CHAPTER XXII

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF MANÓBO RELIGION AND NATURE AND CLASSIFICATION OF MANÓBO DEITIES

INTRODUCTORY

The matter of Manóbo religious belief is so difficult of investigation, and withal so important, that I feel a certain amount of timidity in taking up the subject. The natural suspiciousness of the Manóbo and his inclination not to answer questions truthfully until he has assured himself of his interrogator's motives in asking it are the principal sources of this difficulty. Then again his fear of offending the divinities, coupled with his absolute subjection in spiritual affairs to his priests, do not render the undertaking easier. And finally his primitive, untutored mind is not capable of setting forth in a satisfactory manner the intricacies, and not infrequently, the numerous variations and apparent contradictions that arise at every step in the investigation. However, my sojourn among, and intimate dealings with, both laymen and priests give me hope that the following is in its essentials a true interpretation of this primitive religion.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF RELIGION

SINCERITY OF BELIEF

The life of a Manóbo is as deep an expression of his religious beliefs as that of any man I know. Belief in the supernatural seems to be instinctive with him. He undertakes no action out of the ordinary routine without consulting the powers above, and when he has assured himself of their disapprobation, he refrains most sacredly from his intended project, even if it should be one so cherished as vengeance on an enemy. But if these higher powers manifest their approbation he carries out his project with full assurance of success.

To the Manóbo his deities and demons, spirits, giants, ghouls, and goblins are as real as his own existence, and his belief in them seems to him entirely rational and well founded, because for authority he has tradition and revelation--tradition handed down from generation to generation, revelation imparted to priests while manifesting all the indications of what he considers supernatural influence.

BASIS OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF

I have had occasion to study the working of the Manóbo mind when brought into contact with phenomena which it had never contemplated before and I observed that when the phenomenon impressed him as being not prejudicial nor unintelligible it was ascribed to a beneficent supernatural agency, but when it produced the impression of being unintelligible or detrimental it was at once condemned as being the work of evil spirits. On one occasion a Manóbo of the upper Agúsan accompanied me to Talakógon and, upon seeing the government launch, made inquiries as to its nature. His questions being answered to his satisfaction, he made his comments, praised its form, and finally declared it to be the work of a god. But when it began to move, giving forth its shrill whistle and producing the noise characteristic of a gasoline launch, he at once condemned it as being the work of evil agency.

I saw another instance illustrative of this tendency upon the arrival of the first phonograph in the Simúlau River district. My companion was a Manóbo of the upper Bahaían. Upon hearing the strains of the phonograph he concluded at once that there was an evil spirit within it. Notwithstanding the fact that I assured him to the contrary, he persisted in his belief, averring that no good spirit would give vent to such an unearthly noise.

Almost invariably my watch, cornet, compass, and barometer were condemned as being the work of malevolent spirits. Instances might be multiplied indefinitely, but the general conclusion is that anything that suggests the unintelligible, the unusual, the suspected, the gloomy, is at once attributed to inimical powers. Hence a crow that caws at night is thought to be an evil spirit. The crashing of a falling tree in the forest is the struggle of mighty giants. The rumbling of thunder, the flash of lightning, the tempest's blast, and all the other phenomena of nature are the operations of unseen agencies. The darkness is peopled with hosts of spirits. On the desolate rocks, in the untrodden jungle, on the dark mountain tops, in gloomy caves, by mad torrents, in deep pools, dwell invisible powers whose enmity he must avoid or whose good will he must court, or whose anger he must placate.

Fear then seems to be the foundation of the Manóbo's religious beliefs and observances. Untutored as he is, he fails to understand occurrences which the average trained mind can easily explain. On one occasion I was at the headwaters of the Abagá River, a tributary of the Tágo River. I had to cross the river at a point where a mighty rock stood in midstream, dividing the river in two. I noticed that each of my Manóbo carriers deposited a little stone near an aperture in the rock. I asked them why they had made their tribute to the spirit dweller of the rock, and I could not convince them that the rock was not placed there by the spirit, but was a natural result of the action of the water. They would never, they said, be able to return to the Agúsan unless they showed their good will to the spirit lord of Abagá.

MEANS OF DETECTING SUPERNATURAL EVIL

In all the concerns of life the Manóbo must secure immunity from the ill will of the multitudinous spirits that surround him. But this alone is not sufficient. He must be able to detect future evil, otherwise how can he avoid it? His ancestors for long bygone generations, have taught him how to foresee and avoid evil, for they have learned, often after bitter experience, the signs of present and approaching evil and the means of effectively avoiding it. These signs are embodied in a system of augury, that forms one of the most important parts of Manóbo religion. Hence, before all important undertakings, and, above all, whenever there is any suspicion of bodily danger or any apprehension of supernatural ill will, the omens must be sedulously consulted and the machinations of evil or of inimical spirits thereby detected.

BELIEF IN AN HIERARCHY OF BENEFICENT AND MALIGNANT DEITIES

Now it happens that at times these omens can not be observed, so that it might seem that the Manóbo is left exposed to, and defenseless against, a host of spirit enemies.[1] However, he knows a means of defense, for the good old people of yore have handed down the belief that there is an hierarchy of beneficent divinities called _diwáta_ that are ever ready to be his champions against the powers of evil. The old, old, people found this faith justified and experienced the help of the beneficent gods. Why should not he?

[1] _Búsau_.

How then is he to communicate with these invisible champions? Evidently through those who have been chosen by the deities themselves for that purpose--the order of priests called Italian. And so, following out the practice of his forefathers, he has recourse to the priests in more important concerns in which he can not otherwise ascertain the schemes of malignant spirits or determine the pleasure of the gods. The priest, in answer to his call, either by means of divination, or by ecstatic communion with his tutelary deity, or by appropriate offerings, learns the means to ward off the impending or suspected evil.

Living in a "land of terror," as he had up to about 35 years ago, surrounded on all sides by mortal enemies, and in constant warfare with them, the Manóbo, like his forebears, felt the necessity of having recourse to spiritual agents for protection against his enemies and for assistance in conquering them. Herein is involved another feature of Manóbo religion--the belief in a multitude of warlike spirits called _tagbúsan_ with whom communication is held through the mediation of warrior chiefs called _bagáni_.

OTHER TENETS OF MANÓBO FAITH

Other points of importance in the religious ideas of the Manóbos are the belief in a future life and in the existence, immortality, and duality of the soul.[2] An inordinate fear of the dead and of all connected with them, a host of religious and of other taboos, and a belief in the efficacy of charms, talismans, and sympathetic magical means complete the summary of Manóbo religion. For champions the Manóbo has the tutelary _diuáta_; for mediators, the _bailán_; for guides, dreams, divination, auguries, and omens; for propitiation, prayers, invocations, oblations, and sacrifice; for proof of faith, tradition, revelation, and personal experience.

[2] Not the metaphysical soul that is maintained in biblical and theological belief, but a material counterpart of each individual.

SPIRIT COMPANIONS OF MAN

The _umágad_,[3] or spirit companions of man, as understood by the Manóbo, may be defined as his material invisible counterparts without whose presence he would cease to live. He attributes to these spirits or souls invisibility, power of locomotion, and to at least one of them immortality. He invests not only men, but also animals and such plants as are cultivated by man for his sustenance, with souls or spirits. He will tell you that the soul of rice is like rice, and exists as a separate invisible form beside the visible material entity known as rice. I was given to understand that trees once had souls and in proof of the assertion the narra tree was cited, for even yet, it was explained, it bleeds when cut.[4] No other explanation is offered in the case of animals, than that they live and die and dream, therefore they must have a spirit or soul.

[3] From _á-gad_, accompany.

[4] The sap of the _narra_ tree bears a very striking resemblance to blood. _Narra_ is one of the _Pterocarpus_ species.

Vegetable souls in such plants as are used for the nourishment of man, are explained in the following way: The offerings of rice and drink which are set out for the deities, tutelary or other, are partaken of and after repast of the gods the offerings become insipid, because they have lost their "soul." I frequently tested the substantial remains of the spirits' feast and found that they had still retained their pristine savor and strength. No argument of mine, however, could convince my Manóbo friends to the contrary. The spirits had consumed the soul, and there remained, according to their staunch belief, nothing but the outward form and inert bulk of the former offerings.

The Manóbo supposes himself to have been endowed by Mandáit with two invisible companions and he is convinced that without their attendance he could not exist. These souls or spirits are not indwelling principles of life but are two separate indeterminate entities that differ only in two respects from the person whose associates they are. The first difference is that of size, for it is the general belief that they are a trifle smaller than their bodily associates. Besides being smaller, they are invisible. No mortal eye, it is said, except the priest's, has seen a man's spirit companion, and yet it is only for brief intervals that they are absent from their corporal companions. At times they crouch upon the shoulders. When the man is making ready for a journey, they do likewise. When he sets out upon his travels they follow him, one on each side in somewhat the same way as the "guardian angels" of other creeds accompany their wards. I once witnessed a little incident illustrative of this belief. It was on the middle Agúsan, when a mother was about to leave the house of birth. At the last moment she addressed the spirits of her little one, conjuring them to follow and to care for their tender ward.

Hence our souls are as our shadows, our other selves. Notwithstanding the close association between them and their human companions, they are seldom invoked. They are considered to have little, if any, power to help. It is thought that without their presence man would become mad, and in proof of this I was informed of cases where persons, on being awakened rudely and hurriedly, had recourse to the bolo, in a fit of madness due as it was thought, to the absence of their souls.[5]

[5] This belief explains the reluctance that the Manóbo, like members of other Philippine tribes, feels in arousing a person hurriedly from sleep.

It is said that when we sleep these spirits wander off for a brief space on their own mystic errands, and their doings are mirrored in our dreams. Hence the strong and abiding belief of the Manóbo in dreams. These strange companions of man have no material wants yet they lead an insecure existence, exposed, as they are, to the insidious attacks of the common foes of mortals. Hence it comes to pass that one of them, while away on its random rambles some unlucky day, is mysteriously kidnaped and finally "devoured" by a ruthless evil spirit.[6] As soon as the surviving soul realizes what has taken place, it bemoans the loss of its companion and leaving its corporal companion unattended wends its way, sad and solitary, to the land of Ibú. I have been assured by priests that this companionless soul frequently returns to the scene of sickness and there bemoans with piteous cries the loss of its companion, heaping horrid imprecations on the head of the foul spirit that wrought the evil. Only the priest can hear its wild wail of woe and see its piteous face, all suffused with tears. Upon seeing the spirit's grief the priest renews at once his supplications to his tutelary deities, beseeching them to rescue the captured soul from the clutches of its enemy and thereby save the life of the patient. Should the prayers of the priest prove unavailing, the soul wends its way to the region of Ibú, where, free from the agressions[sic] of earthly enemies, it begins its second and unending existence in the company of its spirit relatives.

[6] The "souls" of an ordinary priest and of war priests, as also those of the slain, are not subject to such attacks, being under the protection of numerous dieties[sic].

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.

[7] During 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]

[8] They 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]

[9] She 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]

[10] _In-ug-tú-han_.

(5) Epidemic demons, who hail from the extremity of the world at the navel[11] of the ocean.

[11] _Pós'-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 DEITIES [12]

[12] Called 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.

[13] _Lim-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.

[13] _Lim-bá_ possibly means chain.

[14] These 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 [15] in 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.

[15] We 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.

[16] These 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.