Ilokanos: Superstitious Beliefs, Spirits, etc.

Karma according to the Iloko concept is one of the three souls in the living body. It is conceived as vapour, often separating itself from the body proper without consciousness, awake or asleep, and can travel anywhere in the invisible form or in the form of an insect. It visits strange places leaving the sleeping body behind and if it fails to return before the person wake ups, a mania develops owing to the absence of a vital principle in the bodily aspect. Thus understood, foresters say in a loud voice leaving the forest, Intayon, intayon or Intayon kaddua (repeating it several times while striking the chest with open palm), a form of address to the Karma, who then comes back into the body as the invocation is said. The Ilokano farmers believe that unseen spirits inhabit big isolated houses and trees, groves and forests, farms and villages. These spirits they say are either friendly or unfriendly, good or bad. In fact, the Ilokanos of pre-Spanish times relate stories about the creation of the world, chant invocations and prayers to the world. Chant invocations and prayers to the different spirits which they worship. A very familiar and common invocation to the spirits of the forest, the mangmangkik, is as follows: Bari, bari, Saan ka ag-ung unget pari, Ta pumukankami Iti pabakirda kadakami (Bari, bari. Do not get angry, friend. And we shall fell some trees. We were told to fell.) This invocation is recited before one proceeds to fell a tree. Failure on the part of the woodcutter to recite the

invocation may cost him his health or even his life. Because of this belief, the Ilokanos take every precaution not to incur the wrath of the unseen beings. Anyone who gets sick after having been from the forest or under big trees or bamboo groves is believed to be nakadalapos. If the victims illness is not very serious he is said to be a victim of nagdildillawan. To appease the spirits the Ilokanos offer varieties of goods as a sacrifice or atang. A niniogan is believed to be sufficient for those who are said to be nadildillawan. Those that are said to be nakadalapos are expected to offer a more elaborate ritual and a blood offering. A white pig is butchered because its color is believed to symbolized purity. The blood of the pig while being butchered is allowed to flow freely to the ground at the site of the incident. One half of the pig is left to the spirits while the other half is taken home to the sick person. During the process of butchering the pig, the mangangas (quack doctor) who at the same time acts as the manglolualo (one who leads the prayer) prays incessantly invoking the mercy of the spirits to restore the health and vigour of the offender.