The lady was telling the priest of her husband’s illness (it appeared to have been congestion of the lungs), and she prepared and applied a poultice of three heads of garlic in honour of the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity; this not producing the desired effect, she then made a poultice of five heads of garlic, in honour of the Five Wounds of our Blessed Saviour, and successively others of seven heads, in honour of the Seven Pains of the Blessed Virgin; twelve heads in honour of the Twelve Apostles, and last of all a poultice of thirty-three heads of garlic in honour of the Thirty-three years our Blessed Saviour remained on earth. The priest had nodded approval as she went on, but as she stopped he said: “And then?” To which the lady replied, “Then he died.”
This poor man came off easily, for in some cases people who suffer from fits and other diseases are thought to be possessed by devils, and are severely beaten to drive out the evil spirit. The patient does not always escape with his life.
The women often dream of lucky numbers in the Manila Lottery and make every endeavour to purchase the number they have dreamt of.
Amongst the Christian superstitions may be mentioned the feast of San Pascual Bailón at Obando. Those who attend this function are commonly the rowdier class of inhabitants of the Capital, and they go mostly on foot, making music and dancing on the way. They also dance in the courtyard in front of the church, not forgetting to refresh themselves with strong drink in the meanwhile.
Tagal Girl wearing Scapulary.
[To face p. 216.
This is not at all an edifying spectacle, for the dancers are covered with dust and with the perspiration from their active exertions. I do not know the legend that gives occasion to this curious form of devotion. Occasionally, and especially during Holy Week, another form of penitence is practised by the natives. I remember, about 1892, seeing one of these penitents, a man having a mask on his face, the upper part of his body bare, and a long chain fastened to one ankle and dragging on the ground behind him. In one hand he bore a flagellum with which he from time to time lashed himself on the shoulders, which bore evident marks of the discipline they had received. A youth who followed him occasionally jerked the chain, throwing the penitent violently at full length upon the dusty road. This form of penitence is not approved, however, by the priests, for when I called on the parish priest, the same evening, I mentioned the circumstance to him, and he directed the penitent to be locked up, to stop what he rightly termed a scandal.
On many occasions the natives had got up a religious excitement, and great gatherings have taken place at some spot where a miraculous appearance of the Blessed Virgin, or some supernatural manifestation has been alleged to have occurred.
All these affairs have been somewhat sceptically inquired into by the priests under a general order to this effect issued by the archbishop, and so far as my experience goes, the excessive religious ardour of the natives has rather been checked than stimulated.