SIMENG

To lose one’s way, get lost, as one who walks in circle in a forest (Ibaloy book, 2011).

Ibaloys do have plenty of stories regarding angel/banig (ghosts), timongaw (malevolent spirits), ampasit (spirit owner/nature spirit), or eg mah-sas (unseen) and a lot of Igorot rituals have something to do with these suprabeings.  There’s this one kind of spirit that causes one to get lost, going in circles in one place even though the person is very familiar with it.  Old folks say, if one experiences this, he has to take off his clothing then he’ll find his way.

I heard a lot of stories on simeng and one of my brothers experienced it when he was young.  He used to taunt ghosts, saying he was not afraid of them. One night, as he was on his way home, he suddenly couldn’t find his way. Apparently, he had been going in circles at one place until he remembered he had to undress.  As we couldn’t find an explanation to this, some say that when one undresses, the banig would laugh at the naked man and would forget about what he has done to him.  It might be a joke but true enough, my brother suddenly found his way as soon as he was naked.  He never taunted ghosts after that.