The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao: The R. F. Cummings Philippine ExpeditionCole, Fay-Cooper
History
The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao: The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition
Cole, Fay-Cooper
Ethnology -- Philippines -- Mindanao Island
"Ongon agreed to pay Ido five agongs for the boy and took him to the
house of Ansig where arrangements were made for the sacrifice by calling
on all who for any reason had need to appease the evil spirits to come
and take part. Three days after the slave was brought to the house of
Ansig, the people met at Talun near the river Inolia, a short distance
from Ansig's house, this being the regular place of sacrifice.
"Leaving the house of Ansig the boy Sacum was seated upon the ground
near the place of sacrifice. He was naked but no other preparation was
made with regard to the person. Upon a platform or bench of bamboo about
two feet high and a foot or two square was placed a small basket or
receptacle made of the bark of the bunga tree; in this each person
present and taking part in the sacrifice placed a piece of betel-nut,
over this the men placed their head handkerchiefs and the women strips
of the bark of the palma tree. Upon this the men laid their bolos, and
spears were then stuck in the ground in a circle around the platform.
Next Datto Ansig as chief of the sacrifice made an oration which was
about as follows: 'Oh, Mandarangan, chief of evil spirits and all the
other spirits, come to our feast and accept our sacrifice. Let this
sacrifice appease your wrath and take from us our misfortunes, granting
us better times.'
"After this, the boy Sacum was brought forward by Ongon, placed against
a small tree about six feet high, his hands tied above his head, and his
body tied to the tree with bejuco strips at the waist and knees. Ansig
then placed a spear at the child's right side at a point below the right
arm and above the margin of the ribs. This lance was grasped by the
widows Addy and Obby, who at a signal from Ansig forced it through the
child's body, it coming out at the other side. It was immediately
withdrawn and the body cut in two at the waist by bolos in the hands of
Moesta Barraro and Ola, after which the body was cut down and chopped
into bits by the people present, each of whom was allowed to take a
small portion as a momento[sic] of the occasion, the remainder of the
body being buried in a hole prepared for it.
"It is said the child was deaf and almost blind and that it did not
realize what was to happen to it until the moment it was tied up when it
began to cry; further, that death was almost instantaneous, the only cry
being one uttered when the spear first entered the child's body.
"Datto Ansig, a man about sixty years of age, says that in his life he
has attended or officiated at fifty human sacrifices, more or less, both
among the Bagobos and the Bilanes, and that human sacrifice is also
practiced among the Tagacolos, although he has never been present at one
held by that tribe.
"The Bagobos do not sacrifice any but old and decrepit or useless slaves
captured from other tribes, but the Bilanes sacrifice even their own
people.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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