Tau-buid Mangyan (Saragan Group) Folk Beliefs and Amurit (witchcraft)

Called Batangan by lowlanders, the Tau-buid live in the interior forests of Mindoro north of the Buhid groups. They are a subgroup of the general Mangyan culture, living in settlements of five to twelve single-family houses situated on slopes near mountain streams, and named after the oldest resident. The Tau-buid do not employ the Indic scripts (Surat Mangyan) used by the Buhid and Hanunoo

Among the Tau-buid there are a number of local groups, as will be seen in the next two posts from us here at The Aswang Project, namely the Bayanan group and the Saragan group.

The Spiritual Realm of the Tau-Buid

Lai are chants which invoke the spirits to heal, protect, or solve a variety of problems such as bad weather. Musical instruments are mainly used by the Eastern Tau-buid in chanting these lai as devices to attract and summon spirits to the house. Jews’ harps (subing) made out of bamboo or dario palm wood, one-string guitars (batak), nose and mouth flutes (tulali, salinggab), bamboo and leaf drum membranes (balakdan) , and coin necklaces (dalag singku) are all classified by the Taubuid as famasugda (“for use in causing the arrival of”) and may be employed during a lai chant. Cow bells (giring) and brass gongs (agang) are found only in the border areas and are not typically Taubuid.

It should be noted that among the Iraya-Mangyan, marayaw is a genre of spirit song used to communicate with spirits in rituals for healing the sick and protecting the community.

Un-named deities among the Tau-buid – According to the Tau-buid these deities, who are four in number, are naked. Two come from the sun and are male, and the other two are from the upper stream of the river and are female. These four deities are believed to meet behind the successor. They are believed to be couples without children. Following their custom, unless all the members of each group observe their loyalty to these deities and act rightly, the deities are supposed not to appear. For this ceremony, they beat a plate in order to call the deities, for whom they kill the fattest pig as a sacrificial offering, pouring its blood into the river. The deities are supposed to drink the blood in the river and return home satisfied. The formal priest then performs the role of Priest fu:unan with his brothers, cousins and nephews on both his father’s and mother’s sides as his assistants.

Rawtit is a folk hero among the Tau-Buid groups. The fabled tribal matriarch comes with all trimmings of a superhero; gigantic in size, a huge knife as traditional gear, magical powers to leap miles in one bound and lycra swapped for a loincloth. She brings peace to the forest and all its inhabitants.

 

Folk Medical Technology and Amurit

The fact that the knowledge of folk medicine is generally inherited by all males means that all males of Tau-buid have the possibility of becoming formal successors. The male children of Tau-buid, from early childhood, practice different methods of curing diseases under the tutelage of their father or uncle and by observing the practice of the other elders. There is no special rite to become a medicine man or ballanan. In practice all cannot evidently become medicine men, so this title is not received until the people have approved the usefulness of the individual’s practice.

At present there are only two kinds of medicine men: Pain and Ta:moguman. They are regarded as such because they are able to assist in praying for the soul of the dead and to the deities at the same time. These are not formal priests, however, but can only play the role of assistant to the  priest, for only a true priest can actually pray to the souls and deities, and it seems these two cannot.

Amurit is a kind of witchcraft. In small communities kinship is more evident and people have  mutual and multiple relationships. Tension is rare, but even if tension does break out, it does not end up in the actual action of killing. Instead, one causes the death of the other by amurit or cursing. During investigations, however there was no actual case of cursing to death by amurit, but all adult males claim to know the method. It is quite simple: they imagine several times the act of murdering the one whom they want to kill by cursing.

 

The Priestly Succession

The title of priest (fu:unan) is inherited by the male line, from father to eldest son. There was no priest in this Saragan group for there is only one in all Tau-buid. This fu:unan is a formal priest about 60 years of age, and he goes out to different groups for ritual ceremonies from Iragan where he usually resides. He remembers that his grandfather and his father were also priests. His ten year-old son is now under training, since he is the oldest, and attends ceremonies wherever they are held. They adopt the following three rules of succession:

Rule 1. If the fu :unan does not have a son, the oldest among the male children of his brothers becomes the successor.

Rule 2. If there is no male child on his side, the oldest nephew is chosen from his wife’s side.

Rule 3. If his son is under ten, the successor is selected temporarily according to Rules 1 and 2. When the right successor becomes of age the title is returned to him. Accordingly, all nephews, including those on the wife’s side, are potential successors, and so they receive training by acting always as assistants to the fu:unan.

 

Ritual Ceremonies of Fu:unan

No special name is attached to these ceremonies, the ritual being held after the death of the fu:unan. First of all, the successor goes to the river with his brothers and his male cousins. All participants in this ceremony must take a bath in the river and purify themselves. In addition, they must not smoke and pass gas without permission because these things are hated by the deities. After the bath is over, all the participants sit in a row along the river. Holding candles in their hands, they tell the deities, through the lights of the candles, that the preparation for the ritual has been accomplished.

According to the Tau-buid these deities, who are four in number, are naked. Two come from the sun and are male, and the other two are from the upper stream of the river and are female. These four deities are believed to meet behind the successor. They are believed to be couples without children. Following their custom, unless all the members of each group observe their loyalty to these deities and act rightly, the deities are supposed not to appear. For this ceremony, they beat a plate in order to call the deities, for whom they kill the fattest pig as a sacrificial offering, pouring its blood into the river. The deities are supposed to drink the blood in the river and return home satisfied. The formal priest then performs the role of Priest fu:unan with his brothers, cousins and nephews on both his father’s and mother’s sides as his assistants.

The general functions of the fu:unan are to attend to funeral and harvest ceremonies and, as the medicine man, to cure diseases.

Regarding the role of succession, the priestly title must come through the male line perfectly. As mentioned earlier, the fu:unan’s grandfather was also a priest. Now his ten-year-old son (nameless) is receiving training to be a priest as his assistant.

 

Plates: Paragayan or Diolang

Among the families of Tau-buid (although the figures are not clear), only a few are owners of plates, which are considered the most important tools of all religious ceremonies and are heirlooms. The plate is always passed on from father to son in the same way as in the priesthood.

This plate is indispensable for calling the deities in all religious ceremonies and for the cure of diseases. In the Saragan group the caretaker inherits the plate, which came from his grandfather and all the caretakers of the Tau-buid society. The priests, medicine men, caretakers, and their successors are the only ones who may beat the plate in ceremonies. When other families want the plate (most of them want it when they call the medicine man, and for the ceremony, kaingin), they borrow it from the group caretaker. Only the caretaker may beat the plate for marayao, who is the deity for curing diseases. Priests and medicine men, however, may beat plates on other occasions and ceremonies.

 

Source: Kikuchi, Yasushi, Mindoro highlanders: the life of the swidden agriculturists, New Day Publishers (1984)
Pennoyer, F. Douglas, The Taubuid of Mindoro, Philippines, Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society Vol. 5, No. 1/2, Philippine Cultural Minorities – II (MARCH – JUNE 1977), pp. 21-37