Mitolohiya: Filipino Deities and Where to Find Them

❂ Introduction to Philippine Mythology

Now, I'm not saying you should've read about ph mythology sooner, but you should've read about ph mythology sooner. And here are compelling reasons as to why you're missing out for only having to read them now:

1. There is a whole fucking universe out there.
Did you know that the Batak and the Bisayas have not one, but seven layers in their respective universe, and that each of these layers has a unique set of inhabitants?? All the monsters and myths you could imagine are here with us, just in a different plane of existence.

2. Very very inclusive! There's  LGBTQ themes in Ph mythology.
Besides the existence of feminine male babaylans (babaylans are mostly female), there also exists gender fluidity among some of the deities; we also have one intersex god!

3. Lots and lotsss of interesting mythological races.
What's that? You've only heard of tikbalangs, duwendes, and aswangs? Honey, you're missing out. You've heard of the mananangal, right? But have you ever heard of the ananangal? Unlike the mananangal who can detach from its body up to its torso, the ananangal only detaches its organs from the neck up, it's a flying head! There's also the abat and awok, and they don't detach just the head, but these things fly with their hands as well!

These are the kind of creatures you don't get to see portrayed in popular media, and I'm here to tell you they exist in Philippine mythology. Convinced you're missing out yet?

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Okay so sit your ass tight, you're about to enter a completely different world, and it is very unlike the fantasy telenovelas they show you on local TV. First off though, let's have a brief introduction.

Philippine Mythology is a mix of beliefs and tales held by Filipinos from various cultures, created with the attempt of explaining the natural world. These myths have similarities with that of the Indonesians and Malays. Some myths also hold parallels with the beliefs of popular religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity to name a few.

The mythologies and indigenous religions of the Philippines have been termed by history as "Anitism," or "ancestral religion." A Spanish-Filipino translation of the term would be "Anitismo." It has also been called derogatively as "Aniteria," by the Spanish clergy (old Spain was probably jealous of how colorful our myths are compared to the religion they've introduced and forced on our ancestors lmao. No printer just fax, luv).

There are about a hundred ethnic groups in the Philippines, and each of these groups have their own distinct myths and magics. The myth of one group may be completely different from the other despite them being neighbors.

The way most of these stories have survived today is through the collective efforts of the community spiritual leaders and elders. This was usually done through oral tradition. And since this was passed on by word of mouth, slight changes and additions can't be helped sometimes, it's a natural phenomenon. These small changes though push the idea that mythology is a dynamic thing and has been evolving (the gods are alive, friends).

Despite many attempts to record all of Philippine's oral mythology, it has yet to be properly documented due to a lack of scholars focusing on the subject (and that's where our job comes in. It's up to us to keep these stories alive in any way we can, be it through incorporating them to modern stories, drawing these mythological characters, or even just sharing them with friends). It also doesn't help that these traditions were interfered by the Spaniards through their introduction of Christian mythology. Some examples of these are when the names in the stories "Biag ni Lam-ang" and "Tale of Bernardo Carpio" were permanently changed into Spanish ones. There have also been attempts to put these stories into paper by various universities and authors. One such work is "Relacion de las Costumbres de Los Tagalos" (1589), written by Juan de Plasencia who happen to have had an interest on the traditions of the Tagalogs at that time.

By the way, one of the most important take-away I want ya'll to gain from this introduction is to realize that there are stories with not only one version. These stories may differ from town to town or village to village despite the people of that area belonging to the same ethnic group. "Bakunawa and the Seven Moons" and "The Tambanokano," are some of those stories. The true turn of events of these stories? Well, it's between the natives and their gods now. We'll never know, but each version is interesting to delve into nonetheless.