It is not strange that a custom of this kind should exist in a country where a human being is a mere chattel, sometimes valued at less than a good dog. When it is considered that in Manóboland revenge is not only a virtue but a precept, and often a sacred inheritance, it stands to reason that to sacrifice the life of an enemy or of an enemy's friend or relative would be an act of the highest merit. From what I have observed of Manóbo ways I can readily conceive the satisfaction and glee with which an enemy would be offered up to the war deities of a settlement, slowly lanced or stabbed to death, and then the heart, liver, and blood taken ceremonially. A very common expression of anger used by one Manóbo to another is "huagon ka," that is, "May you be sacrificed."
I find verbal evidences of human sacrifices in those regions only that are near to the territory of the Bagóbos and the Mandáyas. This leads me to think that the custom is either of Bagóbo or of Mandáya origin.
The Jesuit missionary Urios14 makes mention of the case of Maliñgáan who lived on the upper Simúlao, contiguous to the Mandáya country. In order to cure himself of a severe illness he had a little girl sacrificed. Urios describes the punitive expedition sent out against him, and the death of Maliñgáan by his own hand.
14Cartas de los PP. de la Compañía de Jesús, Cuaderno V, letter from Father Saturnine Urios, Patrocinio, Sept. 16, 1881.
I have heard of numerous cases, especially in the region at the headwaters of the Báobo, Ihawán, and Sábud Rivers. One particular case will illustrate the manner in which the ceremony is performed. My authority for the account is one who claimed to have participated in the sacrifice.
A boy slave, who belonged to the man that arranged the sacrifice, was selected. The slave was given to understand that the object of the ceremony was to cure him of a loathsome disease from which he was suffering.15 The preparatory ceremonies were described as being of the same character as those which take place in the ordinary pig sacrifice for the war spirit, namely, the offering of the betel-nub tribute, the solemn invocation of the war spirits and supplication for the recovery of the officiant's son, the sacred dance performed by the warrior priests, and the offering of betel nut to the soul of the slave that it might harbor no ill will against the participants in the ceremony.
15To-bu-káw.
The slave, the narrator informed me, was left unmolested, being entertained by companions of his age until the moment for the sacrifice arrived, when he was seized and quickly bound to a tree. The warrior priest, who was the father of the sick one, then shouted out in a loud voice to his war spirits asking them to accept the blood of this human creature, and without further ado planted his dagger in the slave's breast. Several others, among whom my informant was one, followed suit. The victim died almost instantly. Then each one of the warrior priests inserted a crocodile tooth from his neck collar16 into one of the wounds and they became, as the narrator put it, tagbusauán; that is, filled with the blood spirit. The reader is left to imagine the scene that must have followed.
16Ta-ti-hán.
Human sacrifice takes place in other forms, according to universal report. Thus one hears now and then that a warrior chief had his young son kill a slave or a captive in order to receive the spirit of bravery through the power of a war deity, who would impart to him the desire to perform feats of valor. Three warrior chiefs informed me personally that they had done this in order to accustom their young sons to the sight of blood and to impart to them the spirit of courage. I have no doubt whatsoever of the truth of their statements, as they were made in a matter-of-fact, straightforward way, as if the affair were a most natural occurrence. Accounts of such performances may be overheard when Manóbos speak among themselves.