Tags: Adora Faye De Vera

First Person | Remembering Nonie

In primitive times, when a person disappears, his tribe would presume he had been eaten by wild beasts, fallen off a cliff, captured by another tribe, or taken by the spirits. If search parties fail to locate him, the babaylan will ask the diwatas or engkantos if they have taken the missing person’s body or spirit. The necessary rituals can then be performed according to circumstances or the person’s social status.