Witchcraft: Fact or Fiction?

Barangan, aswang and hilo-an: are there truths to these people who are supposed to possess extra-ordinary powers to inflict harm to other people?

Samar and Leyte are said to be two places where these witchcrafts are being practiced. However, in the almost ten years that this writer did cultural research in these parts, I did not get a concrete proof that such practices exist. It’s supposed to be a secret though for outsiders so I only got vignettes of these practices.

The Barangan

The barangan is said to be a sorcerer who could cast a spell to a person by piercing needles to a doll, chanting, fumigation and other rituals. They are dreaded by other people in the community and they usually live in an isolated part of the village near the forest and/or cave where they get plants and animals that they use for their practice of sorcery.

The services of a barangan are employed by a person who wants his enemy hexed. The victim will become mysteriously sick and hallucinates about imaginary things. In some cases, the victim will have bloated stomach but no amount of medicine could cure it. The barang is supposed to take effect if the victim is guilty (i.e. he inflected harm to the other party’s relative) but it will not take effect if the intended victim is innocent.

The barangan’s spell could be countered by a good tambalan (shaman) who has the power to cure sick people by means of medicinal herbs and plants coupled with powerful chants that he learned from another shaman (presumably handed to him by a shaman-relative). Common insects like bees, cockroaches, centipedes and ants supposed to come out of the victim’s ears and mouth as he is cured of his mysterious illness.

In one of my research trips in Basey, Samar, I chanced upon a wreath with black cloth, twigs and leaves installed on the trunks of coconut trees. It is locally called awog. Awog, according to my interview with a tambalan, is was a warning device for would-be thieves that anyone who eats from that tree will get poisoned or sick.

Aswang

Aswang is person who can transform like a chameleon into a dog, cat, pig or other creatures. Just like the barangan, they are ostracized in the community because of their supposed evil practices. They live among the community but their houses are always closed. The aswang is said to use special oil that they rub all over their bodies when they go out at night to prey on pregnant women, new born babies and sick people. The aswangs has a bird-guide called kikik which is called such because of the peculiar sound that it produced. There are two popular image of an aswang: one is the mananangal, a female whose body cuts in half and has bat-like wings and sucks the blood of its victims. The male aswang on the other hand is usually seen on the roof of houses with flaming red eyes and elongated tongue reaching on the bellies of pregnant women or sick people. Both the male and the female aswang could transform into a werewolf, a giant pig or any animal. The aswangs are said to have the ability to heal its wound.