Lumad Spirituality

Lumad spirituality is very deep. At a young age, many lumads regardless of tribal affiliation are being taught by their elders to respect three things; 1. To revere Manama as the God creator of all things, 2. To respect nature and all its forms, 3. And to respect his elders, his community and the customs that have been brought down for generations. The lumad child, while growing up to become an adult is taught by the community through example. Since the relationships of tribal cultures in the east are more cohesive, the education becomes more of a “community instruction”.

There are many spiritual practices among the lumads. But all of these are compartmentalized into one unified system of belief and practice.

For example, during the blessing or pomaas after a harvest, the balian or the priest will offer prayers and give thanks to Manama. The pomaas ritual is characterized with the use of two (2) chickens, one colored white and the other, black feathered, as being offered to appease the creator. After the prayer acknowledging the hierarchy of spirits, the chickens are slaughtered and the liver is utilized by the shaman as a tool to read the omens or messages of the spirits. The pomaas ritual is not limited to harvests or community celebrations but is also an accepted practice on occasions of a house blessing, family gathering or family celebrations.

Another example is that whenever a hunter goes out to hunt, he makes an altar at the side of the balete tree. This altar, otherwise known as tambara contains an offering of food or rice for the guardian spirit to partake. Thus, an acknowledgment from the spirit makes his hunt successful.

It is also not proper, to touch articles belonging to the Datu like his palihuma or sword, spear, kaasag or his shield, his garments or his mat, especially without his permission. Articles belonging to him are considered sacred.

Laughing at other people’s deformities is also considered a serious moral crime. The being of the sky world called Anit may punish a person for commission. But oftentimes, an insult to a reputation of an individual may result to instant death.

An ahung may not be played without permission as the instrument is also protected by a guardian spirit.

At the time of Islamic rule in Mindanao, the Bagobos had generally believed that creation is ruled by a supreme God called Manama. As there are also lesser gods and deities that are under his governance. His afterlife in the sky worlds consists of nine layers, the highest being occupied by the supreme God and the diwata and the lowest, the anitos or spirits. Then, there is Tuwaang, the bagobo folk-hero who defeats his evil enemies and retreats to his sky world riding in his Sinalimba or sky-ship.

Symbiosis is a concept that has been understood by many lumads even before they were taught the word. And before the coming of the formal education, they instinctively knew how it was to violate a centuries-old custom law. Thus, many of them have developed a keen sense of respect towards many things. Respect for them is not a belief. It is part of their greater practice of lumad spirituality.

Moors and the Conquest of Spain

Before the Philippine islands became a subject of the Spanish Crown in the mid-15^th Century, Spain was part of a greater empire of Rome. Spain, whose capital was in Toledo, had likewise capitulated to the invasion and rule of the Germanic tribes in the Roman empire. Battles were fought to defend the Castilian empire, but only to lose to the more aggressive and powerful Visigoth, Vandal and Ostrogoth armies. Rome’s armies were defeated at the Battle of Adrianople in the year 378. It was during the reign of the more powerful Visigoth Kings Alaric l and Alaric ll that another threat was about to rise from beyond the straights of Gibraltar.

It was during the lifetime of the prophet Muhammad that he was able to establish the spiritual roots of the Arabian Peninsula. Taking cue from the nudgings of the spirit, he taught a way of life for the Arabs. A life of peace. A way of life for those who submitted to Islam.

Being the fire that stoked the hearts of the fierce believers, the spread of Islam was swift and immediate. It encapsulated the entire Arabian Peninsula by the time of the Prophet’s death in 632.

After it had spread to Syria and Palestine, it engulfed Damascus, then onto Mesopotamia and India. It galloped to Cenral Asia to the land of the Mongols, west of the river Nile in Alexandria and finally to North Africa into the land of the Berbers.

Year 711. The Rock of Gibraltar.

It is located approximately 9 miles from the tip of North Africa. It is here where the arrowhead of the greater Moslem armies led by Tariq-Ibn-Ziyad, readied themselves for the crossing. By spring, ferried by boats to the beachhead of the
Rock, the 12,000 Muslim warriors marched northward. At Cadiz, Moslem warriors were met by the Christian forces led by King Roderic, a Visigoth. And according to historical records, Tariq-Ibn-Ziyad reputedly shouted to his men at the time of the battle, “Before us is the enemy, behind us is the sea, we only have once choice, to win”!

After this momentous battle with the hastily gathered Christian forces by its Visigoth king, Roderic, its ruler, was slain through a mortal wound. His body never was recovered. The Christian forces crumbled. Ranks of warriors and men deserted.

Afterwards, the Moorish army spread through the gates of the Visigoth capital, Toledo. Remaining Christian forces at the capital retreated into the northern mountains. As Toledo fell into Muslim hands, it became a permanent stronghold for Islamic military rule. Cordoba likewise became the seat of Arab learning.

With the Christian forces diminished and defeated, Toledo captured, the Muslim conquest of Spain was thus set in motion.

The Muslim Caliphates ruled Spain uninterruptedly for almost 400 years. Arab art and culture, science, architecture and engineering would permeate itself into the fibers of Castilian life.

Not until the marriage of the two Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella would unite the whole of Spanish Christendom
against Muslim rule.

It was only in 1492, that the combined military might of the Spanish forces led by both Ferdinand and Isabella crushed Alhambra, the last stronghold of the moors.

Postscript:

Historical records would name these invaders “Moors” since they arrived by way of Morocco. However, these people themselves did not call themselves as such. They were Arabs, from Damascus and Medina leading Islamized North African Berbers to Spanish territories. However, it was only when these Arabs finally intermarried with Castilians and Visigoths that a truly “Moorish” civilization was born in the Spanish motherland.

And when the Spanish colonizers went to the Philippine Islands in the mid-15^th century, they discovered several Mindanao tribes such as the Tausug, Maguindanao and Maranao that were living under an Islamic rule and thus similarly identifying them with the same “moors” that subjugated them a century earlier.  It was during the 13^th century that the first Muslim missionary Makdum from the neighboring Malayan islands would convert the first of Mindanao’s coastal tribes.

Today, the “moor or moro” had been identified by scholars and academicians alike as a derogatory term for Muslim peoples who assert the right to be recognized by their culture and territory.