Blog #197: The Island of Fire: The Island in the Philippines that Has Many Stories About Witchcrafts

Happy Wednesday Hivers!

Behind the spectacular white sand beaches and enchanting waterfalls is the creepy story of the majestic island that made some Filipinos skeptical to visit. Have you heard the stories of witchcrafts; sorcerers; witches and magic potions in the beautiful island of Siquijor? How true is it? Let's check this out!

According to the history, the island's name was changed few times. It was once named Island of Fire but today the beautiful island was named Siquijor.

The notion of going to Siquijor is not safe to some hmmm maybe including myself. I remember the time I arrived in Dumaguete City, I was thrilled to visit the Siquijor Island because it is just 1.5 hours of travel, however what stopped me was the witchcrafts stories. I was a little bit scared.

But all the misconceptions in my head about the Island has slowly vanished after I heard the story from our local tour guide/driver.

Long time ago, there was a famous and powerful witch in the Island. One time, someone hired that witch to do something evil deeds in exchange of huge amount of money. After the witch succeeded and satisfied the client, the witch has already possessed with large fortune.

People in the Island have noticed the changes of the witch finances so they asked the witch to lend them money, however, the witch refused.

In a sudden, a group of people killed the well-known witch. The witch was immediately died. Since the witch's evil practices was not handed to the family members due to untimely death, the witchcrafts practices has also ended in the island. That was the story that our tourist guide/driver shared to us.

But the story was still uncertain according to our driver/tourist guide because no one can validate the truthfulness of the story.

Since the island was known of witchcrafts and witches the business minded locals created a small business for tourists. In Hapitanan, Lazi Siquijor there is a famous broomstick ride spot where you can ride and jump with broomstick while someone took you a souvenir photo.

Do you know what is certain in the island? It's not the witch or witchcrafts or sorcerers but the people who learned and explored in making natural medicine. Medicine from herbs. Because long time ago the island has no Hospital nor Doctors. They don't have medicine in case they got sick. So the locals find ways on how to treat sickness using roots and leaves from herbs.

Fortunately, they were able to find cure of some sickness using herbs. Though the Siquijor Island has their own Hospital already but some locals didn't rely of the over-the-counter drugs. They would still prefer to take the natural medicine.

After I have explored the island for a day, the anxious feeling has gone. It was replaced with great admiration to the locals for being creative and hospitable and great admiration also to the island because of its stunning beauty. A must visit Island in the Philippines.

Thank you for reading and see you on my next blog. Cheers!

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Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.

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