys.

Illustrations similar to this of the fear and deference displayed toward this invisible ruler of solitary places might be multiplied indefinitely. Suffice it to say, however, that the belief in this class of spirits is widespread throughout all tribes of eastern Mindanáo, Bisáyas¹⁴ included.

¹⁴Among the Bisáyas who come from Bohol, the respect paid the tagbánua amounts almost to worship.

 

WORSHIP OF THE FOREST SPIRITS

The existence of a tagbánua in any particular locality is determined by a priest who, through his protecting deities, learns the name ¹⁵ of the spirit, ascertains the cause of his displeasure on a given occasion, and prescribes the offerings to be made to him either for reasons of propitiation or of supplication.

¹⁵Only the priests may pronounce the name.

Respect must be shown toward the tagbánua in various ways. His territory must not be trespassed upon, nor any of his property, such as trees, interfered with unless some little offering is made. His name, if known, as also the names of fish and of crocodiles, and of other things which are not indigenous to the region, must in no wise be mentioned. A violation of this taboo would be followed by a storm or by some other evil indicative of the tagbánua’s displeasure, unless immediate measures were taken to appease his anger. Again, if one points the finger at places like a mountain where dwells a tagbánua, the displeasure of its owner is aroused and the transgressor is liable to feel the spirit’s anger. It was explained to me by several Manóbos that pointing at the dwelling place of these spirits might result in petrifaction of the arm.

The occupation of a new site is almost invariably the occasion for an invocation to the tagbánua, especially if the site be in the vicinity of a balete tree tenanted by him, for to occupy the place without obtaining his good will and permission would expose the would-be occupant to numberless vicissitudes. During hunting and trapping operations supplication is resorted to, especially when the hunter finds that game is scarce.¹⁶

¹⁶In the chapter on hunting, the various observances on such occasions have been described.

In case it is decided by the priest, or even suspected by an individual that an adversity, such as bad weather or sudden floods, is a result of a tagbánua’s animosity, and that the ordinary simple offerings are not sufficient to placate him, then a white chicken must be killed and the regular rites peculiar to a blood sacrifice must be performed.

It is rare, however, that a Manóbo has so far forgotten himself as to draw down the resentment of this kindly deity, and render propitiation necessary. I, however, witnessed a case wherein it was considered expedient to placate his anger; I was requested to take the necessary steps, as I was considered the object of his wrath. My Manóbo oarsmen desired to discontinue the journey at an early hour of the afternoon, but for several reasons I wished to reach a certain point before nightfall, so a little ruse was resorted to. I granted their request to rest and they very promptly went to sleep. Not long afterwards I struck a few blows on the outriggers with a piece of iron. The Manóbo could explain it in no other way except that the local tagbánua had been displeased with my demeanor, for had I not, they said, gone into the forest in the vicinity of his arboreal dwelling and, notwithstanding their advice to the contrary, given vent to loud and disrespectful vociferations. As we were in the vicinity of the baléte tree it was unanimously decided to push on. At the next few stopping places the ruse was repeated, so that no doubt was any longer entertained as to the supposed cause of the occurrence, the wrath of the tagbánua. Several little incidents, such as striking a hidden snag, and the increase of the flood, both of which were also attributed to this spirit’s malign influence, heightened their fear. They finally begged me to stop for the purpose of sacrificing one of my chickens to the offended deity. We finally reached the desired spot and the supposed supernatural sounds were heard no longer.

SOURCE: The Manóbos of Mindanáo, John M. Garvan, Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume XXIII, First Memoir (1931)