The main features, then, of the Manóbo religious system are:
(1) A firm traditional belief in the existence of anthropomorphic beneficent deities that will help the Manóbo if he supplies them with the offerings they desire, but, if not, that will allow and even cause evil to befall him.
(2) A belief in the existence of forest spirits and sky spirits, who on occasions may become hostile and must be propitiated.
(3) An absolute reliance on priests, who are the favorites of one or more of the friendly divinities, and through whose mediation he secures their good will and assistance.
(4) The fear of the dead who are thought to harbor an envious feeling toward the living.
(5) The frequent consultation or interpretation of omens, auguries, and oracles for ascertaining future events.
(6) A rigid adherence to a numerous set of taboos, some based on religious ideas, some founded on sympathetic magic.
(7) A frequent application of the principle of sympathetic magic by which one act is believed to be productive of a correlated result.
(8) A conscientious avoidance of everything disrespectful in word and act toward one of the brute creation.
(9) A belief in two spirit companions that accompany each mortal from birth till death.
(10) A belief in the possibility of capture of one of these spirit companions by malignant spirits.
(11) A universal and constant faith in the existence of an afterworld and of the eternal survival of at least one spirit companion therein.
(12) A belief in dreams as being often indicative of future evil.
(13) A belief in secret methods that may be productive of harm to others.
(14) The recourse to oaths and ordeals for the enforcement of promises and for the determination of truth.
(15) The unmistakable apotheosis of bravery as illustrated by the warlike character of one class of deities.
Such are the main characteristics of this form of primitive religion. The peculiar fear, entertained by its lowly votary, of lonely mountains, odd-shaped rocks, gloomy caves and holes, hot springs and similar formations of nature; his belief that planted things have "souls" and his peculiar respect for animals and insects--these and minor manifestations may point perhaps to a former nature and animal worship, but at present there is no indication of such. The Manóbo's conduct in the presence of such objects and phenomena is one of fear toward, and placation of, the agencies which he believes produce the phenomena or of the spirit owners of the objects that come across his path. It is to them alone that he pays his respect, and not to the material object or manifestation that has become the object of his perception.
Though one of the characteristics of Manóbo religion is the apotheosis of bravery, as is apparent from the warlike character of the divinities, and from the general desire to die the death of the slain, yet I find little trace of ancestor worship. The dead are feared, their burial place is shunned, their character is deemed perfidious, and relations with them are terminated by a farewell mortuary feast, after which it is expected that they will depart, to vex the living no more.
MENTAL AND OTHER ATTAINMENTS AND CHARACTERISTICS
The Manóbo's intellectual attainments are very limited. He counts on his fingers and on his toes, or by means of material objects such as grains of maize. He has never had any system of writing and does not know how to read. His "letters" and his "contracts" are material objects in the shape of bolos and other things, sent from one person to another with a verbal message, or strips of rattan with knots. His method of counting is decimal, and comprehends all numbers up to a hundred, though I am inclined to think that this last number represents to him infinity.
The reckoning of time is equally simple. The day is divided into day and night, the hour being indicated by stretching out the arm and open hand in the direction of that part of the sky where the sun or the moon would be at the time it is desired to indicate.
The month is not divided into weeks but the lunar month itself is carefully followed, each phase of the moon having its distinct name, though it is only in the case of the extreme of each phase that they agree on its name.
Years are reckoned by the recurrence of the rice-harvesting season, which varies according to the climate and geographical position of different regions. It is seldom that one can count backwards more than four or five years unless he can help his memory by some event such as an earthquake, and extra heavy flood, the arrival of the Spanish missionaries, the Philippine insurrection, or the growth of trees, but as a rule no attempt is made to determine the number of years that have elapsed since any event. I have seldom met a Manóbo who had any idea as to his age, or any ability to judge approximately of the age of another.