Aeta’ Article of Faith: An Ethnography and Religious Of Aetas in Tarlac

Chapter 1

The Problem And It’s Background

Introduction:Religion and morality are the essential pillar of civil society. ~George

Washington

According to vincent S. Balilla (2013), indigenous people are commonly defined as the

descendants of the inhabitants of a country or region who are present when people of different

ethnic or cultural origins arrive and later become dominate through settlement or occupation of

some means. Bodley proposes that Indigenous peoples had control of much of their own lands

around the globe up until the beginning of the industrial revolution. However, this oversimplifies

a very complex and controversial topic of the displacement of Indigenous peoples unrelated to

European colonisations. Indigenous identity, when defined by the original inhabitants, can be

contested using a range of methods, and it is possible to discern several waves of migration and

occupation, even in regions with complex migratory histories such as south and eastern Asia.

The Aeta (pronounced as “eye-ta,”), Agta or Ayta are an indigenous people who live in

scattered, isolated mountainous parts of Luzon, Philippines. They are considered to be Negritos,

who are dark to very dark brown-skinned and tend to have features such as a small stature, small

frame, curly to kinky afro-like textured hair with a higher frequency of naturally lighter hair

color (blondism) relative to the general population, small nose, and dark brown eyes. They are

thought to be among the earliest inhabitants of the Philippines, preceding the Austronesian

migrations.
According to Frank Wills (2012), the Aeta were included in the group of people termed

“Negrito” duringSpanish colonial rule as Negritos. Various Aeta groups in northern Luzon are

known as “Pugut” or “Pugot,” a name designated by their Ilocano-speaking neighbors, and

which is the colloquial term for those with darker complexions. In Ilocano, the word also means

“goblin” or “forest spirit.”

The Aeta tribes believe in a supreme being who rule over lesser spirits or deities. They worship

Apo Namalyari, whom they regard as the creator, believed to inhabit the mountain top of

Pinatubo in Zambales (Delica, "Preserving the Mountains"). There is no specific mention of

other gods of the Aeta, but one source mentions that the four manifestations of the "great creator"

who rules the world, Tigbalog, is the source of life and action; Lueve takes care of production

and growth of goods; Amas moves people to pity, love, unity, and peace of heart; while

Binangewan is responsible for change, sickness, and death. These spirits inhabit the balete tree

(Wee 1994:29).

The Aetas are also animists, believing in environmental spirits - anito, the good, and kamana, the

bad spirits. They believe that there are spirits that live in the environment such as in the sky,

river, sea, mountain and others.

The Aetas believe that evil spirits are the usual cause of illness as punishment for wrongdoing.

The more serious disease are believed to be coming from the supreme anito (spirit), while lesser

ones from the lesser anitos. Bad spirits like laman nin lota (spirit of the earth), are believed to

possess or enter the human body and cause sickness. The Aeta of Morong still practice a ritual

called kagon, a spirit healing performed with dance, song and guitar music to exorcise the

dimonyo from the sick person. Wearing a necklace of stringed pieces composed of sticks are

believed to ward off such bad spirits.

The anituan, among the Pinatubo Aeta in Zambales, is a séance in which a manganito or a

medium cures an illness by communicating with the spirit causing it. The ritual establishes close

communication between the mortal and the supernatural world, so that misunderstandings

between mortals and spirits may be resolved (Wee 1994:29). The first stage of the manganito

séance is to find out what caused the sickness. The second stage is to eliminate the cause from

the sick person.

Research Questions

• How is the profile of the participant described in terms of:

1.1. Age 1.4. Family Background

1.2. Sex 1.5. Work

1.3. Civil Status 1.6. Residence

• Why is it important for the participants to prepare their worship and religious beliefs?\

• How do Aetas’ religious beliefs differ from Christians in terms of:

• God

• Church

• Doctrines

• Observances

• Sacred Scriptures

• How do Aetas’ religious beliefs affects them in terms of:

 • Personal

• Social

• How do the participants promote their religious belief?

Significance of the Study

To the Filipinos , For them to understand why Aetas do such things and also for them to be

careful whenever they encounter an Aeta who is performing a ritual.

To the community, For them to understand that they should not be afraid of the Aetas

and socialize with them instead.

To the Ethnologists, This study will help them to gain facts,datas andlearn more about

the religious beliefs of the Aetas.

To the Teachers, This study will help them gather facts,datas and Informations so that

they can use this to share their informations and to teach their sutdents.

To the students, For them to gain knowledge about the religious beliefs of Aetas and

they can also gather some datas for their homeworks and others.

Scope and Delimitations

The study aims to know the religious beliefs of the Aetas, practices of their rituals, importances

of worships, how their beliefs differ from other religions specifically Christians in different

aspects and how these beliefs affect them personally and socially, and how can other people

recognize their religious faiths in their own way.

 The general intention of this study is for the people to understand that however Aetas are

different from modernized people, they can all still have the values of having religious beliefs

and importances of the way they worship and show their faith to what they belive in,

The researchers only limited this study to the Aeta who are only living in Tarlac Proivince. The

study does not cover those Aetas who are living in Capas Tarlac and other places in Region III.

This study is only limited to the Aetas and not other ethnic groups living in Tarlac

Province.

Definition of Terms

Definition of descendant (Entry 1 of 2)

1: moving or directed downward, listed in descendant order

2: proceeding from an ancestor or source

Definition of inhabitant

: one that occupies a particular place regularly, routinely, or for a period of time

Definition of indigenous

1: produced, growing, living, or occurring natively or naturally in a particular region or

environment

Definition of discern

transitive verb

1. a: to detect with the eyes, discerned a figure approaching through the fog
b: to detect with senses other than vision, discerned a strange odor

2: to recognize or identify as separate and distinct : DISCRIMINATE, discern right from wrong

3: to come to know or recognize mentally, unable to discern his motives

Definition of migration

: the act, process, or an instance of migrating, watched the migration of the birds overhead

Definition of migratory

1: of, relating to, or characterized by migration

Definition of Aeta

1: an indigenous people inhabiting the central and southern Zambales mountains in Zambales,

Papanga, and Bataan provinces of the Philippines

Definition of kinky

1: closely twisted or curled

2: relating to, having, or appealing to unconventional tastes especially in sex

also : sexually deviant

Definition of goblin

: an ugly or grotesque sprite that is usually mischievous and sometimes evil and malicious

Definition of supreme

su·preme
/so͞oˈprēm/

adjective

(of authority or an office, or someone holding it) superior to all others.

Definition of animism

noun

1. The attribution of a soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena.

2. The belief in a supernatural power that organizes and animates the material universe.

Definition of Anito

:Anito, also spelled anitu, refers to ancestor spirits, nature spirits, and deities (diwata) in the

indigenous animistic religions of precolonial

Definition of Kamana

:Kamana means Desire.

Definition of seance

séance[ sey-ahns ] noun

:a meeting in which a spiritualist attempts to communicate with the spirits of the dead, session or

sitting, as of a class or organization.

 Chapter 2

Review of Related Studies and Literature

 Chapter 3

Methods of study and Sources of Datas

Research Design

In order for us to determine the beliefs and religious paractices of the Ethnic group Aeta

who are living in Tarlac Province and interacting with us,the method Ethnography was used.

Ethnography is a qualitative research study looking at the social interaction of users in a

given environment. This research provides an in-depth insight into the user’s views and actions

along with the sights and sounds they encounter during their day. It provides the researcher with

an understanding of how those users see the world and how they interact with everything around

them.
Locale and Time of the Study

This study will be conducted under the Ninoy Aquino Bridge that is located near

barangay San Isidro and Tibag Tarlac City where most of the Aetas are located and will be done

from June 2019-March 2020.

Participants of the Study

The Participantsof this study are the Aetas under the Ninoy Aquino Bridge in Tarlac.

Population and Sample Size

Data Gathering Procedure

This research uses various of websites to gather secondary source of data, the literature

and studies both Foreign and Local. The tool that is used to this research is a questionnaire that is

distributed to the respondents for them to answer while observing and iteracting with them while

doing their religious practices. Reading books in the library also made a big factor for collecting

data.
Methods of Data Analyzing