In 1999, I had the opportunity to live with the Hanonoo Mangyans of Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro as part of my course in Theology.
Together with two interns, we stayed in the Mangyan village from April 19 to May 4. My previous post “Learning with the Mangyans” provides some details of that internship.
On April 29, Amâ Anghel invited us to his farm way up the mountains. He guided us to Sitio Lumboy, an hour’s walk from Sitio Amaga.
He wanted us to witness the worship gathering of born-again Mangyans, which was being held in that place.
There I saw a very unique experience in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
Their church building is made of bamboo and cogon grass thatched roof. The congregation sat on the bamboo floor.
Mango branches with unripe fruits
I was very quizzical upon seeing a Mangyan deacon walked around the congregation with a branch full of leaves. It was a branch from a Mango tree.
As the Mangyan pastor read 1 Corinthians 11:1-13 in the native language, each worshipper plucked a leaf from the branch. There were two deacons who carried the branch around.
Then I saw them distribute pieces of “Marie” biscuits.
In the Mangyan language, I gathered that the pastor instructed the members to get one and wait till each one has a biscuit for they will eat together. The pastor read a Bible passage and together they ate the biscuit.
The pastor bade everyone to be silent while he prayed. Then the two deacons went around again, each carrying a pitcher of water.
For a moment, I thought the people will eat the Mango leaves to represent the cup. I was naively wrong.
As they went around, each member scooped water from the pitcher using the leaves they formed into a cone. After everyone had drunk, they sang the hymn “Break Thou the Bread” in the Mangyan dialect.
As they sang, the deacons gathered back the used leaves and placed them on the altar.
