The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 05 of 55: 1582-1583; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 05 of 55: 1582-1583; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
_Baylanas_. The natives of these islands have neither time nor place
set apart for the offering of prayers and sacrifices to their gods. It
is only in case of sickness, and in times of seed-sowing or of war,
that sacrifices are offered. These sacrifices are called _baylanes_,
and the priestesses, or the men who perform this office, are also
called _baylanes_. The priestesses dress very gaily, with garlands
on their heads, and are resplendent with gold. They bring to the
place of sacrifice some _pitarrillas_ (a kind of earthen jar) full of
rice-wine, besides a live hog and a quantity of prepared food. Then
the priestess chants her songs and invokes the demon, who appears to
her all glistening in gold. Then he enters her body and hurls her to
the ground, foaming at the mouth as one possessed. In this state she
declares whether the sick person is to recover or not. In regard to
other matters, she foretells the future. All this takes place to the
sound of bells and kettle-drums. Then she rises and taking a spear,
she pierces the heart of the hog. They dress it and prepare a dish
for the demons. Upon an altar erected there, they place the dressed
hog, rice, bananas, wine, and all the other articles of food that
they have brought. All this is done in behalf of sick persons, or to
redeem those who are confined in the infernal regions. When they go
to war or on a plundering expedition, they offer prayers to Varangao,
who is the rainbow, and to their gods, Ynaguinid and Macanduc. For
the redemption of souls detained in the inferno above mentioned,
they invoke also their ancestors, and the dead, claiming to see them
and receive answers to their questions.
_Belief concerning the world. The god Macaptan._ They believe that
the world has no end. They say that Macaptan dwells highest in
the sky. They consider him a bad god, because he sends disease and
death among them, saying that because he has not eaten anything of
this world, or drunk any pitarrillas, he does not love them, and so
kills them.
_The god Lalahon_. It is said that the divinity Lalahon dwells in a
volcano in Negros island, whence she hurls fire. The volcano is about
five leagues from the town of Arevalo. They invoke Lalahon for their
harvest; when she does not choose to grant them good harvests she sends
the locusts to destroy and consume the crops. This Lalahon is a woman.
_Burials_. These natives bury their dead in certain wooden coffins,
in their own houses. They bury with the dead gold, cloth, and other
valuable objects--saying that if they depart rich they will be well
received in the other world, but coldly if they go poor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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