Jump to content

Blood compact

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by No1inparticularhere (talk | contribs) at 17:40, 2 April 2016 (See also: fix link). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Blood compact (Spanish: Pacto de sangre, Filipino:Sanduguan) was an ancient ritual in the Philippines intended to seal a friendship or treaty, or to validate an agreement. The contracting parties would cut their wrists and pour their blood into a cup filled with liquid, such as wine, and drink the mixture.[1]

A famous example of the blood compact was the 1565 Sandugo between Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna, the chieftain of Bohol. Another blood compact was contracted between Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and Rajah Humabon of Cebu.[2]

A similar ritual was practiced by initiates into the 19th century revolutionary group, the Katipunan. Though they did not consume their blood, they used it to sign their membership contracts.[3]

See also

References