The Crocodile Story

In the course of my research on the water ritual of the Samal tribe, I chanced upon the unique crocodile ceremony of the Maguindanaoans. Boiled rice shaped like a crocodile was, after a day’s preparation and invocations, made to sail down the river as an offering to the sacred spirits, ancestors and deities. How widely sought and powerful was this fascinating belief to appease the gods to bring harmony and balance to their earthly life! But I had to confirm it.

Some Moros of Sultan Kudarat Province in Central Mindanao performed the crocodile ritual to request for a guardian spirit through prayers and to counteract evil like their parents did. It was known in Lanao del Sur. Moros in Zamboanga del Sur and Basilan practice it. Inheritance, culture and tradition were causes for the continuance of this animistic practice that went all the way back to the pre-Islamic period. The same way Christians practiced animism before the coming of Christianity and still do or carry amulets for protection to control spiritual power. Unrelentlessly, I continued to discover the honesty and truthfulness of a people’s reliance in an Almighty.

So let me tell you about it, circa 2001. In Basilan, now searching for the Iranun tribe, I met Abdul. He recounted that a month after a woman gives birth, the pagbubuaya (crocodile ceremony) is performed. Many of Abdul’s Iranun brothers believe that a man is born with a twin that is a crocodile. One is born on land, the human; the other, the mystical, in a body of water. This is the world view that links them to the heavens while on earth. Their kin, the indestructible reptile in the water, is their conduit to the powerful non-beings from whom succor and blessings are beseeched. Hence, the crocodiles, their relatives and ancestors, are revered and called nono or grandfather.

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Migration, deaths, intermarriages, trade routes did not cause the disappearance of their animistic beliefs. It had, in fact, reinforced them from generation to generation as a form of tribal identity. Besides, adulation and respect for their ancestors hold extreme value because of bloodlines that their notion of time and genealogy is never remote, whether they refer to humans or crocodile elders. If these practices ever disappear, it will be because the imams have prohibited the believers of Islam to practice their animistic ceremonies.

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Here are the preparations for the offering to the spirits performed centuries ago in the beginning of the peopling of Mindanao, and which are what they still do today.

On top of immaculately washed and shiny banana leaves, the figure of a crocodile is formed from boiled sticky rice called tapul. Simultaneously, four eggs and a chicken, cleaned thoroughly, are boiled. The crocodile’s head is special so it is made of yellow rice, reserved for royalty and special feasts.

The hard-boiled eggs are placed on the crocodile’s eye area, with two below the crocodile’s neck because they believe the crocodile has four eyes. How else would he see in the blackish waters that he wallows in?

The crocodile lying on its chest is formed with its four legs spread apart. On the back portion of the crocodile’s neck to its tail extending to his legs and arms, boiled bits of chicken are placed. Near his right front leg is a whole boiled chicken, its breast upward. Bananas serve as his claws and are placed at the end of his four legs. If there are no bananas, the elongated sugar candy called lukot-lukot simulates the claws.

One must remember that the appearance of the crocodile can vary depending on social status, budget and the ingredients on hand. Sometimes, the scales of the buaya are pancakes called panalam but made of flour and red sugar and laid on top of the crocodile-rice. These are piled bit by bit, edge over edge, beginning from the neck to the crocodile’s back. Sometimes, the pancakes cover the crocodile figure completely. Chicken blood is placed in a coconut shell in front of the buaya, signifying the sacrifice of blood a woman sheds in the birth of her child. Native delicacies surround the buaya to satisfy his appetite. Two bananas are placed in his mouth, plus a giant tobacco for him to "smoke" and enjoy this adulation.

Cigarettes lie under the leaves where the crocodile is, in case anyone wants to smoke after his meal. Quoranic verses with other native animistic prayers are uttered by the presiding imam or pandita, as drops of chicken blood from the coconut are placed on top of the mother’s hands to respect her sacrifice. She walks around the crocodile three times and then sits to eat the crocodile-rice first as this ceremony is in her honor. The others follow after her and the ritual ends. The mother and her baby are now defended against evil spirits. Presumably, this ceremony’s completion will bring peace of mind and protection to both. The balance of strength between evil and good is preserved.

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Before Christianity arrived in the Philippines, we believed in a Supreme Being and in the world of spirits that animated varied objects in nature such as the sun, the moon, the stars, the rainbow, the seas, the lakes and rivers, the mountains, the trees, the birds and the crocodile. The crow was adored as the lord of the earth called maylupa.

Our ancestors had faith in ghostly angels while they feared evil demons. Some departed human souls were accepted as good or bad spirits. The good spirits were called anito, and the bad spirits were called mangalo in Tagalog. Among the Visayans and Mindanaoans, the good spirits were named diwata. In their honor, the natives carved images of stone, wood, ivory and bone. They, however, had no temples, as deities were worshipped everywhere and anywhere. These rituals were performed by priests, generally women, called katalonan, babaylan or shaman.

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Whether Christian or Muslim, animistic beliefs may and will never be eradicated. In Maguindanao, I asked, "What are you doing?" as sugar was placed on the hole where a coconut was to be planted. The answer was – so the coconut would be sweet "at kasama na rin ang maraming pagbubunga." My other experience involved observing the construction of a house. A hole was dug in the center where the main post would stand. Tied to the post was a bottle filled with water and a prayer from the Qu’ran. Coins were dropped inside the hole. All this so the household would be recipients of wise investments and profitable transactions. In fact, it’s very much like what I did for our own house. My children saw me do it. You bet, they’ve done it for themselves, too!

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You may be surprised – but it doesn’t surprise me that Governor Pax S. Mangundadatu of Sultan Kudarat Province, the seventh generation descendant of the Royal House of Buayan in Maguindanao, believes in the power of prayer through crocodile worship. If the Hindus believe in the holiness of their sacred cows, why not the buaya? The Governor said, "One afternoon, my son-in-law Raden fell asleep by Lake Buluan (a vast body of water connecting Sultan Kudarat Province and Maguindanao Province) and awoke to find his face lopsided. We didn’t know what happened except that Raden had watched the crocodiles, our ancestors, floating on in the lake. Something he should not have done. An old friend told us to perform the pagbubuwaya by the Lake Buluan. This ritual would weaken, remove, expel the external and internal forces that wreak havoc and illness.

To begin the crocodile ceremony, which is different from that in Basilan, a stick was planted in the ground to serve as a flagpole. A red flag was hoisted onto the pole with seven pieces of red thread. The flagpole served as an announcement that a ceremony was taking place.

A small raft was carved out of a banana trunk. Banana leaves were placed on the raft where the rice-shaped crocodile would lie. A grilled mudfish was placed on the back of the rice-crocodile – the spirits’ meal. A piece of gold was wrapped inside the yellow cloth. Upon laying the mini raft on the water to sail downstream, the piece of precious gold was unwrapped and dipped into the water, simultaneously with the freeing of a live mudfish swimming over the brilliance of the ripples from the dipped metal. The presiding holy man prayed that the mudfish transport their prayers to the healing spirit of the water. The water where the mudfish first rose upward was hurriedly scooped up, out of the water, and used for rubbing the sick person’s body to cure it from illness.

It had been three weeks after Raden’s face was disfigured that Pax and his family performed the rite. Raden was cured in a week’s time. Pax recalled his family had not performed the pagbubuwaya in a very long time in spite of its being a duty of the family and community. The Govenror had more to say: "On Friday, December 28, 1988 at high noon, I rode on a patrol boat on my way to attack the MNLF headquarters. While we were fighting, we realized our boat was burning, so everybody jumped off. Many of us didn’t know how to swim. I struggled for 30 minutes to stay afloat when I remembered that the buayas were my ancestors. I asked for their intercession to save my life. Suddenly, a banca arrived, driven by a man. He took me out of the water and brought me on land and simply disappeared. Until now, I tell everyone I was saved by a ‘crocodile man,’ my ancestor, from drowning."

I wish I had the space to explain the origin of this ritual but briefly, it involves two brothers and two versions. One, the datu who stole his brother’s wife; the other, of the intense rivalry and drowning of a brother with his family and entourage at sea in vengeance for ill-treatment. Eventually, the adversaries all became crocodiles. That’s as simplified as I can make it.

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I have proven here that the fear of evil spirits and adoration of crocodiles as liberator-relatives remain till today. Way back in 1995, a crocodile was caught in Lake Buluan. When the community found out about it, they cried and begged those who caught the crocodile to return it to the lake or it would bring them bad luck. The fishermen had disturbed these creatures who could be their relatives. It was promptly returned to the lake.

Respecting culture and tradition, the researcher should not ask the interviewees that the ingredients for a water ceremony be simply laid before him. The ceremony must be performed from the very beginning to its completion as a perfect offering to the spirits for liberation and purity, harmony and well-being.