The legend of Mateyo Kidlat is known throughout many parts of the Philippines but none more so than in the neighboring towns surrounding Mount Makiling. One of the tales that is often told is about Mateyo's confrontation with a rogue mangkukulam who appeared in Los Banos when he was only 14.
Many townsfolk often describe a mangkukulam as a shadowy being that practices the dark arts of brujeria, a form of witchcraft that was carried over from the Spanish inquisition and involved secret incantations and potent poisons that could manipulate people to do evil deeds.
Mateyo had been helping his father all day in the palengke, an outdoor market in Los Banos. Dayaw had started teaching Mateyo how to cultivate the land and they were finally bringing their harvest to bear. Okra, eggplant, baby corn, ampalaya, and sitaw beans filled their wagon. With a humble stand in the middle of the markets, the townspeople often came to speak with Mateyo and Dayaw because they always managed to tell jokes and make people smile. Others came to speak to Cynthia, when she was with them, about their ailments of which she would provide a list of ingredients that they could gather in order to cure themselves. Today, for the first time, it was only Dayaw and Mateyo.
Twilight approached and a deep indigo blanketed the sky as the market began to die down with activity. Dayaw told Mateyo to go off and prepare the wagon for their return home. The wagon had been stashed in a dense underbrush just outside the market. Mateyo headed over there and was surprised to see the wagon was gone. Just a few yards away he saw wheel tracks that led him down a small stream about half a mile from the market. The stream collected into a pool next to a clearing surrounded by acacia trees before plunging about 20 feet into a small waterfall pond.
There in the grove of acacias was his wagon. He was shocked to find a disheveled old woman with stringy gray hair dressed in rags sitting in the wagon. Mateyo approached slowly as he sensed a strange energy forming around her. The creatures of the night began to hum and chirp around him, giving him cause to fear. As he got closer a deep moaning emanated from the old woman, and in a gurgling voice said,
"I am not of this world," said the old woman, "Do you know this...boy?"
Mateyo stayed quiet, his heart began racing at the disturbing tone of the woman's voice.
"There have been signs to your coming and the Orders of the Shadow have been sent for you," warned to old woman.
Mateyo with a quivering voice said, "Why...me?"
"You have a power beyond your own earthly mind, which affects the world of both light and shadow. All around you are beings that influence this world, that manipulate man using energy. I have come to warn you of what is to come," said the old woman as she took a step towards him.
Mateyo began to retract out of fear, but at the same time sensed no malice from the old woman. She stopped about three feet from him and held out her hand. Her fingers were black and wrinkled like the dry hide of a karabaw. She opened her fist and in it was a small brass colored amulet. The amulet had various inscriptions of both Spanish and Latin phrases. There was an ornate crucifix in the middle that looked to be piercing a serpent. He looked up at the woman's gray hair and ragged face, seeing the white of one eye peering beyond her tangled mane. Deep in her bloodshot pupil, he saw himself reflected back on it but the reflection was upside down. He was shocked by the sight, as she echoed the following words,
"Whoever wears this amulet will be protected in both light and shadow, use it to find your purpose and fulfill your destiny."
Mateyo reached out and took the amulet. He saw what looked like a dull green light flow from the amulet down his arm and into his chest. A sharp pain seized his entire body bringing him to his knees. The old woman hovered over him, reached down, and cut a lock of his hair. She took two steps and seemed to vanish into the forest. When she was gone, the pain that had gripped Mateyo subsided and he got up. Looking at the amulet closer, it seemed to drift in and out of the light, almost as if it was partly invisible. He placed the amulet around his neck, grabbed the wagon, and headed back to the market.
He arrived at his father's stand and he nervously told him about the old woman that he had met and the amulet that she had given him. Dayaw smirked at him, as his son loved to tell wondrous imaginative tales.
"Well where is the amulet?" said Dayaw skeptically.
Mateyo pulled down his shirt collar to show his father, but the amulet was not there. It had disappeared. His father looked at him and smiled, and Mateyo shrugged his shoulders. Mateyo headed home that day with his first full crop sold, a strange story to tell his mother, and unbeknownst to him...a mystical anting-anting still dangling from his neck.
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