Before the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century, in the islands that now form the Philippines there was a religious figure central to community life: the babaylan, as it was called in the Visayas, or catalonan among the Tagalog of Luzon. This was the person able to communicate with spirits, lead rites and accompany life's passages. Today the name circulates again as a symbol of cultural identity, and it is worth understanding what the sources actually tell us.
A world of anito and diwata
The religion of the precolonial Philippine peoples was not a single system but a set of local traditions with many common features. At its centre were two great categories of beings:
- the anito, a term referring above all to ancestral spirits, but also to other presences;
- the diwata, deities and nature spirits connected with mountains, forests, fields and seas.
There were also higher deities, such as Bathala among the Tagalog, regarded as creator or supreme being. But everyday religious life revolved mainly around relations with nearby spirits: ancestors to be honoured, presences of nature not to be offended, dangerous beings to be kept away.
Who the babaylan was
The sources describe the babaylan as a ritual specialist with various tasks:
- leading offerings to the anito and diwata, often with food, drink and animal sacrifices;
- entering a state of trance to speak with the spirits or receive their voice;
- presiding over rites for sowing and harvest;
- accompanying births, marriages and funerals;
- intervening when someone was struck by misfortune or illness, interpreted as an imbalance in relations with the spirits;
- preserving the community's songs, genealogies and stories.
One feature recurs in almost all accounts: most babaylan were women. There were also men, but they often dressed and lived in a feminine way; Spanish sources call them by terms such as asog or bayoguin. The ritual role thus appeared tied to a feminine dimension, or at least to an identity that crossed ordinary boundaries.
The Spanish sources
What we know about the babaylan comes largely from European authors: missionaries, officials and chroniclers. Among the most cited texts are the account of the customs of the Tagalog by the Franciscan Juan de Plasencia, from the late sixteenth century, and the work of the Jesuit Francisco Ignacio Alcina on the Visayas, from the seventeenth century.
These sources are valuable but must be read with caution. Their authors observed with the eyes of those who wished to convert, and often described the rites as superstition or the work of the devil. Modern historians cross-check them with the study of languages, oral traditions and the practices that survive in some indigenous communities, to reconstruct a more balanced picture.
Repression and resistance
With Christianisation, the babaylan became the missionaries' main target. They were the guardians of the ancient religion and enjoyed great authority: replacing them with the Catholic clergy was essential to the new order. Ritual objects were destroyed, rites were forbidden, people were persecuted.
In some cases resistance took open form. During the colonial period there were revolts led by religious figures who combined ancient and new elements, especially in the Visayas. Elsewhere the practices survived discreetly, blending with popular Catholicism, in traditional healers and in village agricultural rites.
The babaylan today
In recent decades the figure of the babaylan has been rediscovered by Filipino historians, artists and cultural movements. It has become a symbol of:
- a precolonial identity to be recovered;
- the religious and social authority of women in the history of the archipelago;
- a relationship with nature founded on respect for the spirits of places.
This rediscovery has real value, but it also carries the risk of idealisation. The historical babaylan was a concrete figure, part of societies with hierarchies, conflicts and practices that do not always match present-day sensibilities. Respecting their memory also means distinguishing what we know from what we imagine.
In short
- The babaylan, or catalonan, was the ritual specialist of the precolonial Philippines.
- They mediated with the anito, ancestral spirits, and the diwata, spirits of nature.
- The sources indicate that most babaylan were women or men with a feminine identity.
- Our information comes mainly from Spanish chroniclers such as Plasencia and Alcina, to be read critically.
- Today the babaylan is a cultural symbol, to be honoured without idealisation.
