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.