The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1912-10-25
SuperStiUOuS fIIlpInOS.

Eambales, writes lht IIa+e'""''' "'''
Ter as follows:
z The christian tribes of the Philippines
have many queer beliefs. but I shall
tell only a few of those believed by the
y Negritos, a wild tribe among the
9 mountains Of this province. AS has
been said, the Negritos are not chris.
tians. but they try to find an eXpiana.
alton for most everything on religious
grounds.
When q child is given a name ou;ta
a ceremony is held. By and by if the
chlia doesn't grow fast or becomes
sickiy' At Is a sign that the same deity
has been offended What can be done
Z as a remedy Change the child's name.
! TO be sure; and it ia done.
When a hunting party returns. tb.v
place food to the spirits. no mottp}}
whether the expedition was a good ona
or not. | might say here that the reli-
gion of the wild tribes seems to be one
of fear, and not of love, as Is christian.
ity. They offer their gifts to the gods
as II hiring them to protect the people.
/ ana not az al, offering of thanks Ills.
tor y ~ This Hs one rcGslu why the
christian tribes turned away from their
old beliefs so quickly in order to accept
the Catholic doctrines Of the Spaniards.
Warriors and travellers tie q strip of
wild bOar's skin around each leg lust
below the knee. This gives them en-
d%urance. For" says the Negrito, 'Gs
not the mountain wild boar the strong.
est animal that lives?"
There are two seasons in the torrid
zone, the dry and the rainy season. Es.
peciaIly when a typhoon comes. on ac-
count of the lightning and thunder,
does the Negrito live in terror. He
fears the thunder more than the light
ming, and runs away to hide in order to
escape. But they have a remedy to
drive it away. Deer are plentiful
among the mountains, 80 when it thun.
ders the people bury deer's bones.
They believe that the spirits of the
dead stay near the place where they
once lived when alive. These spirits or
"anitos' influence almost everything.
Sickness, failure of crops, storms, etc.
are attributed partly to the influence Of
these spirits. There Is a large black
rock on a mountain trail about 40 miles
from my station. 1t is believed to be
the home OF the master spirit. No Ne
~ NN'A INh7BNN ~ NllliDhl ltdNlIlE ~
banana, or something good to eat. Any-
one who does not leave some food will
meet with misfortune. Senior Potenci-
anO LeSaCa, an ex-governor Of this
province, once passed the rock with a
crowd OF Negritos. He ate part Of a
banana, threw the other part in an.
other direction, kicked the rock, and
laughed at the Negritos. They were
Mortified, saying that something bad
would happen to him. Sure enough, he
had gone only a few miles when he was
shot through one leg by an angry Ne
grito among the bushes, who knew
nothing Of the occurrence at the rock.
This caused the people to believe in the
spirit more than ever.
Sickness Is a punishment sent by the
spirits. Smallpox is a punishment for
cutting a tree which Is the home of a
spirit. There are medicine men among
them, who are highly respected, and
the people stand in awe Of them. But
when they fail to cure their patients,
they are held accountable and often are
put to death.
A friend Of mire was once camping in
a village when his interpreter became
sick. The people were considerably
up over the matter, saying that
some spirit or other had been offended
my friend burned some wood
that belonged to the spirit. An old
m was summoned. She
how the mar felt; he told her he
felt as # something was weighing him
down. That was an easy case. VAST
not plain that a spirit was sitting upon
hlmI The old woman had him to jump
roll over and over, turn somer-
and do all kinds Of things that
would disturb the spirit, and make him
sorry that he had chosen SO unsuitable
a place for sitting. At last the old wo-
man gave him a strong jerk and fell
over as If fainting. The spirit had left
the man and gone TO the medicine Wo-
man. The people had,been very quiet
until then, They began yelling and
jerking the old woman about before the
spirit could seize hold Of her securely.
When q man has a pain In his stom-
ach, he boils a piece Of iron and drinks
the water. Pieces Of certain kinds Of
woo,,, are often tied around the neck az
a remedy !l2r colds and sore throat
Other kinds are used ~. other diseases.
We may smile ut this, but don't FORGET
that some of our own people believe
that a chestnut carried in the pocket Ia
good for rheumatism. When a person
has fever, he Is placed on a bed Of
green leaves of a kind Of mint. This
has a cooling effect. Smallpox Ia sell
dom treated. 1t Is a curse from the
gods. Often they burn great blisters
on the body as a cure for fever. The
man is made 80 hot that he 10 obliged to
perspire. This relieves the fever.
There is a rare kind Of yellow moss
grows high up in the trees; it Is
called "ga-u-ma." Anyone who se-
cures some of this moss has the power
to look at anyone else during the new
and make the person sick at the
stomach. They believe that the moss
will float upstream. But they are
to try 1t, fearing that they may
offend some god or other. 1t would be
doubling the gods power. Anyone
smoking some of the moss, and a mem
Der Of the opposite sex breathing some
IF the smoke, the person b. eathing the
smoke will Immediately fall in love with
the one smoking
These superstitlons are believed only
BY the wild, ignorant Negritos. The
tribes are turning away from
their beliefs and taking up those of the
world. History has proven that
The nation that doesn't accept c~iviliza-
ion must die. The future Of the Me-
is doubtful, but the Government
IS working for their interest.