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darkness falls, a macabre statue of the Virgin Mary, clad in a black
gown, and carrying a skull in her arms reputedly leaves her church
and wanders abroad into the night. This spooky legend seems almost
commonplace here on Siquijor, where, deep in the hills around the
village of San Antonio, wizened old men and women crouch around
hissing cauldrons brewing potions containing, amongst other things,
wax from the island’s churches and earth from the local cemeteries.
If that’s not enough, a trip round the island reveals gruesome collections
of human skulls and bones adorning the center of the cemeteries.
Set in the Visayas region of the Philippines,
Siquijor has long had a reputation as the center of black magic
in the republic and this certainly provides an interesting distraction
from the warm shallow sea and palm lined beaches that make up its
coastline. While the truth behind this spooky reputation seems to
be a little more mundane (the focus, certainly on the surface, is
definitely on healing), some practitioners also brew up supposedly
potent love potions and there are rumors of those able to cast curses
and the like..
About The Author: Joel has
lived and worked in Asia for the last decade and has written for
numerous travel magazines. He is the chief editor of Asia
Travel Ezine and is also responsible for editing and managing
the website, Asia Hotel Bookings
. He currently resides in Hanoi.
Copyright Notice: All content and
photos in this article are owned by the author. For reprints, please
contact Joel. Click Here
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