1. BurialBelief in life after death and in the relation between
thedead and the living made the Filipinos respectful of theirdead.
The deceased relatives were placed in a wooden coffinand buried
under their house, complete with cloth, gold andother valuable
things. This was done in the belief that awell provisioned dead
person would be received with Alarcityin the other world, while a
poorly provided dead one wouldbe received with indifference, if not
with hostility.
2. Upon the death of person, the people made firesunder his
house. Armed men acted as sentinelsabout his coffin for it was
feared that somesorcerers might take into their heads to touch
thecoffin and thereby open it, thus releasing theaccumulated stench
of the corpse. There was muchweeping not only on the part of the
immediaterelatives, but also among the friends even
theneighbors.
3. As personal manifestation of mourningamong the people of
Luzon, therelatives wore white shirts or skirts.Among the other
tribes of Luzon andMindanao, the relatives showed theirdeep
mourning by going berserk.
4. Morotal(before)/maglahi(now): mourning of a womenfom that of
a man.Laraw : mourning for a dead chiefSipa: fasting of
tagalogsBalata: the act of vegeancePasiyam: the ninth night after
the the death of aperson.Tibawan: staging a play in honor of the
deadTibaw: the paly
5. The ancient Filipinos, like theircontemporaries in many
lands, put verymuch stock in divination, auguries andmagic charms.
They interpreted signs inNature, such as the flight of birds,
thebarking of the dogs, the singing of lizards,and the like as good
or bad omensdepending upon the circumstances.
6. Who could injure any man whose face he did notlike by the
expedient of pricking an image of aman in any part of the anatomy
she wanted tohurt.
7. Who took pleasure in sucking the blood ofbabies.
8. Like aswang, could assume in different formsin order to
mislead a traveler at night.
9. These religious belief and otherwise were not eradicated
with thecoming of western civilization. Most of them were practiced
behindthe backs of the Christian missionaries, with the result that
sideby side with Catholicism, elements of paganism survived
andpenetrated the new religion.