Flies Helped Rescuers found Dead Bodies, and Why the Igorot tradition Daw-es is Very Important to the Psyche of the Rescuers

How flies can help rescuers retrieve bodies of victims- days after a disaster? And the importance of dog to be used in the ritual daw-es to prevent losing one’s intellect after such kind of work?

Figure 1.  Dog being used for a ritual as depicted in one of the arts found in a building along Abanao road, Baguio City

Figure 2.  An image found in Burnham Park, Baguio City, showing a chicken is being killed for a ritual. 

One of my patient’s now of therapeutic Ilot was one of the miners from Philex Mines in Padcal, Tuba Benguet who did a great job of rescuing victims of the July 16, 1990 Baguio city killer earthquake at collapsed Hyatt Hotel.

Well, I got thrilled when he told me he was one of those miners who were tasked to retrieved bodies from the Hyatt Hotel.

It’s still fresh in my mind that in that historic afternoon of Monday the school organization decided to boycott school due to some students-administration’s conflict…I guess about tuition fee. The school was shrewd that they suspended classes in the afternoon which saved probably major injuries and lives of its students when the earthquake struck at about 4pm(Daylight Saving time).

So, I did not bypassed the chance to asked him questions specially about news in the TV during the time about those miners using flies as their guides to find bodies still inside the collapsed building few days after the major quake. How did they know that flies can help?

He said one of the men who were rescuing with them had an experienced years back when they went to find the body of a man who was lost during a land slide in Ifugao. They only found the body, after many days of looking for it in the thick soil that covered the ground, when they noticed flies flying back and forth into a very small hole. When they dig the part the flies are going in they uncovered the body of the person they were looking for days.

That experienced, he shared with his buddies and they followed flies where they go and come from. The flies sometimes get into even very small openings and when they clean the part it’s 100% percent there was a cadaver.

Then he said about some of their companions founding money, and about three who’s minds became unstable months afterwards. The last information I got interested more so I asked what could be the reason, “They became like that because they had not done the ritual of “Daw-es” to help them cope up with the images they saw during the rescue” he explained.

I heard word many times before about daw-es being used to heal people who were sick of unknown reasons. In fact the older brother of my father(RIP) was done the ritual after he just cannot stand up to walk. There was a suspicion he was hurt by the black magic spell of one person known to have the power of inflicting sickness to a person he hate by ritual incantation using chicks. So, they tried to heal my uncle but failed even after doing it three times. Some old men said the rituals were not successful because they used the wrong animal which was dog.

What is daw-es all about?

Daw-es is a traditional Igorot’s way of sacrificing dog for the purpose of cleansing and healing the psyche of troubled individual caused by shock or trauma from an experience, like:  from a war, seeing dead body alone, first time to kill, or like in the case of the 1990 earthquake when the miners were asked for their help to rescue people trapped at the collapsed Hyatt Hotel dead and alive.  However, daw-es is also required by the elders that it must be done for preventing the problem to occur.  The Igorot elders believed Daw-es can counteract the bad effects of such experiences.  It’s also believed that it can stop a person from doing bad things like committing theft but must follow stricter guidelines for the ritual to be effective.

According to him, a chicken was first killed then followed by a dog.  The dog meat is going to be eaten only by the old men who did the ritual but not the person/s who are subject of the ritual.

Though it was not the first time he rescued victims of accidents or calamities, he said that each time, when the ritual of daw-es was not yet done he cannot forget the images of and smell of dead bodies they rescued, and he cannot sleep and he cannot eat well.

After the daw-es he felt like he was released from heavy burden in his mind and chest. His thoughts were no longer filled with the images of the victims they retrieved.

But why use only dog and not other kinds of animal like pig which is being generally used for weddings and deaths?

“It’s because dog has stronger effect capability to do the job of suppressing the negative energy or bringing back the positive energy” he said. In short, it’s the only animal that when used for such purpose will do the magic and no other animal fits the ceremony than dog.

I am not so convinced, but…Maybe, because there are no other rituals where dog is being used. Chicken is used, in general, in support to all rituals. Pig is used for weddings, deaths, and all the rituals that follows them with chicken, then dog is used for treating the psyche of a person who’s mind cannot handle the shocked of being involved with killing(like warriors, soldiers), founding dead body, or involved in rescue operations during calamities, also with chicken.