sachified

On Faith and Believing

07 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment

by sachified in Sachiko, Thoughts Tags: albularyo, believe, faith, faith healer, heal, patapal

I had my first experience with a Faith Healer a.k.a. Albularyo yesterday.

For some reason, I woke up feeling bad and depressed. I felt so tired and sleepy even if I was able to sleep adequately. I acted like a zombie all day long.

That afternoon, we were at the Barangay Hall, waiting for the barangay officials for our planning session. I was at the back portion of the hall, trying to steal a short nap, while my partner was up front, socializing with the Barangay Captain. The topic drifted to how the Barangay Captain started out as a faith healer. This did not come as a big surprise because we were already aware that sick people went to him for treatment.

I don’t really remember how the story went since I was so sleepy. But according to Kap (as we fondly call the Barangay Captain), he obtained his “healing ability” years ago. He said that he was very ill and had a near death experience from it. After his illness subsided (he claimed he did not fully recover yet), he resumed work as a jeepney driver. On one of his jeepney trips, he recalls seeing a very old and poor woman on some random street. Because he pitied the woman, he let her ride his jeepney for free and even went as far as bringing her to a canteen and buying her food. After their meal, the old woman thanked the captain and told him that because of his kindness, she will repay him by healing his illness. After their encounter, Kap said that he somehow knew and felt that he was not only completely healed, but he has also acquired the ability to heal other people.

When Kap’s story was over, my partner jokingly said, “Ayan po si  Sachi, kanina pa masama pakiramdam. Baka pwede po magpagamot”. Kap looked at me and asked me if I’d like to have a healing session, or a “Patapal”, as they called it.

I was interested in knowing how the Patapal was done so I readily agreed. I told Kap that we were going to drop by his house later on that night for the healing session. I think Kap didn’t really expect me to agree and say yes. I remember him telling me in an amused tone: “‘Di ga nurse ka? Nurse ka tapos nagpapagamot sa nagtatapal” (translation: You’re a nurse, right? Why would you want to have a session with a faith healer?) I did not give him a reply. Not because I held back on what I wanted to say, but because I really didn’t know what to tell him.

So that night, Kap visited me at home with a few small pieces of paper, a red ballpen, and a tube of glue. He asked me a series of questions on how I was feeling, while writing down some words on the pieces of paper. This was roughly how the conversation went:

Kap: Ano nararamdaman mo? (How do you feel?)

Sachi: Pangit gising ko Kap eh. Parang down ako ngayong araw. (I woke up feeling bad and down.)

Kap: Paanong down? ‘Yung parang masama pakiramdam mo? (What do you mean by “down”? You didn’t feel good?) *scribble*

Sachi: Opo. Medyo masakit nga po ang ulo ko. (Yes. My head hurts.)

Kap: Ang tiyan mo masakit? (How about your tummy? Does it hurt too?)

Sachi: Opo, dito banda sa puson. (Yes.)

Kap: Nakakatulog ka ba ng maayos? (Are you sleeping well?) *scribble*

Sachi: Ok naman po. (Yes.)

Kap: Pero nagigising gising ka. Nagigising ka ng alas tres ng madaling araw tapos hindi ka na makatulog. (But you wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning, right? And you have difficulty falling asleep again).

Sachi: Opo. (Yes.)

Note: I wasn’t really having difficulty with regards to sleeping. But he asked in a declarative manner so I didn’t want to offend him by saying this.

Kap: Ahh. *scribble scribble*

After the scribbling, Kap tore the pieces of paper (now filled with words) into smaller pieces. He opened the tube of glue and placed small amounts of it on the pieces of paper. He then proceeded to stick three small pieces on my forehead, one small piece on each arm and leg, one big piece on the lower half of my tummy, and one last piece on the upper half of my tummy. This was how I looked like:

Patapal: small pieces of paper glued to different parts of my body

Kap told me to keep the pieces of paper in place until the next morning. After that, he went straight to the door and headed home. No chants. No weird gestures. Just a few sticky pieces of paper all over my body.

A few hours later, the papers dried up and became wrinkly. I wanted to keep them as a souvenir so I decided to remove them. Fortunately, the words that Kap wrote on the piece of paper was still clear and I was able to read some of it. The words used were latin and it was about something religious, this much I knew. I folded up the pieces and kept them in my wallet (Later on, I learned from a classmate that the words were part of a catholic prayer written in Latin).

My partner asked me if I felt something change as a result of the Pagtatapal. I sat down and thought about it. Reflected on the experience, actually. After a while, I resorted to answering, “Actually, medyo gumaan pakiramdam ng puson ko” (Actually, the pain in my tummy is gone).

And the pain was gone, really. But don’t get me wrong. I am in no way attributing my “recovery” to Kap’s abilities, nor am I bashing his queer faith healing procedure. I have decided to accept it and respect it as it is.

I think that “faith healing” is labelled as such for a reason. Albularyos like Kap heal people by using “faith”. They try to make you believe that you are getting well by whatever procedure they do to you.

Now, don’t take it on a negative note. I’m not saying that they try to fool people into believing that they’re healed. What I’m trying to say is that perhaps, they help people by boosting their faith. Faith that they will get better and stronger. Faith that they will be able to make it through whatever sickness they have. Albularyos heal illnesses not by making you trust their ability to heal you but by making you trust in your ability to heal yourself.

Maybe this faith, this belief that they instill upon the people really DO contribute to the over-all feeling of being well and healed. Perhaps the healing abilities of Albularyos go by the principle of Self-fulfilling Prophecy (taken out of the context of Psychology)– when people believe that they are healed,  then they DO ACTUALLY get healed (or perhaps, on a smaller scale, get a little better than their previous state).

Leaping to another thought, maybe the healing powers of Albolaryos are fueled by faith and fate. The people believe that they get healed by the Albularyo, and at the same time, by some weird and unexpected chance, they really do!

At this point, I think it would be safe to say that I’m not going to go back for a check-up with Kap or any other Albularyo any time soon. It goes without saying that when it comes to sickness, I am still going to stick with the tablets, capsules, and syrups that we call medications. But I’m not rejecting the idea of faith healing altogether! Perhaps, in the future, when the tablets, capsules, and syrups fail me, I’ll head to Kap’s house, knock on his door, and ask for another Patapal. After all, a little faith won’t hurt, right?

Awkward.

Sachi.