The mangkukulam
Here, as in Europe, and in almost all parts, the people believe in witches.
The mangkukulam[1] is the male or female witch of Filipinas. To that one is attributed a certain power of witchcraft by the common people which makes him full of terror to many. He has the custom of not looking straight at his interlocutors, I do not know whether it is because he fears the open or searching glance of them or not. He always keeps his eyes lowered, and whenever it is necessary to direct his gaze toward the person with whom he is talking, he does it on all occasions by glancing up sideways, and he has never dared to meet directly the gaze of the others.
It is a general belief that the mangkukulam is almost omnipotent in matters pertaining to doing evil to his neighbor. By the mere wish alone, he can produce sickness in any person who has secured his ill-will. In general, the sicknesses that he usually deals out are most intense headaches, or aches in other parts of the body, boils or internal tumors, swellings on the head or in any other place, such ailments being all inexplicable to the immense majority of the crowd, of the ignorant masses, who do not give credit, understand, or have faith in the power, capacity, or secrets of science.
He who gains the ill-will or enmity of these witches of Filipinas, can rest assured that if he goes out for a walk in the street, when he is about to re-enter his house he will perceive himself to be stricken with some sort of ailment, through the means and influence of the angered mangkukulam, who has already taken it upon himself to make him a present of the illness which suits him best—pains in the stomach, swellings in any part of the body, swellings on the head, deformity in the genital parts, etc., etc.
It happens as a rule that when any person is attacked by any of the above ailments, he begins to talk of certain deeds as if he had done them in company with some person there present, at the very moment when he feels himself stricken by the ailment. At the same time he cites names that are unknown, and localities more or less distant. That is an assurance that during such moments, the patient is completely bewitched by the mangkukulam, who has penetrated into his body, and that the latter is the one who causes the patient to talk. It cannot be said that the patient is delirious during those moments, for rarely is he accustomed to have a fever, and in general has none. Besides, every day, and whenever the ailment attacks him, he repeats the words, deeds, and citations that he mentioned the first time—all of this preceded by the exclamation “Oh! oh! now you are here again!” This exclamation forces the members of the family of the one attacked to believe more and more strongly that the sick man has been effectively bewitched by the mangkukulam, that the latter had entered the body of the one attacked at that time, and that physicians and medicines are powerless to cure those evils which are produced by those witches of Filipinas, for the simple reason that the physicians do not believe in the existence of the mangkukulam or in their witchcraft.
In these cases, the herbalists themselves, who are frequently called in to aid all kinds of sickness are useless.
Nothing remains except to mention here certain details which complete the picture of the mangkukulam or give an exact idea of what they are, according to the popular belief.
Every mangkukulam has his abubut.[2] The abubut consists of a small tampipi which does not contain more than a small rag doll similar to those that, are sold in front of the doors of our churches in order to amuse our children with them, and a small cushion stuck full of innumerable pins.
In the abubut lies, according to popular belief, all the power of the mangkukulam. Without it, the mangkukulam is powerless, and even inoffensive, if one wishes.
When the mangkukulam plans to do any harm to any person whomever, he goes to the quarter of his house where he always keeps his abubut, and takes out the doll and a pin. Then he sticks the latter in whatever part of the body of the doll that he wishes. By that means, accompanied by the desire of producing or causing evil to the person at whom he has been angered, that person will be found to be stricken with some sort of sickness in the part of the body where the doll has been pricked. And since in general, no success is had in applying the appropriate remedy for the sickness suffered by those who are made ill by the means and influence of the mangkukulam, the family decide to call a physician.
But the physician in those cases, is not the real physician who has been for a long time singeing his eyebrows and devouring countless text books in the universities, and who has not few years of experience in the hospitals. Neither is he the mediquillo,[3] who is, in many cases, a simple practitioner with some notions of medical science in his head. Neither is he the poor herbalist, who knows and is acquainted with the curative virtues of some plants, aided by the famous book of Father Santa Maria.[4] No, not one of these serves for the case. The physician whose services are needed, is he who expressly devotes himself to the cure of those bewitched by the mangkukulam.
These physicians of the kulam, after looking at the patient attentively, who equally with the mangkukulam cannot resist the glance of any other person in the moments when he is attacked by the sickness; and after hearing what things the sick one says, approaches any member of the family to tell him that the sick one is really possessed by the mangkukulam; and at the same time to ask whether the family cares to have him cured.
If the reply is in the affirmative, preparations are made and the sick man is submitted to the following practices.
All the toes of his feet, and the fingers of his hands are tied up in anona bark. If the sick one continues to cry out and to utter all the things that he has been accustomed to say, adding thereto the petition for pardon with the promise of not doing it again, it is a sign that the mangkukulam has not had time to escape or leave the body of the patient. Then the physician takes a well-dried ray’s tail, such as is often used as a cane, and prescribes for the sick person a good stiff caning [paliza de padre y señor mio] from his head to his feet. This operation is repeated for three or four consecutive days, longer, if contrary to what the mangkukulam promises by word of mouth, he again takes up his lodging in the body of the sick person. Lastly, it is decided whether or not to go on with the operation completely to the end. That consists in bathing the sick person in boiling water, and in the result thereof the patient finds a true remedy for his ills, for when the bath is finished, he ceases to suffer forever.
These practices obey their long-established conviction that it is not the sick person who suffers from the great acts of nonsense committed on him. Many affirm that they have found the mangkukulam who had bewitched the sick person dead on different occasions after such practices had been finished.
Since I have been in the province of Nueva Écija, I have had the opportunity to prove one thing; namely, that the mangkukulam fears or flees from anonas. The fact by which I have been able to prove it is as follows.
A poor woman was found some weeks ago suffering from severe pains in the stomach, accompanied by nausea and vomiting. The family which was composed of several brothers, was thoroughly convinced that their sister had been bewitched by a mangkukulam. As they did not know any physicians for the kulam, they summoned me to please visit and treat the sick woman. I held off as much as possible, by saying that inasmuch as I did not believe in any of those superstitions, it was impossible to cure her; aside from the fact that I was not even a physician. My excuses availed nothing. They begged and entreated me so hard that there was no other remedy than to comply with their wishes. When I reached the house of the sick person, she was, as the saying is, throwing up her guts, so great was the violence of the vomiting. As soon as she had fallen sick she had lost her sight so completely that she could see absolutely nothing, as long as she was attacked by the sickness, and very little (indeed, very little), when the attack left her. Consequently, she was told nothing of my arrival until she heard me speak. She asked her brothers who was there, and they told her, adding that they had summoned me to cure her.
As soon as it was understood that I was there for that purpose, the vomiting ceased for a moment, and the woman was quite calm. After a quarter of an hour, and feeling vexed because of the false light in which they were trying to make me appear, I took my leave, saying that since the ailment of the sick woman had passed, I had nothing to do there. But scarcely had I crossed the threshold of the street door when the vomiting was repeated and one of the brothers called me again in a low voice, asking me to please have the kindness to return since the sick woman was once more attacked by the mangkukulam. I armed myself with patience, and went back until I again found myself face to face with the sick woman. At a certain moment in which the patient was making great efforts to expel what she had in her stomach, I asked one of those present in a loud voice to please get me some anonas branches. The vomiting of the sick woman ceased suddenly as soon as she heard such a request, and did not return to rack her all that day and until the following day. At that time the same scenes were reproduced as on the preceding day. For three days they continued to call me to the said house, and I perceived that the attack disappeared as soon as I spoke of, or mentioned, the anonas. For the rest, I declare that in spite of these observations, I have not come to believe in, or to be convinced of, the existence of witches in Filipinas. However, such beliefs continue to exist in the popular mind.
There are two kinds of physicians of the kulam. Those belonging to the first class are the ones of whom I have just spoken. Those of the second class are inoffensive and very worthy, therefore, of being mentioned.
Several persons have informed me of the following fact of which they were eyewitnesses. On a certain occasion a physician of the kulam was summoned to treat a swelling. That physician after having examined the sick person carefully, and proved that there really was a swelling, asked for a bit of wax, of which he made a small figure of human shape. While he was moulding the small figure, he ordered hot water prepared in a carahay, and when it began to boil, he put the figure upright on it. When all the people expected to see it dissolved in the boiling water (tremble, my readers!) they saw the figure begin to jump about on the water without being submerged or being melted. Ten or fifteen minutes after the small figure had been hopping about on the surface of the water, a person came to the door of the house, calling out with vehemence. He was beating his feet quite openly with a handkerchief which he carried in his hand. He could not remain quiet or keep any position for five seconds, so restless was he. He was making so many contortions and grimaces with his face that one could not at all doubt that he was suffering terribly. He appeared to be walking on thorns. When that man reached the inside of the house, he began to beg pardon over and over again, promising never again to do “what he had done. The physician of the kulam took the small wax figure from the water and approached the new arrival, whom he ordered to undo the charm with which he had troubled the patient. The new arrival replied immediately that it was undone. Thereupon the physician told him never again to repeat what he had just done, and threatened him that it be relapsed, he would have to cut off his ears, so that all people might recognize him as such mag̃kukulam. The mag̃kukulam, who was the same man who had just arrived, promised never again to do what he had done, for fear of being exposed to the wrath of the populace.
When this was finished, the physician sent him away, and from that moment, the sick person was completely well.
Besides these, it is said that there is another kind of mag̃kukulam who are known under the name of kusim or palipád hag̃in. But I believe that it is the same dog with a different collar; for I consider that the kusim or the palipád hag̃in is nothing else than a variety of the power of witchcraft possessed by these beings.
In the mind of the masses, it is held that the ailment or sickness which these latter beings bring about are sent through the air, whence they have taken their name. Those ailments are, moreover, incurable, for they say (walang pasaulî) that they do not return to the place whence they have come.
Both these and the first, that is the simple mag̃kukulam dash themselves face downward every Friday in their respective quarters, well wrapped up and uttering doleful exclamations. When this occurs, it is said that they suffer terribly the consequences of their power. That condition of depression is called nagbabatá by the masses. On the following day these beings are found all sound and well, and hurrying to the witches’ sabbath, or unlawful assembly which is held at a determined spot, where on midnight of Saturday meet the asuang, mananangal, and mangkukulam, in order that they may all together enjoy the delicious feast of human flesh.
José Nuñez
Manila, December 6, 1905.
[1] Vicente Fragante, one of the Philippine government students in the University of Wisconsin (1906), an Ilocano, says that the term mangkukulam is used in Ilocos to signify an invisible being. Whenever anything is lost or disappears, it is supposed that the mangkukulam has stolen it. The term pogot is used to signify a big black man. It is the bugaboo of the Filipino mothers with which they threaten refractory children. In some families an image to represent the pogot is shown to the children to cause them to be good. The pogot is said to inhabit unfinished or deserted houses, and to sit on the window-sill at night where he smokes a large pipe. In sparsely-settled districts the pogot also inhabits santol, tamarind, and lomboy trees. It is the custom of the small Ilocano boys, who partly live the belief, and who also wish to frighten their more timid playmates of the other sex, to make a great racket about the supposed abodes of the pogot, with tin cans and other instruments in order to scare him away. At night when the pogot is frightened or angered, he throws stones at the houses. These stones have the power of passing completely through the walls of the house, and strike against the dishes in the place where they are kept. The dishes are, however, unharmed, as neither are the people who may be struck by those stones. Ansisit is an Ilocan term for a sort of scarecrow, which is used to scare the children into goodness. It consists of an old coat through the arms of which is thrust a stick, while another stick is placed at right angles to it, thus enabling the coat to be set up or moved.
The Manila newspaper La Democracia, of August 29, 1903, contains an item in regard to some men who were hanged for killing a “witch.”
[2] Noceda and Sanlucar’s Vocabulario de la lengua tagala defines abobót, the same word as abubut, as a basket woven from rattan, which has a lid.
[3] Native of the Philippines, with medical experience, but no title. See Appleton’s New Velázquez Dictionary. Mediquillo is literally “little, or petty physician.”
[4] Probably the Dissertation sur les maladies convulso-clenico-toniques en général ([Montpellier], 1806), by Joseph Boy y Santa Maria.