The Philippines’ culture is very rich when it comes to mythology and folklore.  Majority of the population are superstitious even to this day where video games and the internet has become a household necessity next to electricity and water.  One of the more fascinating aspects of Philippine mythology is its version of witchcraft or sorcery called kulam.

The opponent of White Witchcraft is Black Magic which is still a rampant occurrence in daily life despite the rise of hard line religion over a time span of the last twenty years. Tolerance for witchcraft cults have visibly grown thin but even so, tradition among the older Javanese generation dies hard.  

I mentioned in an earlier story that the Minahasa is situated in the northern part of the island Sulawesi of the Indonesian Archipelago. According to local historians its people arrived on the island’s shores from Southeast Asia. Their knowledge failed to mention which part of Southeast Asia. The original inhabitants of North Sulawesi  settled down the island’s coast line and their skin color was much darker than the immigrants from that strange  part of the world. They were allowed to build settlements in the highlands around Lake Tondano.

Witchcraft in Indonesia comes in a great variety of forms, particularly so on the island of Java. Numerous items are being used , starting with hankies from victims, hair strands, panties, small nails, needles to urine. The list is endless.

As modern times creep at snail pace in many parts of the Indonesian Archipelago, witchcraft is still a daily practice on a large scale. Witchcraft is mostly revealed in cases where the offensive party has nursed a long time grief over some painful remark by the practitioner’s opponent or excessive ambitions are the rule.

It is being practiced in business circles, among office workers and especially among members of the lower social ladder. One has to be careful with servants, for instance, and be cautious with one’s words since they are very sensitive where harsh words are concerned.