Another Kind of Salem Witches and Voodoo

In the Philippines we have the mambabarangs similar to the voodoo practitioners. I’m talking about the parag-barangs in one municipality (which I won’t mention for fear of reprisal). In this village, it is believed that all villagers know the secret rituals to harm a living person , or had a brush with the witches or mambabarangs ire.

Unlike the Salem witches, the mambabarangs were not burned at the stake. They were revered for their power rooted in ancient pagan beliefs before the discovery of the Islands by Spanish Ferdinand Magellan. The early sorcerers had tattoos all over their body to announce their prominence in their trade and they occupied a special place in society.

The mambabarangs like the voodoo priests and priestesses invoke spirits, hold ceremonies or rituals and offer animal sacrifices. But the similarities end here because the mambabarangs will cast spells to harm a person while the voodoo priests/priestess will not.

The incantations of the mambabarangs place foreign objects in the body of the intended - nails, toothpicks, water, wood splinters etc. If they are enraged, they can lop off your nose! As fair warning, the Jose Rizal statue in the town plaza had his nose excised! Perhaps this is a prank but an ominous one.

The victim will feel excruciating pain in the target area -lungs, legs, stomach, liver, face, and feet. No amount of medical consultations can determine what exactly is wrong. The doctors often dismiss the complaints as the work of idle minds. If you are not averse to the idea of getting help from the local witch doctor, you’ll get the cure.

The witch doctor will first determine if you have been bewitched by an elemental or a person. They do this by dripping the wax of the lighted candle on a basin of water. The wax assumes a shape immediately interpreted by the witch doctor. If an elemental has cast a spell the witch doctor will have two pullets (black or white) slaughtered and offered to appease the anger or invoke the mercy of the elemental.

If the spell was cast by another witch doctor or mambabarang, counter spells are exercised until the cure is obtained. The incantations are bastardized Latin, prayers written backwards or special prayers (oraciones). Believe it or not, but these work.

In some cases, the prayers are written on a piece of paper, shredded to bits and placed in a glass of water. A special prayer is said into the glass - to make sure that every word is absorbed by the water and the paper. This water is drank by the patient for several sessions (in some instances only once) and the patient is healed.

Medical doctors who have incurable cases on their hands, advice patients to get a tambalan (witch doctor). This is not to discredit medical science but in many situations, patients have been cured and given a new lease in life. In the Salem witches’ case, who would have recommended a cure from the witches? None.

Picture credits: www.augustinespiritualgoods.com

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