Landscape
Gemma Cruz Araneta

Re-inventing the babaylan

How did the babaylan cope with the
onslaught of “cross and sword”? After the bloody revolts
against their sworn enemies, the early Spanish missionaries;
after burning churches and disfiguring Christian icons and
after the painful betrayal of community members, the
babaylans had to devise effective survival methods. They
either fled to the mountains or adopted Christian ways to
co-exist with the colonial order

Mr. Adelbert Batica, a Filipino expat,
sent his comments to my article “Silencing the
babaylan”. He wrote: : “The babaylan, as well as the
symbols and images associated with them may have totally
disappeared except where they have reappeared as modern-day
healers and “hilot” who most often use oraciones
as part of their healing practice. But, I would propose
that they were actually resurrected, “reinvented”
if you may, under a Christian context.”

Indeed, there are several religious
communities led by women like the “Ciudad Mistica de
Dios”, at the foot of the sacred Mt. Banahaw that uses
the Bible and Christian prayers as the basis of their own
stylized rituals. Curiously, the “Ciudad Mistica de Dios”
began with the “Iglesia Mistica Filipina” founded
by Suprema Maria Bernarda in 1915. Mr. Batica observed:
“The old ladies who act as prayer leaders at many
religious devotionals including novenas (especially for the
dead) seem to be carrying on the dynamic of the
“babaylan”, although in this day and age instead
of being armed with amulets she wears scapulars, religious
medals, and usually carries a prayer book or
“novenario” and a rosary.”

Mr. Batica also said: ” This
reincarnation of the babaylan may not be too obvious in the
urban areas of the Philippines, but in my view they are
active and very present on the more provincial and small
town scenes.. The family of the deceased is offering a
“pamisa” or observing a “patapos” for
the their departed loved one, they would usually turn to a
prayer leader, instead of the family offering the prayers
themselves because chances are, they would not be familiar
with the rituals and the protocols for these devotions
while the prayer leader is considered an expert.”

Mr. Batica has personal knowledge: ” Many of the
prayer leaders I knew in my hometown were
either single old women or widows who decided to
dedicate themselves to the church or to their own
interpretation of religious life. They, in turn, handed
down what they knew about traditions, prayers, rituals to
younger women…and the cycle goes on. And yes, some of
the prayer leaders in my hometown were also believed to
have healing powers and to invoke the spirits of the other
world in their healing sessions. Truly, old (represented by
ancient beliefs in anitos or spirits, for example) and new
(christian symbols) working hand in hand to keep body and
soul healthy.”

Mr. Batica speaks from experience:: “Of
course, mine are just mere observations and added
interpretations. But would you believe that I even saw
this kind of dynamic – the animist blending in with the
Christian, in such far away places as Peru and Cuba? The
reason I say this is because I had the privilege of being
assisted by “curanderas” (healers) in my
travels.”

Strangely enough, in the Philippines, the women
healers of “Ciudad Mistica de Dios” and similar
communities do not want to be called descendants or heirs of
our babaylan tradition. Could it be because they are wary
of being associated with superstition and witch craft?
Evidently, the black propaganda against babaylans started by
early Spanish missionaries centuries ago lives on. .