The Petrified Woman of Capiz
Posted on Monday 14 July 2014
The
Petrified Woman of Capiz
By Apolinario Villalobos
From history books, I came to know of
mummies in Egypt. Then I learned of the mummies of Kabayan, even saw and held
them during one of my trips to Benguet. All of them were cured with specially
prepared concoctions to enable them to withstand the decaying process of
nature. But not the one I saw in Casanayan, Pilar, Capiz.
Casanayan is two hours away from Roxas
City, the capital of Capiz province. I hied off there one day after overhearing
at the city’s public market about a “preserved” body of a woman in the said
barrio. Upon my arrival at the home where the “preserved” body was kept,
Thelma, the great granddaughter entertained me and offered me something to eat
as I skipped breakfast just to be at their place early in the morning so that I
could catch up with my flight back to Manila at noon.
After the breakfast of coffee and rice
cake, we proceeded to the “chapel” a few steps from the house. It was box-type
concrete structure with a glass-covered chamber inside which was the dried up
and reduced in size, remains of Maria Basaῆes. Thelma prayed
in front of the chamber, then she lighted up a candle. I noticed the
accumulated thick candle droppings on one side of the railings.
Thelma told me that visitors use the area
for the candle that they light before praying in front of the remains, to ask
for her grandmother’s intercession. Donation is afterwards left in a box. The
donations are used for the purchase of candles and maintenance of the “chapel”.
I asked Thelma if could touch the remains. Smiling, she brought out the remains
of her grandmother from the chamber and handed it to me. I was surprised to
find out that the body approximately weighed less than 10 kilos.
I examined the remains and could hardly
believe how the skin just wrinkled to dryness and remained preserved for more
than for almost fifty years. The long wavy hair was still intact, though,
stringy. My visit was in late ‘70s and Thelma’s grandmother died in March 12,
1929, and without having been embalmed, was buried immediately in the cemetery,
as was the practice during the time.
According to Thelma, her grandmother was
very religious, devoting most her time in prayers and helping others. She was
looked up to by neighbors as someone whom they could approach in times of need.
They, therefore, thought that because of her righteous deeds, her remains was
miraculously preserved, just as what happens to the remains of saints.
When the news about the preserved body
spread in the community, superstitious fishermen in the community took turns in
desecrating the grave and stole strips skin from the forehead of Maria, to be
used as a talisman for fishing. The family was aghast to find this out so they
decided to remove the remains from its grave to be moved to the ancestral home,
to prevent further mutilation. With the use of early donations, a small
“chapel” was build and later the glass-faced chamber.
According to Thelma, during All Souls’ Day,
their yard would overflow with people from all over the province, some coming
from other provinces. Some are even take some small balls of candle dripping,
for what use later, only they knew.
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