Philippine Cultic Urban Legend

Hoy! Itago niyo ang mga tsinelas niyo tuwing gabi, kasi pag nakuha ng isang kulto ang isang tsinelas, papatayin ka nila.
Hey! Hide your flip-flops everynight, 'cause if a cultist gets one of your flip-flops, they'll kill you.

I can't forget that warning when I was a child. Our neighbors that time often told me to not let even one of my flip-flops, sandals, shoes or any foot wear out of the door or else they'll get me and sacrifice me. That's the reason why I always bring them inside the house. My uncles told me that they are satanist, and they need life sacrifice everytime they're worshipping the devil. I don't know how they got that information.

Well actually, not all cults behave like that. Some of them, or should I say, all of them are not bad actually. The 'Ang Dating Daan' (or Members Church of God International) of Bro. Eli Soriano is considered a cult. The 'Iglesia Ni Kristo' (or I.N.C.) of Felix Y. Manalo, is considered a cult too. There are tens or more of them in the Philippines. Others just sprouted locally (like the first two named), while others were brought here by foreigners (one example is the 'Jehovah's Witness'). The 'Rizalista' is one example people considered a 100% cult.

Cult?

By the way, what is a cult in the first place?

According to a dictionary, a Cult is a system of religious or spiritual beliefs, especially an informal and transient belief system regarded by others as misguided, unorthodox, extremist, or false, and directed by a charismatic, authoritarian leader.

Originally, cults are used to refer to groups which worship a deity or deities. It is first used in 17th Century, but of course it evolved to what we use it for now.

One of the accepted traditional religious belief for Christian believers in the Philippines is Roman Catholic Church. Thus, religious group not following the norm of Roman Catholic Church is a Christian Cult. But in my opinion, a group is considered a cult if the members of it are small in number compared to major religious group with hundreds or thousands of population. 'Born-again Christians' varies from one place to another, and they almost differ in belief though they have much similarities, and they have small number of group members making them just like a cult. They cannot be called born-again Christians if they're still in the line of Roman Catholic Church.

On the other hand, there are also other main religions in the world, namely Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Judaism and Islam. Just like in Roman Catholic Church, if other religious groups are not in the same beliefs and traditions as that of the enumerated religion, they can be considered cults.

Correct me if I'm wrong with that.

Anyway, don't compare sororities and fraternities with the cults. If a said fraternity or sorority is formed for the same reason as cults, then they're obviously cults indeed.

Rizalism

One of the most known considered cult in the Philippines is the Rizalism. Rizalista is the common name used to call for the believers of the said religion.

I had introduced Dr. Jose Rizal in two of my articles here in the blog. (You can read about him in Jose Rizal - as Jack the Ripper.)

According to a website, Rizalista is any local cult believing in the divinity of Jose Rizal. They commonly believe that he is still alive and will return to deliver his followers from poverty and oppression.[1] They considered him as the God, or the second him, or the Filipino Jesus Christ. Rizalist cults, such as the Ciudad Mistica de Dios, Adamista, Bathalismo, Watawat ng Lahi (Banner of the Race Church), Iglesia Sagrada Flilipina, and Espiritual Pilipino Catholic Church, synthesize Roman Catholic rituals.[2] They are also registered groups.

Some of the Rizalistas believed that Rizal has an apparent parallelism to Jesus Christ in many ways. Other's belived that Rizal is the messiah of the Philippines just like Jesus Christ as messiah of Israel. There were also those who believed that Rizal was the re-incarnation of Christ. These beliefs of the groups were based on the similarities of the two. They said that both of them were morally upright and exemplary in their own rights, they possess extraordinary character and have the purest intention in pursuing their missions. Also, they were both pious and Asians, and both from a country under colonial rule during their time. Also, the two were advocates of solidarity, equality and peaceful coexistence in spite of differences in social status, ethnicity and creed. and many more, such as, they were both healers and great visionaries, they advocate of reform and peaceful means to carry out their missions, strongly denounced prejudice, apathy, immorality and cruelty. They were also victims of trial and mockery, their teachings influence people around the world and most importantly, they were executed by their enemy and died for a noble cause.[2]

The Rizalistas are not an urban legend. I just include them here for informational reason.

Cultic Urban Legend: Cavite Killing Cult

This legend was more popular in Cavite. Legend has it that there was this dangerous cult roaming at night. If they, by chance, see your slippers or other footwear (pair or even one) outside the door, they'll chant a myterious spell of hypnotism on it, making you go outside (some say, they will steal it, and find the owner). Then, they will slash your neck and kill you with a bolo or the reaping tool or the like.

There was another version of this, they said, they will count the pairs of footwear, and they will kill the owners of those one by one.

In effect, many people feared to let their footwears outdoor. I don't know the reason why they do this crime, perhaps a kind of killing ritual or a sacrifice.

[Taken from Internet:]

1. Residents are warned not to leave their belongings (slippers, shoes, umbrella, etc.) outside the house. According to people there, cult members do some incantation/prayers over these objects and whoever owns these would then open the door of their house (as if in a spell) to let these weirdos in. They would subsequently behead the person who opened the door and bring the head with them. 2. Last Nov. 1, 4 persons were allegedly seen going around Soldiers' Hills Phase 1 with black hoods over their heads and carrying the (think the usual symbol of Death). These creeps had children following behind them singing some strange song. The person who saw them didn't pay much attention thinking that they may just be on their way to a Halloween party or something. However, she freaked out the next day when someone told her that this group went to this house and who would have probably added to their list of victims had the maid of the house not refused to open the door for them.

I think the 'usual symbol of death' the author is talking about is the Scythe, the mowing tool the Grim Reaper always carry.

The rumor above is actually the reason of the warning I just said. I was actually living in Cavite that time, and I don't remember any case or real-life news detailing an incident with the same crime.

One of our readers said that this cult is true. (S)He is a pure-blooded Caviteno, as what (s)he said. His/Her grandfather saw the cult, and (s)he even prove that (s)he knew one of the cult member killed in Anabu, Imus, Cavite because they tried to kill a little kid.[a]

I asked my classmates of their opinion with this urban legend. There's two things they agreed: that this killing cult might be a satanist or people with 666 mark on them. It's obvious they'll likely think like that, because there's no such good religion that kills innocent individuals without any acceptable reason.

There was one urban legend in US about a peculiar fraternity rite in which a new-comer will amputate a woman's leg as part of the ritual. Could it be just a fraternity rite instead of a cult? But I think it's too exaggerated to behead somebody just to join the group.

They actually remind me of the three-hooded ghosts - the kumakatok. I don't know why. I'm still in question of how these ghosts became like them. They just knock on your door with a warning that someone will die, and nothing more.

Cultic Urban Legend: Saboy-Asido Cult

There's another urban legend which is much popular in Metro Manila than in any other part of the country, but I don't know much about them. I call them Saboy-Asido Cult. It's about a cult (other say a 'fraternity') in which one of there ritual is to spray or throw corrosive liquid substance on the face of the person (some say it's not specifically in the face, just in the person) inside or in the window from ouside the jeepney.

I actually doubted with the said urban legend. There was another story, about an individual person they called Boy Asido (Acid Boy).

[Taken from Internet:[4]]

. . . People were scared that Boy Asido would just come up to them and splash acid on their face. From what I remember, Boy Asido really did exist, but he was not this deranged guy who went around disfiguring and blinding people for the heck of it, he really had splashed someone's face with acid, his lover with whom he had quarreled.

Cultic Urban Legend: Sexual Rite of Cultists

Have you heard cults performing sex ritual on their worship ceremony? Well, I've once heard a case in GMA Channel 7 Imbestigador, about a religious group using this sacrament, especially with minor-aged girls. They demolished the said group, and filed a lawsuit against the leader for child abuse.

There was a rumor I heard about another cult that abducts kids or any woman which will be used for this 'religious sexual rite'. They even named this sect a 'satanist' cult. Accordingly, the said cult became wide spread nationwide (they were even reported in tabloids) and just die down for one reason - they are not real.

By the way, is there such thing as Sexual Rite?

The answer is a big YES. Indeed, there is. It is called Hieros Gamos.

Then, what is it? Well, Hieros Gamos derived from the Greek words meaning sacred marriage. It rooted from an ancient fertility cult, then it evolved to a highly developed spiritual discipline that enabled a man to attain gnosis, through ritualized sexual union with a woman trained as a priestess. The theory is based on the philosophy that man is fundamentally incomplete and can reach divinity only by marrying the feminine principles in a spiritual and physical manner, which triggers an altered state of consciousness at the moment of climax. It can also be attributed to Hermaphrodite symbol, which was according to Greek mythology, he is the son of Aphrodite and Hermes.[4] (Find his story yourself, of how he became both male and female.)

The Church of Carmel is the known movement wherein a genuine attempts of gnostic branch of Catholicism through incorporation of sexual rite and tenets of Priory of Sion can be found. It was established by Eugene Vintras in early 1840s. However, the belief of making sex a sacrament led to accusation of satanism against them. They put Vintras into jail charging him with false fraud. As he was released, another priest accused him of promoting sexual orgies. Then in 1948, the Pope declared them heretics and all of them were excommunicated.[4]

The Brothers of Christian Doctrine is another movement where Hieros Gamos and Priory of Sion can be found.[4]

I suggest you to watch the movie or read the book The Da Vinci Code. This ritual was mentioned, and was shown in a scene where the young Sophie saw her grandfather doing this in a secret chamber while the other members were praying and watching him perform the ritual with a priestess.

Note: Try pointing your cursor on the underlined words or letters for an additional information or definition.

Sources:
[1]http://www.faithology.com/community/topic/2563-rizalists-or-rizalista/
[2]http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Rizalista
[3]http://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12173 | By: Moiraine | Posted: Feb 9, 2000 09:37 PM
[4]Cracking the Da Vinci Code. Simon Cox. 2004. ISBN 1-84317-103-1. Published in Great Britain.
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