Illustration from the Cameron Polintan

Halloween party throughout the Philippines surpasses the West impression of pumpkin carvings and you can trick-or-managing. Adopting the merrymaking with the eve out of October 31st, Filipinos head to the cemetery for Undas, a tradition one calls for remembering brand new inactive because of cemetery check outs, family gatherings, and you can dinner. However-plus real Filipino style-this type of nearest and dearest get togethers are not instead of lighthearted mischief while the day of dead cause mira esto talks off otherworldly horrors on the Luzon, Visayas, and you can Mindanao regions.

Where there can be numerous trees and just new moonlight to help you, one must courageous the possibility of the new manananggal, a human which have wings and you may good halved human body a for aswang, a form-shifting worst soul; or even the tikbalang, a 1 / 2-human, half-horse animal. These about three entities can be whispered in the in Luzon, however, encountering them is an additional story.

Lars Salamante (dos Abdominal Is actually) from Lucban, Quezon shares that visibility of one’s tikbalang is usually signified from the fireflies going into the place and smell like deceased ants penetrating air. He says which he tend to seen this in his youthfulness domestic whenever resting in the grandparents’ rooms lower than a clear glass window

Meanwhile, this new kapre or tree icon purportedly stays in treetops, making just higher shedding cig butts as an indication of their visibility. Chio Reyno (2 Ab Was) out-of Antipolo states how notion of ghosts was more straightforward to take on, when he claims that he seem to found morale. Although not, recognizing the case of kapre’s facts took an experience in the the newest trees to completely master.

“Nagtatago kami kasi hide-and-seek, tapos noong naka-upo na kami, will get nahulog na malaking yosi o tobacco cigarette pero walang tao sa taas,” Reyno says regarding the a beneficial kapre find the guy once had which have a beneficial set of family. “Nagkatinginan kami, tapos will get na namin.”

(We were covering up once the we had been to play hide and seek, and once i seated off, a large tobacco cigarette or cigarette dropped out-of above although there was no one around. We just was required to evaluate both, and now we already knew [it absolutely was a kapre].”

According to Visayan folklore, aswangs accept variations with respect to the storyteller. Megan Maningo (dos Ab Is actually) away from Dumaguete notes you to their brand of the newest aswang known for eating unborn babies. “They normally are explained [to] has actually a long language,” Maningo explains. “They’re going [to] the brand new roof of the home and you can [its language] decreases for the stomach key of your pregnant women, and additionally they make an effort to suck the child out.” Janica Yu (2 Ab Try) out-of Iloilo shares that there are most other sizes of your aswang called Maria Lobo and you will Teniente Gimo; each other bring individual models and are generally known for killing and you will cooking person bits.

An alternative identified sorts of the fresh aswang ‘s the tiktik, whose tale was used so you’re able to frighten pupils to visit home early. Maningo remembers, “For many who hear new tiktik further out, it’s towards you. For individuals who listen to brand new tiktik voice closer to your, it means it’s really far. You aren’t designed to look back.”

Typed

The amamayong is alleged to be a good nocturnal creature that sucks brand new bloodstream of their subjects; they strolls using its direct around the hind base and has the stamina from invisibility.

Engkantos and additionally make their looks from inside the Mindanao, but this region is additionally where you can find novel horrors only told regarding the southernmost the main Philippines particularly Dipolog. Arianne Aleta (2 Abdominal Was) away from Dipolog shares how their unique grandmother used to tell the storyline of a nameless animal which takes the type of “a female who does get real wings and you may…bring myself out in the middle of the evening if i don’t beat all lice regarding my personal hair.” She acknowledges to knowing that such tales have been only advised to instill punishment in her as the an infant.

Regardless of the differences in profile, mode and you will area, Philippine mythological stories display far in accordance. Dominating new spooky disposition out of Undas and you will Halloween night, this type of tales immortalize this new instructions the elderly want to give in order to children: Be cautious and aware of the procedures given that we would perhaps not be the merely pets to.