Note 13 — Chapter V · The Filipino People Before the Arrival of the Spaniards.

The Religion of the Filipinos.—The Filipinos on the arrival of the Spaniards were fetish-worshipers, but they had one spirit whom they believed was the greatest of all and the creator or maker of things. The Tagálog called this deity Bathala,13 the Bisaya, Laon, and the Ilocano, Kabunian. They also worshiped the spirits of their ancestors, which were represented by small images called “anitos.” Fetishes, which are any objects believed to possess miraculous power, were common among the people, and idols or images were worshiped. Pigafetta describes some idols which he saw in Cebu, and Chirino tells us that, within the memory of Filipinos whom he knew, they had idols of stone, wood, bone, or the tooth of a crocodile, and that there were some of gold.