We would entertain usual queries like, "Rabies injections, please?", Coule the Department of Trade teach us how to invest?", "Could the devolved Department of Social Welfare and Development give us some rice and sardines?", "Did the governor have sand and gravel to deliver?", "Could the teachers go on seminars?, and so on.
Three months later, I was told an elderly man needed to see me personally. Complying, I saw the old farmer again, who seemed to have become thinner. With buri hat in hand, he indicated we move to a corner. With trembling hands he opened a package wrapped in newspaper. To my surprise, it was a coconut that had four eyes, a silver disc like the one used to weigh down a sipa, and an orasyon.
Most coconuts only have three eyes, not four. He told me this strange coconut safeguarded his family and home for years. All three were now for me to keep so no one could ever harm me. He was giving it to me as a present. Apparently, he was grateful for the help I extended to him when he was hungry and needed money. Now wouldn’t that make you cry?
The prayer which I couldn’t understand, the coconut and the disc, were his anting-antings which I had preserved in a plexiglass case. Somehow, these reminded me of man’s goodness.
Amulets are also believed to guard against recurrent dangers such as plagues, pestilence, animal attacks, drowning and battle wounds. Each amulet has to have enough power to overcome the influence of evil spirits, which are thought to be harbingers of misfortunes brought down on us by our enemies and bad spirits. A word of warning: An amulet may lose its positive properties if any other man holds it or even lays eyes on it.
Another amulet I saw to ward off evil came from an old lady in Cavite who gave my friend, Celia Molano, a green bead on a yellow string to wear as a bracelet as a form of protection. Whispering, the old lady prayed over the amulet and blew on it.
Prayers or incantations are imbued with power. When recited over the object, the prayers make them protective amulets. Recited spells were first transmitted orally from one generation to another but throughout the years they have become written codes such as the ones seen in shirts from Banahaw and the Tausugs, as well as my tubao collection. An intense believer from Laguna gave me a T-shirt with prayers written by Pentel Pen in bold letters. He said the prayers were so powerful I should open my mouth before I recited it or my teeth would fall off!
A green jade, a red tiny cloth with prayers inside pinned on the bra or on a man’s inner shirt, a bead with an eye, and other types of amulets are expected to cast a magic spell against our enemies’ ill thoughts.
Juli from Banahaw, a former Constabulary officer who became a mountain guru (God rest his soul) said upon entering one of my rooms, "The spirits here are not very good." The room was where sick people was isolated. Funny, it was my favorite room since it was beside a pocket garden. I thought the vibes of the room made me happy. Nevertheless, he posted on the door: Yehowah Yahweh Sator Areto Tenet... to either keep the bad spirits away or reform them.
Reciting other short prayers or orasyones that activate these amulets so men won’t betray you is, "Jesus Maria Soledom Curpos Miyom." An orasyon for protection so that no one will try anything nasty against you is, "Et Sene Iposo Factum Est Nihil Quod Factum Est." An orasyon to pray so no one will be angry with you is, "Mimurium Purtel Telio Suspindido Aduravit Diyora Eglolis Egulisnivit Pacguim Patterium Bulium Regit." Come to think of it, isn’t the Lord’s Prayer simpler to recite than the last three I quoted ?
I thought orasyones and talismans in ages past were more potent. Not quite. Despite the advent of modernity and science, those ancient, charming beliefs are still being practiced in villages and provinces, and even urban areas.
A pregnant woman usually wears around her wrist a string with a small lead charm supposedly to safeguard her from the wak-wak or witch. A black thick bracelet made up of a bundle of threads is said to save a child from any epidemic. On the waist of a 20-year-old girl was a brown string with seven knots exactly the same as the one given to me in Jolo to protect me. The Samal women call this amulet habay and each knot is referred to as buko.