List of Philippine mythological creatures

A host of mythological creatures occur in the mythologies from the Philippines. Philippine mythological creatures are the mythological beasts, monsters, and enchanted beings of more than 140 ethnic groups in the Philippines. Each ethnic people has their own unique set of belief systems, which includes the belief in various mythological creatures. The list does not include figures such as gods, goddesses, deities, and heroes; for these, see List of Philippine mythological figures.

Philippine mythology
Mythical beings
Mythical animals
Mythical heroes
Subjects
Folk religions
flag Philippines portal

General terms

Some mythological creatures, aside from their specific name, are also referred through a generic term which encompasses other similar mythological creatures. Some of these terms include:

  • Aswang: bracket term for shape-shifting creatures that have a variety of forms, such as the blood-sucking vampire, the self-segmenting viscera sucker, the man-eating weredog, the vindictive or evil-eye witch, and the carrion-eating ghoul.[1]
  • Duwende: bracket term for small magical beings of the land.[2]
  • Engkanto: bracket term for highly-attractive enchanted human-like environmental beings, usually exuding the scent of flowers and having no philthrum.[3]
  • Higante: bracket term for giant humanoid land creatures.[4]
  • Sirena: bracket term for water creatures with a humanoid upper body and the body of a fish from the waist down, similar to merfolk.[5]

Most creatures originating from Philippine mythology, however, are not under any specific bracket term.

Creatures of the soil
  • Agta: Another name for kapre
  • Alan: deformed, winged spirits with fingers and toes that point backwards
  • Amalanhig: failed aswangs who rise from their graves to kill via neck bite
  • Amomongo: a man-sized ape with long nails
  • Anggitay: female beings like centaurs, the opposite of tikbalang
  • Bal-Bal: an undead monster that feeds on corpses
  • Batibat: demons in the form of obese hags
  • Berbalang: ghouls
  • Bungisngis: one-eyed giant, purported to dwell in Meluz, Orion, Bataan, and Cebu; described as always laughing.[6]
  • Busaw: cannibalistic creatures who resemble humans
  • Dalaketnon: evil engkanto
  • Diwata: (from Sanskrit devata, "gods"), engkantada (from Spanish encantada, "enchantress, charmed") or engkanto (from Spanish encanto, "spell, incantation, charm") are gods and goddesses below the supreme deity or deities; some are similar to dryads who guard natural creations such as forests, seas, mountains, land and air;[7] fair-skinned, good-looking and, sometimes, blonde-haired.[8] reside in large trees, such as acacia and balete, and tend to be resentful of humanity's intrusion into their realm[9]
  • Dwende: goblins, hobgoblins, elves or dwarfs (Spanish: duende " little creatures who provide good fortune or foretell an ominous fate to people. goblin, elf, charm" < "duen de (casa)", owner of the house); there are two types of Dwende the white and black, white Dwende represent as good motive and the black is a bad,[10]
  • Kapre: muscular tree giants described as being a tall (7 to 9 ft), big, black, terrifying, and hairy[11]
  • Mambabarang: witches who utilize insects to do their bidding[12]
  • Mangkukulam: bruha (from Spanish: bruja, "witch") are witches, wizards, bruho (Spanish:brujo, "wizard, male witch"), or sorcerers who cast evil spells to humans; also called manggagaway[13]
  • Multo: is a term used to describe the spirit of a dead person or animal that visually appears in the lives of people that are still alive.[14]
  • Nuno sa punso: (literally, goblin of the mound) goblins or elves who live within mysterious lumps of soil (ant hills); provide a person who steps on their shelter with good luck or misfortune[15]
  • Pugot: a shapeshifting fiend whose true shape is that of a gigantic black headless creature
  • Santelmo: Saint Elmo's fire
  • Sarangay: a creature like a minotaur with jewels attached to its ears
  • Sigbin: a goat with very large ears, a long whip-like tail that emits a foul stench and two grasshopper-like legs on its neck that enable it to jump far distances. It is also known to crabwalk backward. They wander around at night in search of children to devour but they keep the hearts to make amulets.[16]
  • Tikbalang: lurk in the mountains and forests; a tall, bony humanoid creature with the head and hooves of a horse and disproportionately long limbs, to the point that its knees reach above its head when it squats down[17]
  • Tiyanak: un-baptized newborn baby that tricks and preys on people that are usually lost in the woods. [18]

Creatures of the water
  • Berberoka: monsters that hunt by draining ponds and then spewing them back out, drowning those who go to pick up the fish left behind in the drained pond
  • Kataw: merfolk
  • Sirena: sea creatures with a human upper body and a fish tail lower extremities[19]
  • Siyokoy: Sea creatures that are usually illustrated as green-skinned humanoids with scales, webbed limbs, and fins. Sometimes incorrectly depicted as the male counterpart of the Sirena.

Creatures of the air
  • Bakunawa: A serpentine dragon, described as a gargantuan creature that devours the moon
  • Garuda
  • Manananggal: derived from the word, tanggal, which means "to separate" because of their ability to separate from their lower body part[20]
  • Manaul: a sacred bird
  • Minokawa: A gigantic avian dragon creature that devours the sun. A direct counterpart of the Bakunawa
  • Sarimanok: papanok in its feminine form, is a legendary multi-colored bird or chicken[21]
  • Tigmamanukan: a bird seen as an omen
  • Wakwak: a vampiric bird that snatches people at night
  • Magpukatod: the horse that jumps over mountains.

See also

References
  1. The Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore, Maximo Ramos, 1990, Phoenix Publishing
  2. "Why indigenous folklore can save animals' lives".
  3. "What the Folktales: Philippine mythical creatures you need to know". 28 June 2019.
  4. "The Monsters in my mind". The Philippine STAR.
  5. Philippine Demonological Legends and Their Cultural Bearings, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing 1990
  6. Ramos, Maximo D. (1990) [1971]. Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology. Quezon: Phoenix Publishing. p. 76. ISBN 971-06-0691-3.
  7. Tagalog-English Dictionary by Leo James English, Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Manila, distributed by National Book Store, 1583 pages, ISBN 971-91055-0-X
  8. Ramos, Maximo (1971). Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology. Philippines: University of the Philippines Press. p. 54.
  9. Ramos, Maximo (1971). Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology. Philippines: University of the Philippines Press. p. 54.
  10. Tagalog-English Dictionary by Leo James English, Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Manila, distributed by National Book Store, 1583 pages, ISBN 971-91055-0-X
  11. Jocano, F. Landa (1983). The Hiligaynon: An Ethnography of Family and Community Life in Western Bisayas Region. Asian Center, University of the Philippines. p. 254. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  12. "Of 'barang' and 'mananambal' on Siquijor Island". 26 August 2019.
  13. Tagalog-English Dictionary by Leo James English, Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Manila, distributed by National Book Store, 1583 pages, ISBN 971-91055-0-X
  14. "Top 10 scariest Filipino mythological creatures".
  15. Tagalog-English Dictionary by Leo James English, Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Manila, distributed by National Book Store, 1583 pages, ISBN 971-91055-0-X
  16. "Sigbin". 2 October 2012.
  17. Eugenio, Damiana L. (2008). Philippine Folk Literature An Anthology. University of the Philippines Press. p. 247. ISBN 978-971-542-536-0. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  18. "What is a tiyanak? The Pinoy mythological creature's chilling origins explained".
  19. Tagalog-English Dictionary by Leo James English, Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Manila, distributed by National Book Store, 1583 pages, ISBN 971-91055-0-X
  20. Tagalog-English Dictionary by Leo James English, Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Manila, distributed by National Book Store, 1583 pages, ISBN 971-91055-0-X
  21. Peralta, Jesus T. (1980). "Southwestern Philippine Art". Anthropological Papers (National Museum (Philippines)) (7): 32–34.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.