TIKBALANG

TIKBALANG

An untrusting skittishness is prevalent among the communites surrounding the mountainous regions of the King Filipinas archipelago. The skewed, furtive glances exchanged when family members ask to be accompanied somewhere are a habit formed from fear of the Tikbalang. Often eerily mimicking the appearance of victims' relatives, this forest spirit will lead lone people out to the heavily wooded depths of the mountain ranges, occasionally breaking the increasingly uncomfortable silence with short bursts of reassurement, and stilted gratitude for the assistance. The suddenly pungent aroma of tobacco and drunken swaying motion adopted by the false family member is noticed before their face blurs into something that resembles more that of a horse's than a human's. Delirious town folk who have stumbled their way into town after long absences tell of how this apparation pushed and slapped them, often knocking them over and not allowing them to right themselves; all the while shaking with nervous, childish giggling. People say that the cessation of resistance or protest will suddenly lead a victim to find themselves alone in the woods, plunged into darkness; the sun long set. The path home, recalled by the few who return after a disappearance, is hampered by a severe sense of disorientation and a forest that seems to curl in on itself repeatedly.

Some mythical creatures have their origin in tradition and tales from the distant past. However, each culture is associated with a multitude of interesting and odd creatures, many of these beings are humanoids. One of these legendary humanoids is the Tikbalang.

The Tikbalang (many different spellings are used - translates as 'demon horse') is a creature of Philippine folklore said to lurk in the mountains and forests of the Philippines. It is generally described as a tall, bony humanoid creature with disproportionately long limbs, to the point that its knees reach above its head when it squats down. It has the head and feet of an animal, most commonly a horse. It has been compared to the half-man, half-horse centaur from Greek mythology. It travels at night to rape female mortals who will then give birth to more Tikbalang. It is sometimes believed to be a transformation of an aborted fetus which has been sent to earth from limbo.

Tikbalangs are very playful with people, and they usually make a person imagine things that aren't real. Sometimes a Tikbalang will drive a person crazy. Legends say that when rain falls while the sun is shining, a pair of Tikbalangs are being wed. Since horses only arrived in the Philippine archipelago during the Spanish invasion, there is a theory that the image of a half-horse, half-man creature was propagated by the conquistadors to keep the natives afraid of the night. There are stories claiming that the Tikbalang are actually half-bird, half-man creatures, much like the Japanese Tengu.

A traveler who finds himself lost and suspects that a Tikbalang is leading him astray may counteract it by wearing his shirt inside out. Another countermeasure is to verbally ask permission to pass by, or to avoid making too much noise while in the woods so as not to offend or disturb the Tikbalang.

Folklore says that one can tame a Tikbalang and compel it to be one's servant by plucking three golden hairs from its mane. There are also stories where a Tikbalang asks its intended prey a riddle. Someone who manages to answer correctly will be rewarded with a pot of gold.

PUGOT O HEADLESS

PUGOT O HEADLESS

The Pugot ("decapitated one") is a mythical fiend that is found in the Ilocos region. It can assume various shapes such as hogs, dogs or even as humans. However, it usually appears as a black, gigantic headless being. The creature usually resides in dark places or deserted houses. However, they especially like living in trees such as the duhat (Eugenia cumini), santol (Sandoricum koetjape), and tamarind.

Aside from its shapeshifting abilities, the pugot can also move at great speeds, feeding on snakes and insects that it finds among the trees. It feeds by thrusting food through its neck stump.

Although terrifying, the pugot is relatively harmless. However, the creature is fond of women's underwear and steals them while they are being dried on a clothesline.

The pugot is also found in the Ifugao myth "Tulud Nimputul: The Self-Beheaded" where he appears to the human hero. He was fed by the hero with chopped chicken meat that was mixed with blood.

Pugot are headless ghosts. They wander in places where they used to live or where they were decapitated. They haunt because they are searching for their heads and they need it to be joined with their body and have it blessed so they could go in peace. However, some of them have the intention of avenging themselves or harming people. They are believed to behead their victims. Pugot is believed to be a black, headless giant who stations itself in lonely roads or in balete trees, often carrying decapitated heads of its victims. The pugot may also manifest itself as a beheaded ghost.

PUGOT O HEADLESS

PUGOT O HEADLESS

The Pugot ("decapitated one") is a mythical fiend that is found in the Ilocos region. It can assume various shapes such as hogs, dogs or even as humans. However, it usually appears as a black, gigantic headless being. The creature usually resides in dark places or deserted houses. However, they especially like living in trees such as the duhat (Eugenia cumini), santol (Sandoricum koetjape), and tamarind.

Aside from its shapeshifting abilities, the pugot can also move at great speeds, feeding on snakes and insects that it finds among the trees. It feeds by thrusting food through its neck stump.

Although terrifying, the pugot is relatively harmless. However, the creature is fond of women's underwear and steals them while they are being dried on a clothesline.

The pugot is also found in the Ifugao myth "Tulud Nimputul: The Self-Beheaded" where he appears to the human hero. He was fed by the hero with chopped chicken meat that was mixed with blood.

Pugot are headless ghosts. They wander in places where they used to live or where they were decapitated. They haunt because they are searching for their heads and they need it to be joined with their body and have it blessed so they could go in peace. However, some of them have the intention of avenging themselves or harming people. They are believed to behead their victims. Pugot is believed to be a black, headless giant who stations itself in lonely roads or in balete trees, often carrying decapitated heads of its victims. The pugot may also manifest itself as a beheaded ghost.

PUGOT O HEADLESS

PUGOT O HEADLESS

The Pugot ("decapitated one") is a mythical fiend that is found in the Ilocos region. It can assume various shapes such as hogs, dogs or even as humans. However, it usually appears as a black, gigantic headless being. The creature usually resides in dark places or deserted houses. However, they especially like living in trees such as the duhat (Eugenia cumini), santol (Sandoricum koetjape), and tamarind.

Aside from its shapeshifting abilities, the pugot can also move at great speeds, feeding on snakes and insects that it finds among the trees. It feeds by thrusting food through its neck stump.

Although terrifying, the pugot is relatively harmless. However, the creature is fond of women's underwear and steals them while they are being dried on a clothesline.

The pugot is also found in the Ifugao myth "Tulud Nimputul: The Self-Beheaded" where he appears to the human hero. He was fed by the hero with chopped chicken meat that was mixed with blood.

Pugot are headless ghosts. They wander in places where they used to live or where they were decapitated. They haunt because they are searching for their heads and they need it to be joined with their body and have it blessed so they could go in peace. However, some of them have the intention of avenging themselves or harming people. They are believed to behead their victims. Pugot is believed to be a black, headless giant who stations itself in lonely roads or in balete trees, often carrying decapitated heads of its victims. The pugot may also manifest itself as a beheaded ghost.

TIKTIK

TIKTIK

Tiktik are sometimes compared to Aswangs because they devour human organs. They can jump and hop very high, and they can crawl along walls like cats and hang like bats. They prey on pregnant women's fetuses and month-old embryos. They attack at nighttime when they hop on top of the roof of the house of their victim. They then stretch their very long tongues and used it to rip open the womb of their victims, devour the fetus and leave the woman dead. They can be killed by cutting their tongues and letting them die of starvation.

The tiktik is commonly mistaken for the other types of aswang. The manananggal or the aswang are usually portrayed in local movies as individuals who lead double lives. In the morning, these individuals would interact with the society as openly and normally as any other, but on some nights, the manananggal would seek out human organs to devour on them.  The tiktik, on the other hand, is not human; it does not turn into a human being in the morning.

Seeing as the tiktik is already deceased and has no human form, the tiktik takes the form of a flying creature such as birds or bats. It cannot and does not take on a human form. The tiktik serves as a spirit guide to the aswang. The tiktik is a deceased aswang, that which died from old age. It continues to become a tormentor. The tiktik is underscored to have a particular liking for human hearts, while the aswang has a particular liking for human guts.

The tiktik is named for its cry: a distinct shrill sound which could be heard even miles away. It sounds like tik-tik-tik-tik or a ticking. However, the distinctness of the cry lies in the fact that when it is far away the sound is louder, while it gets quieter the closer the tiktik is to its victims. This, I think, gives an eerie angle to the idea.

I have yet to see a tiktik in real life, I wonder these days whether the tiktik had really existed centuries before. I guess there will be very little chance for me to find out about this now, for now, here is to hoping that there are really no tiktiks in Cebu.

TIYANAK

TIYANAK

Tiyanak or impakto, another mythical creature in the Philippine Mythology, are babies who died before receiving baptism rites. After death, they go to a place known as Limbo, a chamber of Hell where unbaptized dead people fall into, and transformed into evil spirits. These phantasms return into the mortal realm in the form of goblins to eat living victims. The tiyanak can also be the offspring between a demon and a human.

The tiyanak can also be the offspring of a woman and a demon. It can also be the aborted fetus, which comes to life to take revenge on its mother. Tiyanak are very vengeful creatures. Most Tiyanaks are said to live in forests. If they see a human, they transform into what looks like a normal baby. When the person notices the Tiyanak and comes near to take a look at it, that's when the Tiyanak changes back to its true form and eats its prey.

Tiyanak Origin
While there are many versions about how a Tiyanak looks like, it's ability to cry like a baby is its most powerful camouflage to attract victims. Some popular versions also say that a Tiyanak is a spirit of an unborn child whose mother died before giving birth. This mythical creature are also sometimes related to a Malaysian folkloric creature called Pontianak which is, according to Malay folklore, a woman who died during delivery or childbirth.

Tiyanak Countermeasures
Though this legendary creature is deceitful in attacking its prey, one can bewilder the creature and break loose from the enchantment of its cries by turning his clothes inside out. The legend has it that Tiyanaks find this method laughable and would just leave the victim.

Tiyanaks are monster that look like babies. They disguise themselves as innocent and adorable looking babies and once someone comes in contact with them, they turn into monsters and attack their victim. These monsters are believed to be aborted babies or babies who were dead upon birth and were not blessed.

NUNO SA PUNSO

NUNO SA PUNSO

A Nuno or Nuno sa Punso (Duwende) is a dwarf-like creature in Philippine mythology. It is believed to live in an anthill or termite mound, hence its name, literally 'Ancestor/Grandparent of the anthill'.

They are invisible and quiet creatures. If they get bothered by too much noise or careless movements causing them harm, they get mad and punish the people who trespass on their home. Most of their victims are children whose innocent play usually destroys their homes. Their victims get very ill and the only way to cure it is asking the help of an Albularyo. So every time you pass by a punso, you need to say "Excuse Me".

There is a common belief that if modern medicine is unable to cure a particular illness, the ailment may be due to a Nuno's curse. The victim is brought to an albularyo, a Philippine practitioner of traditional medicine. The albularyo will perform a ceremony known as tawas. During this process, a piece of a candle is melted and the molten wax poured onto a disc or spoon. The molten wax is in turn poured into water. The image formed on the water will then be interpreted by the albularyo. The image aids in determining the cause of the patient's illness and where the curse actually happened.
In order to be cured, the victim's family may be asked to provide an offering to the Nuno such as fruits or other food, drinks, or a material object. If the victim is still not healed after the offering, it may be necessary to personally ask the Nuno's forgiveness, which is believed to be a wise measure, in order to prevent the permanent possession of the victim by an evil spirit, which could later cause the victim to become insane.
It is also possible to kill the Nuno by catching it and crushing its head between a person's fingers. This will remove any spell cast by the Nuno. But this method is not often recommended because it could evoke the wrath of a Nuno's friends and relatives.
Legends also state that placing an obese or festively plump female on the side of a road after midnight will attract the Nuno out of hiding, thus allowing those afflicted to seek their revenge on the goblin. The Nuno has an odd affinity for large bodied mammals of the opposite sex.

To avoid the wrath of a Nuno sa Punso, children are reminded not to play outside between noon and three o'clock in the afternoon. They are also asked by their parents to come home before six o'clock in the evening. Children are also instructed avoid being noisy at places where Nuno are believed to dwell. Children are also warned to ask permission or give fair notice before passing by such places inhabited by the Nuno, which is done by saying "tabi tabi po"(literally "please be on the side" or "please move aside", that is, you tell the nuno to stand aside), or "please let me pass by" or "I mean no harm as I pass through your territory, Old Man of the Mound".

MAMBABARANG

MAMBABARANG

Mambabarangs are ordinary human beings with black magic who torture and later kill their victims by infesting their bodies with insects. They are different from Mangkukulams - the latter only inflict pain or illness. Mambabarangs use a strand of hair from their chosen victim and tie it to the bugs or worms which they will use as a medium. When they prick the bug, the victim immediately experiences the intended effect.

Barang is a noun used to describe malign sorcery or familiar spirit. Other synonymous words used in the island of Siquijor in the Philippines include haplit, paktol and anyaw.

Mambabarang (noun) is a practitioner of this specific type of sorcery or witchcraft. Binarang (noun) is the target of the sorcery or witchcraft. Nabarang (adjective) means someone or something experiencing the effects of the curse or hex.

The Mambabarang is the Filipino version of a sorcerer; the witch is a Mamalarang. The name is derived from the word barang. Other synonymous terms include the Hiligaynon word manog hiwit, which is also synonymous to kulam. The verb barangon or hiwitan means "to place a hex"; a curse in Filipino is a sumpa.

The mambabarang keeps his beetles in a bottle or a section of bamboo, carefully feeding them ginger root. When the practitioner decides to employ his dark art, he performs a prayer ritual wherein he whispers instructions and identifies the victim to the beetles. The insects are then set free and to seek out the victim and gain entry into the body via any bodily orifice: the nose, mouth, ears, anus or dermal breaks such as open wounds. The victim will then feel the effects of the invasion through manifestations depending on the area of entry; hemorrhoids if through the anus, ear ache if through the ears and other similar cases. The resulting illness is resistant to conventional medical treatment and only reveals its true nature when the victim succumbs and flying insects issue forth from bodily cavities.

Superstitious folks still attribute certain illnesses or diseases to barang. This most often happens in the provinces, where an herbal doctor, albularyo or a faith healer, a mananambal or sorhuana (female) / sorhuano (male) treats such diseases. In some rural provincial areas, people completely rely on the albularyo and mananambal for treatment.