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Tomorrow is the first Friday of the month. It would be a good day to go to the mananambal, or faith healer to inquire about a person's otherworldly status; to ask whether he is dating true, blooded human being... or a bal-bal.
According to Wikipedia, the Bal-Bal is a mythological monster that steals corpses whether it is in a funeral or grave and feeds on them.
My friend is seeing a lovely girl from a nearby town that is known to be infested with bal-bals. Contrary to the Wikipedia definition, the term bal-bal in our region describes an otherworldy creature/being with a human appearance and demeanor but has powers one of which is the ability to fly (and yes, think bat wings). Bal-bals are attracted to the scent of the dead or pregnant mothers. More frightening, their condition is contagious. Bal-bals can contaminate persons who offend them by patting the latter in any part of the body. Other ways of contamination is murmuring spells on a person and blowing a breath on a person's skin. Eating food prepared in bal-bal's homes can also infect a normal human being.
When my friend told his colleagues that he was seeing this girl, his co-workers burst his romantic bubble by telling him the long standing rumor that this girl was a bal-bal. Her parents, though well off and highly educated, are reputedly bal-bals as well. My friend and I then decided to interview my hilot, or masseuse on what she knows of bal-bals.
I presumed that my hilot, a devout Catholic, didn't believe in such backwards superstitions. But she did know some faith healers and she traveled in such circles so my friend and I took our chance on her.
Apparently, she did believe in the existence of bal-bals and taught us how to detect one.
Faith healer friends of my hilot would always gift her with lana, or oil from herbs that has been prayed over. This was said to protect her from bad spirits and yes, bal-bals. She always brought lana in a small flask, making sure that the outer surface of the bottle was dry. One night, she and her children were in an area in our city thought to be ridden with bal-bals. The hairs on her neck were standing as she and her children took a row boat or bangka that would bring her to the other side of the river. Her flask of lana was "boiling", and warm oil spewed from the bottle. A bal-bal was in the vicinity.
According to my hilot, when the bal-bal would detect the odor of the lana, the flask of oil would sweat while the oil would boil inside . In turn, the bal-bal would feel uneasy and uncomfortably warm, and even avoid the person carrying the native, blessed concoction.
"I thought you didn't believe in these things," I told her.
"Oh, but I do!" she said, "I'll tell you more."
One night, her son came home from basketball practice. He complained that his shoulder blades felt weird, like something wanted to come out of his body, and that he felt like flying. He climbed the walls of their home. She asked her son what happened. "Ma, an old man came to me tonight and asked me hat time it is. I answered him and then he patted me in the back and left." Frantic, my hilot went to their neighbor, a faith healer, knowing her son had been contaminated. The spell had to be undone. The son was ordered by the faith healer to take in a concoction of lana. Something was lodged at his throat. He threw it up and out came what looked like a bird's embryo with wings. He vomited some more and out came fine feathers, like a lovebird's. He puked some more and out came another bird that had soft bones, like a balot (a Filipino delicacy). "He's going to be weak in the next 24 hours," the faith healer said. "Don't let him eat anything that is cooked with blood for a year. No dinuguan (pork blood stew), chicken and pork entrails for a year. And always let your children bring lana."
Bal-bals are also known to keep on asking the time, though it is obvious that you belong to the same time zone. Their purpose is to know that it is the hour of contamination.
By the time we had finished our interview with my hilot, my friend and I were in a stupor. We couldn't believe that we were actually taking this seriously.
His date who was a suspected bal-bal was a prospect for a relationship. She seemed nice. She looked nice. She even has a nice job! Besides, the first decade of the millennium is almost over and here we are regressing to myths on the kapres, diwatas and bal-bals!
I feel bad for the lady/bal-bal suspect. I feel bad for my friend too. My friend has it in him to find out the truth. Off he goes with the lana. Seriously. But I did tell him I wish he'd call the whole thing off - for his safety's sake.
"Can you believe this?" he asked quietly, but incredulously.
"Can't say I do, can't say I don't," I said.
God bless us ALL.
This is not fiction.
*Comic relief: This is so in the tune of the Twilight Saga. But I swear, it's not funny at all. Ironically it makes me laugh.
Picture from http://mokong2007.blogspot.com/2008/11/halo-halloween-3.html
According to Wikipedia, the Bal-Bal is a mythological monster that steals corpses whether it is in a funeral or grave and feeds on them.
My friend is seeing a lovely girl from a nearby town that is known to be infested with bal-bals. Contrary to the Wikipedia definition, the term bal-bal in our region describes an otherworldy creature/being with a human appearance and demeanor but has powers one of which is the ability to fly (and yes, think bat wings). Bal-bals are attracted to the scent of the dead or pregnant mothers. More frightening, their condition is contagious. Bal-bals can contaminate persons who offend them by patting the latter in any part of the body. Other ways of contamination is murmuring spells on a person and blowing a breath on a person's skin. Eating food prepared in bal-bal's homes can also infect a normal human being.
When my friend told his colleagues that he was seeing this girl, his co-workers burst his romantic bubble by telling him the long standing rumor that this girl was a bal-bal. Her parents, though well off and highly educated, are reputedly bal-bals as well. My friend and I then decided to interview my hilot, or masseuse on what she knows of bal-bals.
I presumed that my hilot, a devout Catholic, didn't believe in such backwards superstitions. But she did know some faith healers and she traveled in such circles so my friend and I took our chance on her.
Apparently, she did believe in the existence of bal-bals and taught us how to detect one.
Faith healer friends of my hilot would always gift her with lana, or oil from herbs that has been prayed over. This was said to protect her from bad spirits and yes, bal-bals. She always brought lana in a small flask, making sure that the outer surface of the bottle was dry. One night, she and her children were in an area in our city thought to be ridden with bal-bals. The hairs on her neck were standing as she and her children took a row boat or bangka that would bring her to the other side of the river. Her flask of lana was "boiling", and warm oil spewed from the bottle. A bal-bal was in the vicinity.
According to my hilot, when the bal-bal would detect the odor of the lana, the flask of oil would sweat while the oil would boil inside . In turn, the bal-bal would feel uneasy and uncomfortably warm, and even avoid the person carrying the native, blessed concoction.
"I thought you didn't believe in these things," I told her.
"Oh, but I do!" she said, "I'll tell you more."
One night, her son came home from basketball practice. He complained that his shoulder blades felt weird, like something wanted to come out of his body, and that he felt like flying. He climbed the walls of their home. She asked her son what happened. "Ma, an old man came to me tonight and asked me hat time it is. I answered him and then he patted me in the back and left." Frantic, my hilot went to their neighbor, a faith healer, knowing her son had been contaminated. The spell had to be undone. The son was ordered by the faith healer to take in a concoction of lana. Something was lodged at his throat. He threw it up and out came what looked like a bird's embryo with wings. He vomited some more and out came fine feathers, like a lovebird's. He puked some more and out came another bird that had soft bones, like a balot (a Filipino delicacy). "He's going to be weak in the next 24 hours," the faith healer said. "Don't let him eat anything that is cooked with blood for a year. No dinuguan (pork blood stew), chicken and pork entrails for a year. And always let your children bring lana."
Bal-bals are also known to keep on asking the time, though it is obvious that you belong to the same time zone. Their purpose is to know that it is the hour of contamination.
By the time we had finished our interview with my hilot, my friend and I were in a stupor. We couldn't believe that we were actually taking this seriously.
His date who was a suspected bal-bal was a prospect for a relationship. She seemed nice. She looked nice. She even has a nice job! Besides, the first decade of the millennium is almost over and here we are regressing to myths on the kapres, diwatas and bal-bals!
I feel bad for the lady/bal-bal suspect. I feel bad for my friend too. My friend has it in him to find out the truth. Off he goes with the lana. Seriously. But I did tell him I wish he'd call the whole thing off - for his safety's sake.
"Can you believe this?" he asked quietly, but incredulously.
"Can't say I do, can't say I don't," I said.
God bless us ALL.
This is not fiction.
*Comic relief: This is so in the tune of the Twilight Saga. But I swear, it's not funny at all. Ironically it makes me laugh.
Picture from http://mokong2007.blogspot.com/2008/11/halo-halloween-3.html
1 comments:
Paranormal Psychology has a place for these creatures.. The unexplained that people always try to explain..
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