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The Mamanua Belief System

The Mamanua (Konquista, Kongking, Amamanua, Mamaw) of Northeastern Mindanao as a people have remained of interest to this writer up to the present. He came to know about them as a student in the Surigao High School, when, on occasions, he went with his father to the Mindanao Motherlode Mines (also called Mabuhay) to deliver goods to the customers of his father’s tailoring shop. While there he met this dark skinned people mixing with the workers in the said mine. They were there to sell a variety of goods, viz., split rattan, wood of the fishtail pal, occasionally a wild chicken, wild boar’s meat, deer’s meat, etc. The fact that he could communicate with them in Surigaonon led him to several conversations with them. This continued every time he went with his father to Mabuhay. This interest was kindled in him due to the fact that they were different from the other ethnic groups (Tagalog, Ilocano, Waray, Ilongo, etc.) working in the mine. He learned from the Mamanua themselves that they lived in the surrounding mountains, around Lake Mainit and the banks of the rivers.

This interest in these people remained latent until the time when the writer did his graduate studies under Prof. Dr. Rudolf Rahmann, S.V.D., especially in his lectures on the Negritos of Southeast Asia. Finally, after completing his academic requirements, he started rooting around for the Mamanua. He went to the many places which they had indicated. After gathering preliminary data, he reported to his professor in Anthropology that he wanted to do his thesis on them. At first, his mentor was not convinced and said that there were too few of them for him to be writing about. But this writer persisted, taking pictures of them, their settlement, their mode of making a living, etc. and sending these pictures to his professor. Finally, Dr. Rahmann consented. So he began his research work among them, starting as early as 1952. Finally, he wrote his thesis on the Mamanua as a start. As a later consequence, a larger version came about comparing the Mamanua culture to the rest of the Negritos of the Philippines (the Manide of Bicol, the Baluga of Northern Luzon, the Ati of Negros and Iloilo) and the Southeast Asian Negritos (the Andamanese of Andaman Islands, the Semang of Malaya, etc.). Basically, this paper discusses only the Mamanua.

The Mamanua As A Race

Generally, the Mamanua are chocolate brown in color with kinky or frizzly hair. Many of them still possess the characteristics of the pure Negrito, but a large number of them are descendants of Mamanua and Manobo intermarriages. Thus they are lighter in complexion and much taller. This mestizo group still retains, to a large extent, their Negrito features, e.g. curly hair, and even Mamanua women, married to Bisayan men, have children resembling more the Negrito than the Bisayan. Garvan in his early reports says that the Mamanua at the beginning of this century were still “full blooded Negritos in every respect — physical and cultural.”

As said already, there is still the pure Negrito type among the Mamanua. The pure Negrito type has a low, narrow, receding but bulbous lbous forehead. The nose is short and squat with flaring nostrils. The root of the nose is depressed and the bridge is short and low. The hair is kinky or frizzly. Their skin is chocolate brown and they are about five feet tall.

Their total number is hard to determine. At the time of the thesis work of this writer, there seemed to be about 500 Mamanua in the mountain range between the Pacific coastal town of Bacuag and the barrio of Kitcharao (now a municipality). Something like 200 were found in the hilly countryside around Lake Mainit. There were about 75 in barrio Sibahay near Lanuza, Surigao. This last figure was obtained thru correspondence. Of about this thousand people, most are Mamanua-Manobo mestizo, although a significant number remain to be still pure Mamanua.

In 1910 Beyer gave the total number of Mamanua to be 3,850. Other writers disagree and say that this figure may be too high now. Garvan states that during the Christianization of the Mamanua there were 1,000 baptized Mamanua. This number, however, may have decreased due to intermarriages with other population groups and also by the enslaving and ruthless killing of Mamanua on the part of the other tribes. The former phenomenon of intermarriage continues even today thus further depleting their numbers. And because they also have somehow taken the steps to become marginal farmers, they intermarry more and more with the surrounding ethnic groups.

Mamanua Physical Environment

The Mamanua, to a large extent is a creature of his environment. Of this he knows so much that his knowledge is truly amazing.

Basically, the Mamanua belong to the hunting and food gathering group. It may also be noted that some Mamanua already have become marginal farmers, as in Ipil, where some Mamanus families have come to own titled lots. The same is happening around Lake Mainit where some Mamanua own pieces of untitled lots. But to a large extent, he is still a hunter and food gatherer for, after planting their crops, he continues to engage in his old activities. Some Mamanua have been seen and met in Baybay, Leyte by this writer. Asked what they were doing there, they said that they were gathering rattan. And some Mamanua are said to have traveled as far as Samar Island gathering rattan. They continue still to remain as hunters and gatherers. This way of life necessitates a good knowledge of the flora and fauna in the environment.

Around Lake Mainit they are found in the interior areas of the the municipalities of Kitcharao, Sison and Mainit. In San Roque, near the western portion of the lake, they even have a Mamanua cemetery, probably a remnant of their Christianization. It may be noted that during the dry season the Mamanua living in the scattered barangays of the towns mentioned congregate along the shores of Lake Mainit for their fishing activities. This large lake spans the provinces of Surigao and Agusan. The western part of the lake is stony. Here the Mamanua fishermen catch goby called pidyanga. The sizes of this fish vary from that of a large thumb to the size of one’s arm. The lake is low during the dry season, and the fishes have been noticed to go upstream in the tributaries. These tributaries are: from the north, the large Mayag river; from the east, the Mahayahay river; and finally to the south, the Colo-rado river. The outlet of the lake is the Tubay river, which is large during the rainy season and small in the dry season.

On the lake’s southern part today there are ricefields cultivated by the Christian lowlanders. Near its eastern shores are mudflats that favor the growth of the fresh water snails, i.e. egi. Here the lowlanders have put up small scale duckery projects. The egi is utilized as feeds by the duck raisers. In the southern portion, during the later part of the dry season, the Mamanua put small temporary settlements. Here they go fishing and hunting along the shores of the lake. The eastern portion of the lake, towards the town of Mainit, is rocky and a second growth forest dominates. In this second growth forest monkeys and the various kinds of parrots, kalaw, tariktic and other birds, still abound. Crow are found here in this craggy portion of the lake in large numbers.

In the upper portion of the Mayag river, especially in Kantugas, is a Mamanua settlement. Now it has been converted into a culture change project by the diocese of Surigao. Earlier records show, however, that this area was a reservation put up for the Mamanua. But the lowland Christians have taken over and have Planted coconuts. Only a small portion has been left along the banks of the river Mayag, and on this small portion is found the settlement. Towards the east of the river is a mountain, called Pako. Here the Mamanua have a small settlement too. Now and then this settlement becomes very small, especially during times of difficulty in obtaining food. For then, the families go down the coconut plantations to work for the Christian farmers. Prominent among these coconut plantation owners is the Aceron family, the children of which are half Mamanua, since their father is married to a Mamanua woman. Here in their coconut farm the Mamanua help and eke out a living.

To the South of the lake, the Mamanua are found along the banks of the large Colorado river. Here they fish and cultivate small pieces of land for their other needs. And when fiestas come in the nearby barangays they leave their settlement to attend them.

On Mahayahay mountain they have a settlement of more or less twenty to thirty households. This is located on the top of the mountain. Since Lake Mainit is nearby (ca. 5 km. away), they stay in this place and go to fish in the lake. If they are not fishing, they gather forest materials to be sold later in the different tabo-tabo. From the sale of their products they buy things for the family needs. They may also go hunting or trapping in the surrounding forests, especially during the rainy season.

The Use of the Knowledge of the Physical Environment

It can be said without fear of contradiction that the Mamanua is well versed in his own environment. His knowledge of this is vast. Whether in a single hut or in a settlement, the Mamanua normally build their houses near a stream or a river bed. This is important for him for it is a source of water, his most immediate need, and during certain times of the day such bodies of water can be a source of small fishes and crustaceans. During the nights when there is no moon, he fishes the whole length of the body of water with the help of a resin torch. It must be noted that the Mamanua considers it bad to defecate in the water.

When living as a single family, they build a but in a small clearing near the water-bed, as mentioned, or on a ridge. The latter practice is done so that if there is any danger that threatens, it is easy to take flight. Usually, for the single hut, only the immediate vicinity of the house is cleared; the rest is left alone. So if he feels like going out hunting or trapping in a few minutes he is already in the forest.

In the forest he is alert and happiest. He listens to the bird calls which he can easily decipher as the call of the limokon (turtle dove), the manatad (ground dove), the saliksik (kingfisher), the balu (imperial pigeon), or the punay (yellow-green dove). The dove have a different cooing call. On the other hand, he is able to recognize the kalaw (the large hornbill) which utters a loud cry during early morning, noon and dusk. The second hornbill is the awid, similar in color to the kalaw but smaller in size. Its call is somewhat like aah, a ah…” The third kind of hornbill is the small-est. The female is black in color but the male is black and white. As it feeds on the fruits of two wild bananas, agutay and pakoy, it continues to cry out “tariktik-tariktir . Of course, easily recognizable by them is the crow. It calls out its name “uwak-uwak-uwak” as it flies. Recognized also by the Mamanua are the different kinds of parrots, viz., the kayangag (red-billed parrot), the kanawihan (gray-billed parrot), the abukay (white billed and white feathered parrot) and the periko loro (the white billed but green feathered parrot). In addition to them, they also know the uwak-uwak (the raven). They recognize the hawk family from the smallest, the sicop (falcon), to the banog (the kite) and the mana-ol (monkey eating eagle). The diving bird, called sili, is known to them, as this exists in the waters of Lake Mainit. They recognize the different moor hens and the two kinds of wild duck. All these birds are seen by the Mamanua in the lake.

Sometimes the Mamanua builds his but or a group of huts near the shores of the lake. Well at home in this environment, he therefore makes a living in this body of water. He collects the soso (long sized, fresh water snails) and the egi (short sized, fresh water snails). The latter are plentiful in the lake. They also collect the giant fresh snails called kanbuhay. These are sometimes eaten raw the by them. Different fishes are caught by the Mamanua, viz., the bonog (small goby), pidyanga (large gobies), casili (eels), hayo-an (mudfish), gingaw, pigok, (small sharks of the fresh water variety), languog, etc. Also in the lake and its tributaries are caught kagang (crabs), ulang (small, fresh water shrimps), and the padyi (giant fresh water shrimps).

The Mamanua who live near the seashore, i.e the Ipil, have learned to extract a kind of marine worm called tamilok from rotten timber in the sea. They eat this animal raw. Furthermore, they also have learned to catch marine species of fish.

Other animals caught near or around the lake are the ibid (iguana), the hayo (monitor lizard), and the giant bull frogs. Of the crocodiles, the Mamanua have only heard stories. The crow is sometimes trapped by the Mamanua, since they are plentiful in the lake. The amo (monkeys) live in the trees lining the lake shores. The Mamanua have a trap for them which will be discussed later on. Sometimes, however, they are able to catch a monkey by surprise while it is feeding on the egi or balinkokogo (land snail). The lagasao (deer) and the bo-og (wild boar) are trapped and hunted by them.

In the nearby forest, the Mamanua are able to gather forest products. The most common are following: payasan (a king of rattan), kalapi (another kind of rattan), yantok (also rattan) and many smaller species of rattan; the wood of pugahan (fishtail palm), anahaw (palm brava) and anibong; and to a lesser extent the wood of idyok (sugar palm). The wood of the first three palms are used by lowlanders for flooring and axe handles. On the other hand, the cabo negro from the idyok is used as a roofing material. Furthermore, the idyok and pugahan are sources of starch.

Other Means of Making a Living

Trapping and Hunting

Trapping and hunting depend very much on the knowledge of the fauna as well as the pattern of behavior of the animals. The Mamanua know how to trap birds, wild chicken, monkeys, deer, and wild pig.

They have several kinds of traps for the wild animals. One of them is the lit-ag. This trap is made of resilient sapling that pulls the noose tight around the game, and a triggering mechanism laid out on the ground. Once the animal steps on this, the noose is pulled by the sappling and the animal is caught by the leg. This trap is effective for wild chicken, ground dove, the two kinds of lizard mentioned, and the singalong and milo (both civet cats). The hugpit is mainly used for catching the monkey. When the monkey snatches the bait from the trap, the piece of log- a part of the trap- falls on the monkey. Thus the monkey is pressed between two logs, and is killed. The second monkey structure. This is baited with camote attached to a trigger mechanism. As soon as the bait is touched, the door falls shut and the animal is caught inside. Usually it is taken out alive. A simple trap is made out of matured coconut. A small hole is bored through the husk and the shell to allow the hand of the monkey to enter. A piece of camote is placed inside the coconut as a bait. As soon as the monkey clutches the camote in his balled fist he cannot get out. There is a tug of war until the animal is tired out. He is unable to get out his hand because his balled fist if larger than the hole. He is not smart enough to let go of the camote. When the trapper comes he kills the animal. The last kind of trap is the atub. This consists of four heavy logs tied together. A trigger mechanism is placed on the ground. As soon as the animal touches the camote bait, the logs fall on it. It is killed immediately.

The other trap is for the wild pig and deer. This is a spear trap with the trigger mechanism placed on the path of the animal. As soon as the animal brushes against the trigger mechanism, the spear is released and propelled by a strong sapling. It therefore impales the animal. Sometimes the game will have been dead for one or two days and the meat will have begun to rot before it is found. The Mamanua, however, still brings home the catch. It is eaten as “hot meat.” Another trap for these two animals is the gahong. This is a deep pit dug in the path of the animal. The pit is cleverly camouflaged and so, the animal unknowingly steps on the cover. The animal falls through and is caught by the trapper. A variation of this is to place pointed stakes in the trap. The animal that falls through is impaled and killed.

Smaller devices are designed by the Mamanua to catch the limokon (turtle dove). They place gummed sticks over a decoy bird’s cage. Then a call is made by the trapper. This is answered by the decoy. Turtle doves nearby come to investigate and alight on the gummed sticks. They are caught by the trapper. They also have a wild chicken trap that use a decoy. This trap consists of standing rattan loops that surround the decoy cock. The trapper makes a crowing sound which is answered by the decoy. A nearby wild rooster will resent the presence of another cock in his territory. So he comes running towards the decoy spoiling for a fight. In the process, he gets caught in the trap- called karang. The trapper comes to get the caught wild rooster.

Fishing

Hunting and trapping do not play a very important role anymore due to the deforestation. Fishing therefore has become one of the more important activities in Mamanua life. They usually fish in the river and in the lake. One method of fishing is called panampong. Here, a branch of a river is surveyed to determine if it is possible to divert it by putting up a small dike. If so, they begin to build the dike. First, large stones are piled up, then smaller stones, then sand. Finally, banana leaves are placed against the flow of the current. The water is directed towards another direction and part of the dike becomes dry. It becomes easy for the Mamanua fishermen to collect the crabs, fishes, fresh water shrimps, frogs, etc. Later they place the bayantak at the end of the ring stream branch. They say that the animals in the water will follow the receding waters, and hence enter into the bayantak. Where there are large stones, and eels are suspected to be living underneath them, they use pesticide, i.e. tubli, to kill them.

During dark nights they will come up with torches made from the resin of lauan or pili trees. They will torch the entire length of the river. Fish and other animals are caught with the hand or wire spears, called bidyo. And if an eel is sighted, a nudyo will be used to kill it. Another method of fishing, to catch the large mudfish, is termed pamagyay. The bagyay is a large three pointed wire spear. This is propelled by several strands of rubber band. The fisherman looks for a place where young fingerlings of the mudfish are gathered. He watches over this place patiently without moving. As soon as the mother fish comes up for air, it is shot with the bagyay. A good fisherman may catch up to ten large mudfish by this method.

Sometimes, at the shore of the lake, they make a fish trap called dumpil. This takes advantage of the flow of water and the lowering of its level. Only small fishes are caught in this kind of trap. Sometimes none.

Women and children help also in gathering small animals. They collect egi, soso and kanbuay from the shallow portions of the rivers and the lake. They will fish with their hands is called panguot. The fisherman simply places his of large stones and, if lucky, he may be able to catch fish, shrimps and crabs. Small fishes like pait, bonog, small tilapia, and others are caught in this manner. Also, when they are lucky, they catch the slow moving large fresh shrimp called padyi.

Hunting

Hunting is done by the Mamanua men with their dogs. The deer or wild pig is chased by the dogs. These animals, when tired out, will seek haven in a water hole. There the animal is cornered and killed. If the hunter is able to borrow a shotgun, he goes hunting with it. If his sallies have been without luck, then certain ceremonies are performed.

Honey gathering

The Mamanua gather honey from three kinds of honey bees: the liguan, kiwot, and putyokan. The liguan store their combs in cavities in trees. They are attracted outside of their home by torches during the night. In their attempt to put out the fire, the liguan are killed. The honey gatherer is free, therefore, to take out the honey combs. On the other hand, the putyokan’s honey comb is suspended from a branch of a tree. The bees are lulled to sleep by the use of tobacco smoke. When they are all asleep, the honey comb is harvested. The kiwot are small bees and do not sting. Their small amount of honey is gathered by putting one’s hand inside the cavity where the combs are stored. The Mamanua also eat the larvae of the bees.

Agriculture

The Mamanua practice a crude kind of horticulture. Like the Christian lowlanders, they also make kaingins. First, they cut the underbrush; then they cut small trees; and finally, the large trees are cut down. The branches are lopped off. A period of about a month is made to pass so that the kaingin will dry up. Then this is fired. The clearings are started about the last week of March. By the third of April the clearing is fired and prepared for planting. It should be noted that, in the clearing, the heavy labor is provided by the men; and so is the fencing of the clearing. The planting is done by cooperation of the sexes, including the children. These Mamanua farms are small and, on the average, from thirty to forty square meters. Some are larger. A few of the Mamanua have acquired titles to their lands through the help of some lowland Christians.

Their main crop is camote. After five to six months, the tubers are matured and are harvested. They continue harvesting for a while, for the vines also yield tubers. All other crops planted are secondary. They plant also certain kinds of gabi, i.e. karlang, and ubi. Some Mamanua have been encouraged by local officials to slowly plant money crops such as coconuts. They may plant coffee and cacao trees. However, they do not know how to prepare the seeds.

In their farming activities, they use the ever-present nudyo for cutting the underbrush and for general cultivation. Trees are cut with the aid of an axe which, if they do not own it, they borrow from some Christian friends. For drilling the corn and rice holes, they continue to use the digging stick. This implement is a stick about a meter long and as thick as a man’s arm. One end of this stick is sharpened and used for drilling. For rice, they favor the flat wood of the pugahan for drilling. For making mounds for planting camote, they use the nudyo or bolo.

Forest Products for Sale

The Mamanua gather many forest products that are marketable. Notable among them are the varieties of rattan, viz., payasan, kalafi, yantok, etc. These are gathered and cut to lengths fo three meters. Then, later they are split into one centimeter wide splits, cleaned and hung up to dry. A person can clean as much as 600 splits of rattan a day. They are sold by bundles of 100 splits, called the mano, at the prevailing price. Presently, they gather rattan and convert them into poles ca. 300 centimeters long. These are brought by the agents of the rattan furniture-makers. Other palm products that they gather are the pugahan, anibong and anahaw. Anibong is often sold as posts for fish corrals. The other two palms are split and made into boards for flooring. They may also be sold for axe handles.

Orchids are gathered by the Mamanua and sold. The most common varieties sold are the tiger and the dove orchids. Some orchids are sold to the lowlanders as components of a love potion called lumay. Together with the anibong poles, diliman, a kind of fern used for tying parts of the fish corral, are also used. They also sell nito, a black colored fern used for decorating basketry.

They collect resin, called sayong, from the lauan tree. This and the sap of the pili nut tree are sold. Dried baliw and pandan leaves are vended for weaving mats and small containers. Medicinal plants, called pamughat, for newly delivered mothers, are also sold in the market. Edible fungi, called olaping, ohong, labit and others, are gathered when plentiful and brought to market for sale. The most common wild fruits they sell are the kalapi, pili nuts, and itlog sa lagsao (wild rambutan).

It must be noted that the Mamanua also have handicrafts. They make and sell ayat (baskets for shoulder packing), hammocks, and bayantak (a fish trap). The last item is made out of bamboo and bamban.

Working for Wages

The Mamanua hire themselves out to the Christian farmers as farm workers. If a father is thus hired, the whole family comes with him and they work. Hence, they have to be included in the meals prepared; but the father is the only one paid as a hired hand. They may work as wood-fellers. In the past, they were hired by the mine administrators to cut trees for timbering purposes. Among the fellers, a one meter in diameter lauan– or any tree for that matter- would take less than half a day to cut. The women hire themselves out as house-helpers, but usually they go home in the evening. The home services are rendered only to close friends. As workers, they are usually honest although there have been reports of malfeasances.

Domesticated Animals

Some domesticated animals are kept by the Mamanua. They keep chickens, dogs, and pigs. These animals are never in large number since, when they move, they are excess baggage. Pigs are kept to be slaughtered, when needed, during curing and full moon prayer ceremonies. Chickens are seldom killed to be eaten, but they are saved for certain rituals. Sometimes the Mamanua are able to catch a baby monkey which is kept as a pet in the family. Turtle doves are kept in cages since they are used as decoys for trapping. Dwarf roosters are kept to be made as decoys for their chicken trap.

Food Preparation

As already mentioned above, the staple food of these people is steamed camote. Among the Mamanua who are in more or less permanent settlements, i.e culture change projects, the usual fare is either corn grits or rice. In the forests, however, camote and other root crops are the mainstays. They have other sources of food when they run out of supply of camote.

The kuyot is a wild form of yam. This is poisonous when not properly prepared. The Mamanua, on the other hand, know how to prepare and depoison these roots. They peel the hairy tubers and slice them into thin slivers. A large hole is prepared in the ground. This is lined with wild banana leaves, and then the sliced roots are placed inside this hole. Boiling water is then poured into the pit until it is almost full. Later, they cover up the hole with banana leaves so that the heat will not escape. The mixture is left to cook the whole day. The next day, the half-cooked roots are taken out. Then a blanket is spread under running water. It is stretched out and the four corners of the blanket are tied down or held by pieces of stones. Then the slivers of kuyot are spread out on the blanket and the water is allowed to wash away the poison. Now and then the roots are stirred. These are allowed to stay soaking in water for almost one day. By then the poison will have been washed away. Then the washed roots are taken away and dried. They place these in a basket. The owner can take a portion and cook it with coconut milk or just plain water. Occasionally, the kuyot is cooked with sugar or simply fried.

The pugahan, when about to bear flowers, has part of its body enlarged. If this happens, the pugahan is adjudged to have plenty of starch. This is cut down by the Mamanua, and later cut into stumps of about a meter and a half. It is split open and the pit is mashed with a wooden hammer. The mashed pit is taken out and placed in a cloth container stretched out on the opening of a petroleum can. Water is allowed to cover the mashed pit and this is stirred. The starch passes through the strainer and settles at the bottom of the can. The process is repeated until all the stumps are finished. If they are lucky, they will have almost a canful of pugahan starch which is pinkish in color. The starch is then dried. It is cooked in this powdered from into a favorite dish called kinaboy.

The idyok (sugar palm) is another source of starch. However, since this is smaller and shorter than the pugahan, the yield is small. The Mamanua say it is easier to work on the former than the latter. The pugahan has stiff pit fibers. The powder of the idyok is cooked in the same manner as the pugahan.

Besides the plants mentioned, they also collect wild ubi in the forest. This is also steamed. They gather the heart of the bud of various palm trees, like the pugahan, anibog, etc. These are boiled in water, with salt added to taste, and then eaten; the soup is drunk.

A variety of other things are eaten besides the above, viz., the flesh of wild swine. This is either roasted or boiled in water, with salt added to taste. Sometimes they eat the fat of the wild pig raw, and it tastes like coconut, they say. Deer, kalaw, kabog (large fruit bat), etc. meat are cooked in the same manner as the pork. Large frogs, called bakbak, and grubs of the large beetles are cooked in banana leaves and eaten too. On the other hand, the larvae of the honey bees are eaten raw.

Houses and Material Possessions

The mamanua today build different kinds of dwellings. This is reflective of their changing culture. On a hunting and food gathering activity they put up a windscreen. Leaves of wild bananas and tikoy (young payasan) are used for roofing. They lie on the ground when sleeping, usually near a fireplace. They also put up this windscreen when they are on a trip to another place and stay there overnight. When contracted to cut trees and other jobs the Mamanua also put a windscreen where they may rest. The latter windscreen is complemented with a small platform about sixty centimeters from the ground. This has a flooring of round timber.

In their semi-permanent settlements, the Mamanua build huts. These will have small posts that are crossed to form a series of X’s. The hut will be elevated about a meter or so from the ground. They do not use nails. Rattan and vines are used to tie the parts of the house together. The huts may vary from two to three meters in width and may be longer in length. The elevated roof allows the tallest in the family to stand in its center. These huts have no walls. They reason out that, in case there is danger of attack, the family can easily jump out. A notched log or bamboo serves as a stair. It maybe noted that this hut appears like two windscreen, put together.

The Mamanua who have traveled and worked with the lowlanders imitate their house form. In this type of housing one may seem a bench, baliw container and probably an empty milk carton. The usual practice of the Mamanua is to build their settlements between the Christian lowlanders and the forest.

It must be noted that Mamanua settlements are never permanent. One may find them settled near the shore of Lake Mainit, and the next time they will be encountered in another place. For this reason it is really difficult to make a physical count of them.

The material possessions of an average Mamanua are few. Rarely will an adult have more than one change of clothing. (Once, when we were making pictures of them, I had to wait so that one person could borrow a shirt from somebody.) An average Mamanua has a trusty nudyo (bolo) worn around his waist. He may have a sinagdan (spear). He no longer has the bow and arrow, although early reports say they had them. This implement is now substituted by a spear-like wire implement called the tabak, and the spear-gun called bagyay. Some also have small wire spears called bidyo. The bagyay is used for hunting the big fruit bats called kabog at night when they come to feed on the flowers of the kapok tree. They may also have a red colored handkerchief used for a headband. Some Mamanua still use armlets made from the bristle of the wild pig. But this is slowly being substituted by the aluminum bracelets. They may have a G-string bu they seldom wears it.

Women wear cheap earrings made out of brass wire or aluminum. Young girls paint their lips and their faces with red coloring obtained from cheap red paper. Tatooing and scarification are practiced by the Mamanua. The latter serves a medical purpose. Trophies, such as skulls of wild pig, antlers of deer, jaws of wild cats, head pieces of the large fresh water shrimps, and the large tail portion of the mudfish are placed in conspicuous places to be easily noticed by a visitor. Teeth-filling and blackening are still in practice. The women used to wear wooden or bamboo combs, but these have been substituted by the cheap plastic kind from the Chinese traders.

Mamanua Social Life

As a social group the Mamanua have various social practices to keep their tribe in existence.

Marriage

The Mamanua marry early. The girls get married about age fourteen or fifteen, and the boys not later than seventeen years. (One instance was brought to the attention of this writer of a girl already having a baby at age fourteen in Kantugas.) Practically all of them living in one community are related. The normal pattern of the residence of the marriage is patrilocal, although the newly married couple may come to live in the group of the bride. If this happens, it is just for a short time.

Young men and women used to come to meet in various religious and social activities. Now they meet in dances, for they come to attend benefit dances held in other communities. It is usual for a man to make known his intentions of marriage through a go-between. If the girl shows some interest, she is sent small gifts by the admirer. The relations continue. Meanwhile, the man gets a ribbing from his friends and so with the girl. Gifts are given to the girl’s parents and her relatives. Then the parents of the man come to negotiate with the parents of the girl. In these negotiations a bride price (bogay) is demanded. This is not paid immediately, and may consist of a piece of cleared land, spear, a bagyay, etc. The delivery of the demanded articles is to be made on a future date. During the period when they are not yet married, the young man usually serves his future parents-in-law. He stays in their house and there fetches water, splits wood, goes out on a hunt with his future father-in-law, and other like services so as to show them that he can already support a wife. Later, he may go home to his own community. This custom is called pangagad.

Marriage ceremonies of the Mamanua are simple. They are not uniform, however. Usually, the parents may ask the barangay chairman to officiate. If this is not possible, a Mamanua father, or his surrogate, may officiate and act as a “priest”. The exchanging and eating of a rice ball is common in the marriage ceremony. While the couple are eating the rice, their hands are clasped by the officiant. Instead of rice, sometimes the young man and woman may drink from a coconut shell. Afterwards, they are pronounced man and wife. Meanwhile, the groom starts paying his bride price.

In another case, the girl may run and hide in the nearby forest. The groom must seek her out. If found, he brings her to the place where the marriage ceremony is performed. A dance is held later on, with the groom beating on the gong.

On occasions where the parents cannot agree, but eh couple are in love, they may elope. As soon as the couple is found, they are brought to the house of the woman. They are made to kneel down before the mother of the girl and beg for forgiveness. Later, the boy is covered with the skirt of the mother, until he perspires, as his punishment. Then both parents are called, and the marriage is performed by the officiant.

Typically, the Mamanua marriage is monogamous. The writer has not seen a Mamanua polygamous marriage. If a married woman has illicit relations with another man she will be made to choose between her lover and her husband. If she chooses her husband, the transgressing male is made to pay a fine for dishonoring the husband. And in case the woman finds her lover better than her husband, and she chooses him, then the lover must pay the price demanded by the aggrieved party.

It must be noted that the Mamanua woman who has had an extra-marital affair that has produced an offspring will have difficulty in finding a husband. Hence, pre-marital affairs are taboo.

Childbirth

After nine months of pregnancy, the mother is then ready to deliver the child. Such delivery is an easy affair for the mother. This is credited to her use of a certain vine, called tagaymo. Actually, this may be due to the exercise she gets daily while helping to make a living. The belief about the tagaymo is based on their belief that a she-monkey does the same, In case a female midwife is not available, a male midwife assists. The newly delivered mother is then nursed to her feet. They make her drink the soup of the kalapi, payasan, and a vine called badyi. The drink is a tonic to the nursing mother and will increase her production of milk for the baby. The Mamanua gather together a vine and some barks of trees called pamughat. These are boiled and the concoction is drunk by the newly delivered woman. It is said to prevent the swelling of the womb after birth. The normal food given to the nursing mother will be rice or corn grits (if available) and camote. Together with this will be the heart or the bud of the two rattans mentioned above. Lately, they have learned to include green papaya and meat in the diet of the newly delivered mother. All the plants mentioned enable the mother to produce more milk for the infant.

The newborn is bathed in cold water, if coconut milk is available, this is substituted for the water. Coconut milk is given to the newborn as a purgative. In a few days the mother is up and about helping in making a living. As soon as the mother is able to move about the care of the child is left to an elder sister. The mother comes now and then to nurse the baby. The baby is rocked to sleep in a rattan hammock. When one year old, the baby is weaned by placing a bitter extract of the pangiyawan or from hot pepper on the tips of the nipples of the mother. Soon after, the child learns to take solid food. (In the past, this writer noticed that there was a child who was weaned when about ten years of age in Mahayahay.) When they are on the go, if the child would demand the mammary gland of her mother, the mother would oblige and stop to nurse the child.

About a month after birth, the child will be named. In many cases they are given two names: a Mamanua one and a Christian one. An informant told me that a boy was called goyay (leaves of camote) in Mamanua and Francisco in the Christian way. In the presence of Christians, his second name was used. However, among themselves, he was goyay. Sometimes the child is named after the place of birth or after a tree near where he was born.

Family and Group Life

The Mamanua family is close-knit. The father is considered the leader of the family and the mother takes care of the house. Both the sexes know the division of labor. The boys usually go with their fathers on hunting, trapping, and fishing trips. From this they learn all the skills needed for this kind of work. The boy continues to accompany his father until he has learned all the things needed and then he can ho on his own. They also experience wood cutting. As children, they practice making small-scale traps, and even try to trap their own chicken- all part of the game. The girls, on the other hand, go with their mothers. With her, they learn how to recognize the plants to be collected as food. Poisonous plants for fishing are made known to both boys and girls. They learn how to prepare them. The tubli roots are pounded before being released into the water where fish abound. This is the same thing as in the case of tigao leaves. They learn to prepare tuba by mixing a certain proportion of tobacco and ashes. These pesticides are seldom used by the Mamanua. Some boys and girls, who are especially talented, are taken into apprenticeship for training as sukdan or tambayon. The training will last until they are able to perform the various rituals and ceremonies.

In the settlement, the catch of a hunter, trapper, or fisherman is divided among the members of the community. So the saying that, “if somebody eats, everybody eats” is true among them. Leading the local group among the Mamanua is a headman chosen for being the best hunter, trapper, fisherman, woodcutter, and spokesman of the community. He proposes decisions to be approved by the elders of the group. Usually, he leads the community in transferring from one place to another. Negotiations with the community, like buying forest products and handicrafts, are made through the headman. Occasionally, a sukdan or tambayon is the headman, as in the case of Ama Damil of Mahayahay. He functioned as a political, as well as religious leader. In Kantugas it was noticed that the headman was a woman. She led her small group of Mamanua who were not participants in the culture change project. A quarrel within the community is submitted to the headman for adjudication. In case it gets out of hand, the headman brings this to the chairman of the barangay.

Spiritual Life

The Mamanua from Matinaw, Mainit, Mayag, Sison, Kantugas, Pako, Mahayahay, etc., believe in a God who is powerful and who sees everything that takes place on earth. This is Magbabaya. Below him is a powerful diwata called Ongli. The former is said to live in the heavens, in the easterly direction, and is said to live in a cave. He is just like a man and appears to be like fire. He commands the thunder and lightning. Nobody who sees him lives to cell of the experience. Tama is a lesser diwata and is said to be the nerder, or sometimes the owner of the game. Lower spirits are also called diwata and it is said that their favorite abode is the balete tree or other large trees. In case of an unsuccessful hunt, the Mamanua offer a sacrifice to the diwata, Tama, who will then release a pig or deer. They also believe in the lesser spirits, the engkanto. These can be divided into the good and the harmful ones. They are said to appear like ordinary men. They say that the engkanto can fire invisible arrows into the arrows into the breast of a man. to make him spit blood, and to kill him. The good ones help them in their various economic activities.

Among the Mamanua is found a group of practitioners who practice traditional healing. They are called tambayon or sukdan. They can be divided into two: those who cure by ceremonies alone and those who cure by the use of medicinal plants. Occasionally, these skills can be combined in one person. This was case of Ama Danil. The sukdan gets his curing powers from the good diwatas, by dreaming dreams, by inheritance, and by training. As mentioned above, talented boys or girls may be trained to be sukdan. One Mamanua tambayon was well-known for his capability to cure any snake bite, as well as bites of centipedes and scorpions.

Various ceremonies and rituals are performed under the supervision of the sukdan, except minor ceremonies like the tapa to decoy animals. In the ceremonies performed, the whole community participates. The bakayag ceremonies, witnessed by the writer, were of two kinds. They will be described below.

The first was the full-moon prayer ceremony. Here the participant was not only one community but several communities. The prayer-ceremony started as soon as the full moon began to rise. The ceremony consisted of prayers led by the leading sukdan, in this case, by Ama Danil assisted by a minor female tambayon. Afterwards, the betel nut chew was passed around for all the adults participating in the ceremony. After the prayers and the petitions, there followed dancing by the participants. The first dance was by the main sukdan, followed by the minor tambayon. Later on, all the other participants danced. The dancing was individual, without pairing and a single gong provided the music. Now and then, petitions were made. The main tambayon, when he danced, fell into a trance and he had to be carried from the dancing floor to his seat. The dancing, which alternated with petitions, lasted until the full moon set. Characteristic of this event was the fasting that lasted through out the duration of the ceremony. Only the children were allowed to eat. Cooking for the rest of the participants’ first meal started the next morning.

The second bakayag witnessed by the writer, was an offering for someone who got well after a long illness. This started early in the morning in the interior of Mahayahay and was led by a tambayon. Near the settlement was constructed a platform, high and wide enough to allow a person to pass underneath. This was festooned with young coconut leaves. On the top of the platform was placed a sacrificial pig. The sukdan danced around the platform, at the same time brandishing his spear. He uttered prayers and thanksgiving chants. Later, several petitions were addressed to Magbabaya. After this the tambayon went up on the platform and pierced the side of the pig. Blood spurted out. The cured person was then made to pass under the platform, dripping with blood. All those who wanted to be purified by the sacrifice and the same. The pig was later butchered and the members of the settlement partook of it. All in all, the ceremony lasted about two hours.

A ceremony performed by a Mamanua owner of a decoy dove or rooster is called the tapa. The bird or fowl is subjected to smoke so as to remove the curse. The burning coals in a coconut shell container are sprinkled with kamangyan. This smoking container is passed several times under the animal until the curse is removed. Next time the trapper goes trapping, he will come home with a catch.

Another ceremony performed is the hongod. This is done before planting the vines of camote. A pregnant woman with a child on her back, plants the first seven mounds. She utters a prayer that the camote roots will be like her- carrying the child, one over the other.

Still another ceremony is performed by a tambayon. It is performed for someone who has been harmed by the bad diwata. This is preferably done near a balete tree. On a small low table, cakes, little pots filled with boiled rice, the flesh of white chicken, tuba, mallorca cigars and cigarettes are offered. The sukdan prays and traces her relationships with those of the evil spirits. The aim is to propitiate the angered diwata. It is expected that, after the offering, the patient will get well.

The ritual of releasing a white chicken is performed for the diwata, Tama. The prayer petitions him to release a wild pig or deer that will be caught by the hunter. This is especially done after many hunts, when the hunters come home empty-handed. The white chicken is protected and is not to be harmed.

When a hunter catches a wild boar or deer, a portion of the lives is cut. Then this is thrown back into the forest so that the good diwata may partake of the catch.

Other Beliefs

The Mamanua believe in two kinds of witches. The spiritual kind lives in the grasses and trees. On the other hand, the human like witch exists like human beings. Usually the second kind are said to have a craving for human flesh and can change their form form human beings to animals. They can also fly. Both sexes can become a witch; and this is transmitted to the favorite offspring. The spiritual kind can harm people, too.

Another belief is that certain spirits carry disease from one place to another. Such a spirit is said to ride on a boat and where he gets off the disease will strike.

As concerns the eclipse of the sun, the Mamanua believe that the sun is going to be swallowed by a large serpent. To prevent this, they make a lot of noise to frighten the serpent.

The Mamanua are afraid of thunderstorms. They believed that someone has angered the god of thunder and lightning and that this person will be punished by being struck by a thunderbolt and changed into stone.This is also the punishment, according to them, if relatives get married. The burning of land leeches will cause thunder; and so with making dogs and cats fight. Imitating the call of certain birds, they say, may cause thunder too. Certain large wasps should not be harmed for they will cause a thunderstorm. Copulating dogs and other animals are not to be looked at or laughed at, for this will cause a thunderstorm. The earth, according to their myth, in the beginning there was only one kind of man. Lightning, however, struck the earth and those who were signed became black. This was the origin of the Mamanua. The blood sacrifice of the Mamanua during a thunderstorm has been reported by Garvan. In the process of performing the sacrifice, they expel their breath through their teeth. They may also cut pieces of the badyang during a thunderstorm. The pieces when thrown into the fire, make a crackling sound. The sound stops the thunderstorm. To stop a thunderstorm the Mamanua drive the point of their nudyo (bolo) into the ground.

Fetching water in cooling utensils, such as pots, frying pans, etc., is forbidden among the Mamanua. To do so, according to them, will bring about heavy rains, and consequently, flooding of the rivers.

The Mamanua respect the cicada. It is believed, by them, to be the child of the first man and woman.

They show respect for the moon. Fires are reduced to a smaller blaze as the full moon rises. And during the full moon ceremony, the Mamanua look at the moon with reverence.

Finally, they believe that houses can rise toward heaven.

The Myths of the Bagobo, Tagakaulo and Mandaya: An Ethnological Analysis

The great historian of religion, Mircea Eliade, said that myth defines itself by its own mode of being. It can only be understood in so far as it reveals something as having really happened, as in an event that took place in primordial times. Primordial time is not the same time as our historical time. In fact, it is timelessness. Mythical stories are usually one in which gods mingle freely with men who also have access to heaven or the abode of gods and divinities.

Mythical stories are always about explanations of mysteries such as how the world was created, or how men and women and the littles insects came to be. As such, myths reflect a people’s understanding of the whole reality of existence, and the individual’s place in it. The two most significant constituents of myths are the universal and the exemplary. Myths do not treat of individual in relation to the total reality, or cosmos. Men’s individual problems are precisely caused by violations or deviations from their assigned roles and to resolve these problems one has to do through the correct or prescribed act of behavior the way it was done “at the beginning”. Many rituals fall in this functional category. The whole catalogue of oral literature of many traditional cultures, e.g. fables, legends. riddles, etc.. serve to remind the individual about the exemplary deed and right behavior, In myth, man is an integral part of creation but not necessarily the most important or distinguished.

Above all these, myth and myth-making have a deeply spiritual and religious dimension. The apprehension of a myth is considered as a very religious experience because it is a revelation of sacred reality. Eliade describes the phenomenon as “the irruption of the sacred into the profane”. That is to say that the human mind cannot of itself come to a realization of the whole cosmological reality. Those who have participated in myth-making were able to do so only because they have actually experiences a hierophany.

For this reason, it is very interesting to study the myths of other people for then one would be able to understand their own particular religious experience and how this experience is contextualized in their culture. The best way to understand a myth is to refer to the culture. The best way to understand a myth is to refer to the culture of those to whom the myth is the perception of total reality or cosmogony. We will now proceed to an ethnological analysis of the myths of the Bagobo, Tagakauolo and Mandaya.

An ethnological analysis has a number of cultural referents. The sociological structure of the myth is held to reflect the structure of the society or community to whom the myth belongs. In this wise, the web of relationship among gods and men would be very similar to, if not the same as those in human society. The motifs or elements would indicate the adaptations made by the local authors. Finally, encoded in the mythical story is the people’s ideology or belief system, the very foundation of the spiritual and religious experience of the people.

Bagobo Mythology

The bagobo believe that Tiguiama, a good god, created all things but other gods have their own specialized participation:

1. Mamale – created the earth
2. Macoreret – created the air
3. Domacolen – created the mountains
4. Macaponguis – created the water

An ancient ideology is encoded in the Bagobo ideology and belief system. The myth of a terrible god who lived in the volcano, and who demands, as well as devours human victims has animated Mt. Apo. This has enabled the Bagobos to structure a relationship and define a code of conduct towards a dominant and therefore significant feature of the environment. The myth of Mandarangan and Darago, husband and wife guardians of Mt. Apo, renders intelligible the practice of human sacrifice among the Bagobos. The myth conveys the Bagobo notion of evil as an inescapable part of reality and how it is dealt with.

The polytheistic belief system allows the worship of other gods. While Mandarangan permits the Bagobos to come to terms with the terrible reality of evil, Eugpamolak Manobo, another divinity, reflects the Bagobo’s appreciation of the good, which notion is equated with nature’s bounty. Pamolak is the word for plant as well as for flower, the harbinger of the fruits of the earth, and the placement of this deity in the Bagobo pantheon pays homage to nature and an agricultural existence.

The most eloquent abstraction of the Bagobo’s ineffable regard for nature’s bounty is found in the story of Tuglay and Tuglibong, the archetypes of the first man and first woman. The couple’s progeny would have all but perished were they not refreshed by a single stalk of sugarcane, a gift from the gods, growing lustily in the midst of a scorched plot of earth.

The memory of a scorching period is distinct in the origin myths, especially in the story of how Tuglibong, the first woman, along with the rest of the mythical figures of old, were said to have lived an intolerable existence because the sky and the sun hung low over the earth. The mythical people, known as mona, had to live in holes and crevices under the earth to protect themselves from the sun’s heat. Moreover, important activities were severely constrained, e.g. pounding rice was a difficult activity since one could hardly move one’s elbow, cramped as it were by a low hanging sky. All these changed when, finally, through Tuglibong’s sustained scolding, the sky, and with it the sun, bolted up to their present position thus ushering in a new epoch whereby the mona lived on the surface of the earth instead of underground. They were able to build houses, the temperature cooled, and nature and the human race were regenerated — the mona who were already old began to have babies!

The god Lumabat and his sister, Mebuyan, goddess of fertility (she is depicted as a woman with breasts all over her body) and guardian of a Bagobo Limbo for dead babies, were children of Tuglay and Tuglibong. The tale of Lumabat is the story of a culture hero who journeyed to the ends of the earth, i.e. the horizon, and after successfully avoiding a number of pitfalls reached the land of the diwata or gods. Lumabat himself became a god when the diwata divested him of his intestines after which he no longer was bothered by hunger. Lumabat’s journey to the sky country was fraught with a number of obstacles; he and his companions passed a region where one could be turned into a stone or a tree if one responded to any of these objects that could talk. This land was conceived as lying beyond the sea, the Gulf of Davao. The sky country itself was thought to be located on the other side of the horizon, the idea of which was construed as a pair of giant jaws which mechanically opened and shut to the peril of those who, like Lumabat, attempted to cross to the other side. Giant jagged teeth and kampilan (swords) fencing by themselves added to the dangers of the traveller.

Mebuyan’s myth was woven differently from that of her brother. Unwilling to go with Lumabat to the sky country, Mebuyan plummeted to the underworld by sitting on the rice mortar which began to spin downward as soon as Mebuyan sat on it. Mebuyan soon founded a kingdom of her own, Banwa Mebuyan, a place where she fed babies until they were weaned from her many breasts. She also personified death; by shaking a lemon tree people died according to the kind of leaves that fell from the tree. If old and yellowed leaves fell, old people would die, but if the leaves were green and newlygrown, young people would perish from this earth.

Human sacrifice, which the Bagobos practiced until the turn of the present century, was an offering to Mandarangan and Darago as well as to Malaki T’Olu K’Waig, which name literally means “man at the head of the river”. Malaki is also the mythological firstborn of Tuglay and Tuglibong and is the Bagobo word for man in the same way that Bia, Malaki’s sister, is the word for woman. In a sense, Malaki and Bia are even more appropriate archetypes of first man and first woman who became diwata or gods in the following legend of the founding of Sibulan.

The legend of Sibulan, the biggest Bagobo settlement in historic times, began with the passing of the Tuglay and Tugbilong an all the mona into the land of the diwata. Only the children of Tulay and Tugbilong were left in Sibulan. Then a long drought cam to pass upon the land so that the people could not plant their crops and famine soon stalked the Bagobo highlands. The children of Tuglay and Tugbilong began to leave their home and travel to other lands in pairs. As soon as any pair found a place to their liking, they settled there and begot progenies who became he ancestors of the other tribes in Mindanao.

One pair chose to remain in Sibulan even as the parched already could no longer provide for them. Then one day, as the man, too weak from hunger, hobbled across the barren fields in search of food, he saw a single stalk of sugarcane growing lustily in the midst of a scorched earth. As he cut the plant with his bolo (a long knife), fresh water gushed forth from its stalk and the fl w did not cease until both the couple’s thirst and the earth w re quenched and refreshed. From the plant’s abundant flow the rivers and the streams were once more filled with water until the rains fell to water the crops in the fields.

The palpable significance of the story lies in the mythological death and rebirth cycle: the passing of the mythical people as followed by the rebirth of new life in Malaki and Bia in Sibulan and by the other pairs of children of Tuglay and Tugbilong as founders of the other tribes in Mindanao. At the same time, a claim for some ethnic and cultural hegemony is implicit in the story which tells of the origins of the other tribes in Mindanao from the children of Tuglay and Tugbilong. The legend thus depicts an expansive stage in Bagobo mythological experience and a broadening of horizons from the confines of ethnic perspectives.

In the structure of Bagobo myth, the primordial ancestors, with the possible exception of the mona, were always represented in pairs Tuglay and Tugbilong, Malaki and Bia, and the children of the latter who departed from Sibulan, also in pairs, to become the heads of further progenies of the Bagobo. There are no androgynous figures in Bagobo mythology. The prominence of paired ancestors appears as a Bagobo valorization of the man woman tandem and the high value placed on the family and ancestors.

The differentiation of gender roles is strictly delimited as in the roles of Lumabat and Mebuyan. Fidelity to her chores made Tuglibong relentlessly scold the sun until it was offended and bolted away to unprecedented heights. Mebuyan’s refusal to go with her brother to the sky country underscores her own distinct role. Even as she plummeted in the opposite direction (to the land of the dead) she continued to perform her role, that of nourishing life.

The Myth of the Tagakaulo

The Tagakaulo are one of the native groups who inhabit the mountainous interiors of Davao del Sur province. They are said to have derived their name from their preferred type of settlement, i.e. the origins or headwaters of rivers and mountain streams. The rootword is ulo which means head. This was an explanation given by a missionary account in the 19th century and which in the course of modern day research we were able to validate.

In 1987, the fourth volume of Tambara, the Ateneo de Davao University Journal, was being prepared as a special commemorative issue for the anniversary of the missionary Fathers of the Foreign Mission Society of Quebec (PME). The PME Fathers have had a long history in Davao and for this special issue the editors of the Tambara were invited to Lanipao, one of the PME missions among the Tagakaulo. We were asked to document the mission and undergo a sort of immersion process that would give us a feel of the mission. The documentation of their missionary works was to be contextualized in the history of Davao, an exciting enterprise since we were about to merge the writing of religious and secular histories.

About an hour’s drive from the Malita Parish, the trail to Lanipao started from a small stream. Our party alighted at a lay leader’s house in Talugoy and from there we picked up the trail. For the first two hours we followed the course of the stream, walking sometimes on its banks but most of the time in the stream itself. After a while, the significance of the name Tagakaolo (dwellers of the origins of rivers) dawned on us; we were following the river or the stream to its source up in the mountains.

The PME Fathers follow a strict pattern of inculturation before beginning to work in a mission. They all have to learn to speak the native tongue. One of the Fathers was Fr. Gilles Belanger who was assigned to work among the Tagakaolo of Sangat, Malita. Fr. Belanger lived with a native Tagakaulo family for four months in order to learn the language. He said the the Tagakaulo responded easily when one talked to them about their native culture. The Tagakaulo culture, like any other native culture, is steeped in oral traditions which in turn are reflective of their collective experience or history as a people. In the last century, the Tagakaulo were said to have held the region between Malalag and Lais in the southwestern part of the Davao Gulf. Being upland dwellers, they were barred from the sea by the Manobo and Muslims who lived along the coast, while in the mountains they had to contend with the powerful group of the B’laan, another indigenous group of the Davao Region.

In Fr. Pastell’s Mapa Ethnografico the Tagakaulo were described as being more or less the peers of the Bagobo in terms of industry, but without the cruelty of the latter, who were known to practice human sacrifice. In particular, the missionary account praised the Tagakaulo widowers who were known as brave warriors displaying much courage in the battlefield. This was because according to Fr. Pastell, being a good warrior was an index of male attractiveness and desirability. Tagakaulo widowers who were eager to be remarried had to demonstrate their prowess in the battlefield in order to obtain a new wife or wives. The missionary account also mentioned the sub-groups of the Tagakaulo: the Kalagan (Kagan) and the Loac, the latter being very primitive and described as cimarrones.

Sometime during the latter half of the 19th century, the heretofore scattered groups of Tagakaulo from Malalag to Lais were said to have united under one chieftain whose name was Paugok. This was ostensively due to inter-tribal conflicts with the Bagobo against whom they waged war successfully with the result that the Bagobo were driven from the rich valley of Padada and Balutakay. The establishment of Tagakaulo settlements in these valleys resulted in their prolonged exposure to Kulaman Manobo and Moro. They Tagakaulo had friendly relations with these two groups. They were probably friendlier with the Moro than with the Manobo for at the turn of the present century the accounts of the Tagakaulo described their culture as being strongly influenced by the Moro or Muslim. The influence of the Moro among the Tagakaulo was so great that they not only adapted the Moro style of dressing but also substituted cotton for hemp in the manufacture of their garments. During this time, the Tagakaulo were recognized by their close fitting suits of red and yellow stripes from which the word Kagan was derived

In 1897, Malalag, together with two other reducciones, Balutakay and Piape, was being prepared for conversion into a pueblo or town status along the Kulaman coast. A census was taken of the houses in twenty-one reducciones in the area. Here, the native Tagakaulo of Malalag used to engage the Moro in frequent and sanguinary conflicts. The arrival of the first Spanish colonists worsened the lot of the Tagakaulo who became the prey of the latter in the traffic of slaves. Eventually, because of these insufferable conditions, the Kulaman coast was depopulated of its native populations. In particular, the Tagakaulo fled to the interior and upland regions. Thusm the Christianization of the Tagakaulo of Malalg originally started from the uplands and not in the coastal areas. In 1891, the reducciones or resettlements of the Tagakaulo in Malalag and Malita were given pueblo status.

In the American period, the Kalagan Tagakaulo lived on the American plantations along the padada and Balutakay rivers. The Kalagan remained on friendly terms with their Tagakaulo kinsmen and, except for professing the Islamic faith were in every way like the Tagakaulo in language,custom, and oral traditions.

A tribal historian of the Tagakaulo has said that they were descended from Lakbang and Mengedan and their wife Bodek. At the beginning, the three lived on a small islang in the sea. Later, two children were born and they in turn becane the parents of two birds, the kalaw and the sabitan. These birds flew away to other places and returned with bits of soil which their parents patted and molded with their hands until they formed the earth. Other children were born and from them came all other people who came to inhabit the island.

Two powerful spirits, Diwata and Tiumanem, watched the formation of the earth and when it was completed the latter spirit planted trees upon it. Each year he spent the spirits Layag and Bangay as stars to tell the people when to prepare the fields for planting. Other spirits, less friendly than these two, also existed. One named Siling caused much trouble by confusing travellers, thus causing them to lose their way in the forest.

Spirits of the unborn known, as the Mantianak, were believed to wander through the forest crying “Ina-a” (mother) and often attacked human beings. The only defense was to run to the nearest stream and throw water on their abdomen. The spirit Larma owns the deer and the wild pigs and is kind to hunters who offer him the proper gifts. Failure to make such offerings could result in getting lost or injured. Mandalangan, the warrior god of the Tagakaulo, is identical with the Bagobo Mandarangan.

Kawe are the shades of souls of the dead, the chiefs of whom were the ones who created the earth. In life, the kawe live in the body but, after death they go to the sky. They return to earth at certain seasons, usually during times when the rice fields need to be protected and guarded.

The baylan or priestesses can talk to spirits and from them have learned the ceremonies which the people should perform at certain times of at crucial periods in life. The rituals for birth, marriage, and death are similar to those of the Kulaman Manobo. A slight variation was noted by the anthropologist Faye Cooper Cole after a rice planting at Padada when all the workers placed their planting sticks on an offering of rice and then poured water over them. Another difference was noted in the rituals following the death of a warrior. A knife lies in its sheath beside the body and can only be drawn if it is to be used for sacrificing a slave. If such an offering is made it is usually carried out in the same manner as among the Bagobo. If it is impossible to offer a slave, a palm leaf cup is filled with water and is carried to the forest. Here, the relatives dance and then dip the knife and some sticks in the water “for this is the same as diping them in blood:. According to custom, warriors must go to fight once a year when the moon is bright.

The Mandaya of Caraga

In the 19th century, Spanish missionary account identified the people of the eastern coast of Mindanao as the Caragans. They were described as “an honorable people, peace-loving, respectful, obsequious, docile, submissive, and patient.” Their complexion was brown and sometimes white and their noses were tall and even aquiline. The men grew the hair in their head as long as the women’s but they trimmed their long beards with pincers. Their kinglets were called Hari-hari or Tigulang and were said to occupy their social station on account of their wealth. The Hari-hari took precedence over the principal families who had their own followers or sacopes and was consulted and obeyed even by the gobernadorcillo and other Spanish officials in the locality. He alone had the power to declare war on others, demand satisfaction for insults to his ranch or famstead, and act as an arbiter and court of last appeal after hearing the opinion of the principales in the trials of subordinates. It appeared that the Caragans retained their traditions and native institutions up until the 19th century. The writer of the account attributed this to the close family ties among them. Relatives always sought to live close together. For this reason, they remained inseparable from their native beliefs and believed they would die if forced to abandon them to become Christians. Today, the Caragans are known as the Mandaya.

The Mandaya believe that Mansilatan, the principal god and father of Badla, descended from the heavens to create the world. Afterwards, his son, Badla, also came fown to protect and preserve the world against the evil spirits Pundaugnon and Malimbong (man and woman, respectively). A spirit known as Busao proceeded from Mansilatan and is said to animate fighting men or warriors known as bagani.

When the Mandaya wish to cure someone, priestesses known as bailan invoke Mansilatan and Badla in the religious sacrifice called balilic.

. . . Ten, twelve or more bailanes come together according to the speldor they want to give to the feast. A small altar of the diwata is previously erected in front of the house of the man who spends for the ceremony: the owner comes out with the huge hog and present it to the bailanes in the presence of 100 to 200 invited guest. The hog is set on the altar and bailanes, dressed meticulously for the occasion, immediately gather around it. The Mandayas next sound (the) guimbao music consecrated to the diwatas, as the bailanes keep time with their feet, dancing around the hog and altar, singing “Miminsad”, etc. Shaking from head to foot and swaying from one side to the other, they form several semicircles with their movements. They raise the right arm tothe sun or moon, depending on whether it is day or night, praying for the intention of the patron … All at once the chief bailan separates from the others and pierces with her balarao the victim on the altar. She is the first to share in tha sacrifice, putting her lips to the wound to suck and drink the blood of the animal … The others follow and do the same . . . They return to their place, repeat the dance, shake their bodies, utter cries … (and) converse with Mansilatan who they say has come to them from heaven to inspire them in what they later prophesy.

It could be that the Mandaya’s creation myth was strongly influenced, and hence modified or altered, by Christian mythology. Caraga is the oldest town in Mindanao and has a history of colonization that dates back to the 16th century. The myth of a principal god creating the world is very similar to the Christian story of creation. The notion of gods being exclusively male is also familiar. Moreover, Badla, the son of Mansilatan, also came or descended to the world to protect and preserce it from the evil pair Pundaugnon and Malimbong. Finally, a spirit called Busao, which also originated from Mansilatan, completes the triumvirate.

On the other hand, the bailan, priestesses who officiate in various rituals and ceremonies, appear to be a survival of a more authoctonous tradition and institution. Bailan are diviners, healers, and soothsayers. The description of their roles in rituals, in which they dance, go into a trance and speak in strange voices, believed to be God’s, is strongly evocative of the shamanic techniques of ecstasy.

…during his trance, the shaman seeks to abolish this human condition that is, the consequences of the “fall” and to enter again into the condition of primordial man as it is described in the paradisiac myths. The ecstacy reactualizes, for a time, what was the initial state of mankind as a whole except that the shaman no longer mounts up to Heaven in flesh and blood as the promordial man used to do, but only in the spirit, in the state of ecstacy.

Comparative Analysis of the Three Myths and Conclusion

Of the three mythological creators, only the Tagakaulo made use of an agent, a bird which initiated creation by bringing some bits of soil to the gods who later fashioned it into the earth or the world. All three myths have more than one divinity invilved in creation, and among the three, the Bagobo mythology is distinguished for having the most number of creators, each with its own special creation. Only the Tagakaulo creation myth has a participant who is clearly interested in the welfare of man on earth. Tiumanem, one of the diwata who watched the formation of the earth, came down and planted trees. This diwata also sent the man who was the teller of the myth called Tiumanem “our oldest”, thus ascribing direct kinship between men and gods.

The Bagobo myth is alone (exceot for a T’boli variant) in the myth of Tuglibong, she whose scolding made the sun angry and precipitated its bolting to the high heavens and its present position. The outcome of this mythological event is however, unique in the annals of mythology. All over Southeast Asia and Oceania many similar myths tell the story about the sky being previously close to the earth. This element is regarded as a paradisaic motif, i.e. an expression of lost paradise, of rupture between heaven and earth or the cosmic schism. On the other hand, the outburst of Tuglibong led to a new beginning and a regeneration of life and the world. After the sun rose to its present height, the first people began to build houses on the earth’s surface instead of living in holes under the earth and the mona (primeval ancestors), who were already old, began to have babies!

The Bagobo mythical figure Lumabat has Higaonon and Tagakaulo variants. In the former variant, Lumabat was a folk hero who left the earth (or died) and then became a god himself who continued to provide useful knowledge to his people. In Malita, Davao del Sur, the Tagakaulo have been urging me to visit a place called Lumabat to see for myself his tima-anan or landmarks.

The Bagobo Lumabat is paired with a sister, Mebuyan, who refused to accompany him to the sky country. So, Lumabat went alone. The journey was long, arduous, and full of dangers and followed the typical pattern of a shamanic flight, i.e. descent to hell and final ascent to heaven. Upon reaching the sky country, Lumabat came upon a group of diwata chewing betel nut. As he approached, one of them spat betel juice at his stomach and immedately, Lumabat’s intestines disappeared. From then on he was never again bothered by hunger. Lumabat, of course, became a god himself. This, too, is a pattern of shamanism, Lumabat might have been a great shaman.

In the Mandaya mythology, the various rituals and ceremonies officiated by the bailan invoke the gods Mansilatan and his son, Badla. Although the Bagobo were also known to have the mabalian, priestesses who guard the secrets of their ancestors, their activities have not been described as prominently as have the Mandaya bailan. The bailan in Southern Borneo are acknowledged shamanesses or female shamans, who like the Mandaya bailan, invoke the gods through ecstatic techniques, fall into a deep trance and make prophecies.

Eliade considers shamanism as a great religious tradition among Asiatic peoples, although shamanic phenomena are by no means limited only to them. As a religious experience, shamanism pertains to the genre of “nostalgia for lost paradise”.

… the most representative mystical experience of the archaic societies, that of shamanism, betrays the Nostalgia for Paradise, the desire to recover the state of freedom and beatitude before the “the Fall”, the will to restore communication between Earth and Heaven; in a word, to abolish all the changes made in the very structure of the Cosmos and in the human mode of being by that promordial disruption. The shaman’s ecstacy restores a great deal of the paradisiac condition.

By means of special techniques, the shaman endeavors to rise above the present condition of man and to re-enter the state of primordial condition described in the paradisiac myths. Shamanism is the counterpart of Judeo-Christian mysticism.

From an ethnological perspective, the myths of the Bagobo, Tagakaulo, and Mandaya show a uniqueness adn distinctiveness which is significant considering a number of factors, e.g. interenthnic or mixed marraiges among them and overlapping geograohical boundaries. Although the Bagobo and the Tagakaulo occupy contiguous areas in Davao del Sur and have been known to marry across cultural boundaries within the last one hundred years, their creation myths are clearly distinct from one another. The Bagobo has the most number of creators; the Tagakaulo creators consist of a family of two husbands and their wife, and children which are birds. The Mandaya creator is a father-god.

On the other hand, if we take a broader look at the religious pantheons, we will note some close similarities among the gods. Tiumamen of the Tagakaulo is identical with the Bagobo Eugpomolok Manobo while Lumabat has a Tagakaulo variant. This would seem to leave the Mandaya out of the picture, were it not for the bailan, the Mandaya shamaness. The bailan appears to be an indigenous substratum in the Mandaya tradition. As a pre-Christian institution, it has survived Spanish colonization and Christianization. Lumabat of the Tagakaulo and Bagobo might have been a great shaman. It would seem that shamanism is a unifying element in the religious experiences of the three. As an intensely religious experience, shamanism owes nothing to western mysticism although sharing in its spiritual and religious attributes. If we agree with Eliade, who said that the sacred never ceases to manifest itself, here then is a meeting point between pre-Christian and Christian beliefs.

In what way do these mythologies address ecological concerns?

In covert and sometimes overt terms, the myths of the Bagobo, Tagakaulo,and Mandaya tell us about the meaning and significance of nature in their lives and how they relate to it. The Bagobo gods are guardians of specialized creations, e.g. earth, mountains, water, etc. Each element of the natural environment is regarded as having deeply spiritual attributes and is in fact animated or held to have a life of its own. Spectacular features of the landscape, as in the case of Mt. Apo, exert a powerful influence in their lives, more so because the spirits who were supposed to dwell there were anthropomorphised. In this case, the relationship becomes institutional or social as between fellows in the same social group. The myth of Tuglibong and the sun is particularly interesting. Agricultural peoples commonly weave their myths around celestial bodies which, to a great extent govern their agricultural and economic activities. However, the story of Tuglibong reveals a perception of the sun as a not too benign entity. The Bagobos are known to worship the sun. Even the grim practice of human sacrifice has an ecological significance, nature’s bounty is not free. The Bagobo have to propitiate the gods of Mt. Apo with offerings of human victims in exchange for a bountiful harvest and valor in the battlefield.

The Tagakaulo construed the world as having been molded from bits of soil brought by a bird. Of the three myths, this is probably the most worldly or earthly. That the world as created is less than perfect may be inferred from the act of planting trees on it by one of the diwata that watched the formation of the earth.

Although the bailan experience is spiritual, a motif in the shamanic dance is particularly unusual. The Mandaya bailan calls upon the god to come down instead of her going up: “Miminsad, miminsad, Mansilatan”. (“Come down, come down, Mansilatan:) an insight to a most earthbound worldview.

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The Mamanua Belief System

The Myths of the Bagobo, Tagakaulo and Mandaya: An Ethnological Analysis

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