The World of Agusan Manobo Music
The World of Agusan Manobo Music
Inajew
A bound spirit from the skyworld which meets the seaworld, Inajew, is addressed by the window (indexical to it as a high place). Manufactured objects made of metal such as axe and Chinese wok are put on the ground beneath the window and needle, thread and white cloth, outside the window up high. These objects presence the ritual sponsor’s spatial relationship to the deity. Inajew is associated with white color and in instances where it has become a “personal spirit,” it possesses the medium’s body during ritual. [In my 1996 documentation, the medium did not “own” it, so there was no Inajew-spirit-possession.] In dreams by women, the deity is sighted as a huge white man. In possession ritual, it sticks its long tongue out (which seems reminiscent to lighting, a phenomenon from that cosmic domain).
Inajew is more powerful than most spirit helpers and, because of this, it is supplicated for difficult-to-cure illnesses, especially during epidemics.