190 THE MANOBCS OF MINDANAO— GARVAN tMEMO {vo? i xmu 



errands, and their doings are mirrored in our dreams. Hence the strong and abiding belief of 

 the Manobo in dreams. These strange companions of man have no material wants yet they 

 lead an insecure existence, exposed, as they are, to the insidious attacks of the common foes of 

 mortals. Hence it comes to pass that one of them, while away on its random rambles some 

 unlucky day, is mysteriously kidnaped and finally "devoured" by a ruthless evil spirit. 6 As 

 soon as the surviving soul realizes what has taken place, it bemoans the loss of its companion 

 and leaving its corporal companion unattended wends its way, sad and solitary, to the land of 

 Ibii. I have been assured by priests that this companionless soul frequently returns to the scene 

 of sickness and there bemoans with piteous cries the loss of its companion, heaping horrid 

 imprecations on the head of the foul spirit that wrought the evil. Only the priest can hear 

 its wild wail of woe and see its piteous face, all suffused with tears. Upon seeing the spirit's 

 grief the priest renews at once his supplications to his tutelary deities, beseeching them to rescue 

 the captured soul from the clutches of its enemy and thereby save the life of the patient. Should 

 the prayers of the priest prove unavailing, the soul wends its way to the region of Ibii, where, 

 free from the agressions of earthly enemies, it begins its second and unending existence in the 

 company of its spirit relatives. 



GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE DEITIES 



Manobo religion consists primarily of a belief in an innumerable number of deities called 

 umli and of secondary deities called diudta. In contradistinction to these is a multitudinous 

 host of demons known as busau, waging incessant and ruthless war against the Manobo world. 

 In addition to these there is a numerous array of spirits known as tagbdnua to whom is assigned 

 the ownership of the forests, hills, and valleys, while the various other divisions and operations 

 of nature are thought to be under the superintendence of other preternatural beings, benefi- 

 cent or otherwise. 



The conception which the Manobo has of the supernatural world is very much like his idea 

 of the world in which he lives. His gods, like his warrior chiefs, are great chiefs, no one of 

 whom recognizes the sovereignty of the other. We find no idea of a supreme being as such. 

 The priests of one settlement have their own special deities to whom they and their relatives 

 have recourse, while the priests of another settlement have another set of deities for their tutelar- 

 ies, with whom they intercede, either for themselves or for such of their friends as may need 

 assistance. It is true that each priest has amongst his familiars a major divinity from whom 

 he may have experienced more help, but in the spirit world there does not exist, according to 

 Manobo belief, one supreme universal being. 7 Each priest declares the supremacy of his major 

 deity over those of other priests, and Man6bos declare Man6bo deities to be superior to those 

 of other tribes. 



CLASSIFICATION OF DEITIES AND SPIRITS 



The following is a general classification of Manobo deities and spirits. 



BENEVOLENT DEITIES 



(1) tJm-li, a class of higher beings who on special occasions, through the intercession of the 

 diudta, succor mortals. 



(2) Diudta, a minor order of benignant deities, with whom the priests hold communion on 

 all occasions of impending danger, before all important undertakings, and whenever it is consid- 

 ered necessary to feast or to propitiate them. 



• The "souls" of an ordinary priest and of war priests, as also those of the slain, are not subject to such attacks, being under the protection of 

 numerous dieties. 



' During the great religious movement that was at its height in 1909, there was a general belief in the existence of a Magbabaya, or supreme being, 

 that was to overthrow the world, but before my departure from the Agusan in 1910, this supreme being was multiplied and was being sold to anyone 

 of Manobo belief who could afford to pay the equivalent of a human life. Thus one frequently heard that So-and-So had received one or more 

 Magbabdya. 





