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I’m entering a quite unfamiliar territory in this blog post. So I am taking an amateur perspective of things and deal with them in the best (amateurish) way I can. I think my personal interest in spirits and superstition has been brewing for a while. I’ve long been fascinated in them, but I attribute comics or graphic novels featuring local folklore characters I’ve read earlier this year as among the major propellers that hauled the said interest to staggering awe and appreciation.
You see, it’s November, a time when we not only anticipate impending Christmas but also remember our dead loved ones. And death, for that matter, is heavily linked to various elements--spirits, ghosts, witches, demons, and other supernatural creatures--through no fault of its own. But the societal perception of death is so embedded in our culture that some ancient death rituals and beliefs are as ancient as our pets’ ancestors, the dinosaurs. Since no culture is consistent, many death-related practices evolved over time (much to the distress of our grandparents). Still, at the end of the day, regardless of how we revere the dead, what matters is that we revere the dead.
We actually have different creative ways of doing so. I found an informative article by Trizer D. Mansueto on how Visayans in the 17th century hold their practices concerning their deceased loved ones. The Visayans are people from the Visayas, the mid-section of the Philippines. Cebu is in the Visayas, making Cebuanos also Visayans. Long before the Spaniards arrived and made their conquest, we buried our dead in elaborate coffins along with some comforts they enjoyed when they were alive (like gold) along the shorelines, believing that the soul would travel by boat to the other life to meet the god of the underworld.
(Stories like these remind me of Ruth Rendell’s short story called “The Dreadful Day of Judgement” that tells how men steal from the dead and how the dead avenges for what they have stolen.)
It is interesting to note that the period between 17th century and 19th century did not mark much difference in the way we observe death rituals as far as values are concerned. There have been several deaths in my family to know that the dead should be resting in an elaborate piece of woodwork; to know that enough prayers should be said and enough candles should be burned during the wake; to know that all family members and relatives, before the casket is taken out of the house, must walk under the raised coffin; to know that the funeral procession should only follow one line from the house to the church to the graveyard and in no point along the trail should the casket move backwards; to know that mourning pins should be buried with the dead; and so much more. All these are to ensure that we show steadfastly and consistently our respect for the dead.
Naturally, we grieve when someone close to us died. Point blank, we are at our lowest points. Perhaps this state, or any low state--depression, anger, hatred--makes us vulnerable to fearful images of witches and demons and easily cast blame onto them for phenomenon we could not explain. Just last month, local media reported an alleged demonic possession of 17 high school students in Talisay City, Cebu. It instantly attracted media and public attention, from believers and skeptics alike. Rather than submit the students first to proper healthcare (which for me should have been the protocol but our beliefs in the supernatural is so strong for us to do otherwise), the administrators put them under a charismatic community to be prayed over, fueling further speculations that it was indeed a bodily conquest of evil spirits.
Stories on demonic possession and oppression are nothing new to the Cebuanos. In fact, in another newspaper feature written by Mansueto (I could not find an online link, though), he shared a couple of gruesome characters found in the the book, History of the Bisayan People in the Philippine Islands, by Jesuit Francisco Ignacio Alcina who documented the Visayan living in the 17th century. Alcina wrote about dalundungan, witches who copulate with the devil whose form is either that of a serpent or a wild beast and use the sperm for spells to kill their enemies or those of their clients. He also wrote about a woman (who did not engage in occult practices but whose mother was a sorceress) sexually tormented by the devil. The tormented woman felt “much pain and as if a fire has singed her and left the genitalia wounded and in deep pain”. The oppression stopped after the woman became active spiritually.
There are two ways of looking at these scenarios--the skeptics would say the stories were means to convert the Visayans into Christians while the rest would say that evil spirits do exist, which is all the more reason to find a solid consistent bearing in God. Whether or not these stories are true, what should be remembered is that the dead and the spirits should not be messed up with.
Well, I’m being amateurish alright. So what do you think? How does your family view death? Have you come across with spectacular stories or true-to-life cases about demons or evil spirits?
- Nancy -