The Upi Espiritistas: A Case Study in Cultural Adjustment

Abstract

DURING the latter part of 1960 and throughout 1961, I had the opportunity of watching a number of Ilocano homesteaders on Mindanao, all of whom I knew well, form themselves into a local cult, loosely based upon the Union Espiritista Cristiana Filipinas, a national spiritist movement. Like their counterparts in many other rural Filipino barrios, these neophyte Espiritistas-living in the remote Upi valley of Cotabato province-had virtually no formal contact with what little national organization the movement could claim. Yet, within a year and a half more than fifty persons were meeting twice each week for spiritist sessions, a local Espiritista ministry had emerged within the group, a quite systematic body of belief had been formalized among them, and several individuals had won esteem as successful healers and mediums. The men and women who elaborated this local cult with such considerable speed were by no means discontents in the local parish church. On the contrary, they had been and continue to be enthusiastic and active parishioners, are devout in their personal religious observations, regular in weekly attendance at mass, and enthusiastic in their participation in parish groups and activities. They understand and verbalize their spirit-communication and faith-healing activities at their local temple as being science, not religion. As they see it, Espiritista ritual and beliefs harmonize with, support, and actually assist the Christian faith, just as the medio curandero's healing power supports and makes common cause with the pharmacy, the clinic, and the doctor. I lived near the poblacion of Upi, at the northwest end of the the valley, during the years 1960 to 1963, and was therefore on hand not only to observe the beginnings of the Espiritista cult but to watch its operation over several years. The following account is based upon what I was able to see during the period, upon what I could learn from many enjoyable conversations with Upi Espiritistas, and upon the few publications of the movement which have found their way into the Upi valley. In this paper, I will attempt both to describe the cult and to account for its rapid development by placing it into a larger context of Filipino folk spirit belief on the one hand and Upi religious and medical institutions on the other. This two-fold context provides not only the background against which Espiritista belief can be analyzed as a system of ideas in itself, one necessary aspect of its anthropological elucidation, but also the background for relating belief and believers to their social and cultural environment, the second necessary aspect.