﻿472 The Philippine Journal of Science nu 



For many years the Spaniards were a source of terror to the 

 people, who promptly deserted their homes whenever any of 

 the guardia civil 7 appeared. The account of the customs of the 

 inhabitants of Ampusungan is meager. It is as follows: 



In the olden time our parents never used to make caiiaos ' and during 

 their whole lives never knew of any remedies for their sickness and a 

 great number of them died because they knew of no remedy for their 

 sickness; but one of the old men thought that caiiaos were good for 

 anybody that was sick, so, therefore they used to have caiiaos if there was 

 anybody among them that had any kind of sickness in order that their 

 sick might become well. And when they had their caiiaos they used to 

 take and kill any kind of animals and one of the old men would pray to 

 the sun, moon, and stars and to his dead relatives, also to the anitos * in 



T The guardia civil (civil guard) of the Spanish regime was similar to 

 the Philippine Constabulary of to-day. It was, however, a part of the 

 regular army. It was named after a similar body in Spain. One regi- 

 ment was stationed in northern Luzon. See also Worcester, Philippines, 

 Past and Present. New York (1913), 1, 378-380. 



8 Cahao, a feast. Worcester [This Journal (1906), 1, 850] says: "Sick- 

 ness is attributed to anitos. Very few native medicines are employed in 

 treating the sick and great reliance is placed in caiiaos, at which carabaos, 

 cattle, pigs, or chickens, according to the wealth of the sick person, are 

 killed." The caiiao is common throughout Mountain Province. 



"Worcester [This Journal (1906), 1, 817] notes that the rather vague 

 belief in the anito is widespread among the peoples of Mountain Province. 

 The word, he points out, is used to designate a spirit, often that of a dead 

 person, while the anito is at times represented by an image made of wood 

 or by tying grass or leaves together. Of the anito or its representation 

 aid is asked, and propitiatory ceremonies are performed to it. Belief in 

 the anito is not, however, confined alone to the mountain peoples of north- 

 ern Luzon. There is probably not a single people in the Philippines that 

 does not now cherish, or that has not at some time in its history cher- 

 ished, a belief in the anito. Even the Negritos near Floridablanca, Pam- 

 panga, who are not Malayan, believe in the anito, but they probably 

 acquired it from the Malayan people with whom they came in contact. 

 Loarca in his Relacion [republished in both Spanish and English in Blair 

 and Robertson, The Philippine Islands. Cleveland (1903-1909), 5], written 

 about 1580, says of the Tagalogs of Manila (pp. 173-175) : "They said that 

 this Batala (the Tagalog deity) had many agents under him, whom he sent 

 to this world to produce, in behalf of men, what is yielded here. These 

 beings were called anitos, and each anito had a special office *. 



When the natives were asked why the sacrifices were offered to the anito, 

 and not to the Batala, they answered that the Batala was a great lord, and 

 no one could speak to him. He lived in the sky; but the anito, who was 

 of such a nature that he came down here to talk with men, was to the 

 Batala as a minister, and interceded for them. In some places, and espe- 

 cially in the mountain districts, when the father, mother, or other relative 

 dies, the people unite in making a small wooden idol, and preserve it. 

 Accordingly there is a house which contains one hundred or two hundred 





