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Above all is Eugpamolak Manobo, also called Manama, who was the first cause and creator of all. Serving him is a vast number of spirits not malevolently inclined but capable of exacting punishment unless proper offerings and other tokens of respect are accorded them.
"Corporal, I went south in the island to pick up some laborers from the Manobo tribe. I got forty together and was on my way through this country, not knowing that the Moros were out. So we were caught, this afternoon, and taken before the Datto Hakkut. He ordered us into his ranks to fight. We demurred, and four of my fellows were cut down before my eyes. Then we accepted arms.
Those called at this time are Toglai, Toglibon, tigyma, and Kalayagan Eugpamolak Manobo. Following the offering the magani go to a bamboo thicket and cut two large poles, one nine sections long, the other eight. With each stroke of the knife the men give their battle cry, then when the poles are felled, all seize hold and carry them to the house of the datu.
I. Eugpamolak Manobo, also called Manama and Kalayagan. The first and greatest of the spirits, and the creator of all that is. His home is in the sky from whence he can observe the doings of men. Gifts for him should be white, and should be placed above and in the center of offerings intended for other spirits. He may be addressed by the mabalian, the datu, and wise old men.
The use of these two articles is not confined to this people, but is typical of them. The same type of box is found among the Manobo of the Agusan river valley. Measurements on twenty-seven men gave the following results: Height: Maximum 169.0 cm.; minimum 146.0 cm.; average 158.3 cm. Length-Height.
On the east side of Davao Gulf its members are found along the beach and in the mountains, from Sigaboy to Cape San Agustin, and also in a few scattered villages on the southeastern Pacific Coast. By their neighbors they are known as Kulaman or Manobo.
Among the Bagobo the name "diwata" is used rather as a collective than as a specific term, and refers to the gods in general, or to any one of them. Pamulak Manobo, creator of the earth, is the diwata here referred to. Tuglay, the "old man" of Bagobo myth, and Tuglibung, the "old woman," were the Mona, who lived on the earth before time began.
Meanwhile a little table or altar is constructed near by, and on it the principals place their offerings of betel nut, clothes, or weapons, and on top of all is a dish of white food for Eugpamolak Manobo.
She asks for good crops, and protection for the field from all animals, blight and drought. Finally, she begs Eugpamolak Manobo to control the sun and winds so that they will always be favorable to the growing grain. Having thus done all in their power to secure the cooperation of the superior beings the men take their rice planters and real work begins.
It is worthy of note that the Bagobo spirit Toglat, who is one of the pair responsible for marriages and births, is sometimes addressed as Maniladan. In 1908 a religious movement known as tungud started among the Manobo at the source of the Rio Libaganon. Soon it had spread over practically the whole southeastern portion of Mindanao, and finally reached the Mandaya of the Pacific Coast.
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