PART IV. RELIGION 

 CHAPTER XXII 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF MAN6BO RELIGION AND NATURE AND 

 CLASSIFICATION OF MANCBO DEITIES 



INTRODUCTORY 



The matter of Man6bo religious belief is so difficult of investigation, and withal so important, 

 that I feel a certain amount of timidity in taking up the subject. The natural suspiciousness of 

 the Manobo and his inclination not to answer questions truthfully until he has assured himself of 

 his interrogator's motives in asking it are the principal sources of this difficulty. Then again his 

 fear of offending the divinities, coupled with his absolute subjection in spiritual affairs to bis 

 priests, do not render the undertaking easier. And finally his primitive, untutored mind is not 

 capable of setting forth in a satisfactory manner the intricacies, and not infrequently, the numer- 

 ous variations and apparent contradictions that arise at every step in the investigation. How- 

 ever, my sojourn among, and intimate dealings with, both laymen and priests give me hope that 

 the following is in its essentials a true interpretation of this primitive religion. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF RELIGION 



SINCERITY OF BELIEF 



The life of a Man6bo is as deep an expression of his religious beliefs as that of any man I 

 know. Belief in the supernatural seems to be instinctive with him. He undertakes no action 

 out of the ordinary routine without consulting the powers above, and when he has assured 

 himself of their disapprobation, he refrains most sacredly from his intended project, even if it 

 should be one so cherished as vengeance on an enemy. But if these higher powers manifest 

 their approbation he carries out his project with full assurance of success. 



To the Manobo his deities and demons, spirits, giants, ghouls, and goblins are as real as 

 his own existence, and his belief in them seems to him entirely rational and well founded, because 

 for authority he has tradition and revelation- — tradition handed down from generation to genera- 

 tion, revelation imparted to priests while manifesting all the indications of what he considers 

 supernatural influence. 



BASIS OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF 



I have had occasion to study the working of the Manobo mind when brought into contact 

 with phenomena which it had never contemplated before and I observed that when the phe- 

 nomenon impressed him as being not prejudicial nor unintelligible it was ascribed to a beneficent 

 supernatural agency, but when it produced the impression of being unintelligible or detrimental 

 it was at once condemned as being the work of evil spirits. On one occasion a Manobo of the 

 upper Agiisan accompanied me to Talakogon and, upon seeing the government launch, made 

 inquiries as to its nature. His questions being answered to his satisfaction, he made his com- 

 ments, praised its form, and finally declared it to be the work of a god. But when it began to 

 move, giving forth its shrill whistle and producing the noise characteristic of a gasoline launch, 

 he at once condemned it as being the work of evil agency. 



I saw another instance illustrative of this tendency upon the arrival of the first phonograph 



in the Simulau River district. My companion was a Manobo of the upper Bahaian. Upon 



hearing the strains of the phonograph he concluded at once that there was an evil spirit within 



it. Notwithstanding the fact that I assured him to the contrary, he persisted in his belief, 



averring that no good spirit would give vent to such an unearthly noise. 



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