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In the Philippines, a handful of superstitious beliefs exist that are very famous amongst the natives. These beliefs are typically introduced to them at a very early age through children's books or bedtime stories. It is believed that if natives aren't careful to follow them, a curse will befall them.
An action Filipinos do to counter a negative remark. For example, if a friend were to say “I might get hit by a car while crossing the road”, wood has to be knocked to avoid it from happening.
A common phrase said out loud when passing through dwellings of spirits, such as cemeteries or haunted grasslands. It is a way to show respect and avoid disturbing spirits and other mythical creatures who live in these areas.
When coming from a wake, a Filipino practice would be not to go home straight away as it is believed that the soul of the dead would follow one back to his/her house. One may stop anywhere one pleases as long as one does not go straight home.
Kapres are described as giants that usually sit atop tall trees smoking cigars.
The Tikbalang is described as a horse with human-like features said to lurk in the mountains and forests.
Tiyanaks are believed to be unborn babies that take on the form of a newborn baby monster in distress to attract people towards them.
Nuno sa punso is described to have dwarf-like features that dwell in mounds.
Aswangs are one of the most feared monsters in the Philippines. They are shape-shifting, flesh-eating monsters that can blend in with the townspeople during the day, but prey on them at night. The manananggal and tiktik commonly prey on pregnant women. These creatures are known for having a long tongue used to suck out the blood of the woman and snatch the fetus in their bellies.
Diwata is a deity or spirit which appears as human beings who live in different parts of nature. They are believed to be beautiful and compassionate creatures, which is why Filipinos often say that they are like diwatas. They are also higher beings who lead their people and give fortune.
A Filipino witch or mangkukulam is a person who casts spells, curses, or black magic on the people they want to take revenge on. This practice involves the use of a voodoo doll and a needle along with their candle-lighting rituals and anything performed on the doll will also be felt by the victim.
Gayuma is considered to be a type of magic meant to charm or attract someone, this usually manifests itself in the form of a love potion.
Albularyo or faith healers are very common in the Philippines, especially in the rural areas. They use herbs as their main healing instrument. Their healing prowess is said to be very powerful as they heal their patients with the use of their bare hands accompanied by various chants, rituals, and prayers.
Magic, sometimes spelled magick, is an ancient practice rooted in rituals, spiritual divinations, and/or cultural lineage—with an intention to invoke, manipulate, or otherwise manifest supernatural forces, beings, or entities in the natural world. It is a categorical yet often ambiguous term which has been used to refer to a wide variety of beliefs and practices, frequently considered separate from both religion and science.
Hoodoo is a set of spiritual practices, traditions, and beliefs that were created by enslaved Africans in the Southern United States from various traditional African spiritualities, Christianity and elements of indigenous botanical knowledge. Practitioners of Hoodoo are called rootworkers, conjure doctors, conjure man or conjure woman, root doctors, Hoodoo doctors, and swampers. Regional synonyms for Hoodoo include conjure or rootwork. As a syncretic spiritual system, it also incorporates Islam brought over by enslaved West African Muslims and Spiritualism. Despite what its name may imply, Hoodoo is not a religion.
Black magic, also known as dark magic, has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes, specifically the seven magical arts prohibited by canon law, as expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 1456.
The manananggal is a mythical creature in the Philippines that is able to separate its upper torso from the lower part of its body. Their fangs and wings give them a vampire-like appearance.
Aswang is an umbrella term for various shape-shifting evil creatures in Filipino folklore, such as vampires, ghouls, witches, viscera suckers, and transforming human-beast hybrids. The aswang is the subject of a wide variety of myths, stories, arts, and films, as it is well known throughout the Philippines. Spanish colonists noted that the aswang was the most feared among the mythical creatures of the Philippines, even in the 16th century. Although with no specific motive other than harming others, their behavior can be interpreted as an inversion of the traditional Filipino's values. The aswang is especially popular in southern parts of Luzon, and some parts of Mindanao and Visayas, especially the Visayan province of Capiz.
Philippine mythology is the body of stories and epics originating from, and part of, the indigenous Philippine folk religions, which include various ethnic faiths distinct from one another. Philippine mythology is incorporated from various sources, having similarities with Indonesian and Malay myths, as well as Hindu, Muslim, Shinto, Buddhist, and Christian traditions, such as the notion of heaven, hell, and the human soul. Philippine mythology attempts to explain the nature of the world through the lives and actions of heroes, deities, and mythological creatures. The majority of these myths were passed on through oral tradition, and preserved through the aid of community spiritual leaders or shamans and community elders.
Filipino witches are the users of black magic and related practices from the Philippines. They include a variety of different kinds of people with differing occupations and cultural connotations which depend on the ethnic group they are associated with. They are completely different from the Western notion of what a witch is, as each ethnic group has their own definition and practices attributed to witches. The curses and other magics of witches are often blocked, countered, cured, or lifted by Filipino shamans associated with the indigenous Philippine folk religions.
Albularyo or albulario is a Filipino term for a witch doctor, folk healer or medicine man, derived from Spanish herbolario (herbalist). They practice folk medicine and use medicinal plants in their trade.
Filipino shamans, commonly known as Babaylan, were shamans of the various ethnic groups of the pre-colonial Philippine islands. These shamans specialized in communicating, appeasing, or harnessing the spirits of the dead and the spirits of nature. They were almost always women or feminized men. They were believed to have spirit guides, by which they could contact and interact with the spirits and deities and the spirit world. Their primary role were as mediums during pag-anito séance rituals. There were also various subtypes of babaylan specializing in the arts of healing and herbalism, divination, and sorcery.
Indigenous Philippine folk religions are the distinct native religions of various ethnic groups in the Philippines, where most follow belief systems in line with animism. Generally, these indigenous folk religions are referred to as Anito or Anitism or the more modern and less ethnocentric Dayawism. 0.23% of the population of the Philippines are affiliated with the indigenous Philippine folk religions according to the 2020 national census, an increase from the previous 0.19% from the 2010 census.
Pedro Penduko is a Filipino comic book character styled as a folk hero or superhero, created by National Artist for Literature Francisco V. Coching and debuted on the magazine Liwayway.
Mythic humanoids are mythological creatures that are part human, or that resemble humans through appearance or character. Each culture has different mythical creatures that come from many different origins. A major chunk of these creatures are humanoids. They are often able to talk and in many stories they guide the hero on their journey. They are said to come before the creation of gods and goddesses. Skiewa
The indigenous religious beliefs of the Tagbanwa people includes the religious beliefs, mythology and superstitions that has shaped the Tagbanwa way of life. It shares certain similarities with that of other ethnic groups in the Philippines, such as in the belief in heaven, hell and the human soul.
Indigenous Philippine shrines and sacred grounds are places regarded as holy within the indigenous Philippine folk religions. These places usually serve as grounds for communication with the spirit world, especially to the deities and ancestral spirits. In some cases, they also function as safeguards for the caskets of ancestors, as well as statues or other objects depicting divine entities.
Kodoku, also called kodō, kojutsu, and fuko is a type of poisonous magic found in Japanese folklore. It is the Japanese derivative of the Chinese Gu magic.
The indigenous religious beliefs of the Tagalog people were well documented by Spanish missionaries, mostly in the form of epistolary accounts (relaciones) and entries in various dictionaries compiled by missionary friars.
Anito, also spelled anitu, refers to ancestor spirits, nature spirits, and deities in the indigenous Philippine folk religions from the precolonial age to the present, although the term itself may have other meanings and associations depending on the Filipino ethnic group. It can also refer to carved humanoid figures, the taotao, made of wood, stone, or ivory, that represent these spirits. Anito is also sometimes known as diwata in certain ethnic groups.
Buso is a generic term for demons or evil spirits in the folklore of the Bagobo peoples. They typically prey upon flesh and send diseases to kill unsuspecting humans. Shrines and offerings would be made to the buso in an attempt to deter them from attacking. They are sometimes associated with tebang and burkan, the ghosts of evil souls.
