Witchcraft Practice in the Philippines
Have you ever heard of “gayuma” or heard stories about people suffering from “kulam”? Do you, by chance, know some person who performed the “kulam”? Or do you ever experience getting treated by albularyos rather than doctors? If your answers were all yes, then Philippine culture and tradition were presented to you.
Back in the old times, due to lack of hospitals and other equipments used in performing a surgery or treating someone, elders would consult a faith healers. One of the most famous faith healers are the albularyos. Albularyos were believed to have agimat or anting-anting, charms like pendants with words inscribe (mostly Latin). It is believed that it is where they get their power to heal people. Others would also say that Albularyos is the instrument or the channel of Jesus, the holy spirits or some other powerful guides. But however, faith healing is beyond religion and was also influenced by other religions, such as the Buddhism, Muslim, Protestantism, etc.
Albularyos chant incantation, mostly in pig Latin, while healing someone. By just chanting incantation and performing rituals, Albularyos were able to know the illness of one person. “Na-engkanto” and “nausog” were some of the common diagnosis of Albularyos. They also performed some rituals that would alleviate the said illness and be healed soon. But some of the faith healers performed surgery as their way of treating and it is called “bare hand surgery” where the surgery was conducted without the use of any medical equipment, just the bare hands of the faith healers. Laurence Cacteng is the famous faith healer who performed the bare hand surgery. This may be quiet risky surgery to some but for those who believe, this is very powerful and effective remedy for them.
Albularyos were also believed to be able to counterfeit a “kulam”. Many Filipinos, even in present day, believed on the “kulam” wherein it is the used of black magic to perform some evil deeds that could cause to hurt other people. Other Filipinos would intimate that “mangkukulam”, the one who performed the kulam, are often from the islands of Siquijor and Samar, and the province of Sorsogon. The foremost image of mangkukulam in the public involves the use of rag doll to injure the intended victim. For the curse to work, something belonging from the victim should be obtained by the mangkukulam and the closer to the intended victim, the more the curse will be effective. So, strand of hair, spit, or drops of blood are highly recommended for the maximum effect. Believers said that there are only two way for the curse to be lifted; first, removing the string tied from the rag doll and the second one, is killing the witch herself.
Kulam exists in a wider context. It does not just revolved around the rag doll, sticking needles on it. Other Filipinos referred mangkukulam as the village witch where they can get love spells, spells to catch cheating husband, potions and such. The common love spells here in the Philippines is the gayuma. For this gayuma to work you need to pour some of it on your victim’s drinks and it is needed to be drunk by the victim.
Both, mangkukulam and albularyos used “magic” or performed some rituals and incantation. However, this should be remembered that these two were different from each other. Albularyos are specialized in healing people, sometimes they used herbs as the medicines of the patient. While mangkukulam is more of specializing in tricks, curses and hexes. And, sometimes, albularyos were the one who healed those people who’ve been suffering from kulam. They often prescribed to their patient who’s “nakulam” to find the caster of the kulam and bribe them to lift the curse out to them. The other form of remedies that albularyo performed is the use of Buntot Pagi (Stingray’s Tail). The albularyos whipped the person whose been cursed by the buntot pagi until the afflicted was forced to say the name of the witch or mangkukulam who casted the curse. They also believed that through whipping they were able to punished or caused pain the person who casted the spell, or mangkukulam and in that way, the albularyo can convinced the mangkukulam to lift the spell they casted.
Witchcraft has been part of Filipino culture since before the Spaniards came. However, as the time goes by and as the world become modern, where technologies and other advance machineries were introduced to the Filipinos, these were slowly fading and only few still believes on it. Most of the time people consult to the real doctors regarding to their health disregarding the old way of healing. We may have been more advanced today but still, we should not forget what our ancestors and our grandparents believed on their time because this were where we started. And, this is still part of our culture. Our culture wouldn’t be complete as it is now, without these kind of beliefs. We may not patronized these but we should not forget these things.
