GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE DEITIES
Manóbo religion consists primarily of a belief in an innumerable number of deities called úmli and of secondary deities called diuáta. In contradistinction to these is a multitudinous host of demons known as búsau, waging incessant and ruthless war against the Manóbo world. In addition to these there is a numerous array of spirits known as tagbánua to whom is assigned the ownership of the forests, hills, and valleys, while the various other divisions and operations of nature are thought to be under the superintendence of other preternatural beings, beneficent or otherwise.
The conception which the Manóbo has of the supernatural world is very much like his idea of the world in which he lives. His gods, like his warrior chiefs, are great chiefs, no one of whom recognizes the sovereignty of the other. We find no idea of a supreme being as such. The priests of one settlement have their own special deities to whom they and their relatives have recourse, while the priests of another settlement have another set of deities for their tutelaries, with whom they intercede, either for themselves or for such of their friends as may need assistance. It is true that each priest has amongst his familiars a major divinity from whom he may have experienced more help, but in the spirit world there does not exist, according to Manóbo belief, one supreme universal being.7 Each priest declares the supremacy of his major deity over those of other priests, and Manóbos declare Manóbo deities to be superior to those of other tribes.
7During the great religious movement that was at its height in 1909, there was a general belief in the existence of a Magbabáya, or supreme being, that was to overthrow the world, but before my departure from the Agúsan in 1910, this supreme being was multiplied and was being sold to anyone of Manóbo belief who could afford to pay the equivalent of a human life. Thus one frequently heard that So-and-So had received one or more Magbabáya.
CLASSIFICATION OF DEITIES AND SPIRITS The following is a general classification of Manóbo deities and spirits.
BENEVOLENT DEITIES
(1) Úm-li, a class of higher beings who on special occasions, through the intercession of the diuáta, succor mortals.
(2) Diuáta, a minor order of benignant deities, with whom the priests hold communion on all occasions of impending danger, before all important undertakings, and whenever it is considered necessary to feast or to propitiate them.