Marayaw to Modern Medicine

Marayaw is a spirit song that is used by Iraya Mangyan to call Apo Iraya for assistance. Historically, Iraya Mangyans perform Marayaw to treat diseases. They believe that earthly spirits, who cause illness and catastrophe in their community, are conquerable by performing the Marayaw and other rituals. At present, Iraya Mangyans think that spirits have ceased to exist in their surroundings, consequently, they no longer perform Marayaw to cast spells and heal the sick people. Deculturation allows the use of modern medicine including medicinal plants to practically replace the gradually disappearing Marayaw song.

Building Houses

The traditional Iraya Mangyan house is usually made of bamboo and reeds. Iraya Mangayan used to adhere to the standard way of building bahay-kubo. They consider the orientation of the roof, as well as the number of windows and doors as factors in achieving good fortune and health. Nowadays, this seems to be part of decaying beliefs for the Iraya. They have realized the vulnerability of their community to strong typhoons and so, they came up with the idea of building sturdy houses even without considering the orientations and directions of roofs, doors, etc. Clearly, what matters most for Iraya Mangyan today is to have a house that is strong, and could not easily be demolished by a storm.

Attire

At present time, Iraya Mangyans are dressed much like the non-native population. Their dress is quite different from what they used to wear in the earlier times. The women usually wore a blouse and a skirt and the men wore g-strings made of cloth. It is evident that ready-made garments are easier to find in the Iraya community than their traditional costumes made of dry tree bark.

Faith

Historically, Iraya Mangyans are known as animist and superstitious. The advent of Spanish and Tagalog natives in their community paved the way in introducing Christianity. The shift of central tenets from animism to christianity goes to prove the Iraya Mangyan embrace a new belief system. Roman Catholic, Evangelical Christian, and Iglesia ni Cristo are the prevailing religions today in the Iraya Mangyan society.