Response to “The Funeral of the ‘Dead Christ’”. Power and Intimacy in the Christian Philippines (Fenella Cannell, 1999)

In “The Funeral of the ‘Dead Christ,’” Fenella Cannell makes the argument that the funeral of the Pasion of the Amang Hinulid in Calabanga closely emulates and emotionally ties the cult of Amang Hanulid to their own herak (pity) during funerals of their own loved ones and community members. Cannell makes her case that these rituals parallel and are closely connected to each other by first describing the almost full-sized wood carved statue with mestizo appearances and emphasizing that the Ama is “Christ taken down from the cross and laid out in death but not yet buried (166)”, a point Cannell capitalizes on later in the piece: “The dead Christ arousing pity as he lies wanly on his bier, is more familiar and more important that either Christ crucified or Christ risen” (181). Herak for the dead as well as the wake part of the funeral are a couple of the main connections between the funerals and the Pasion which Cannell describes with an account of Catalina Dominguez’s funeral where both her mother and mother-in-law were audibly expression their pity for her, respectively: “I don’t want to, I won’t. I won’t put my child in the cemetery” and “Aaaay! Why is it that you never saw the 26th? You had so many plans…”. This parallels the importance of the pinakamakihibi episode of the Pasion in which Mary and the other women are mourning the dead Christ with emotions of “[a] mother who cannot let go of her child’s coffin, the weeping… [with] the mother or other mourners exclaim over the body, and try to pull the coffin back from the brink of the grave (171, 167) ”Additionally, the Amang Hinulid is treated like a real person, someone who has been “…nurtured, adopted, and literally brought up by Bicolano families (173)” and how the Ama is washed carefully and dressed in wigs and nice clothing. Cannell also argues that the Pasion is a way for the bereaved to heal: “In their recreation of the exhausting vigil and the comforting and sharing presence of kin and neighbours who are meant to help the bereaved” because by experiencing the sufferings of Christ, they are able to process and heal from their own sufferings and a transformative process [becoming] like Christ, Mary and the other figures” (181) which is also tied to devoting oneself to the Ama and receiving physical healing for loved ones for those who they offer up at the shrine.

While Cannell makes a strong argument with descriptive context and narratives of both rituals, perhaps a deeper discussion of Spanish colonial influence on these rituals would have been productive to strengthen her argument. While it’s apparent that the introduction of Catholicism was brought by the Spaniards, she lacks the mention of the centuries of oppression through which Catholicism was imposed upon on native Bicolanos and how that may have influenced the Bicolanos’ shamefulness they feel about their “Malay features” when they see the features of beauty of the mestizo appearances of the Ama, patron saints, and other prominent figures they have devotions too (175). I wonder if this colonial influence impacted the mindsets and perceptions of the Bicolanos especially in terms of whiteness and how representations of these figures are a projection and result of internalized colonialism. I think Cannell could have also expanded more on her discussion of the Pasion existing and persisting outside of “institutions’ ’ and the potential for thinking about decolonization or at least deinstitutionalizing of their practices especially from the Catholic Church. There was only a brief mention with this quote, but I thought was intriguing: “A text in the Bicol language, read in people’s own homes in the context of vows they have made w/ the saints, and it has little to do with the priest, the government, the schools, the landlords, or any other party in confrontation with whom they are vulnerable; not appropriated or mediated by other authorities” (171).

However, overall, Cannell strongly ties the rituals of Bicolano funerals with the funeral of the Amang Hinulid with the collective emotions of herak along with the healing, transformative experience this offers for the bereaved. 

Questions:

1. Common notions of Christian devotion (at least from my experiences from living in a predominantly Southern baptist town and growing up in  both the Presbytirian and Catholic churches) is directly tied to the avoidance and repentance of sin. However, as Cannell’s states on page 176, “The predominant forms of devotion in Calabanga are even more focused on healing and not on sin and expiation.” How do you think the focus on healing with devotion in Calabanga is reflective of the parallels between Bicolan funerals and the funeral of the Ama?

2.  As I mentioned in my critical reading section of the response, Cannell touches on the appearances of the Ama and the other patron saints depicted as “mestizos” having European features and how this “makes [followers] feel ashamed of their own Malay features”. This is one of the many apparent legacies of Spanish colonization within the legacy of Catholicism. There are more recent ideas and growing movements for “decolonizing” Christianity. Is this process of decolonization possible with Catholicism being inherently tied to centuries of settler colonialism and are there ways that perhaps how Bicolanos practice Catholicism (especially with their perspective and focus on healing) is tied to separating itself from its colonial history? Do you think these portrayals are potentially a result of followers’ projection of internalized colonialism/an aspiration towards a proximity to whiteness, “mestizo-ness”?

Quotes:

“The bicol funeral forms a context for the Pasion and the Pasion in turn becomes part of the context for a Bicol funeral.” (172)

“It is the Ama who prompts the devotions which involve the readings of the Pasion, and which heal the children of the people in San Ignacio. (172)

“People constantly point to the white skin, wavy brown hair and ‘high’ noses of the saints and apostles, the ‘beauty’ which they say makes them feel ashamed of their own Malay features.” (175)

“The predominant forms of devotion in Calabanga are even more focussed on healing and not on sin and expiation…most people feel that spending many nights throughout Lent in vigil in readings of the Pasion is a significant and sufficient sacrifice.” (176-177)

“The dead Christ arousing pity as he lies wanly on his bief, is more familiar and more important that either Christ crucified or Christ risen” (181)

“Their reading of the Pasion in individual households are like a wake without a corpse…in their recreation of the exhausting vigil and the comforting and sharing presence of kin and neighbours who are meant to help the bereaved. The emotional effect of the Pasion is linked up with that of the manambitan or ritual weeping, since both evoke strong feelings of herak for the dead. Pity is the emotion which draws you closer, either when you pity or when you are pitied, and pity for the dead is dangerous for the living.” (181)

“Not only a devotional contract, but become like Christ, Mary and the other figures…and so transforming oneself.” (182)