Natubling - Amid chants and tears, a 500-year-old mummy of a tribal hunter in praying position was returned yesterday to its sacred cave in a northern Philippine mountain from where a Christian pastor stole it in the 1920s.
In a three-day wake that reinforced the pride of tribal Filipinos in their ancient practice of mummifying their dead, villagers in Natubling slaughtered animals, drank rice wine and chanted prayers to welcome the return of Apo Annu. A ban on sneezing and sex was enforced during the wake.