Rituals of acceptance

Saturday, July 16, 2011

"JUST bring white cloth, one meter, some P1 coins, 25 cents, packs of biscuits, candies, piece of ginger. Normally, first-timers offer three chickens as main offering," Kitanglad Integrated NGOs Inc. executive director Easterluna Canoy texted after she set me up for an interview with ritualist and Daraghuyan tribe leader Adelina Doceros Tarino, 48, of Bae Inatlawan at the Mt. Kitanglad Cultural Heritage Center in Barangay Dalwangan, Malaybalay City, Bukidnon.

That wasn't the first time I was asked to bring live chickens. I was toting one as I heed off to the headwaters of Tagoloan River in Malaybalay City for the Panendan, an annual pilgrimage of tribal boundary keepers, just over two weeks before.

Now, if you're a city slicker who may be up the mountains more often than any city slicker but whose trekking stamina is nil, tugging along a live chicken on top of a backpack, a sleeping bag, a camera bag, and a picnic set (city slicker, remember), you will always remember that rituals play an important part among tribes. That is, you can choose to bring your big cameras and even the whole studio with you and the picnic set, but you should never leave the basics for the ritual of acceptance.

I was again toting three chickens and five kilos of rice while heaving a 50-liter backpack made heavy with treats for children, foodstuff, and wine (for friends) while squeezing into a jam-packed jeepney on the way to the Tulugan in Barangay Sungko in Lantapan, still in Bukidnon Province, the cultural village of the Talaandig tribe, last June 26.

These adventures marked my formal acceptance into two of the three major tribes of Mt. Kitanglad. Now that I have been formally introduced, I can go around visiting them again anytime I want without having to go through the long rituals of seeking good tidings for the success of my project not just for myself but for the whole tribe. And that is because I came in peace...

This was explained by Bae Inatlawan in a conversation long after the rest of the guests have left during our visit to the Daraghuyan ancestral domain last June 17.

Since the prayers are spoken in Binukid (the dialect of the Bukidnon tribes), an outsider cannot grasp what is being said.

A prayer for all

"I sought the spirits' guidance so that whatever is borne from this meeting will be for the benefit of all and also to inform the spirits that whatever comes out of this meeting is not intended to displease the powers that are beyond us," she said when asked what she was praying for earlier in the day.

The ritual started the moment we were met by Bae Inatwalan outside the heritage center, where I handed over the neatly folded white cloth topped with seven P1 coins. It's a sign of good intentions and respect, I was told.

Bae Inatlawan was more than willing to explain the rituals.

In the formal ritual of acceptance, where a table covered in white and red cloths was laden with the biscuits, candies, and coins were placed, Bae pointed out that similar offerings albeit at a smaller scale (and without the P1 coins) were placed beneath the table.

The ones on the table, she said, are for the higher spirits and Mambabaya, the Creator, she said, the ones below are for the spirits that can harm and thus have to be appeased.

The items below will not be eaten nor returned, the 25-centavo coins were buried in the ground.

Above, the one-peso coins were to be one's representation, the 'you', placed on the altar for the spirits to recognize.

All equipment brought in by the guests, including my DSLR and point and shoot cameras and digital recorder, were also placed on the table and painted with chicken blood. After the chickens were slaughtered and chicken blood painted on the one-peso coins and the equipment, each one of us was also painted with a drop of chicken blood on our palms.

Bae's father was a ritualist himself, but she learned all by herself, as her father only went as far as telling her what to bring and what to pray for, but never taught her how to go about these rituals.

"Dalagita pako isugo niya ang trabaho sa baylan. Pagdala og bunga, buyo og apog, og pagdala manok tulo kabuok, adto didto pagbuhat didto pagritual didto (Even as a young lass I was made to perform the role of a ritualist. He will tell me to bring betel leaves and nuts and lime, and three chickens to the forest and do some rituals there)," she said. "Ako ra gyud iyang suguon, ako sad naghunahuna nga peligro nga masipyat ko kay delikado sa tribo nga masipyat ka (I was the only one he would ask to do rituals, and so I made sure I did the rituals right because otherwise I would be putting the whole tribe in jeopardy)."

This, considering that rituals always seek the help and guidance of or intend to appease higher spirits for things and situations that affect the tribe, displeasing the higher spirits or getting the wrong guidance can bring bad tidings to the tribe.

Once she arrives at the place of ritual and sets out everything in place, the spirits will manifest themselves and show her how.

"Makita dayon nako ang dili ko makita mao na nga makhibalo unsay buhaton ko kay dili na man tao ang kauban nga makig-istorya didto (I will see what I would normally not see and so I will know what to do because the ones speaking to me are no longer of this world)," she said.

Who are the pagans?

The lowlanders and those who see the indigenous peoples may look down on these beliefs, not taking into consideration that even mainstream Catholics pray for blessings and specific requests from saints and God, in the strong belief that these will be granted.

Pagans, the Catholic friars and missionaries of old referred to the indigenous peoples; a brand the indigenous peoples who hold on to their rituals and belief systems resent.

"What's paganic about what we do when we seek the earth's acceptance, all people need the earth. All people need water, all people need air and sun. The moon and the stars shine on us all, so how can we be pagans when we are praying for the good of all?" Bae asked.

Bae Inatlawan referred to the items beneath the ritual table saying she was not praying to those bad spirits but was only giving an offering to appease them, and for the other spirits.

"We offered these so that the bad spirits will not touch us, but, as you noticed, we did not partake of the offerings there," she said. The chickens after the slaughter were brought to the kitchen for cooking. The same boiled chickens were brought back to the ritual table, with one whole chicken below. The twenty-five centavo coins under the table were buried in the ground (never to be touched again), while the slaughtered chicken below is not shared after the second part of the ritual (the one with the cooked chickens). The rest of the chickens are served to the guests after the ritual is over and the guests are formally accepted by the tribe.

"Matud pa nila taga-balite ra man ang inyo (People say that all we do is give offerings to a balite tree)," she adds, "Ingon nako ngano man tagabalite, mabuhi ba ka og balite, dili ka maguhig balite uy (And I would tell them, why can a balite sustain your life? You can't live with just a balite tree)."

Bae Inatlawan's elder brother Benicio Doceros or Datu Dumapay had a more graphic example to explain the difference between setting aside something for the bad and giving offerings to the good spirits.

"Pananglitan kanang imong gibuhi nga iro, kung imo nang gibahugan imo ba diay nang giampoan? Dili. Tagaan nimo aron magbantay sa imong balay. Unsaon pagtabang sa iro nimo, gigutom man (Your pet dog, for example, because you are giving it food does it mean you are praying to it? No. You feed it so that it will watch over your house, for how can a dog help you if it is hungry)?" Datu Dumaya asked.

At the Tulugan in Barangay Sungko, I was scheduled to interview Victorino L. Saway, 54, or Datu Migketay, late in the evening of July 26.

I was welcomed to their Hall of Peace by Datu Migketay with his wife Liza Saway also known as Bae Nanapnay, his baylan and balaghusay (peacekeeper) uncle Apu Felipe Saway, cousin Bae Narda Saway, and nephew Rey Marte or Datu Anilaw Inlantong.

The chickens I brought were placed on the table. There were one-peso coins lined up, and some betel leaves and nuts in tiny cuts.

After the prayers said in Binukid, Datu Migketay quipped, "Okay, we start the interview because once the chicken is cooked, the interview ends and we all eat."

The creator's will

Indeed, for these indigenous peoples, their rituals are part of their lives and that their rituals have been taught them through oral traditions, these do not make them less of a believer than those who adopted a religion from some faraway land. They are just as respectful of the Creator and all Creations.

At times, they are of greater faith than the present Catholics, their bishops, and believers who are in politics.

"Kung ang lumad mao ang maghisgot sa pagmugna og balaod, sayon ra. Basta ang magdumala sa tribo kadtong datu nga dili tawhan ang iyang pagkadatu, katong datu nga na-aapoint nga pagkadatu tungod kay dunay nakasingbit sa iya nga dili ingon nato. Kay mao ray tawo nga dili mapukan kay ang nagpabarog kaniya dili man tao. Ang iya, nagdepende sa batasan nga gikan gyud sa Diyos (Law-making among indigenous peoples is very simple for as long as the tribe is led by a datu who has been chosen by the gods. This is the type of leader who will not easily be brought down because he acts according to the will of the Creator)," said Datu Makapukaw or Adolino L. Saway, the elder brother of Datu Migketay, and respected leader of the Talaandig tribe as well.

Havinfg said that we cannot help but wonder if the leaders we have chosen and which our Church have chosen for us are acting on the will of our Creator.