#Filipino religion

[irithnova]

Notes on Anitismo - The Ancient Religion of the Philippines by Isabelo de los Reyes.

Keep in mind - this was written a while back.

Ancient Chronicles written by the Jesuit hispanic Friars state that at the that the first spaniards set foot in the Philippines from the coast of visayas to Manila there was a considerable population of Muslim converts

This was especially true for Mindanao due to conversion by Islamic  teachers from Borneo

De los Reyes argues that because of this, to find native Filipino religion at its purest, we must look to the North

Distinguishing native religion without outside influence such as from Islam, Hinduism, Christianity etc can be tricky

However he argues that the traces of Native Filipino religion can be found in the stories superstitions and advice that belong to various Filipino ethnic groups (Tagalogs, Bicolanos, Zambalenos etc)

From the South of the country in Mindanao to the extreme North like Luzon, De los Reyes argues then native Filipino religion was consistent

This religion was Anitism or the Cult of Anito, meaning souls of the ancestors.

Anitism is not a monolithic religion and hosts a broad pantheon ranging from Gods to animals, nature, elements and space.

The Philippines had its own modern spiritism and De los Reyes argues this may have been the origins of the cults of "Romanist Saints" (Catholic saints) in the Philippines. By this I think he means that Filipino spirituality influenced how Filipinos proceeded with Catholic worship.

The oldest chronicles about the Philippines can be found in various museums and libraries (such as the National Library of Madrid, Covenant of St Augustine in Manila)

We can follow these chronicles, from when the Jesuit Pedro Quirino provided news of religion in the Philippines in 1604, followed by reproductions by others like the Jesuit Colin in 1663 and others such as Fr. Morga, Gonzalez de Mendoza, Aduarte etc.

Fr Morga said that Filipinos practised Anitism in certain regions like Camarines and Cagayan.

Some traditions would say that Manila and its regions were not originally native to the island - they were from Malayan islands and other remote areas.

Before the Spaniards arrived, Islamic teachers from Borneo came to preach and interacted with the locals 

Their teachings and beliefs spread quickly throughout the Philippines 

Fr. Grijalva writes that they (Filipinos) started adopting their traditions and took on their names.

De Los Reyes argues that Spanish conquistadors' arrival/conquest was delayed because Filipinos were already familiar with various religions and beliefs and also because of the hands of Datu Lapu Lapu. What I believe he is arguing is that Datu Lapu Lapu and the previous exposure Filipinos had to different religions at first delayed Spanish influence from spreading so quickly.

Other islanders who weren't under the control of the government in the Philippines has their beliefs influenced by religious preachers who travelled to them from the Straits of Malacca and the Red Sea.

An account, dated April 20th 1572 (preserved in the archives of India) which is from the conquest of Luzon details "In these towns, closest to the sea, they do not eat any pork, which the moors taught them. But if you ask them, they say they do not know Muhammed or his law." This account was reproduced by Wenceslao Retana.

In actuality, very few Filipinos could understand/read the teachings of the Koran despite the Islamic influence.

In Filipino traditions, reverence and worship was given to nature and the elements, and this was usually consistent throughout the islands.

Native Filipino religion beliefs include elements, animals, stars and ancestors.

Filipino religion in Manila and nearby areas was a mixture or Anitism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam brought by the Malays of Borneo.

Vocabulary included Sanskrit and Malay terms such as Bathala, meaning Lord.

However these terms are not used in Northern provinces.

De Los Reyes argues that Itnegs and other mountain tribes conserved and maintained the purest form of Filipino religion

In the Ilocos, Cagayan, Isabela and other provinces of Northern Luzon, native Filipino religion was more prevalent 

Hindus and Buddhists converted many in Java and Malaysia.

However Muslim influence became dominant in 1478 - 60 years before the Dutch invasion.

According to Javanese legends, Hindus arrives in Java 78 years before Christ.

The first Malays came from the Minangkabau river region to establish cities in Malacca , Ojohor and Singapore in the 12th century, as per Malacca records.

In the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, there were various Malaysian emigrations reaching the Philippines 

De Los Reyes argues that Filipinos may have also populated the islands of Malaysia, and emigrations could have originated from strong winds coming down from the North.

The first Spaniards found the son of Lakandula, King of Manila, when they went to Borneo.

The emperor's master of ceremonies from Japan (Mr Fujita) argued that emigration likely came from the north and that Filipinos may have some relations to the Japanese.

According to Geographers and Historians of the Mariana Islands, what De Los Reyes calls the "know it all Spanish" - had no idea about interesting ruins found in Oceania, one of which was a prehistoric statue that was being held in the British museum.

He argues there may be hidden megaliths, artefacts, and remnants of lost civilisation in the Philippines, as seen in various locations such as : Butacan caves, Pangibalon Hill, Madias de Iloilo and Nasso.

[pinoytiktok]

(support the original tiktok: @/motnotnab!)

[all-pacas]

how do you feel about the park-chase friendship?

love it :(

It's a bit like the Foreman-Taub odd couple friendship imo; on the surface they are wildly different but they just kind of click. Park is awkward and weird but she's so honest and blunt that I think it kind of works; even though Chase is often kind of cringing at her, there's no mixed messages or signals. I love how she just goes up to him and tells him we are friends and ignores his standoffishness, and I think it's good for Chase, too: he kind of needs someone to push at him, he's way too good at being complacent and just drifting along in his comfort zones. At the same time, even though he's kind of dismissive of her, he also… shuts her down? In a positive way? Park sometimes gets a bit wrapped up in her overthinking and goes ten steps ahead, you know what I mean? And Chase is pretty good at stepping in and going "No, it's fine, cut it out." He ends up being a little protective of her, which is very sweet: I loved him in Chase, busy with his everything is fine and so am I facade, realizing that Park isn't okay and dropping his dismissive attitude to walk her through a procedure. I love how, maybe because she is so blunt, he starts getting more comfortable opening up to her: he admits he's lonely. He admits he's jealous of her family. They share custody of her grandmother! When he offers to let her move in, Park does her usual "overthinking at a million miles an hour," and he's just like, it's fine, there are no ulterior motives, I don't care your grandmother is here.

At one point in S8 he tells Adams about the Forbidden Retcon Sister Lore. Adams immediately tries to frame this as Chase, you're such a good selfless person, staying and raising her like that, which is well intended but sort of misses the point (as he stresses: he hated and resented them). By contrast, when he admits to Park he's jealous of her family, Park doesn't try to reframe it or give platitudes; she actually makes a joke about it, and that's sort of the right response, for Chase at least. They end up just being weirdly blunt with one another, and it works for them. They even manage to have a heartwarming friendship moment about sex dreams:

PARK: Well, [a sex dream] could mean the obvious, that you want some of this. [she gestures to herself; Chase looks faintly appalled.] PARK: When will you learn that that look is insulting? Or it could just mean that we like each other. I'm weird, and you're pretty, but we connect. We feel safe. We trust each other. CHASE: [nods] Maybe.

And that's really nice.

The one thing I don't like is the way the show frames Park's crush on him. It's always tee-hee how cringe, how embarrassing that the weird "ugly" girl likes the pretty boy, isn't it funny, isn't it pathetic. Chase's lack of attraction for her is played as a joke (see the above exchange), and like. It's fine! If he isn't attracted to her! But it keeps getting played as haha he thinks she's gross, haha she has a crush on him. Maybe I'm just so soured on that, but I really don't like them as a ship. Especially because they have such a good friendship, because or despite the lack of attraction (and as with Chase and 13, he keeps trying to frame all relationships as sexual/romantic, so I think it's actually nice when he has ones that aren't). So I don't want them to kiss, but I do think they have a fantastic relationship.

There's some real post series potential here, btw. Chase is now House, and Park is now Chase, the overly loyal employee who probably isn't going to leave until he fires her. Chase gets to be the mentor and actually be friends with her, give her the support he wanted/sought from House: Park very easily slots into the role of deeply loyal and protective (I love her in Nobody's Fault, ready to throw down to defend Chase because we are friends) underling. I can just imagine some new applicant picking on Park to try and win Chase's favor and getting fired, or Park being a little Chase-ish tattletale and telling her boss all the hot gossip. Honestly I think between the two of them, Diagnostics is in great hands. (And they absolutely continue to share custody of Park's grandma)

[faradayke]

sometimes i'll go — haha! tazmuir really wrote harrow / nona to literally be me! how funny and charming!

then they'll do something and i'll genuinely worry that she's in my walls because what. the. fuck.

[dykemcqueen]

the thing about being from a place whose written history only began with colonialism is that it's like. i know you. i love you. you're in my very bones. but at the same time: who are you? who are you? who are you?

[maya-chirps]

[ID: a screenshot of a reblog by @/fleurtygurl. It reads: "Omg instant follow! I need more Philippines facts in my life!!! 😭😭😭

If you have any facts about filipino myths? That would be amazing. But also I will literally eat up everything you post!

I'm in desperate need of reconnecting with my roots, but I've been so busy that I haven't had any time to do any extensive research...."

/End ID]

@fleurtygurl Decided to make a whole post based on this because I loooove talking about Filipino mythology and researching more about different mythologies within the country and I also hadn't gone around to looking through the things I want to learn about.

Filipino mythology is a pretty huge umbrella term considering that there are hundreds of cultures in the archipelago that have different beliefs, practices, and traditions and especially before the Spanish colonial period. I won't get too deep into it, but basically if you want to learn about some grander pantheon or some general overarching compendium of beliefs that all precolonial Filipinos believe in, you won't be getting that sine historically, Filipinos were not a unified people, but a bunch of different countries and communities that were placed under one governing body for easy management for the Spanish crown.

With so many Filipino cultures and, by extension, mythologies, the best way with trying to reconnect with your heritage, it might be best to figure out which ethnic group you may have connections too and start researching from there. In my case, for example, I would look up both Tagalog mythology, Bikolano mythology, and Ilokano mythology in order to get a good grasp of the mythology of my roots since I'm mixed Tagalog, Bikolano, and Ilokano, and those three have widely different beliefs and especially with folk religion.

I guess the main issue with this is a lot of sources related to Filipino myths are often difficult to find, are unreliable, or plainly just non-existent. Lots of books are often out of circulation and print, or if they are still in print, they are often only sold by specific retailers and often cost a lot of money. Research papers are locked behind a paywall or are only available through specific e-libraries you can only access if you have an affiliation with a university. Online articles may be unreliable and source places that are hard to fact check. Blogs, honestly including mine to be frank, may parrot wrong information from other websites and articles, with their best feature being the possibility that they may have come from oral sources but those are also very few.

Honestly, I was about to go on a long tangent about discussing at least the Tagalog pantheon and mythology because it had a lot of sources I've seen online, but after hours of research, I've found out that there was also a lot of unreliable sources in terms of information about that so I've decided against rambling on further about it for now.

(I am still going to write about my findings on the Tagalog pantheon later but after what I've found out, I might take some time to look through a lot more primary sources which means colonial era texts and harder to find archived works.)

I will say that a good way to connect with more general Filipino folklore outside of mythology itself is probably consuming media that explores folklore and traditional beliefs. I recommend Trese, a Filipino comic turned series on Netflix if you want to see Filipino cryptids being used in a modern-day story made by Filipinos. There are also other comics that focus on Filipino mythology like The Mythology Class and its sequel The Children of Bathala by Arnold Arre.

There's also series and movies that take inspiration from Filipino folklore and mythology with Dayo: Sa Mundo ng Elementalya (English name Niko: The Journey to Magika) as my go-to suggestion. I had also heard good reviews for Amaya, a series created by GMA 7, but honestly I don't think the series clicked with me.

[not-so-rosyyy]

gagged him a bit 😭

[pr0ud0fmyroots]

Re blog if you’re a religiously traumatised Filipino I’m trying to see something

[2dieavirgin]

googling name meanings/origins and vibrating at unfathomable speeds. for example, gregory means watchful or alert. and i am being very normal about this fact.

[mazeyphaedra]

my ideas being added to someone else’s canon has me so. im gonna get a good grade in lore something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve

[pinoytiktok]

(support the original tiktok: @/panginoonngkababawan!)

[dreamerwriternstargazer]

I’m being unusually vulnerable over text with Friend A regarding religion but I feel comfortable enough at this point I think… and I wanted to just express a little of what it means to have had her company throughout Ramadhan

[ollieverwooo]

I want a shirt that says "jollibee>>mcdonalds boycott mcdo if you hate genocide"

[dykemcqueen]

was having such a fun silly time reading the gita and looking at krsna memes but i forgot i dont live in a country rife w hindu supremacy & half the time these bitches r casteist & islamophobic 😔 Cant have anything nice

[s-rolldown-s-fork]

Lord save me my family has been on a MMK marathon the whole day and it's been driving me up the wall crazy

LORD 🙏🙏🙏 PLEASE

The payoff is not worth the emotional distress SOMEONE SAVE ME

[oldyears]

my grandmother, one of the most devout catholics i know, just casually throwing in stuff like “oh but when i went to quiapo before to get my fortune done they predicted this thing” in conversation when a Thing happens like ???? 😭