Friar accounts

READING 16th-century friar accounts of the Philippines and the Filipinos, one feels uneasy about the way they seem to see the hand of God in everything. Having read historian Teodoro Agoncillo who couldn't reconcile a loving God with the spiritual and temporal conquest of the Philippines by Spain. Even Jose Rizal was critical of friar chronicles and chose to annotate the 1609 book of a layman, Antonio de Morga, when he formed our view of Philippine history in 1890. Friar accounts are more engaging as ethnographic reports rather than history and say a lot about both sides -- the people they are describing and the mind-set of the friar. In the case of "anito" [spirits], the Jesuit Pedro Chirino writes about the devil in a way so alien to us today. Regarding "catalonan" or priestesses in Taytay town he said:

"If any of those women died, she appointed an heir, and successor-to whom, after she had been accepted and received, her idol was brought in great silence by some chiefs, from the house of the dead person, in the middle of the night. Then they celebrated a feast during three continuous days, with banqueting and abundance of wine, which is their greatest solemnity. The idol of the chief priestess was made of gold and she kept it in concealment, through the contrivance of the Devil (who through it held close communication with her), in a part of her house where it was most difficult to find it.

"It is estimated that for two years this secret pestilence had been going on, tyrannizing over the inhabitants to such a degree that there was hardly a sick person whom they did not attend with all diligence-persuading each one to demand urgently that they should cast lots to ascertain whether the sick man were to live or die, and, consequently, whether sacrifice should be offered to the anito for his health. We have already explained the manner of sacrifices and offerings they made, and the profit and gain which these infernal furies derived from them. There was one woman among them who cleared, in the short time that I have mentioned, almost 300 escudos; but she did not enjoy them long, for God would not allow the conflagration to spread further. His divine Majesty influenced some of his faithful ones, who, all aflame with the greater conflagration of His honor and service, hastened to give account of what they heard and saw and knew of this matter.

"With the help of this information beginning among the weaker members of the band, in a short time they succeeded in discovering those of secondary rank -- and this, step by step, they reached the chief priestess herself. Their second care (which they put into execution) was to take away from these people the idols, a great number of which were seized. Some of these were of clay, others of wood; and two in particular, were made from two great teeth of the cayman, set in gold, in which metal the head of the anito was shaped at the point of the tooth." The gold was taken and placed "in the service of the church" whatever that means. Used for supplies? Or was the gold melted and made into sacred vessels? The anito of the head priestess could not be found despite diligent searches in her houses:

"The idol had promised her, so she said, that they should never find it, even if they should tear down and destroy the house; consequently, it enjoined her not to fear the father who was conducting this search, or any of his agents or helpers; for it was more powerful than any of them. But as God is indeed more powerful, He influenced the faithful and zealous heart of Father Diego de Santiago to decide that he would not relax or give up the search for this demon until he should find it. Being quite certain that it was in the house (although he had already searched there for it several times), he returned for the last time with the determination to demolish the house, and to examine every part of it, piece by piece, to see if by chance he might find the idol hidden in some hole. Before setting about this task, his glance fell upon a cane prop-old, weather-beaten, and stained by smoke -- which from the joist of the house, supported the ridgepole of the roof: This is the mode of construction used for strengthening the houses. I do not know what he saw in that prop, but he immediately ordered it to be cut down and its contents to be examined. This time, 'he who was more powerful than all others' was overcome; for, being found like all the rest, and the gold being removed for the service of the church, this idol went, with the others, into the fire.

"The demon was so insulted and hurt at this trick that, not being able to wreak any other vengeance, he began (accompanied by many others) the following night to torment the poor catalona with visions and cruel threats. Already undeceived as to the weakness of her idol, she sought conversion, and, hating the demon, begged for mercy. With the help of a cross that was given her as a defense, although the terror continued, the threats were not put in execution; and finally the demon abandoned her as she had him."

This has all the earmarks of a B-rate horror film today but in the 16th century it was very real indeed. Historians separate fact from fiction and try to reconstruct a part of our pre-colonial past.

Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu