The honours paid to the saints by the celebration of their feast-days
are nearly altogether practised by the Mestizo and Indian population,
the richer or upper classes of Spaniards being for the most part too
careless on such occasions, except when their turn comes to dance at
the _fêtes_, or to eat the supper set out by their Mestizo neighbours
on these anniversaries; and certainly, if their piety be judged by
the alacrity usually displayed on such occasions, they will stand
very forward in the race out of purgatory. For, strange to say, the
modern Spaniards--at least those who come to the Philippines--are
as little superstitious or priest-ridden as the people of any
nation in Europe. Probably this is a symptom of their return to a
more moderate degree of faith than they used to evince prior to the
French Revolution, which has altered the tone of opinion and manners
throughout the world. And after the severity and rigid observance of
all the church high-days and holydays formerly prevalent among them,
the tide of opinion appears to have run into the opposite extreme.
I have frequently been astonished at discovering the extent to which
infidel notions are current among my Spanish acquaintances; their
prevailing opinions on the subject being, that the priests and some
of the tenets of the Catholic church are behind the age, and as such,
are to some extent unworthy of the serious attention of well-informed
people of the present day, and that those things are only suitable for
women and children. _Es cosa de mugeres_, is the usual expression,
should the subject be mentioned; and as regards the priests, the
laity very generally fancy that they must be watched carefully, as
they are certain to assume importance should an opportunity offer for
thrusting their noses into any affair they can, military or civil--it
matters not which to these ambitious men.
Among the native population, however, high church opinions, or a
notion that virtue is inherent in the walls of the church and the
priestly office, is very common, so that whatever the _padre_ says
is looked upon as indisputable by them. But I cannot say that any
rational systems of religion, or feelings not associated so much with
the _padre's_ office and dress, and with the stone and lime of the
church, as with the more pure and immaterial subjects of religious
belief, exist among them, or influence their conduct. Frequently one
sees instances of this, which place their feelings in the grossest
and worst light. For example, the first act of a courtesan in the
morning is generally to repair to the church, and after, as a matter
of course, having said her prayers, to pass the time in any species
of debauchery or immorality her lovers may wish. I state this fact,
to give some idea of the extent of superstition and of priestly
influence over their conduct, which shows how powerfully mere habits
and custom may influence our manners without improving our minds,
when we are brought up in a formal routine of habits of respect for we
don't know well what; for they have no further acquaintance with the
principles of religious belief than the habit of crossing themselves
before figures of the Virgin and the crucifixion.
For even these women, infamous though they be, seldom omit the
observance of such practices, and are in general as punctual in
repeating diurnally the formal prayer which has been taught them in
childhood, as any Christian can be, whenever the hour of _oraçion_
is come, which is notified to all the population by the tolling of
the church bells.
However, Manilla appears not to be quite singular as to these matters;
for it has been frequently stated by visitors to the states of the
Church, that nine months after the great religious festival of the
Carnival there, a much greater number of illegitimate children are
born than during other seasons of the year.
This statement, which I have seen mentioned as a statistical fact,
is probably attributable to the idleness of the people, ignorant and
uninstructed as to any higher devotional feelings than those which
custom teaches; although, doubtless, religious admonition, having
a tendency to unloose the mind, and withdraw it from its customary
objects of interest, may induce these softer emotions, and among
people in whom the animal passions preponderate over those of the
mind, or of a spiritual nature, may frequently lead to conduct of
this loose description.
Perhaps, also, the sense of satisfaction after having gone through the
ceremony of attending church, and of having performed the humble duty
which all are taught to practise there, disposes the people to this
license, for they carry away no new idea with them from the sacred
house. The formal exercise there being gone through by rote, without
exciting new feelings, or touching new chords in their hearts, may
cause them to break away from strictness, and give a rein to their
passions after the exercise of their religious duties.
The Indians are people who, being bred up with a regard to observances
which retain no hold over their minds--at least, over the reason
which God has endowed them with--in order to judge for themselves,
think religious observances derive their importance only from custom;
but having been trained up with little regard to the sterner and
self-denying mental duties or instruction usually held up to our
admiration in Britain and other Protestant countries, they can scarcely
be expected to practise them. In addition to this, the heat of the
climate probably disposes them this way; as in all countries where
the _dolce far niente_ is most agreeable to them, or is generally
practised by the inhabitants, those feelings are likely to prevail
in a greater degree than where active habits are more congenial to
the people and the temperature of the climate.