Tag Archives: Filipino creatures

The Manananggal – Filipino Myth

1. Text

When asked for a folk narrative the informant shared the myth of the Manananggal.

“My mother and father described to me a mythological creature from the Philippines known as the manananggal. She’s described to be a vampire-like creature that can separate the top of its body from the lower half, and preys on couples, grooms, and pregnant women. The manananggal is part of a group of mythological creatures generally called Aswang, but a lot falls under this category, like ghosts and ghouls.”

“A lot like the La Llorona figure in South American stories – her origin story is similar to that of La Llorona in that she was abandoned at the alter, hates grooms-to-be and is jealous of pregnant women so she eats fetuses from sleeping women. She has vampire like qualities, for example doesn’t like garlic, salt, or holy water.”

“My parents told me stories like this were passed down to “scare” or warn children from staying out late, and encouraged them to be careful of their surroundings.”

2. Context

The informant is Filipino American, and both her parents are Filipino. Her parents grew up hearing about the myth and passed it down to her.

The informant interprets the myth as a story used to discipline and educate children on how to avoid danger.

3. Analysis

The Filipino myth of the Manananggal is similar to myths in many cultures of scary monsters that prey on children and the weak. The Manananggal is a female monster, which seems to be a recurring motif, where female monsters filled with hatred and have a tragic origin story prey on those they are jealous of, in this case couples, grooms, and fetuses for the Manananggal. These kinds of tale with vengeance filled female monsters satirizes how many cultures view women as family-centered and a loving mother figure. In a way, myths like these are a rebellious act against those stereotypes by showing females that hate familial happiness. The qualities that the Manananggal has such as disliking “garlic, salt, and holy water”, are a way for people to keep the Manananggal away. These weaknesses humanizes the mythical figure Manananggal since they have weaknesses just like any human. That makes the myth more believable and less scary since there is a way to keep the monster away. The Manananggal may have been a way that people explained inexplicable deaths of grooms, couples, or failed conceptions and deliveries of babies. By creating a monster who preys on people, people can make sense and cope with unexpected deaths.

Manananggal

Around like, Halloween time, like how they would do it, is like they’d literally just like, have, a bunch of like, scary movies of like these folklore creatures that have been like, told, throughout the years. It’s funny cause like the same, like, half floating demon lady with her guts floating out and like her, her wings, and she’s just like chasing people throughout school. Yeah, she’s called the Manananggal, she’s insane. My mom used to call me that. How I remember her… so, this like half lady, right, she’s like got, half a pair – she’s like this lady that’s like cut in half, she’s got wings, but like, so half of her is like flying, and then her other half is just like standing in one place, like just her legs. And her whole things, is like, she preys on like unborn kids, yeah, she’ll like prey on unborn pregnant women, like the only way to basically end her reign of terror is to find its legs, and then you put salt on its legs so it can’t recombine. Around like, Halloween time, or not even Halloween time, because Halloween’s not really big in the Philippines, so around Day of the Dead, is like when spirits are most active and stuff like that, so like, when you’re like in, like labor units, if you see like labor units in the Philippines like you’ll see a bunch of, like preachers and these like, shaman type people who are like blessing these pregnant women so they don’t get their unborn babies, like, deaded, because like, miscarriages were really popular and that’s just kind of how they would . . . because like modern medicine wasn’t really a thing until, like, recently, so Filipinos would have like shamans pray over them and their babies and hopefully not get murdered.

Background: My informant, as is their family, is Filipino, and they speak Tagalog often with their parents and siblings. They recall their family telling them this story, as well as TV shows in the Philippines that dramatized this creature. They also went to nursing school, which is the source of their knowledge of labor units. As they explain in the piece of folklore, they view the Manananggal as an explanation for the large quantity of miscarriages that occur in the Philippines.

Context: This piece was collected in an in-person conversation in my apartment.

My thoughts: My informant is likely correct as to the primary reason for this legend’s prevalence. Manananggal, as a creature who pursues pregnant women, is an obvious explanation for miscarriages, especially unusually common miscarriages. The reason for her separation from her legs isn’t entirely clear, but outside research suggests that she was once a woman left at the altar, and this is why her legs remain stationary. In light of this, it’s possible that she represents a warning against breaking a marital bond.

The Aswang

Context: X is a 20 year old Filipino American college student who spent the first seven years of childhood living in the Philippines, before moving with his close family to California. The piece was collected over an audio call. 

Intv: “Can you think of any, like, ghost stories, or urban legends from the Philippines?”

X: “Probably the most famous one is the aswang, typically depicted as a vampire but can also be a ghoul/were-beast or something of the sort and like to kill and devour humans dead or alive. Can also be a witch but that’s not as common. Their strength is severely reduced during daytime/in sunlight so we tend to fill our wakes/funerals with candles and leave some on the grave after to protect the wake/corpse from being attacked. They are a very varied monster because of how varied the cultures of the 3 main islands and even the tinier islands inside of them are, but the most common one is basically bat-like ghouls/vampires”

Intv: “Where specifically in the Philippines were you told about the aswang?”

X: “So my (dad’s) family that told me most of the folklore lived in the very southern tip of the Province of Pangasinan (used to be in north Zambales before territory changes) in a village/town named Nayom and we primarily saw them as ghoul-bat creatures that range from monstrous looking to almost humanoid not really a definite one shape (not too sure if this is the only thing my family thought but that’s what they told me as a kid). Filipino media typically depict them as ghoul-bat vampires still but some of them could transform to look just like a really pale human.”

Analysis: I find it interesting how all across the Philippines they have many different stories of the aswang, going so far as to have the aswang often being viewed as different things across different cultures. The friend that I interviewed also informed me that he believes that it’s known as a man/bat creature where he’s from because of the golden crowned flying fox bat, which is native to the Philippines and X argues the tale of the aswang comes from before our knowledge of the bat as a species and therefore has been misidentified in the past.

Filipino Folklore: The Maligno

Context:

The informant is a Filipino American woman in her late twenties. I asked her if she knew any stories or folklore from either friends or possibly any folklore from her family and her culture. She mentioned her mother knew many stories about spirits and creatures in the Philippines. The main piece is told in her own words:

The Main Piece:

So, my cousin’s friend decided to set up an apartment for drafting for their upcoming architecture firm. Her friend apparently had a sixth sense, looked out the window, saw a tree in the neighbor’s yard, and suddenly left and didn’t want to return. Apparently, she said there was a tree full of Maligno. My mom said it was a bad area.

Background:

The informant knows this piece from her family and folklore from her own culture. She is Filipino and her mother shared these stories with her and her siblings. She states, “My mom told us about this story while we were in the Philippines. We were visiting some of the old houses where my mom and relatives grew up, which were supposedly haunted. One of the houses had some crazy scratches on the wood floors and little footprint markings. The she started talking about folklore and how they could have been made.” She says it’s interesting because the stories explain what happens when certain areas create bad feelings or if someone has a certain ailment, certain creatures in the Philippines are responsible for them.

Notes:

Namaligno is a term used by Filipinos for someone being affected by something magical or supernatural. Maligno are spirits that haunt places or people. They can also disguise themselves as regular people. If the Maligno takes a liking to a certain individual, it can cause harm to them. For example, in the Philippines, when someone comes down with a sickness or ailment, it is because the Maligno is attached to that individual. Filipinos believe that certain diseases can be caused by the intervention of a magical or supernatural entity. This is usually due to a disease, sickness or ailment that cannot be explained or has no apparent cause. An example of this is Sudden Unexpected Nocturnal Death Syndrome, a common occurrence in the Philippines. Due to the lack of explanation as to how people die from this, Filipinos will connect the cause to Malignos. It is an interesting concept because we, as humans, always need and explanation for things. The unknown is an unsatisfactory answer for why certain things happen, so to cope with the unexplained, we search for reasons why. This would explain how in many different cultures, there are creatures or spirits that are to blame for unexplained phenomena.

 

 

For another version/story of Maligno, check out: http://phspirits.com/maligno/

Philippino Folklore: Pagtatawas, Mantanda sa Punso and Engkantos

Context:

The informant is a Filipino American woman in her late twenties. I asked her if she knew any stories or folklore from either friends or possibly any folklore from her family and her culture. She mentioned her mother knew many stories about spirits and creatures in the Philippines. The main piece is told in her own words:

Main Piece:

My mom said there was a point in her life when she always used to be sick with a fever, after she was newly married. Her aunt said she should go back to her hometown to have a Pagtatawas done. Which is a divination ritual in Filipino Psychology. You would allow heated alum or melted candle wax to drip into a bowl of water to make shapes. Those shapes are interpreted and used to diagnose the affliction or disorder. They thought she stepped on a Matanda sa Punso (they’re like little dwarves or gnomes) or something and was sort of being cursed by one. They called someone who performed these kinds of rituals to figure out what was causing her to get sick, and they started describing a place where my mom started getting sick, but not why. Later, she was at her aunt’s place, who sees a lot of these different creatures. She called my mom over and said she’s being followed by an Engkanto and it followed her there. My mom was told if she wanted it to go away to ask it to leave and stop scaring her. Apparently the Engkanto talked to her aunt and described the place where it started following my mom and it was the place the other person described before. It said it was entertained with my mom. Supposedly they’re male versions of what are fairies in the Philippines and are meant to be malevolent and attractive. Apparently, her aunt would sometimes appear to be randomly talking to seemingly no one. That same day my mom says her aunt was talking to someone and was surprised by what she was being told. She said something to the effect of, “Wow! Is that really true???” She said someone was pregnant, and my mom thought she was talking about her. But she was talking to another aunt who was had already gone through menopause. It turns out, that aunt really was pregnant. She had just thought she was putting on weight.

Background:

While visiting with some relatives in the Philippines, the informant was in the kitchen at the dinner table with her mother and cousins and the conversation about someone her cousin knew, experiencing fevers. The informant’s mother, then shared her story about having experienced fevers as well.

Notes:

According to A Handbook on Filipino Folklore by Mellie Leandicho Lopez, Matanda sa Punso are earth spirits. Parents use them as a way to quiet their crying or whining child claiming that the spirits will be angry because they won’t be able to sleep due to the crying. This is similar to other cultures having some form of spirit that will come for the child if they don’t stop crying or misbehaving. It is interesting how in many cultures, parents will use these spirits to instill fear in their children to get them to behave. Engkantos are much like the Matanda sa Punso in that they are environmental spirits however, they take on a human form. They cause ailments in humans like depression or confusion. They are said to be rather attractive but usually have a flaw, for example, a handsome man but with pointy ears or unusual legs.