#filipino folktales

[leng-m]

It's been about 2 weeks since King Eyes went live! And I kinda want to give credit where it's due, so here's a bit more behind-the-scenes info about the story.

There is a folktale that the protagonists, Dalon and Kari, spend the entire story trying to retell. Basically, they're like fanfic writers who saw a plot hole in the original, and thought they'd come up with something interesting to explain it. In the novel, the folktale is called 'Utaw and Princess Maya,' but it's actually inspired by a real Tagalog folktale that I found in Damiana Eugenio's collection of Philippine Folktales, called 'The King, The Princess, and the Poor Boy.' In fact, almost all of the stories that Dalon references in the novel are based on folktales from this book!

[crystallizsch]

it’s almost 3am help. i have to be awake in like. 4 hours. anyways i shall share with the class this filipino fairy tale au before i conk out (<- do not expect more from me this is all i could think of 😭)

i also legit cannot draw this because it’s too much effort that i cant do rn 😔 so my thoughts on this will just be a ramble below-

FIRST OF ALL. SETTING. OLD-TIMEY SEASIDE VILLAGE.

we also have a village chieftain and all that jazz— just a hierarchy with nobles too and “peasants” and fishermen and farmers and all that stuff.

jamil and his family are “helpers/servants” for one of the more richer/influential families (kalim’s family) in the village.

yuusha is the chief’s oldest child, next-in-line to be chief. because of course she is.

gonna bring in some sort-of aladdin plot points too and say that young yuusha got curious and went undercover and explored the village (the village is fairly big so not everyone knows each other).

she met a boy her age (jamil) and they became fast friends. because of this yuusha snuck out more to meet him and hang out.

one day yuusha finally got caught and she was never permitted to stray far from her home ever again.

years later when they’re older and of age, they see each other again in one of kalim’s family’s gatherings.

yuusha asked jamil for a dance not realizing/caring he was just a servant.

okay so HARD pivot (because idk where to go from there and how their love story and pining starts and the added conflict of jamil cant be with her bc of his social status).

so mr jade leech. he’s an outsider/newcomer (dare i say a “sirena”—or siren—who literally came washed up on the shore). he charmed the whole village + the chieftain.

(not sure if he should come as a package deal with the rest of the octatrio but ALAS- i only care about jade’s involvement rn)

MAYBE their job is to lure the chieftain’s daughter into the sea.

but for some reason jade’s charm did not affect yuusha (or jamil for that matter) so he has to try it the traditional way :)

and uh oh jade’s feelings started to turn real too :))))

then cue love triangle shenanigans.

who’ll be the winner? that’s tbd. (it’s jamil. i WILL find a way to make it jamil somehow even if it’s the last thing i do. i can’t let that slippery eel win)

@cheerleaderman @viperbunnies pspspspsps hi sorry for the tags but since you guys were curious 👀????

[mecthology]

Daligmata from Filipino Folklore.

Her eyes can see everything - past, present, and future - and she’s often called upon by shamans (babaylans) to help find lost souls during spiritual rituals.

In ancient times, people believed her eyes could heal illnesses, especially those affecting sight, and she was revered for her ability to bring justice by exposing the truth. With each eye representing a human, Daligmata watched over people, protecting those who honored her and punishing those who acted without respect. A silent yet powerful diwata, she continues to be remembered in Visayan culture.

Her story is a reminder of the deep connections between humans and the spirit world, the importance of foresight, and the role of respect in maintaining balance.

Follow @mecthology for more such stories and legends.

[mahikamihan]

.

[foodandfolklore]

Jar Folklore - Magsawi

Anyone else here guilty of jar hording? You finish a jar of pickles or jam and you're just like 'That's a nice Jar. I'ma keep that jar.' This seems to be a universal thing across witches and people just looking to reduce waste. Fun Fact, it's actually really hard to recycle glass. Not for the same reason as plastic; it's all the same material that can be melted down again and again. The problem is the colour. Clear jars are always made with new material because recycling can't realistically pick out the coloured bits. So reuse your clear jars!

One part that can be frustrating is the labels. Some peel off real easy once wet, others you swear were stuck on with rubber cement >.< You don't need a lot of stuff to get labels off of a jar. Just a decent amount of time.

Rinse out your empty glass jars. Begin to fill your clean kitchen sink with hot water from your tap. Apply and saturate your jar's labels with liquid dish soap. You can also add a little soap into your hot water if you want. Place your jar in the sink on it's side and continue to fill with hot water until covered. Leave your jars to soak for several hours; maybe overnight.

Once soak has completed, take jar and begin to pull label away. Label should come off easily with minimal force. Use your thumb nail or back of a wooden spoon to help with scraping. Scrub remaining bits off with wash cloth or sponge if needed. Once label is completely gone, give your jar a proper wash. I stick mine in the dishwasher. Now it's ready for use.

Tips: Don't put the jar in the dishwasher before the label is off. It will just seal it on harder, like stuck on food. -If the label is being stubborn, redo the soak. Or try letting it sit with a baking soda paste for a bit. -Do not give into temptation and try using something abrasive to scrub the label off. Steel wool and SOS pads can scratch glass.

I found a Filipino Folktale about Jars. Or rather beings in jars. It brought back memories of the days of making fairy jars or spirit jars. But it's always a good reminder about how Jars can contain great power. Even if others don't always understand it.

A great many years ago some Tinguian left their little village in the valley early one morning and made their way toward the mountains. They were off on a deer hunt, and each carried his spear and head-ax, while one held in leash a string of lean dogs eager for the chase.

Part way up the mountainside the dogs were freed, and the men separated, going different ways in search of game. But ere long the sharp barking of a dog called all in his direction, for they believed that he had a deer at bay. As they approached the spot, however, the object did not look like a deer, and as they drew nearer they were surprised to find that it was a large jar.

Filled with curiosity they pressed on, but the jar evaded them. Faster and faster they ran, but the object, disappearing at times and then coming into view again, always escaped them. On and on they went until at last, tired out, they sat down on a wooded hill to rest and to refresh themselves with betel-nut which they took from brass boxes attached to their belts.

As they slowly cut the nuts and wrapped them in the lime and leaf ready for chewing, they talked of nothing but the wonderful jar and the mysterious power it possessed. Then just as they were about to put the tempting morsels into their mouths they stopped, startled by a strange soft voice which seemed to be near them. They turned and listened, but could see no person.

“Find a pig which has no young,” said the voice, “and take its blood, for then you will be able to catch the jar which your dog pursued.”

The men knew then that the mysterious jar belonged to a spirit, so they hastened to do as the voice commanded, and when they had secured the blood the dog again brought the jar to bay. The hunters tried to seize it, but it entered a hole in the ground and disappeared. They followed, and found themselves in a dark cave where it was easy to catch the jar, for there was no outlet save by the hole through which they had entered.

Though that was many years ago, the jar still lives, and its name is Magsawi. Even now it talks; but some years ago a crack appeared in its side, and since then its language has not been understood by the Tinguian.

Sometimes Magsawi goes on long journeys alone when he visits his wife, a jar in Ilocos Norte, or his child, a small jar in San Quintin; but he always returns to Domayco on the hillside near the cave.

[rabbleboy]

The campaign is still going, and I need your help! Support Filipino creators & join us on the Petro Book 2 adventure. Let's go kabayan! 🇵🇭 crowdfundr.com/PetroBook

[lamug]

The campaign is still going, and I need your help! Support Filipino creators & join us on the Petro Book 2 adventure. Let's go kabayan! 🇵🇭 crowdfundr.com/PetroBook

[eggroll-sama]

Question: if the TS Cast existed in the real world, what nationality do you think they’d be?

This is my headcanon:

*A lot of it is based off of food they like 💀💀💀 but bare with me. This idea has been brewing in my mind a lot and I gotta get it out there.

Ais: Japanese. I think this is the most obvious one. The Shinto gates, the red oni horns, he drinks green tea, the yukata he wears. Also there’s a possibility that Ocudeus was inspired by the ancient Japanese kraken called Akkorokamui of Ainu, but that’s just my prediction. I also see him as a Wasian. Maybe I’m projecting my biracialness hehe.

(More under the cut)

Leander: German. This one I’m a little “???” on but he’s a heavy drinker and I know beer is an iconic beverage in Germany. Legal drinking age is also 14 with adult supervision. Also according to this by the amazing @eridiasangel, Leander likes hashbrowns, and potato is a staple food in Germany. Then there’s the magic flowers symbolism and it reminds of the movie Tangled inspired by the German folktale.

Kuras: Egyptian or Iraqi! I’m basing this off his design choice, but also Eridia is heavily inspired from Arabian/Islamic architecture so if we assume Kuras was the “founding father” of Eridia, than I think it’s safe to assume he is of that descent irl. There’s also the House of Knowledge in Egypt and House of Wisdom in Baghdad so it fits him perfectly.

Edit: thanks to anon who informed me Arabian is actually an ethnolinguistic group!! 👍

Mhin: Chinese. I’m basing this off of this TS post. Many people think it’s the Chinese food, Tang Yuan. Other than that I’m kinda 🧍‍♀️on this one. I could also see them being European cuz they give gothic, Victorian vibes.

Edit: also their name reminds me of the Chinese name, Min, which means “quick” and “clever”

Vere: I am really stuck on Vere, but I have to say Filipino maybe Taiwanese cuz it’s canon he likes Fruit Oolong Tea.

What do you guys think? Do you agree or have another nationality in mind for them?

[bestiarium]

The Siyokoy [Filipino mythology]!

Aquatic humanoid creatures, usually with claws, scales and webbed appendages, live in lakes or rivers and drag unfortunate travelers under the water to drown them. To say that this story is a popular trope in folktales throughout the world would be about as big an understatement as saying that American chocolate chip cookies are popular in my apartment.

Almost every civilization has its own variety of aquatic humanoid monster, and that makes sense for two reasons: first, humans tend to drown when submerged for extended periods of time. A lot of people have drowned throughout human history, so it makes sense that many different myths arose about monsters who tried to drag their victims under the water. Second, these stories are often a variation of the classic ‘bogeyman’ tale: parents tell their children about a scary monster that would eat them (or bestow some other, presumably unpleasant fate upon them) to scare them away from bad behaviour.

A very common bogeyman tale is ‘if you venture too close to the river, a monster will come out and grab you’. This way, the child is dissuaded from playing near deep wells or rivers where it might fall in and drown (see reason 1 for more details on why this can happen).

In the Philippines, people believed in the Siyokoy (pronounced ‘Sho-koy’). These malicious monsters are dangerous creatures that lurk underwater. They are vaguely human-like in shape, but their head resembles that of a fish and their feet have webbed toes for swimming. The body of a Siyokoy is covered in fishy scales that are either green or brown, and they breathe through gills.

The Siyokoy eat human flesh, so they often hunt for fishermen. When a Siyokoy spots suitable prey, they grab their victim and drag them downward until they drown, before devouring them like I devour the aforementioned chocolate chip cookies.

Interestingly, there is some variety in the physical descriptions of these monsters. In some tales, they resemble classical mermaids (though male) with a fish-like lower body attached to the torso of a human. They are often said to have long tentacles to grab their victims. There are only male Siyokoy, because the monster is a counterpart of sorts to the Sirena, which are always female. Sirena are usually portrayed as human girls with a mermaid tail.

Sources: Bane, T., 2016, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, McFarland, p. 294, 428 pp. De Las Caras, D. and Gagatiga, Z. C., 2011, Tales from the 7000 Isles: Filipino Folk Stories, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, p. 16, 204 pp. (image source 1: Gladys Domalaon, RPG corebook illustration for Secret Garden Games) (image source 2: Dread-Softly on Deviantart)

[skidblast]

So, where are you from?

While this is not the first Transformers media that goes into making Transformers coming from other planets than Cybertron, this is the first media that really goes into making the Transformers from Earth into a very distinct clade of their own, instead of being born of sparks that were brought down to Earth, or were literally built by other Cybertronians.

This is not just to make this more down-to-earth series, to make the kids connect with the characters even more and feel closer to them than if they would be were they aliens. This is not just from tapping into the childhood playground theatres of the Gen X and Millennial writers of the series.

This is a story born out of trauma that all of us experience in one form or another.

This is a story born out of history. Not just the list of events and what year they happened as we learn in school, but also of the little histories. Folktales, fables, bedtime stories.

Transformers Earthspark is about Culture. And how fragile it is.

Let's start with the obvious one. We all know about the Transformers, the lore behind it and all that jazz. Heroic Autobots versus the dastardly Decepticons. Led by Optimus Prime and Megatron respectively.

But the first time we see them in Earthspark, something has changed.

The first thing people noticed, even before Earthspark aired, was that Optimus Prime and Megatron were now on the same side? And neither of them kept their Autobot and Decepticon insignias? Well, it is still there, but such a minuscule and easily overlooked that one would be forgiven to think it part of the GHOST insignia to begin with. The Cybertronian factions have existed for so long that it would be so ingrained into everyone so losing it in such a way would be a big blow. And in fact, anyone not part of GHOST still has their insignias intact.

Apparently for the war to end on Earth, both Optimus Prime and Megatron had to give something up. A part of their identity, a part of their culture.

It looks like the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons has finally ended. But it looks like the victor was Earth.

But it doesn't mean that they gave up everything.

There is still something happening which GHOST is not privy to, and if they were, it would most likely be incorporated into their whole. While there are Decepticons roaming around, and still some Autobots as well allowed to still carry the insignia and apparently not work for GHOST, Bumblebee is somehow the exception. It is very likely he played a big part in the war on Earth, thus not be given whatever immunity the others have.

All of this might sound like a new and exciting story, and we're eagerly waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the relevation why Bumblebee's visage is heavily marketed while his death was apparently faked, and why his existence is very inconvenient for Optimus Prime who is apparently playing both sides, Autobot and GHOST, and why exactly Megatron joined GHOST as well despite the treatment the Decepticons are receiving.

The thing is, this is an old story. In war, it is easy to have a victor. It is however very hard not to have someone who lost. And wars have many different forms to them. In this series, we're seeing two different wars being played out. There is the Autobot and Decepticon conflict, which seems to be over now, and then there is the secret war that's going on. As I said before, Humanity seems to have won the war, and they are on the winning side of the other hidden war.

Transformers Earthspark is about two Earthborn Cybertronians bonding with a family of humans, an African American woman and a Filipino immigrant man, and their two kids.

Dot, whose ancestors were taken away from their birthplace and brought across the globe as slaves, losing their connection and familiarities to their culture and ending up as a regular American like so many that have the same roots as her.

Alex, immigrant from the Philippines, still retaining some part of his stories but having to retell them through a book.

A book that is literally part of a series called "Tales of the Obscure". What does that do to a person? Knowing that their culture is being reduced to near nothing or worse, novelty, when moving? What happens to their identity? Is Alex trying his best to tell his kids the stories of his youth to explain where he came from, or is he clinging onto one of the few things he has found in his new life that has something of his old life?

And then we have Twitch and Thrash. The two new Cybertronians who are not from Cybertron, but were born from the Emberstone while on Earth. How will they fit into the society and culture of Earth? The series up until now seems to be about just that. About these two new individuals trying to figure out who they are and how they're going to fit in. And this is a big conflict for the two of them. On one hand, they're going to be learning about themselves and learn about others and try to go their own way into being who they are.

And on the other hand -

They can be conquered, be it by Mandroid, GHOST, or Earth in general, not allowed to be who they want to be or go in the direction that might benefit them the most, defeated in the war that the Autobots and the Decepticons have already lost, the war over their identity and their right to carve out their destiny, their own way, and the way they want to live.

[maya-chirps]

Can you tell us more about Filipino mythology and moneters, cause there's no 1 official website and I almost always barely passed filipino? Can you also list like great sources for me to read? Thanks

I had a pretty busy week last week so it took a while to get to this ask but I'd love to give more info on the topic!

More on Filipino Mythology:

Si Apolaki at Mayari - Bakit may araw at gabi

EN: Apolaki and Mayari - Why there's day and night

An illustration of Apolaki and Mayari created by the illustrator PM Graphix

I am currently still doing a write-up on the Tagalog pantheon so I could start by maybe talking about that and what I've found. For the mythology section of this, let me start with something that's actually not from the Tagalog pantheon but is often attributed to the Tagalog pantheon: the Kapampangan story of Apolaki and Mayari or why the day and night exist. This story has been sourced from Maximo D. Ramos's book Philippine Myths, Legends, and Folktales (which you can buy on Amazon here, sadly I cannot find a free version of the book without going through suspicious links) and posted by Jordan Clark of The Aswang Project on his website.

BATHALA, the creator of the world, had a son named Apolaki and a daughter named Mayari. The light that shone upon the world and enabled the people, the beasts, the birds, and the fish to see came from the bright eyes of Apolaki and Mayari, So all the creatures loved them dearly. Bathala himself was very fond of his children, and he watched over them as they wandered across the meadows of heaven. Since the eyes of Apolaki and Mayari shone continuously, it was always day on the earth. In time Bathala grew feeble with age and died. Then Apolaki and Mayari had a quarrel, for each wanted to rule the world alone. “I am the man and I will succeed my father to the throne,” said Apolaki. “I am going to rule the world, whether you like it or not.” Mayari’s eyes flashed with anger and she said, “I am no less my father’s child than you. I will succeed him to his throne, whether you like it or not!” The quarrel grew from bad to worse, and finally words could not express their furious rage. So they picked up wooden clubs and fell upon each other with fierce blows. Back and forth they fought until at last Apolaki struck Mayari in the face and she became blind in one eye. When he saw his sister stricken, Apolaki took pity on her and said, “Let us fight no more, my sister. Let us share our father’s kingdom equally between us. Let us reign by turns and be friends.” Mayari agreed, and from then on, Apolaki, whom we know today as the Sun, has ruled the world half the time. Mayari, whom we now know as the Moon, has taken turns with her brother in ruling the world. When Apolaki is on the throne, the world is flooded with warm light, because the light beams from his two bright eyes. On the other hand, when Mayari is reigning, the world is bathed with cool and gentle light; for she is blind in one eye.

Now from what I've researched, a lot of places tend to attribute the story to the Tagalog people or state that it is a shared story from both the Tagalogs and their neighboring Kapampangan up north from them but I cannot find any specific source prior to the late 1960s that even mention that Mayari was part of the Tagalog pantheon so it may be a more recent addition.

The source that first states Mayari's inclusion as a part of the Tagalog Bathala's court comes from a paper written by F. Landa Jocano called Notes on Philippine Divinities (1968) where he does not cite a specific source of where he has learned Mayari was of Tagalog origin nor even stated that he had learned it from a Tagalog local and considering Jocano himself isn't a Tagalog nor is he Kapampangan, it's unlikely he's learned it from his upbringing or otherwise.

I had also done a little digging on his sources and none of them bring up Mayari nor her sister Hanan, the goddess of dawn, so the paper leaves much room for doubt. Tala, the goddess of stars, who is also listed in Jocano's paper make a lot more sense despite the lack of sources as it is the actual word for star in Tagalog but I still have to do further research on her as well.

Either way, I had also never heard of Mayari as a Tagalog deity outside Jocano's work and online articles that heavily source Jocano (The Aswang Project, one of the most popular sources for Filipino mythology which I had used as a specific source for Kapampangang mythology, has cited him twice in regards to Tagalog mythology specifically but not Kapampangan mythology). This is also despite me being born and raised within a mostly Tagalog community.

All of that for me to say that this story of Apolaki and Mayari may be a later addition to the Tagalog mythos after interests on Filipino mythology got revitalized from the mid-20th century onward rather than something that has always been a part of the Tagalog mythology.

Note that I'm not saying that it is an impossibility that this had been part of the Tagalog culture prior to that time period, but a lot of sources that discuss this do not bring up this story until after Jocano's work. I will have to maybe do more reading on this to find out more information about this and Mayari's status on whether or not she did belong to the Tagalog pantheon prior to the 60s.

I also want to add a quick note that it's pretty common for people to misattribute this story to the Pangasinense people as well but it may be from both people constantly confusing Pampanga from Pangasinan (think of it as how people confuse Sweden and Switzerland), as well as a name overlap with Apolaki who is referred to as Apolaqui in Pangasinan. The two places are both north of the Tagalog Regions. I might look into this connection/association/coincidence later on.

Further Readings and Sources

It's actually pretty hard to suggest a specific source for Filipino mythology given that a lot of them pull from the same reference (Notes on Philippine Divinities) which I had said has some dubious information but Maximo D. Ramos's book that I had referenced is a good read as it collects various myths from different places throughout the country. I myself had been thinking of getting a copy of the book soon as well as his other books.

Some Filipino Monsters

As for Filipino monsters, I could say that its similar with Filipino mythology, in that with so many cultures, there's many different kinds on who you're asking. These ghouls seem to be more widely similar from culture to culture, however, probably owing to the fact that the Catholic Church didn't discourage the belief in them as much as they did the precolonial gods. Whether you go to the northernmost part of the country to the southernmost islands, there is a lot of similarities between the creatures that they could be classified easier than the gods with some creatures even sharing traits from cryptids from other Southeast Asian countries.

I'll give some of them here that you may hear pretty often when looking through catalogues of Filipino monsters. I have to be honest that I may not source as much for this section since I will be bringing up some personal stories and anecdotes that are passed around the community. I'm also open to discuss more about these creatures as well as other monsters later on.

The Aswang

An artwork of an aswang uploaded to Wikipedia by H.M.Bec

Aswangs are often considered as the most ubiquitous of the Filipino monsters. When you look up monsters from the Philippines, this may be the top result. Aswangs are often portrayed as people who transform into ghoulish creatures that feast on human flesh but especially children, babies, and fetuses. There's so many stories and variations of aswangs, however, that some of the monsters in this list are actually sometimes considered as part of the aswang category depending on the source or who you ask.

Aswangs are shapeshifters, often turning into dogs, pigs, and many other creatures, in order to stalk their prey in the middle of the night.

Aswangs are also considered as one of the main stock monsters in FIlipino media so you may see them as the villains of a lot of fantasy series and movies. They're one of the villains that Alexandra Trese faces of regularly on the folklore-inspired supernatural comic book series turned Netflix original animation Trese. They're also the main antagonist in my favorite FIlipino fantaserye series Juan De La Cruz (although I don't particularly like the lead actor anymore lol).

Here's some stuff I've heard about Aswangs from those around me.

Aswangs often won't attack their neighbors and would rather attack neighboring villages/barangays/towns. This is so they avoid detection or suspicion from their community. So, if you suspect your neighbor's an aswang, then you might just be lucky they won't target you.

Aswangs are often said to have come from the province of Capiz. It's an often common joke and stereotype that Capizeños may be aswangs themselves or know people who are aswangs. The people of Capiz are mixed on how they feel about the association with the provincial government seemingly trying to shake off the specific association to their province.

They can go to mass but cannot stay during the consecration of the holy host. Holy water and holy [coconut] oil also boil in their presence.

When you look directly into their eyes, your reflection would be upside-down. They also don't have the dent between the nose and the lips.

They could pass their curse through different ways and may depend on belief or tradition. One belief states that if a person marries an aswang, they also become an aswang.

One of the other beliefs that can turn a person into an aswang is if one makes contact with an aswang's saliva.

According to another belief, a person could also become an aswang if they ingest a black chick alive.

Similarly, an aswang cannot die until they pass their curse to another person (typically a relative). This is done by passing a black stone or chick hidden in their body to the chosen new curse holder.

They hate the typical ghoulish hated items like holy crosses, water, oils, and the classic garlic and salt, but they also hate calamansi (a small Filipino citrus fruit), and my mother had always told me that they hate suha or pomelo (a type of citrus fruit) and the smell of burning rubber.

A typical weapon used to fight against them or ward them off is the buntot pagi or stingray tail that is often sold in occultic shops around the country. You could also buy this from online stores as I've learned (x)(x)(x).

Now here's a story I've heard about them:

A story I had heard was that of the aswang bus. I had heard it repeatedly throughout the years but the basic premise is that there's a bus of a bunch of aswangs from a different province that's traveling to [province you are in] and are hunting down people at night. This is some of the more funny stories about aswangs because I keep imagining an aswang bus driver purposefully running over people and then a bunch of aswang tourists hops off of the bus to drag the body for a snack later.

I honestly might come back to the aswangs topic later since I had just learned some things from a Capizeña who works to help around our house.

The Manananggal

An artwork of an aswang uploaded to Wikipedia by Gian Bernal

The Manananggal is a ghoulish creature and is often times categorized as a kind of aswang. They are typically humanoid creatures that appear as regular people (often women) during the day, but at night their torso severs from their legs and fly away with bat wings. They often feast on fetuses using their long proboscis tongue.

These ghouls share a lot of similarities with the Southeast Asian ghoul called the Penanggal which is a similar creature but instead of their torsos separating, their heads separate from their body alongside their entrails.

Manananggals are also some of the typical stock monsters in Filipino fantasy stories. I can't think of any specific instances of the manananggal being the main character besides the softer depiction of a manananggal girl named Anna in Dayo: Sa Mundo ng Elementalia who acts as a deuteragonist to the human boy Niko. They are also featured in Trese where a tribe of manananggal is shown. They are also the main lead or love interest in some horror movies and even horror romances.

Here's some stuff I've heard about Manananggals

It's name comes from the Tagalog word "tanggal" which means "to remove" or "to separate" and specifically means "the remover" or "the separator". This of course is a reference to the fact that it removes its torso from its legs or separates its body in half.

Unlike the typical aswang which transform back during daylight, the manananggal needs to find their way back to their body or else die by sunlight.

The unattached legs of the manananggal is their weakness. If found by a person, they only need to sprinkle salt or smear crushed garlic on the legs in order to destroy them.

A lot of the typical things that ward off the aswang are also typically effective towards the manananggal.

Similarly to the aswang, manananggals are also said to had come from Capiz.

The list is shorter because honestly, just take what most you've heard about the aswang and apply it here. I don't know specifically if things like the upside-down reflection or the lack of the dent between the nose and lips could apply to manananggals, however, and I don't think I've heard people claiming that about the manananggal.

Now here's a story I've heard about them:

One story I heard that I find quite funny was something my sister heard from one of her high school friends. This friend was struggling to fall asleep at night and was tossing and turning in bed when she heard bat-like fluttering from outside. She went out to inspect the source by looking out the window and was shocked to see a manananggal climbing up a coconut tree and seemingly harvesting the fruit in the middle of the night. She wasn't flying up the tree, she was climbing it.

The next day, an old woman who was selling her goods door-to-door came by their house. She was selling coconuts.

The Tiyanak

A screenshot of a tiyanak from the movie Tiyanak (1988)

The tiyanak is considered as a demonic baby that would transform itself into a regular looking baby, crying in the middle of the night in order to attract their unfortunate target who may feel pity towards the child. The tiyanak may also be classified as an aswang but is typically considered as a separate thing more often than the manananggal from my experience. This creature has noticeably a lot in common with a lot of other Southeast Asian and East Asian myths about demonic babies and toddlers like the tuyol or the tuyul.

Like the previous two, the tiyanak is also part of the typical stock monster antagonists found in Filipino media, but not as much as either the typical aswang or the manananggal. They are often used to add a bit of a scare factor into a story and isn't typically the main antagonist of a story as of recent horror movies (with only a single short B-Movie I could think of called Flight 666 from the Shake, Rattle & Roll horror anthology series. It is not a good movie but it's stupid fun). They are featured, as usual, in Trese as the main supernatural antagonists of a specific story arc. Their depiction from the comic and the Nteflix show has been changed due to the controversial nature of the comic book depiction.

When they appear in a horror series, there's often a sort of reason or lesson as to why one has appeared and typically based on the typical origins of the tiyanak.

The most common belief is that the tiyanak is the ghost or ghoulish corpse that had come from an unbaptized child.

At times, they may be a ghoulish baby that had been created after a woman gets an abortion, other times it is simply just a baby that had died before baptism often as a stillbirth or even as a joint death with their mother.

I had also heard that it may be an abandoned baby that had died to the elements.

It is also believed, the reason that they are cursed to wander the earth after death is because they were not given a name through baptism.

Because of this, when they typically appear in stories, it is often either a story about the bad that could come from abortion or child abandonment depending on the values of the writer.

The tiyanak would also sometimes lead people astray with its cries.

Speaking of its cries, there are some places that believe if the cry sounds loud and near, the tiyanak is actually farther away from you than if you hear the cries to be quieter and farther.

Here's a story I had heard about them:

A common Filipino story of the tiyanak is the parking lot story. Story goes that in certain parking lots of buildings, typically malls, you may hear a baby cry in the middle of the night when you're alone. This is a tiyanak that's trying to lure you in by seemingly tricking you into thinking that it is just an innocent abandoned baby which is sadly common in the country. It is common enough that there are some people who would often want someone to accompany them when they're alone in a parking lot at night.

Further Readings and Sources

As much as I had stated that The Aswangs Project and their handling of discussions about Filipino mythology, specifically Tagalog mythology, is dubious at best, they have a lot of good articles about aswangs that do align with local beliefs so reading through their website for monsters specifically could be a good and free resource. They had also made a documentary that you can watch for free on YouTube that covers a lot of this and more about aswangs.

For written works, I would suggest any of Maximo D. Ramos's works as I've brought up before. There's his published paper The Aswang Syncrasy in Philippine Folklore which is considered as basically the holy grail of Aswang research, which, as I had stated, take up a bulk of the FIlipino monsters. It's hard to find easily accessible PDFs of the paper and I remember that I found a copy of this or a similar work by Ramos but the link has eluded me.

For a less academic and more fun fictionalized source for Filipino monsters I suggest The Lost Journal of Alejandro Pardo: Meet the Dark Creatures from Philippines Mythology by Budjette Tan and David Hontiveros which is available through Amazon here. It follows a fictional researcher and his discoveries of Filipino monsters and other creatures. It's a pretty easy read with a lot of good information about cryptids and monsters from the Philippines, owing to it's style of found media. If you've seen something like Gravity Falls's officially published Journal 3 from the show's universe, it has a similar vibe to that.

That's all I have for now, but I am looking more into this topic! My PC has issues right now so I might answer questions more slowly than my already slow answering speed. I hope this post helped you learn a little more about Filipino mythology and cryptids.

[astro-inthestars]

*spawns in your inbox* hello if you feel like it could you tell me tales and folklore and traditions from the philippines?

OOH OOH OOH i can do that for sure!! We've got some pretty funky tales around here! First thing that came to mind was the creepy monster folklore we have here though <333 One of the main things people might know about us!! (besides our amazing food <33)

Okay okay SO first up, over here there are things we call Aswang. It's basically like... a category almost, due to the amount of interpretations. It's the typical witch/ghost/demon around here! Sometimes it's seen as a beautiful woman, or a monstrous dog, or a elusive ghost with sharp nails and teeth!

Something that may or may not fall under this category, is one of my favorite folktale monster from over here: The Manananggal! Ohhhh this one is soooo messed up and I love it-

It's a creature that sometime appears like a normal woman, but transforms into a horrific creature, with huge bat wings, sharp teeth and nails, and a longgg tongue! Basically our equivalent of a vampire- BUT what makes this motherfucker special??? This bitch can DETACH its torso from its lower body, and flies into the night sky!! And it usually ain't pretty, with its stomach guts or bloody ripped torso flailing in the wind! Its main prey (or the target audience of this cautionary folktale) are pregnant women. Also!! Fun fact; its name, Manananggal, is from the root word "tangal" which means "remove" and with the prefix "ma" it makes the full word mean "remover" or "seperator," orrrr "one who seperates itself" quite literally in this case <3

Enough of the horrors though! Hmmm, let me tell you some traditions we have, though some may not be "official" traditions, and are just some habits we're taught throughout our life- So much so that I actually had a hard time trying to think of some 'traditions' due to thinking these are all normal... and not knowing if other countries actually did them so. . . aahaha- well anyway!

First most notable one is obviously our signs of respect, AKA the uses of the words 'po' and 'opo' and our (probably?) well-known sign of pagmamano! First of all, 'po' is a word used in sentences that indicate respect, like when you're talking to someone older than you, or someone with notable authority! Like "Excuse me po, can I use the restroom?" And with 'Opo,' it's just the "respectful" version of our "Yes" which is just 'Oo' (when you say "oo" to someone older than you or someone with authority, it's regarded as disrespect or that you treat this person casually or are very close and familiar) And pagmano? Well that's also a respectful gesture, like po and opo! But unlike the phrases, this one is a gesture, and is usually only used for older people! Usually elders, actually. The gesture is you taking the older person's hand and gentle placing their knuckles on your forehead, like this in the image!

And along with it you usually say "Mano po" or just any variation of a greeting!

Oh, here's something more "traditionally" a tradition,a nd one of my favorite ones... guess what??? Us Pinoys? We celebrate FOUR MONTHS of Christmas!!!! THAT'S RIGHT!! We celebrate that shit early <3 It's mostly because the Filipino are SUPER duper religious, but also... CHRISTMASSSSS!! We call them "Ber Months" because for us, as soon as September hits... well? That's already CHRISTMAS BABEY!! Christmas lights UP, trees READY, christmas songs BLASTING, parols SELLING- wait. hold on- DO YOU GUYS HAVE PAROLS???

I just looked it up and CHRISTMAS PAROLS ARE A UNIQUELY FILIPINO THING?? OKAY OKAY parols are basically christmas lanterns! THey're bright and colorful and AWESOME and stalls for them line the streets at Ber Months- HERE HERE LOOK!!!

These are what the big and bright ones look like!

And these are what the smaller and simpler ones look like! They're all made from bamboo sticks and japanese paper!! it's AWESOME!

Okay okay, this is probably wAyyYYY too long already but here's some honorable mentions: -Us Filipinos' daily meal ALWAYS include rice. Unless its snacks or dessert or appetizers, I guess- but every main meal, Breakfast, Lunch, and Supper, we have rice! We cook an "ulam" which is what is paired with the rice! It's like rice is the default, and whatever the food is will be eaten with the rice! Like, fried chicken is ulam! Then we eat it with rice! -We've got impeccable hospitality!!! Like, if ANY stranger comes into a Pinoy's home, they WILL offer to eat with them! No matter who! They'll always tell the guest "Kain po!" ("Come eat!") and usually the person would be modest and decline, but eat anyway! It's truly interesting how hardwired these things are... -Our modes of transportation are WAY different from American ones, I find!! Over here we've got Jeepneys, Tricycles, and Pedicabs! So i don't have to explain, here's what they look like:

Jeepneys, tricycles, and pedicabs respectively! Not much to say about the last two, but the jeepney seems REAL notable- They're from military jeeps, but longer and redesigned for transport. And yes, all jeeps have weird designs and briht colors, and most likely has anime on them. Don't ask, I don't know either. These are our main forms of transport over here!! But that doesn't mean we don't have the usual bus or taxi, of course! -Every region and town here has its own fiesta!! we've got SO many fiestas in this country!! and it all varies from region to region.. They usually span a week long or even a month!! Festivals here are typically held to honor patron saints or to display the region’s primary local harvest!

Well, anyway, that's all I've got a- ......what do you mean it's 1 am.

[temporalhiccup]

Heeeeeeeeeeey everybody, it's my birthday!

It's a big one too, I turn 40 today! ❤️

I thought I'd put some of the "Essential Rae Games" on sale to celebrate!

This is a highly personal write up of these games that reflect my time so far in game design, so I apologize if they don't accurately represent what the game is, whoops.

Become One is my first foray into the itchio ttrpg scene, the first time I put out a game on the internet! This was for the sad mecha game jam, and started out as a four page game.

Honestly, this game holds up extremely well, and every time I come back and play it, I'm surprised at how this game plays way beyond my actual design level of the time.

But, to this day, I have yet to make another mech game (as much as I love the genre) or make a game that works so well as a one shot (I have tried and failed over the years haha)

It's funny that this first public game of mine contains so many themes that show up in almost all of my games. Emotions, memory, my absolute distaste for hit points in ttrpgs...

Our Haunt was my first attempt at making a Belonging Outside Belonging game and since then I have made...uh...a lot of BoB games, hah! BoB remains one of my favorite systems to design in, and the poetic constraints have made me a much better designer. I still think there's so much to explore within the BoB space! Coming back to Our Haunt two years later for the final release, and redesigning it to reflect all that I've learned, was really fun!

This is also my first game to actually get published and printed, after making TTRPGs for four years(!!!). I don't have direct access to things like Kickstarter or similar crowdfunding platforms (I'm a Filipino in the Philippines, global south woes, etc), so being able to finally see one of my games in physical book form was...wow. I can't describe it. Absolutely surreal.

Also I kinda wonder how much of Our Haunt's success is because I made a playbook that's basically being a cat. I wrote it for my partner, who is...basically a cat. (He absolutely loves it)

We Forest Three is one of the few solo games I've designed, and it was certainly the most difficult to write. It's essentially a choose your own adventure ttrpg, and I keep wondering if I've become a strong enough designer to come back and try making another game that follows a similar structure. Hah!

I think this game shows my obsession with the conflict between extremes: forest and city, supernatural beings and humans, family and the individual, love and horror.

This is also the game that notoriously everyone else has had better luck than me! Whenever I play this game, I die a horrible death 90% of the time. (I usually roll the worst stats, augh) Good thing I wrote those (many, many) deaths to be really fun I guess!

BALIKBAYAN is undoubtedly the game that caught everyone's attention. Many amazing opportunities have come my way because BALIKBAYAN made such an impression! I really really should get around to uploading the current version of the game, but even this version on itch is a great. I'm proud of smashing together a distinctly 90s anime cyberpunk vibe with Filipino myth and folktales, while also pushing back against Shadowrun's idea that magic and tech are two opposing forces. Instead, magic and machinery are the same thing in BALIKBAYAN.

I'm also really glad that this game has connected to so many Filipinos in other countries, and resonated with them so deeply. It reminds me that even though I'm still perceived a foreigner in my own country (because I'm bi-racial), I can still connect to others like me through games.

One more thing I'll say is that I think BALIKBAYAN has unfortunately given people the impression that I'm very cool, only for them to meet me and realize I'm a dork. Sorry friends, I just write cool games, I'm actually dreadfully uncool.

Spectrum of Horror is a really fun experimental story game, that works well solo and with other people. I try to incorporate using the tarot in a way that's closer to how a tarot deck actually works.

I think this is (one of many) examples of why I would design straight into layout: Spectrum of Horror is technically eight micro games, and each one takes up a single spread. (Of course, a better designer than me could just figure it out with word count or whatever, but there you go)

Also here's a secret: all of the redacted words are still readable. You just have to select and copy the text from the PDF and paste it somewhere else to see what I wrote, heh.

Brinkwood: Despair (still under its original title on my itch page, whoops) means so much to me, because it's my first FAN GAME. I loved someone else's TTRPG just that much that I had to write a prequel for it.

(I LOVE BRINKWOOD SO MUCH THAT I EVEN WROTE ANOTHER GAME FOR IT, but I'll talk about Brinkwood: Refuge another time!)

I think all of my games are games that are in response to other games, really. But Despair has such a special place in my heart because 1) I just LOVE Brinkwood that much 2) I really cherish the playtest memories I have from when I ran games on the Brinkwood discord server 3) Erik has been really generous with inviting other designers to create things in the space of his game.

Despair is almost finished (thanks to @ostrichmonkey-games helping me out on it) and I can't wait for folks to see the finished version!

Shitty Adventurers is here because, like Cozy Town, I think it's one of the few that are so unlike the rest of my games.

I'm not a very funny person. I'm like, your typical serious Capricorn. The best I can manage, only in front of a few people, is dark humor. I'm really shocked I managed to make this game, to be honest. (Tho humor is incredibly subjective, I have no idea if this game is actually really funny)

I think because this game is so outside of my "brand", and comedy TTRPGs aren't in high demand (afaik!), this game tends to get overlooked. Still, I've heard some wonderful stories from folks who've played the game!

Memory Hunter is a prequel to BALIKBAYAN, and it's also another tentative foray into OSR inspired games. I say tentative, but I'm also really proud of the writing and design here! I released Memory Hunter this year recently and it didn't seem to make too much of an impression, but I hope that if I keep working on game expansions that'll change!

There are many reasons I haven't felt comfortable or confident enough to create more games in the OSR space, but over the past year it's become more inviting! I'm really grateful that Tony Vacinda of Plus One EXP immediately offered to publish it (and Tony in general has been one of the most positive forces in the indie ttrpg space, for sure!)

I'm really looking forward to creating more things for Memory Hunter!

[fistfightinganxietyandlosing]

— hello! i'm epher, part-time mysterious eldritch being and full-time idiot

welcome to my old smoky reading room where i nerd about literature, cartoons, marine biology, and other similarly silly things <3

trivia

♤ i'm filipino as well as a minor so if that bothers you in any way, please leave 🙏

♡ some alternative names i use are sealie and iyu, and my pronouns are she/her(e by myself)

◇ i am both a multifandom and multilingual mess

♧ my hobbies include: reading, writing, drinking coffee, and researching about things i find fascinating!! i also fenced at one point

♤ that one annoying theatre kid except cripplingly socially awkward

♡ my favorite artists are madds buckley, the good kid, and dirt poor robins

◇ i adore coffee, the found family trope, rain, dramatic irony, and using the oxford comma

♧ my dms are not open, but my askbox always is :D feel free to tag me in things too

subjects i'm very interested in and nerdy about

• literature(especially classics!)

• marine biology

• mythology and folktales of all kinds

• anything agatha christie related

• musical theatre

• different poisons and their histories

• marie antoinette

• philosophers(specifically but not limited to 19th century ones)

• the language of flowers

• king arthur and his various depictions

fandoms

books: the riordanverse, asoue, murder most unladylike, the hunger games, aggtm, the mysterious benedict society, the osemanverse

shows: ducktales 2017, octonauts, gravity falls, dead boy detectives, lockwood and co, vld, brooklyn 99, ohshc, bungou stray dogs, kny, the owl house, tdp, amphibia, tua

misc: school bus graveyard, epic the musical, tma, genshin impact, mcu, nevermore, alien stage, i love amy

my kin list:

byi

first of all, i've thought about it for a while now and i think i may have undiagnosed autism.

other than that, i'm very inept socially, but i also have a desperate desire to connect with others so i may come off as either overtly polite or extremely dry. additionally, i often struggle to read between the lines so tone tags are very helpful. i also have the tendency to ramble a lot so fair warning!

dni list

homophobes and transphobes can suck my nonexistant dick

racists, ableists, p3dophiles, lolicons, and supporters of israel are also unwelcome on this blog

moodboard by my friend @marlair!

[innbetween]

Happy Audio Drama Sunday! There are a bunch of amazing shows fundraising right now, so if you have a few extra bucks, come with me and I’ll show you the best places to send ‘em!

Hi Nay is an amazing horror podcast by a Filipino crew, telling stories inspired by folklore and set in a very spooky iteration of Toronto. The show is incredible, and they deserve every dollar they’re asking for.

Speaking of horror: is there anything scarier than working a service job? There is in Echor City, where organized crime, corporations, and the return of magic make things very tricky for a guy just trying to make a true crime podcast. It’s Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama!

You know Marisol, right? Yeah, Marisol, she had to go to rehab but she’s clean now. Well, I mean, what is okay, really? Yeah she got a little stabbed. Like a little. So she doesn’t make great choices! It’s fine. Support Small Victories!

Since time immemorial, the people of the internet have asked: what if Supernatural was good? And if also there were lesbians? Where the Stars Fell is here to answer that question, assuming they can fund season three!

With Feminist Fairy Tales, you’re getting exactly what’s on the tin. This season they’ll be exploring lesser known stories from fairy tales and folklore and personally I can’t wait.

Support indie fiction and toss a coin to these fine shows!

[hellkeepers-if]

Random thought.. you are probably used to these from Me.. sorry 🙈

But your post made me really think about how excited I am to get into the IF. I love learning about different cultures as I come from a verryyy diverse African country. We really are a mix mash of everything and everyone. And I have both Korean and Japanese friends so I know like the barest of basic knowledge but I think both cultures are equally beautiful.

I am however obsessed with boths fantasy genres. More so any anime that's Yōkai related is like a treat to me.

So my question finally lol is how much is the culture gonna be present in the story? Or is gonna be more focused on a mix of myths from all over?

And will you touch on cultural pressures too? Cuz again african child here unrealistic pressure to be successful and also have a family from random aunties is real here too 🤣

Also would be happy to learn more about other asian cultures and their own creatures that scare lil kids. I don't know much about Taiwanese or Filipino cultures at all.

Haha no worries, I love answering questions!

A large portion of Hellkeepers will be based in the chinese underworld, so chinese mythology will take center stage in the worldbuilding.

However, I am also Southeast-Asian, and a Singaporean raised by Malaysian Chinese folks. Southeast-Asians are already underrepresented in fantasy, be in it culture or it's people. I would be remissed if I could not write about them in a story that's so fitting for it.

There will be the opportunity to learn about other asian cultures in the story, be it through the RO's, mythological folktales, and other spoilery stuff I can't quite mention yet 😜

The overarching theme of Hellkeepers is about family, hence you will definitely get to see the influence of an MC that is raised in an asian household 😂