56 HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINE PROVINCE
THE PAGAN FALSE RELIGION 57
But, since the devil, heartless waster of holy comforts, does not sleep
while our Fathers were hunting these beasts, rushed at the least turn of
one's eyes to sow the bad seed among the best of our wheat, namely, i
n
the village of San Juan del Monte. Though all there had been baptized
and the Christians were many and very good, these same Christians gave
notice of the spark of idolatry, which voraciously was devouring our har-
vest. To better appreciate it, it will first be good to discuss briefly their
idolatrous practices and superstitions in a separate chapter. Then we shall
describe what was happening in Taytay and how it was ended.
CLiore.t, 15
THE PAGAN FALSE RELIGION, IDOLATRIES,
AND SACRIFICES OF THE FILIPINOS
Although on climbing to the dark peak of so much blindness of idolatry,
I find so much confusion of very vile, abominable things characteristic of
their creator, and on digging into the wall of this infernal cave, I uncover
something frightful that made my hair stand on end, seeing so many
beetles, stupid, loathsome, that came only from hell, with the light of
faith as our guide, we shall put them in order so that we may praise
before the all-powerful God all who on opening the eyes, found our-
selves bathed with the eyes of faith, and commiserate with those who,
blind in their darkness love it obstinately, miserably buried in it, unaware
of their miserable situation, nor take into account the evil that oppresses
and tyrannizes them. We shall then discuss, first, what pertains to the
JouugosLuga cqpouugos
wrong belief the Filipinos had of the divinity of their idols, then their
priests, the ministers of their abominable sacrifices", their sacrificial rites,
and the excesses and barbaric vulgar superstitions.
§I. The Idols to which the Filipinos Attribute Divinity
Although all these islanders, especially the Tagalogs as the more rea-
sonable people, had, like the ancient philosophers, some hints of a su-
preme god whom they used to call "Bathalang Maykapal," which means
God the Creator, or Maker, they had no knowledge of him, for they
imagined him to be enveloped and hidden in clouds, as he was for them
with the black cloud of paganism. Like other idolaters, they had better
knowledge of created things, considering them divine, and offering to
them impious sacrifices, according to the role and work which to each
one they assigned. As the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans to
their Jupiter, Mercury, Minerva, Venus, Saturn, Mars, and the other false
gods, so they first adored these others, animals and birds, like the Egyp-
tians; the sun and the moon, like the Assyrians. They attribute its special
divinity to the rainbow, as though learned from the Poets, who made it
the messenger of the gods.
The Tagalogs gave the name "Bathala" to a bluebird as big as the
thrush, which in Castile we call "avejuruco.” The crow they adored, like
the ancients, as the god Pan or the goddess Ceres, but naming it "Maylupa,"
which means lord of the soil. They deeply venerated the crocodile. In all
their thinking, whenever they saw him in the water, they addressed it
"Norio," grandfather. With tender affection, they prayed to him not to
cause them harm, and for this reason, they offered something from what
they brought in the boat, which they threw into the water. There was a
catalonan who was so intimate with one of them in the Manila river, that
she treated it like a domestic pet, which not only awaited what she gave
it to eat, but allowed her to touch it and be anointed with her oils. Not
difficult for Aristotle, who says that these beasts can be tamed like the
others who eat flesh, and Strabo affirms that there were tame geese in
Egypt adored more than in the Philippines, and to the surprise of for-
eigners the priests fed them with their own hands. There was no old tree
to which they attribute divine powers, and it was a sacrilege to think of
felling them for any reason—misuse of the eastern Indios born of their
appreciation of the tree's age or the big size, or, more correctly, of dia-
bolic astuteness, which in our own beginnings made war against us with
the tree. Pliny in his time affirms people having also made use of this
aberration, in this barbarity exceeding those who were content with rais-
ing their altars and putting their statuettes under the shadow of their very
tall and leafy trees. This matter provided matter for concern of the saintly
prophets, zealous for God's honor.
What else? The very stones, peaks, crags, and headlands of seashores
and rivers they adored, going as far as to offer something which they left
idolatrous
on the rock or crag itself when passing by. Both qui tteanacniceinetidcoolautro
practices, for we find them condemned by one o f the ancient councils cils
dcHh
Hi mse lf .
and the most ancient Saints, and furthermorae,robcykGwohi r self-
for many
; years
Many times I saw in the river of Manila
was a id l f this unfortunate people. It scandalized and gave occasion
n o o
58 His ToRy OF THE PHILIPPINE PROVINCE
to serious evils, until the Augustinian Fathers who live close by, in their
holy zeal broke it into pieces and in its place put up a Cross.
Sailing around Panay Island, 1 saw on a rock at the point they ca ll
"Naso” near Potol plates and other clay utensils, which navigators were
offering. On Mindanao island, between Canela and the river, a sharp
point protrudes above a dangerous and deep coast. On these points the
sea always suddenly becomes agitated, and risky and hard to round. As it
is very high, they used to shoot arrows aimed with such force that they
were embedded on the rock itself, as a sacrificial offering to the gods to
allow them to sail by. With my eyes I saw that, enraged at such a cursed
superstition, the Spaniards set them on fire, and burned an uncounted
number; but in less than a year there were embedded again more than
4,000 arrows—so they appeared to us who were sailing by—hence, they
called it "Punta de las Flechas" [Arrow Point].
Only the rivers they failed to adore, like the Parthians and Persians,
who in reverence refrained from spitting in them or washing their hands
in their waters. The Filipinos, on the other hand, do not drink from the
river, although its water is very good, repelled both by the number of
persons without exception bathing in it and the numberless and various
services to which it is applied. For drinking, they make use of the vari-
ous holes they dig on the riverbank itself, which at a shallow depth pro-
vides the water they need, like the Egyptians when their river turned
into blood.
They also used to adore individual idols inherited from their elders,
which the Visayans used to call "diwata," the Tagalogs "anito." They had
idols for their fields, whose permission they asked when crossing with-
out risk; an anito for the crops, to whom they recommended that they be
fertile, and besides sacrifices, left there food to eat; anito for water, from
whom they asked for rain for their crops; anito for the sea, to whom they
recommended their fishing and navigation; anito for their palm trees,
from whom they asked protection from rats and birds which destroyed
their crops; anito for infants, to whom they offered at birth; and anito
when these began to suck. Among these they included their ancestors,
men and women, whom they invoked first in their toils and dangers.
They kept small idols as souvenirs, rather badly sculpted of stone, wood,
gold, bone, or ivory, which they called "likha," or "larawan," just as the
devil propagated the false worship of his Pluto, Pan, Neptune, Nundina,
and the other infernal monsters, with which he has tyrannized the world,
though with changed names.
THE PAGAN FALSE RELIGION 59
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They also included among their gods all who died by the knife, those
devoured by the crocodile, or killed by some lightning, whose souls
they said climbed to heaven by the rainbow, which they call "Balangao."
Many times during their funerals they sacrificed slaves to serve them in a
paradise of their dreams, a superstition which seems similar to that of the
Greeks and Romans, and even of the ancient Scots and other nations,
who deeply honor those who died in war, of whom Cicero wrote much.
As the beginning of the earth, they had only the sky and water, and a
kingfisher between the two. Tired of flying and finding nowhere to perch,
he decided to provoke war between the sky and the water. It ended with
the victory of heaven, which kept the water at a distance, allowing it to
reach only to the shoulders, and filled it with islands and rocks, thus
allowing the kingfisher to satisfy its desire for a perch to build its nest.
Like Estatius producing his arcades from ashen and laurel trunks, the
Filipinos drew the first man from a big bamboo, which we said grow all
over the east. It was only of two nodes, but floating on the water, it reached
the feet of the kingfisher standing on the shore. Irritated that it should
touch its feet, for even the kingfishers have a sense of their own dignity
and could avenge insults, it cracked [the bamboo] open with its beak.
From one node a man came out, from the other a woman. A serious
controversy followed recognized by many arbiters, for the woman re-
fused to be married to the man, her brother. So natural is the women's
decency that even the diabolical fables of the barbarians make the man
an aggressor, the woman modest and shy. These people strictly hold on
to this when arranging marriages, considering it the greatest insult for a
woman to initiate the discussion, or anyone on her behalf, even if she
dies unmarried. Anyway, since the counsel of the fishes and the birds,
which affirmed they were married without dispensation, was unsatisfac-
tory, they appealed to one of the gods, namely, the earthquake, on whose
advice they married and had several children.
From these several brothers descended the various races of peoples
and states. They said that angered at having so many idle and profitless
sons in the house, like the eagles, the two agreed that, pretending anger,
the father, intending to punish them with a stick in his hand, something
they never had known, drove them away. Some escaped to the clothes
room, others to the closet in the house, and from these they say the chiefs
descend; others fled outside, and these are the freemen, whom they call
"timawa"; still others to the kitchen and under the house, and these are
 HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINE PROVINCE
60
the slaves, and finally others to other points, and these are the different
nations. A story to entertain, not badly put together and spread around.
They had their own version of the flood, glory, punishment, and the
other life, hostile demons before whom they trembled and tremble very
much. All quite erroneous, in none with verisimilitude, just as the an-
cient gentiles with theirs, for some describe them in one way, others
another, such that one can see they are all lies and legends without be-
ginning or end. I shall add only one example here as a brief chapter of
one which Fr. Cristobal Jimenez sent me from the Visayas in April 1560.
It says:
I have collected important matters of the errors of these pagans spread
in 130 islands, where they say their dead proceed. There they laugh and
sing, the old become young and live a special life.The trees, whose roots
are chains, bear already ripe fruit, utensils, bells, and "panic-as" are of
0old., the sand on the riverbank is unhusked rice; there is a sea of milk
for the children and another of "linugao" for thj old. They lived and
died, return to life, and they die so many times as to become like very
tiny ants. There is a sea of blood, on whose shore are rosebushes, which
for that reason are called colored.There are islands so thick with bones
that these are the only firewood used, and the pots used for cooking are
skulls. Our race they say descends from a bamboo. The monkey came
out of a second bamboo or node, and so is quite like man. And as the
bamboo grew, they developed and other animals appeared. All men die
because they disobeyed Laon, the greatest of the gods, by killing the fish
which entertained him. And all, young and old, die, because when they
shook the tree of the delicious fruit, the small and big fruits fell.
What else shall I add? I will never end. Let this suffice, that Your
Reverence may laugh, when your tasks allow you.
Thus far, Father Jimenez, who adds words of the region, assuming
that he was writing to someone who would understand them. And al-
though there are only five of them, I want to mention them for the plea-
sure of whoever may read this: isines are pieces of cotton cloth; panicas,
golden earrings; linugao, rice with milk or oil;
tacorongas are flowers simi-
lar to colored marshmallow plants. Their tale of the small size to which
the soul is reduced at the end of so many Pythagorean transmigrations
corresponds to the error of the Japanese who offer viaticum to the souls
because they are small and delicate, otherwise they will die of exhaus-
tion before reaching Paradise, a three days' hike. And while we mention
it once, it reappears in all of these errors.
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THE PAGAN FALSE RELIGION 61
It will be clear that, in their time, Saint Justin Martyr, Clement of
Alexandria, Tertullian, Eusebius of Caesarea, and, in our time, the Mexi-
cans and the Peruvians, the learned Fr. Jose de Acosta of our Society,
mentioned it, all of whom agree in a certain way with our Catholic truth,
covered and darkened by falsehood, like an erased image of which noth-
ing remains except some outlines and traces. Their errors, then, for some
are predispositions towards the faith, for others are blocks. Some are
based on the truth shining and brightening their dark shadows; others
are blinded with so much light after keeping their eyes on the darkness
of their lies, like the stubborn pharaoh with the lights of his magicians.
They had no special temples, like the Parthians and Persians, no pub-
lic days of general festivities common among the ordinary people. We
saw in Tanay only that many houses had another smaller one, like a small
bamboo tower, a bit quaintly built. From the main house they pass to it
through a short bridge, also of bamboo. Here they kept their clothes and
other handicrafts, to cover the mystery of the infamous outhouse. But as
some converts informed me, they are really dedicated to the anito, even if
they did not sacrifice there, and it served only to make them claim it as
their own, like the rest of their possessions. For that reason they main-
tained in it something they valued, particularly a rooster, like the ancient
pagans.
They then had to have an outhouse, out of their need to pass by it
when going on a journey, as Elias said of the others. We had them taken
down, until not one was left.
The Visayans, too, had at the entrance to their villages a rather bad
small bamboo outhouse, which served as a place for sacrifice. In other
places, these are scattered in the forests, hidden from the ministers of
justice, especially after the Faith arrived. In general, however, it was rare
to have a common temple, unlike the ancient pagans, nor did they come
together for celebrations by law or tradition. They had no special place
for sacrifice which they offered for the entire community; but each one
individually offered a sacrifice for his intention or whim in the village or
on the fields. They elected for it a minister, male or female—there were
a number of them out of devotion or desire. They invited all from their
village and others from around according to the solemnity of the sacri-
fice and the resources of the one offering it. I saw in Mindanao in one
place attached outside of houses bamboo galleries wrought not badly;
but, yes, inside, badly sculpted idols of spongy pole, like wrought bam-
boo. In front I saw an earthen pot with some embers and a little smoke,
which must have been of the sacrifice.
62 HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINE PROVINCE
§2. The Ministers of Their Sacrifices
Although they had no temples or feast days, they had priests, male
and female, whom the Tagalogs call "catalonan," the Visayans "babaylan."
He, or she, was one who with greater shrewdness yielded to the devil to
be fooled by him, or deceive the blinded people. Fr. Antonio Sedefi o
related that when he was in Florida, he exposed before the natives one
of these cheats who had been deceiving them, by claiming he could cure
them by placing reed on the most painful spot the patient felt and through
the mouth drew out from the opposite part the air inside. Then he spat
out three pebbles he claimed came from the body and were the cause of
the sickness. Father once successfully made him spit out the pebbles
before applying the reed and in this way uncovered the falsehood.
In Eastern India there were some beans the Portuguese say are from
Malacca, and are the physicians' Anacard. One of these, cut by a knife
point and brought near the flame of a candle, throws of sparks, ashes,
and flames when it starts burning. These leading cheats need nothing
more to make them believe that in those flames they see the.spirits which
tell them as much as they lie, which, since they are barbarians, people
easily believe.
By this scheme, others used to concoct a thousand tricks on the simple
Filipinos, especially in times of sickness, which afflict and worry them
very much. Then, they would want the cure, and the one who brings or
promises it they esteem, trust, adore, and give all they have. Actually,
there are, however, some who have a special link with the devil, who
assists and provides with a very special help, speaks to them through their
idols or anitos, pretending they are their dead whom they adore. At other
ti mes, posing in the person of the ministers in the brief time of the sacri-
fice, they cause them to utter things that frighten and scare those present.
More than twenty years after writing this, it came to my notice, around
1616, that on the island of Bohol some poor women used to deceive sick
people, in order to earn some pay, by telling them a particular leaf of a
tree or a reed inside them was causing the sickness, which they would
remove to cure them. They carry it hidden, and touching the sick, they
showed it, telling them they had removed it from the body. This hap-
pened to someone with an injured foot. After saying what caused it, the
woman soon showed a piece of bamboo which she claimed she had
taken out and after paying her, the patient could be cured. Then the leg
started to become painful and developed a hard scar, with such great pain
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THE PAGAN FALSE RELIGION 63
that for two months the patient cried out with pain. She finally became
lame, but at her own cost, realizing how little they b enefit from such lies.
This despicable dignity is preserved by teaching the office out of friend-
ship or blood ties, or leaving it as an inheritance. But it was a profession
and means of earning for lazy people who live on someone else's sweat.
Hence, after the occasion has passed, when they were rather curious to
know what would happen—sickness, a battle, a journey, or a voyage—
people no longer respected them; nor, except for this reason only, were
they esteemed among them, unless besides, they have power or wealth,
as we said.
§3. The Barbarity of Their Sacrifices
Since the honor of the catalonans and babaylans did not come from
respect and reverence, their sacrifices are not offered out of devotion or
religion, but out of curiosity to know what would result and in passing, if
one would benefit by regaining one's health. Many times, then, if the
catalonan did not ask for it, people did not remember to offer it, al-
though ordinarily it was considered a matter of honor. Hence, when
they note that the sickness begins to weaken, they called their catalonan
and asked for a sacrifice to see if the sickness was deadly or not. The
leaders again built a house purposely for this sacrifice, big and spacious
according to their possibilities. Since many came to help and the materi-
als were readily at hand, it was quickly finished.
The patient was moved in when the house was finished, the catalonan
came and a slave had to be sacrificed (they used to kill as many as three),
or instead, a sea turtle, which abounds here in the east, or also mollusks,
gigantic, big as shields, and had the best sea eggs. With no altar or any-
thing like it, they placed the offering beside the patient, for the bed is
merely a mat of palms that they call "banig." Distributed on the floor,
they placed as many as the number of guests small tables without a table
cloth as is customary in this Archipelago, but with different dishes. After
the catalonan had killed the hog, she anointed the patient and those
present with its blood. Then taken out for skinning and cleaning, it served
as the first dish. Speaking through her teeth, with her mouth still full of
the meat, she opened and examined in everyone's view the entrails, like
the ancie n t augurers of Tuscany, of whom the perceptive Pacuvius said he
knew more of others' entrails than their own. Next, the devil took hold
of her like the ancient Pythonesses, or she pretended it with grimaces
 HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINE PROVINCE
64
and movements of hands and feet, frothing in the mouth, and returning
or die. If the fi rst, they
to herself, she declared the patient would l ive
continued eating and chanting the epic stories of the patient's ancestors ;
or to honor the anito, for whom the feast is held, and danced until they
collapsed. If death, they mitigated the prospect of death by praising the
sick, now chosen by the anito to make him one of them, because of his
good qualities, while entrusting themselves to him once he was in his
Kingdom, and a thousand other lies and flatteries, with which the unfor-
tunate person could swallow death. His relatives and friends the catalonan
commanded to honor him, naturally, as an anito and consider him one,
while giving him more food and drink in the short time that remained
for him to live. And if in effect he dies, as could happen by auto-sugges-
tion, they proceeded in the manner we shall describe when we talk of
their burials. Whatever happened, the catalonan left with no moderate
profit. Besides the offering and the fee for her work, all who came in and
all who so wished, offered some gold, some rice, some cotton, some
chickens, threads, cloth, as well as other fruits and vegetables of the land.
Identical practices were held for war and journeys, to know the re-
sult, following in detail the catalonan's tricks, like Ahab, the King of Is-
rael, his false prophets. But even without reason or need, although for a
few times, others used to do the same thing out of pure boasting and
vanity. These great public festivities they called "feast of the great god," to
honor although without knowing him, like the Athenians who used to
celebrate it under a roof of leaves next to the house which the chief fixed
as he wanted, put up even if only temporarily, covered as in the old days
with palm leaves, completely surrounded by tapestries in their style, like
those of the Moors, the whole thing sewn together from several varicol-
ored pieces. When those of the village and invited guests from the area
had come together, the catalonan ordered that the most beautiful and
best dressed girl to perform the duty of dancing and piercing the hog
with a lance, which was cut into pieces and distributed like consecrated
bread. Even if other hogs were killed, and they ate it with other dishes,
this was the one most liked and taken reverently; although, as always,
there was more drinking, accompanied by music and dancing.
Marriage likewise is solemnized with a sacrifice. Once the union is
agreed on and the dowry given, the catalonan and the hog came, like the
practice in Tuscany. The ceremonies we described are performed, while
the spouses are seated in their room in the presence of a pair of old
women who acted as sponsors. These offered them with their hands food
and drink on the same plate and glass, a Galatian ceremony. The groom
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THE PAGAN FALSE RELIGION
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declared that he was taking her as his wife, she accepted him, and the
catalonan, or babaylan, called down a thousand blessings on them: "May
your marriage be blessed, may you have many rich and brave children
and grandchildren." And there were others of the same style which the
devil knew well to teach them, stolen from Psalm 127.With this, the hog
is killed, the rest exhausted from dancing and singing, everyone ,drunk
and asleep.
If the newlyweds are not happy, another sacrifice is offered, during
which the groom himself danced and speared the animal, while talking
with his anito, offering it to peace and harmony with his wife. At the end,
he kept quiet, trusting that from then on the two would live happily
together, and enjoy their marriage in peace.
They perform similar barbaric, dirty, and loathsome sacrifices with-
out reason on a thousand other occasions. It would be more a bore than
a delight to describe and listen to them. The above suffices as an example:
.
But I shall not omit my admiration in seeing the devil's sheer shrewd-
ness and astuteness to inflict evil on us, on the one hand, doing it with his
two hands better than Aod harming, and driving among his own the
herd of sows, certainly reprimanded by God, and, on the other, approv-
ing and urging it as much as it is dedicated to him and, let us say, conse-
crating through sacrifices the holiest and revered them among all nations.
Here one sees the simplicity and the perfection of good, which neither
admits a stain nor extends the evil, the breath and malice of evil, which is
a stranger to contradictions to revulsions. This is what the philosophers
say, that is, the bad is against both good and evil, while the good is against
evil only. What is worse than to abet and reprove? The devil admits both
in regard to the same object, namely, a hog from which nothing much
can be expected but among idolaters highly valued as the first animal
sacrificed to their false idols. Hence, among the Greeks, it is called "delpha
kathiai" and among the Latins "eximii." On the other hand, he makes it
so abominable among Jews and Muslims, as among elephants and lions,
such that even its smell nauseates and causes one to vomit. All this, with-
out considering the reasons which the philosophers have to rate them as
good, nor those which God Himself had for condemning it, since for
everything there is a reason, which anyone who wishes can find in the
glosses to Holy Scripture and in the writings of the saints who discuss
them. Two things follow: hating the animal, which is not bad, and loving,
accepting, and imitating the evil signified and banned, namely, stupidity
and a bestial life until one becomes a beast, as Saint Irenaeus noted.
 66 HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINE PROVINCE
§4. Omens and Absurdities
What shall I say about their auguries and absurdities, if even Chris-
tians, the simple and the ignorant, even those considered as knowin g
something, are weighed down by what pagans and savages would do? It
is pitiful and painful to hear of the remnants of the chains constricting
them on this matter, like the other idolaters, and, on the other hand, their
laughable irrational traditions. That is why I thought of including here
some examples, in order to judge these and the rest, as the poet Menander
said to a superstitious man trembling over a bad incident when he broke
the string of a baste as he was putting on his right shoe, saying either in
jest or seriously, " Well, it is rotten anyway and you are such a miser as to
refuse to buy a new one." And Brion, the philosopher, to another miser
who considered it a bad omen when a rat had gnawed a basket, "Strange,
if he had found nothing to eat inside!" Another could be a •druggist,
surprised at finding a snake curled around his brass mortar and whom
the philosopher Diogenes nicely consoled with the words, "It would
have been more surprising if the hand of the mortar had curled around
the snake!"
The wise and orthodox Clement of Alexandria mentions these and
other tales to condemn this rather stupid vice, which I omit, lest I leave
out what I ought to say about our Filipinos. But I should mention an
i mportant note of Eusebius of Caesarea about what happened to Alexander
the Great on his voyage to the Red Sea. At a seer's suggestion, he sud-
denly ordered a stop while they were marching to the field, until they
knew the flight of a bird perched there. Since at this time, a certain Jew
armed with a crossbow or bow shot the bird in anger over the supersti-
tion and killed it, the great man reprimanded him. Scolded, he answered
that this bird which could not protect itself from danger, could not lead
them on a safe road. But let us now go to our Filipinos.
If the owl, an excellent omen for the Greeks, perched on your roof at
night, that signaled death. Lest they lose the house which by no means
they would occupy, they added to newly built houses a scarecrow. When
they saw a snake in a newly built house, if they came across one on the
road, even if it was one very important business, they refused to continue
ahead; likewise, when they hear someone sneeze or a lizard singing.
When a rat screeches, to the Romans quite mysterious, they beg it to
leave and go elsewhere, for they consider it a bad omen. The same when
a dog howls, also a Spanish abuse, like a horse's neighing, to the Ger-
mans. A broken rainbow is a sign of death. Fishermen do not take the
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first catch of the net or coral, for they say no others will come around—
a n error shared by all the rest who totally believe, as weighty authors
mention, that birds, animals, and fishes have their own language, each
according to his species, by which they understand one another. Thus,
they say that if a fish escaped from the net, no one else of that species
would be seen in that same part, as though it had warned the rest by
reporting the bad news. Much less in a fisherman's house should one
speak of new nets, nor in the hunter's of newly bought dogs, until these
caught a prey and the nets were useful—as though words could infuse or
remove power from nets or dogs.
A pregnant woman ought on no occasion to cut her hair, lest the child
be born bald. Well, dreams! There were no interpreters of dreams to
worry them, and they died to know what the dreams meant, like the
Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar. Those traveling overland should not men-
tion anything about the sea, and sailing, they should not take along a bird
or an animal. On setting out, they rocked the boat or ship, and left it
keeling. If it swayed more on the right, it was a good; if on the left, bad,
and they did not sail out.
Add to this a set of lots, ordinarily stringed like a flagellum, pig's
fangs tied along, or a crocodile's, and other abhorrent things. If on twist-
ing the strings in the hands each one becomes more entangled, it is good
luck.
One would never end if we mention in detail their tricks, fortunes,
spells, absurdities, and omens, each one unreasonable and blindness in
the past, now an embarrassment and an insult. To one who understands
and appreciates in the light of truth, pain and deep regret for past losses,
now disillusion, consolation, joy, and unceasing thanks for God's great
goodness.
Como,
16
SUPERSTITIONS UNCOVERED
I N SAN JUAN
DEL MONTE AND THEIR REMEDY
The demon used to spread around the village of San Juan del Monte
a terrible pestilence of idolatrous practices, born of the ancient remnants
of paganism remaining among some people of this village, like live coals
in the embers as I shall describe.
 HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINE PROVINCE
112
from their mothers, not even the wise Athenians from their legitim ate
sisters, something rather unworthy of intelligent people. Let us not ad-
mire the Incas of Peru who consider this a noble thing, and let us keep i n
mind that the Filipinos are a more intelligent people than the Incas and
Athenians.
CA-apte.t
USURY AND SLAVERY AMONG THE FILIPINOS
With the other vices common among these nations, effect of idolatry
the source and abyss among them, one is insatiable greed, mentioned by
the evangelist Saint John among the three that tyrannize the world. This
makes them unmindful of the natural affection we owe one another, un-
caring of others in times of need, without a guarantee of profit, when
one's food on traveling was consumed, as indicated.
But in lending, the father his son, a son his mother or brother, and
much less their relatives, they would not be able to come to their aid,
even when they saw them in extreme and utter need, without guarantee
of double repayment. If one failed to pay on the deadline, or before,
unless it had been agreed beforehand, the debtor became a slave. It was
the same when they ransomed someone from enemies' hands. Hence,
what the captive won was enslavement under his relative, brother or son,
and after him his descendants.
Many enslaved themselves, like good buoys for galleys, offering them-
selves to some leading person for a moderate price. Others who failed to
obtain enough for the dowry enslaved themselves to his future wife. Since
it is the custom for the firstborn son to belong to the father, he had to be
the mother's slave, and so on with the third and the fifth, and the rest
accordingly, and not only the mother but also her own brothers, too,
unless they were ransomed, as we shall see later. Since the second son,
the fourth, and so on belonged to the mother, they were therefore free
like her, and lords of the father and his other brothers. But if the son is
the only one, or the third, of the last of so many children, half belonged
to the father, the other to the mother, and therefore was a half-slave. This
same arrangement was followed when divorced, and when a slave mar -
ried a free woman, or, slaves of several masters—today there are many --
and they served by turns for months, or as their masters allowed;
USURY AND SLAVERY AMONG THE FILIPINOS
113
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They also enslaved through tyranny and cruelty, in revenge or as pen-
, be utti mwehfi aclhse tl
orosttrioflfesth
alties fm made pretexts for damages,
m or as if they
yh, edyishonestly, abusively, in the ma
were,
manner off the
i mpiouspitenbgeul.p
gr ain in the field, a root o
or fruit in an orchard, or some
fish in the pen, snare, or net; or if one spoke to anyone or to his wife
strongly, or spoke a word that did not sound proper; or, if while quarrel-
ing in one's house a leading man was passing by and overheard an inju-
rious word; if chaff from the mortar when pounding rice fell on someone;
if in front of that house the knot of the mantle his wife was wearing
loosened, or the wind blew away what the women use as a hat; if some-
one unsuspecting passed by while one was bathing—on these and other
uncounted serious and quite atrocious cases of this style and these cir-
c umstances, they deprived other miserable people of their freedom with
the tyranny of the Neros, enslaved them and their children, and many
ti mes their wives and relatives.
They say of the King of Borno, which is in the interior of Ethiopia
near the sources of the Niger River, that he greatly values the African
horses which in Rome are esteemed and known as barbarian, and offers
for one 15,20 slaves eager for battle against the surrounding nations. Our
Filipinos, with fewer horses and without the possibility of war, kept them
indoors. Can there be a worse evil than to lodge a guest from another
village or from one's own, principal or timawa, and while feasting, depart
from his house and leave him alone with his wife in order to trap him
thus, that he was soliciting her; or, provoke him to anger and impose a
penalty or enslave him?
In their fights, they also captured those they could. Since these were
so ordinary, although cruel acts were more often, the slaves were un-
counted, not of distant nations, but of their own regions and villages, and
even of their relatives, against all divine and human law. Idolatry is so
heartless. They valued them much, kept them, after gold, as their greatest
riches. Hence, there was, and today there is a principal with 100, 200, or
even 300 slaves. A single judge emancipated more than 2,000 in one
Visayan province. He was the accountant Bustamante, visiting the prov-
slaves
81 Although the number of sl
ince in the Catholic King's name, in
. 5 Persians, and Romans, who had
is not as big as those of the Heb reW s
them in the thousands, and even of our Castilians in the sugar and live-
li
f the Filipinos are so ve-
l a ve
glse o
m
stock farms in these Indies, since these s s i n
stock be excessive.
sired but cruelly treated, 100 slaves of any
114 HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINE PROVINCE
It is true that slaves were, as in the old days, were almost on an equal
footing with their masters. They carry out the commands and sit at table
beside them, as if they had read about it in Seneca. Many have a house
and dwelling, wife, children, and property, like the slaves of the ancient
Germans. I have known one, like Zyba, Jonathan's slave, almost as rich,
with his own slaves, like his master.
Still, despite this, they take it bad not enjoying freedom, which i s
worth more than all the gold there is. Still, there are more vassals than
slaves, and hence are called "aliping namamahay" among the Tagalog s ,
"namamalay" among the Visayans. Their only obligation is to serve annu-
ally with a certain amount of their harvests, accompany the chief on his
war campaigns, after which the master and the slaves share half of the
booty each, and in peace time they are at his summons. They also aided
greatly in constructing and repairing the house, sometimes with the crops,
something they do only for a meal. Neither they nor their descendants
had other obligations to their master, they could not be sold, but are
inherited. But if the heir was of or transferred to another village, he
could not bring them there.
The true slaves, among Tagalogs called "sagigilid" and among Visayans
"halom," were the war captives, or those condemned in punishment, or
made by debts, born as slaves in the house, and these could be sold. But
the last, considered as relatives, they never sold. They kept them in the
house, and what they earned belonged entirely to the master, which
determined the ransom price, for which they made savings.
If the master sired a child with his slave, she was freed and the infant
became an heir, as is discussed in its place. But if the slave woman be-
longs to another, the infant remains a slave, if the father refuses to ac-
knowledge and raise it, while the master pays its mother a half-tael of
gold in compensation for lost service due to her pregnancy; otherwise,
the infant remains a slave.
As big fish devour the small, so, too, the slaves destroyed one another.
If anyone among them wants a good master, all one did was to escape
from the old master and take refuge in the house of another, who, even at
a loss, could be sold at a lower price, even if perhaps one could be sold
higher.
A slave, if due to debt, redeemed himself by merely paying the usurious
double rate on the deadline. Otherwise, the debt doubled by the month,
until it lasts for a year. Like other nations, they marked the month by th e
moon, as well as by the trade or southwest winds seasons, planting
, Y
THE SOCIETY GOES TO IBABAO
115
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h a rvesting, or gleaning times.
At the end of the year, if the principal and
interest are paid, the slave is free; if not, there is
b e hereditary slaves, in this manner: no other solution than to
Ransom for hereditary
slaves is 10 gold taels, equivalent to 80
ocho, besides half of the slave's more or less house jewelry. One reales de
had to
give half of everything, even if only one out of two
pots, a price perhaps
not c h e aper than that of the Romans. To
make this payment, the slave
prepared a banquet for his master, even if
several come like flies to honey.
The ransom is paid during the meal,
and witnesses from those present
attest that the master was satisfied and grants the poor slave his desired
freedom.
Ch4Tpt&t, ZZ
THE SOCIETY GOES TO 113ABAO
Ibabao is the first island the discoverers knew, then with the name
"Ibabao:' which must be among the natives a place-name there. It is the
first spot one reaches after sailing past the Ladrones Islands during the
crossing of the vast Mar del Sur in the voyage from New Spain. Hence, it
was the first good sign of the end of this lengthy navigation.
lets,The circumference they consider 160 leagues. It is between 15° and
12° east-west, its figure like a headless body, without legs from the knees
down, a rather unusual shape. Though surrounded by innumerable is-
one of which is Batac that forms with them Cabo Espiritu Santo, its
tall mountain ranges, towering above all the other peaks, their daughters,
serve as a clear landmark of the Archipelago for the Castilians looking for
it. Between them on the left hand, and the large island of Manila on the
right, one enters the Philippines, on leaving the Ladrones or Islands of
Sails 300 leagues behind. Likewise, it has a narrow strait with Leyte Is-
land on the south. That is why many Castilian ships which have entered
through it on arrival had, with strong winds, turned around, seeking the
Port of Cebu for safety.
The first Jesuit to evangelize this island was Fr. Francisco de Otazo,
f
rom Alocer of the kingdom of Toledo. As we said, with six companions,
Fath er Raman reached it from Western Ibabao on 19 October 1596. One
mpanions—one a
of them was this Jesuit, left there with two other co
priest called Bartolome Mattes, who did not remain long with
" ng
 HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINE PROVINCE
108
Gladly their governor and others went out to meet him. Right th en and
there he talked about their conversion, and he put in writing the Prayers
to learn them. The others imitated them on this, not onlyy
their children later, for whom he opened a successful school, among
whom many were so intelligent, though still very young, that it W
derful to see a child who could hardly lift the missal flawlessly and de_
ts ew
voutly serving at Mass. Many of these children helped us also to catec c hiz e
and instruct their elders, prepare them for holy baptism, aiding them to
receive it without delay, as a child only 4 years old did to his father.
Noting the latter was a bit tepid towards this, he so strongly insisted
sot d that
inspired and made his father ask for it unceasingly. Not only did chil-
dren do this to their parents, but they interceded before us
behalf, doing everything lest we put off their baptism.
Something happened once to a child of this area, who, despite his
tender years, showed the value they gave to or evangelical law to root it
in their hearts. He was among unbaptized people eating meat on Friday.
Innocently, he began eating with them. At the first mouthful, remem-
bered what day it was, he spat it out under the house, and with great
effort hurried to our house to say he had committed a grave sin. Edified
and happy over this clear sign of his Faith, though so new and untried,
Ours assured him, quieted him, and sent him back happy.
Without any difficulty, all of these people became Christians. But
one, with three wives, all leading people like him, found it very hard.
Although he felt bad leaving the two, he regretted more having to lose
the dowry. On knowing this difficulty, our good Father, who quite re-
gretted that for his temporal profit this man could lose the eternal, with
God's inspiration, made use of a good trick. He approached the woman
the man most loved and persuaded her to be baptized. She wanted it and
not much persuasion was needed. So she said, adding that, even if it
would pain her husband, she was going ahead, nor would she return to
their house, but go directly to that of a Christian who could teach and
prepare her. She not only said this in secret to Father, but also to the
husband himself in the presence of many others. As her words, so wer
her actions. She was very solemnly baptized amid celebrations, dan oes'
and merrymaking. Seeing it, her husband dismissed the other two, gi ving
them back their dowry. Freed from this impediment, he was baptized
ast
and married as a Christian. Their baptism was on Easter Sunday, t he fe
of the glorious resurrection of Christ our Lord. Eleven other leading
people were baptized with him that same day , also with much fea sting
and rejoicing, and the presence of many people.
MATRIKAONY, DOWRY, AND DIVORCE 109
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n
With such pace in two years, almost 2,000 in Ormoc, Canamucan,
Binagiohan, and Baybay were baptized. These two Fathers went by land
and sea looking for these souls in these places, drawing them out of the
mountains and forests where the devil kept them hidden, civilized and
humanized them with Christian charity and the teachings of the Gospel.
A leading man from Ormoc, whose name I did not know, helped
them greatly. Though indifferent initially, on his conversion, he so turned
to God that, baptized with his wife, they did not stop either at night or
during the day to convince and teach, he, the men, his wife the women,
the two together everyone, starting with their parents, and present the
people asking for baptism to the Fathers, not only in their place but also
in this whole area. In a short time they converted the number of people
we mentioned.
Many more would have become Christians if the two Fathers had
much more help to be able to attend to so many. Here one sees how
much is accomplished winning over a leader who brings along the rest of
the members, and how rightly the Holy Father Alexander I is praised, for
having converted to the Faith a good number of the Roman nobility.
Among the many problems that made conversion difficult, not only
of the people in Ormoc, but also of those all over Leyte and the other
islands, who with God's favor, were won over, two in particular were
especially mentioned by the Fathers: multiple wives and usury. As for the
wives, a man had two, three, four, or six. Usury led to the slavery of the
indebted. Lending to many a small amount, he not only became the
creditor, but the lord of those indebted to him, making use of them as
slaves, until they paid off the debt completely. But to understand clearly
both abuses, it is necessary to discuss them in detail, and see their mar-
riage and slavery practices.
ZO
MATRIMONY, DOWRY, AND DIVORCE
e AMONG FILIPINOS
Though not knowing Plato's Republic, or Aristotle's Politics, our Filipi-
nos used a system of preserving and expanding their line through natural
aws, practiced marriage better than the German barbarians whom
l
Aristotle himself condemned, for, according to the statements of Plato
and Lycurgus, they had common wives.
 HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINE PROVINCE
110
We have said that the Filipinos marry in the presence of the catalonan,
or babaylan. These perform the sacrifices, pronounce their cursed bene-
dictions, although without the verbiage and subtleness of the ancient
Greek and Roman marriages. Ridiculing this, Camiucus said that on
seeing silver, the betrothed hurried to get married, without awaiting the
auguries.
Previous to this, our Filipinos celebrate on agreeing on the dowry,
The man promises the amount the woman indicates, and after agreeing,
they proceed to the espousals, most of the time with the conventional
bond, paid with no hope of repayment. Hence, once agreed on the
amount, the groom, like the Thracians, Assyrians, Germans, and Vizcayans,
and in total violation of canon and civil law, he and she promise, or the
parents in their name, that they would marry before a deadline, under
pain of paying so much if the promise is violated. The offender pays. But
they, or their relatives, do not consider it an affront, or feel themselves
terribly spurned, in exchange for the fine, which, however, is not exces-
sive. It is true, if the parents are the ones held, the children are free of the
obligations when they die, with no difficulties, by merely restoring what
has been paid as dowry.
Besides the above, now marriage includes the presentation of the
betrothed with the dowry, not to the future bride, but to her parents or
relatives, as though selling her, as in Mesopotamia and other nations. The
parents convert it into an asset equally shared among all the children as
inheritance equally shared with the other properties when the father
dies. The other relatives are merely guarantors who keep it intact, to give
it when the children come, at the latest, almost like the custom of the
Tartars who, until the wife gives birth, she is not considered such by the
husband, nor is she in possession of the dowry.
Besides the dowry they usually present other gifts to the parents and
the relatives, including even the slaves, more or less according to the
suitor's condition. So did Abraham's slave in Mesopotamia when he ar-
ranged the marriage of the obedient Isaac with the wealthy Rebecca, and
King Assuerus with Esther.
The Tagalogs usually did not have many wives. But they were al-
lowed, with license from the legitimate wife, to have children from their
slave women, like the ancient Patriarchs. The Visayans traditionally mar-
ried several, all legitimate, like the Ethiopians of Prester John—called
"Avicenni," although Christians, but heretical schismatics—the Chinese,
Hebrews, and others. But Visayan and Tagalog women do not marry many
MATRIMONY, DOWRY, AND DIVORCE
husbands, unlike the Medes, who, the
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more the husbands, the more they 11
are honored. Others in Calicut have seven or eight husbands. The Ro-
man matrons are described in Pretaxtatus's
restrained and pleasant satire
as more dependent as
reported by Macrobius and Aulus Gelius.
O nly on the island of Mindanao was it known that the women not far
from Dapitan have two husbands, as before those
in ancient Lacedaemonia.
They frequently and very easily separated, though one does not ex-
change his wife with his friend's, as they do in Calicut, like the Hebrews,
Romans, Ethiopians, and others. On the slightest pretext, the husband
leaves the wife, the wife the husband, the initiating side losing only the
dowry. Hence, if she starts it, the husband returns it to her, but if he starts
it, she keeps it without further obligations. The children of the divorced
are shared equally, as we shall see of slaves.
No formal ceremonies formalized the separation as with a contract,
like the Romans and Jews, but one merely leaves the other at will. But,
even in passing, I shall also say to condemn this abuse that our Lord Jesus
Christ said among the Jews, separation was allowed in condescension to
their hard hearts. The Romans never practiced it, since Romulus banned
it, until after 600 years after the foundation of Rome, as in De AIonogamia
the very weighty doctor Tertullian and others affirmed. Then, it was al-
lowed for one of four causes: adultery, witchcraft, falsifying keys, or drinking
wine. Among the Romans a woman drinking wine was quite degrading.
Formerly, as proof of this unbroken custom, as Plutarch explains in Prob-
lems, they used to burn at weddings five wax candles, an indivisible num-
ber. But the Holy Spirit emphasized this, attributing the fickleness of
their marriages to stupidity, and other very serious sins, to idolatry, call-
ing it the cause, the beginning, and the end of everything evil.
The Visayans, especially the Hiligaynons in Panay, consider in marry-
ing only women of their own lineage and closeness of consanguinity, like
the ancient Patriarchs and Arabs. Intimacy with a woman not of their own
blood and kinship they considered a great crime punishable for life, like
the Hebrews, who had a law to marry a woman of their own tribe.
The Tagalogs do not take as much account of this. They are satisfied
that they are not of a lower condition. Neither side finds an impediment
ethxeceoptthtehre nfiart st degree. An yuncle and his niece marry quite easily, as well
ther and sister, grandfather and
asfirstcum sinucs;hbuletssbyfanthoeirneaannds dbarotig n this they are much like all
astathey are so different from
n
nations, especially
e untamed beasts, did not abstain
C h rhitseti.ra nQ
s, w u'
the Arabs, Persians, and Parthiathne h o li k

HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINE PROVINCE
130
entire island. At some of these, the inhabitants do what Strabo describes
what the people of the Nile do for the recreation of their kings, namely , SHROUDING AND BURIAL AMONG THE FILIPINOS
at each cataract, drop, boat and passengers down, without risk or harm.
The people of Loboc do this daily, and not only that, but they navigate
these slopes or breaks against the strong current with just their paddles.
It is true they move up along the riverbank, where the pressure of the
water is less, and they sail as though down a canal, where the water is not
less, for sailing heavily as in the middle. In the Tajo River, the Catholic
King Philip II spent some funds to remove these cataracts or falls, but not
all along the route from Toledo to Lisbon. In the Po River, we know
these falls, which are also steep, have been smoothed with works, with a
very strong dam and its lock. This is closed to hold the water for the boat
to enter as it sails downstream, and then, it is opened to release the water,
and the boat continues downstream. On the other hand, going back the
opposite way, when they enter the compartment, they open the counter
door, stop the water and holding it, the boat then proceeds upward. An
ingenious way worthy of human talent and for which we must thank
God who inspired it, and those who invented it. The divine faith which
in a short time has enriched the life of our Boholanos, will ennoble
them so much more as time goes, that those of Loboc may do the same.
With it, make their island another paradise, which it can become, as it is
rich and fertile, and they are naturally a people of valor and in heavenly
concerns generous.
These Fathers rejoiced indeed with such progressive results, seeing
these people, unlike those of Cebu, their neighbors, did not observe the
custom of marrying many women—a disease, which the Fathers at Ibabao
and Leyte strongly regretted, when they came upon this abuse greatly
blocking the conversion of many, who otherwise had nothing else to
stop them from receiving holy baptism.
The Boholanos not only did not practice this, or had any other abuses
of others that could block their conversion, for all abandoned them with
their idols. These Fathers desc rib e
d for us two in particular. Although not
peculiar to those of this island, but are common to all of the others, I
wish to describe them, for a better understanding and a clearer picture of
this report.
One concerns their dead, the way they shrouded and interred the
corpse; the other, their banquets and feasts and drunkenness. I shall de-
scribe both as they are observed generally.
SHROUDING AND BURIAL AMONG THE FILIPINOS
131
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elfrata4 Z5
Several times I have wondered how quite easily these islanders fall
sick and die. We shall describe their diseases and their medicines later, as
m
uch as our narrative demands. Now I shall discuss only two things of
his easiness I came upon and noted.
t
The first pertains to the disease which, in two, three, or five days, kills,
and even sometimes, in one day or one night. It is true they recover and
are cured as easily. The second is the manner of dying, without such
squeamishness, agony, resistance, that they die in the manner of the Pa-
triarch Jacob, without much ado, and almost without being missed (a
death which the Greek calls euthanasia, Cornelius Tacitus mitem obitum-
gentle death—as the Emperor Augustus wished). Furthermore, like other
natural things, when and how they want it, better than the patriarch
Alexander about whom Saint John Damascene writes that, pained by a
certain fault, it was not enough that he should die. It was a saving among
the Spaniards that the Indios brought about their death, as I knew from
what they did in Mexico and in Hispaniola, when stopping over there on
my way to the Philippines.
But about the Filipinos, particularly the Tagalogs, I can say that those
old people, so difficult to carve like hard marble, after consulting the
devil through their superstitious lots and sacrifice purposely offered by
their catalonans, decided to die. Lying down on their miserable beds,
their children offered them gifts, took care to serve them a little food,
each day less, until they killed them through hunger or weakness.
I have known some die this way although I did not understand it.
After they had churches, they considered it disgraceful not to be buried
in them, in appreciation for the solemnity of our funeral rites, which
they a re extremely given to imitate. Hence, when an old man laid down
e,dhis children and his relatives provided themselves with wax, the
c o ffin, and everything else needed for burial, since they already took
him for dead. They urged the priest to administer the sacraments to him,
if he was a Christian; to baptize him, if not. Although in his heart he
t
ulandit e
to something e ls e , this pleased the poor old man, in order only to
ant .
e
njoy this honor, while the devil, as they surrender his soul, leaves them
do what they

132 HIS -FOR) OF THE PHILIPPINE PROVINCE
I asked how these differed from those along the Tiber, of whom Saint
Jerome writes that they executed the old to put them to death; or fro m
the Persians, who buried them alive, the Scythians and Derbae, who be-
headed and ate them? I will say that in these cases, they died believi ng
they would be deified, as the catalonan claimed. And with this trick and
ignorance, they yielded and died, showing in their sickness and death, i n
all their actions a seriousness and in their opinion a godly manner, which,
besides the natural tendency of these people, like the others, obliged
them to respect venerable old age and adore them as an anito, a dignit y
which, among other nations, only the Kings aspired to.
The Visayans, a people of less punctiliousness, did not resign as much
to death, nor resigned themselves to die with as Much good will. But
thev. too, died quickly and easily. Much less did they receive ecclesiastical
burial. unless their Christian children or relatives cared for it. They were
concerned only of the box or coffin, without caring for wax or anything
else, although during life they had taken care of these, like the noble
Hyrcanians, each one with his dog to eat them on their death. They had
official carpenters who made them neatly and with love, but totally sturdy.
They made them like boxes of another hard incorruptible wood they
call "tigas." It is formed with two pieces, the case and its cover, both
vaulted and concave, so well fitted that fastened with rattan, a kind of
heavy reed, instead of nails, and neither does one smell any odor, nor air
enter. In this manner they preserve the bodies, as we shall see later, no
less than the Egyptians in their urns or glass cases.
When the sick dies, they start to mourn him with loud cries, not only
the relatives and friends, but also the professional mourners who earn
good money for composing a thousand laudatory lies. These are profes-
sional men and women chanters, mentioned in the divine and human
letters, talented and skilled composers, who in rhymed and metric words
lamented and mourned the dead and their disappearance. Accompanied
by this mournful dirge, they washed the body, anointing it with storax
and other gums which they frequently use, especially the barion wood,
which is quite abundant here in the east. Once done, they shrouded the
corpse by completely wrapping it with more or less clothes, according to
his dignity, usually white, like all the other peoples, except the
Lacedaemonians, who instinctively prefer this color for shrouding, sym-
bolic of purity of soul, after removing the ligaments and bindings of the
body.
The grave of the poor is a hole, as in the rest of the world, the oldest
manner of burying, according to Cicero and the most acceptable, as he
SHROUDING AND BURIAL AMONG THE FILIPINOS
133
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sai d o fhis King iNntrn
i r inai,ent.
e of CFyu
orrts of the Persians theronfeaillrer
who the wanted nor
sought a nobler common mother her
children.
keth e H
bosom
The more powerful they embalmed with aromatic sap which pre-
bosom e r own
serve the body, princes, and Cicero
speaks of the Persians who waxed them, and Plutarch of the Greeks who
sweetened them with honey. The most used in this by the Filipinos is
b uy s (Areca) sap, which as we shall say ahead is famous all over the east, a
drug most liked and most used, very similar to Peru's coca in all the
ualities described by those who have seen it. They anointed the corpse
q
with this sap, and they add it inside the mouth to penetrate the interior.
With it many corpses have been found incorrupt in the coffins we de-
scribed, years after their burial.
These coffins they left in one of three places, chosen according to
one's likes: at the top of the house where they lived; on the ground
under it; in a hole fenced around, the coffin left uncovered, I do not say
loose. Everything follows the custom of the Egyptians, Ethiopians, and
Persians, who buried their dead in their own houses. Inside the coffin,
the dead had with them their richest clothes and best gold ornaments.
They added to these by covering the eyes and the mouth with gold
plates, and even placed them inside the mouth, perhaps as fare for the
boat of Acharontes.This made the Apostate Lucian laugh much about the
pagans of his time, for, truly, this error served only to whet the cupidity of
people, who to enjoy gold, violated graves and disinterred the dead, as
Herod did to David's tomb, Barbarossa in Talomon, and the Ternateans
in Bohol, as we shall see ahead. Nor was it any less erroneous to offer
food to the dead. Others of greater presumptuousness, whom Saint Au-
gustine castigates, did it, too, and the Second Council of Braga banned it.
More tolerable was to include the arms of the men, as they usually
did, the distaffs and reels of the women. This is already to imitate the
armorial bearings of tombs honored among the nobler nations.
Others they did not send away alone, but to accompany- them, pro-
vided male and female slaves previously served a very good meal and
then sacrificed in a solemn rite so that they might depart with the dead.
This was practiced also by many Orientals, especially the Scythites Saint
Jerome mentions. The pious Romans used the occasion to introduce
gladiatorial games on pretext of mitigating one cruelty with another.
A few years before Ours arrived in Bohol, a chief there died who had
ordered that they bury him in a barangay fitted out with 70 of his armed
134 HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINE PROVINCE
slaves, with rations and food, as when in life he used to set out on raids
and robberies; as though in hell they would allow him to do it.
In Oton, in 1593, when visiting the Philippines, the Bishop of Yucatan,
then Dean of Manila, punished Tarabocon, a leader of that town, a Chris-
tian, because when his daughter died, also a Christian, he sacrificed in
this manner another slave girl. Deep are the roots of idolatry when sucked
with the mother's milk.
On Panay Island I saw that all the people joined the funeral, and
i mmediately at the end, everyone proceeded straight to the river to bathe
themselves, like the Jews, although they had no idea of this dead law ,
much less did they know it from the Athenians and Romans. On leaving
the house of the deceased after returning from the burial, they had to
wash themselves with water left for the purpose by the door, as the
Filipinos normally have to wash their feet every time they return from
outside.
After the burial, weeping ceased, but not the funeral feasts and drunk-
enness, which lasted longer or less, according to the deceased's social
condition. Widowers, widows, orphans, and the other relatives—the closer
ones—fasted in mourning, like the Hebrews, abstaining from meat and
fish, eating only vegetables and greens in small amounts.
Among the Tagalogs, black is the color for mourning, as among us;
among the Visayans, as among the Chinese and the Japanese, white, a
Greek and Roman custom, too. Besides, the Visayans, like the holy Job,
shave their head and their eyebrows, for we have already said they have
no beard. Unlike the Brahmans of India, like us they remove the mourn-
ing clothes by cutting them up, although while they wear them, they put
aside their precious ornaments and jewelry like us, they enclose them-
selves behind closed windows, like other nations.
Likewise, as a sign of mourning the death of a chief, as in Lacedaemonia
when the King died, they had to observe silence in his town and region,
until the end of the interdict for more or less days according to his stat-
ure. During this time, there should be no sound of blows, noise, shout-
ing or loud talk in the whole region, under pain of a curse, as though the
living were responsible for observing the silence of the dead. That the
-
outsiders may not claim ignorance, they put up certain signs by the en
trance to their place, within whose boundaries no one might fish, or pass
through, at least not with the hustle or a show of happiness, on pain of a
fine of gold or be enslaved.
THE TA BON 135
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eik rei, Z6
THE TA BC5N
The mournful funerals of these Islanders recalled to me a more pleas-
ant thing the tabon does to its eggs. A seabird of these Islands, I do not
know if it is found elsewhere in the world, though perhaps it might be
s i milar to the predatory halcyon. But the tabOn does not need that bo-
nan za of days according to the Latin proverb. It is called "tabOn" for it
buries its eggs in the sand, and the word in these idioms means to cover
with soil. Actually, it is a black hen, without a crest, small body, with
feathers also black except the neck, with large feet, and, finally, a seabird.
I have seen and eaten its meat, salted and boiled, although both ways
leave it hard, and so not ordinarily eaten. Its eggs are a miracle of nature,
with many qualities God has given them, all winning admiration, and
sufficient to show us the wisdom and power of our great God, who joined
them and enclosed them in one egg. They are as big as goose eggs, its
inside is almost totally yolk within a thin white substance. When boiled
or roasted and to eat it one breaks its outside shell and the inner rind at
the bottom, one finds the white less than a finger thick around the yolk.
The egg is therefore totally yolk, and one can say nothing more about it.
But why did God make such a small bird's egg so big with so little
white and so much yolk? Here, too, is a second marvel worthy of its
Maker. The ostrich egg is famous in Holy Scripture, preserved in God's
providence whole amid so many dangers on the face of the earth, with-
out shelter or defense, abandoned by its mother and, kept safe, it hatches
and receives life. The mother tabOn carefully watches over its egg by
hiding and protecting it. But it leaves it for God in His goodness to bring
it to life like a father, and, once alive, lead it out of the darkness where its
mother has left it. Hence, God acts for the ostrich, to say it one way, as a
li feguard, while for the tabOn as a guide through life.
There is hardly any dry sandy shore on the coasts of these Islands
where at no step do we fi nd treasures of this kind. For, once we approach
and touch land, our crew jumps ashore and with instruments dig into the
pa rts where sand has been removed, and at last find it. They find it in 4 or
5 pal
Palm s deep in the soil and it is necessary to dig to gather them. They
find two, three, or four eggs, some complete and healthy, others about to
ha tch, but not empty, I mean, not spoiled although hatched. Perhaps, on
 HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINE PROVINCE
138
atxptel, Z7
I NHERITANCE AND SUCCESSION
AMONG THE FILIPINOS
With faith, there entered into the Philippines the use of testaments,
and oral and written legacies. Previously, successions and inheritance
were ab wfestato, as among the ancient Germans, whose sons, if there
were any, succeeded, if not they divided among the relatives.
Legitimate brothers of the father and the mother shared equally, un-
less someone had gained more through him or by her, either with a
jewel or something else, as much as 2 or 3 gold taels. Everything else
received in life, dowry or otherwise, if not declared as a gain, all had to be
presented at the moment of shrouding. If they were half-brothers, they
did not share in the inheritance, except as in Roman law, to the extent
that they are legitimized by the common father or mother. If among the
legitimate children, there was someone born of one's slave, as the legiti-
mate heirs agreed, the child had to receive, besides the mother's free-
dom, some jewelry or a slave. But it did not enjoy any part in sharing the
inheritance.
Outside of this, there was a great difference between the legitimate
and the illegitimate children. Even if without distinction all are allowed
to inherit, if they are children of a free mother, still the "more legitimate"
have a better share, as the firstborn among the Hebrews, two parts to the
legitimate, and only one to the bastard heir. This is taken into great ac-
count, in these days that they do not consider themselves brothers, unless
to marry those who are not of the same father or mother. However, those
born of an adulterous union, the putative father acknowledges without
any problem, although he very clearly knows that only rarely is it kept
secret.
In this matter, they are unique among the Orientals, who with several
concubines leave their legacy to nephews, their sisters' children, for they
e
are considered more certain than those born of their women. When the r
k e
are no legitimate, only natural, children of free women, these inherit li
the legitimate, and give part to the slaves, like the legitimate children'
Their ancestors or relatives do the same, when for lack of children, they
become the heirs, for the slave's child is never a legitimate heir.
nd
If they have children of a free but married woman, if her husba
sought compensation for the adultery, that is considered a dowry; and she
inherits part of the fathers' legacy, like the other legitimate heirs, children:
FEASTS AND NIGHT CELEBRATIONS
139
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or relatives. I say relatives," because even
if there are no children, the
s purious child does not inherit everything, but only part, with the other
brothers, or with the closer relatives on
the father's side if there are no
brothers. But the adulterer who
did not pay, because there was no issue,
doestainherit
hl eaw
r adas od
such.
r ng
ch il dren
ninherit
erit
a certain part, for adoption is observed as in
eA
sRoman
the
he
o which it is agreed on as a sale, by which the
legitimate father sold his natural child to a third. The Filipinos, on the
other hand, pay for adopting, for the natural father pays a certain amount
to the child that she be an adopted son or daughter. Through this alone,
without the subtleties of law or paternal authority; the child is adopted.
Only at the end, when the child reaches the age of the adoptive parent,
he must be given as his inheritance double the amount paid for the
adoption, so that, if they paid 10, he must inherit 20. But if the adopting
father outlives the adopted child, the adoption and the right to inherit
expired, which does not pass to the heirs of the adopted child in whole
or in part. But, on the other hand, if the father dies while the child is
alive, ordinarily to benefit him, he leaves, besides the double adoption
fee, some asset or a slave, in compensation for his good services; as, on
the contrary, the ungrateful child, who had given a bad account of him-
self, the adopting father disowns him, but restoring the money he had
paid for the adoption.
Likewise, in compensation, mainly among the Visayans, any chief who
received a present from a chief, on a friendly visit, was obliged to return
the visit and present an equivalent or greater gift. If he died without
doing . it, the heirs were obliged to give it from the inheritance. So self-
interested are these pagan friendships. The hill folk of Bohol suspected
this for the gifts of Father Torres.
,
ehortm e46'
FEASTS AND NIGHT CELEBRATIONS OF THE FILIPINOS
Besides their funeral banquets, the Filipinos used to hold feasts dur-
ing espousals a n d weddings, when reconciling with their estranged friends,
en forging peace pacts among foes, when guests visit, and every time
w hen
k barous sacrifices. On all these occasions, doors are
th ey offer th e i r b ar
e t open, entrance is not denied to any who wishes to join the meal
p y call it that, since they eat less, as is the custom of
and d rink— for so th e