Folk Literature

(Philippine Ancient Literature)

Folk Literature
 Folk Literature
• also called folklore
or oral tradition
• lore (traditional
knowledge and
beliefs) of cultures
• having no written
language
Folk Literature
• includes all the myths,
legends, epics, fables,
and folktales
• passed down by word of
mouth through the
generations
• authors are usually
unknown or
unidentifiable.
 MYTHS

• It is derived from
the word mythos 
which simply
means "story.”
• The active beings in
myths are generally gods
and goddesses, heroes
and heroines, or animals
and plants.
• Most myths are set in a
timeless past before
recorded time or
beginning of the critical
history.
MYTHS

• A body of stories
which explain a
nature, history,
and customs.
MYTHS

• Traditional stories
or beliefs

• Culture retold from

one generation to
another
 Philippine Mythology

• includes a
collection of tales
and superstitions
about magical
creatures
 Philippine Mythical Creatures

• Agta
• Aswang
• Bal-bal •Siyokoy
•Sirena
• Kapre
•Duwende
• Mangkukulam •Tikbalang
• Mambabarang •Tiyanak
• Manananggal •Wakwak
• Santelmo
It’s more spooky in the Philippines ...

As an archipelago, the
Philippines indeed boast of
its variety of stories spooky
and terrifying.

Each community, barrio,

barangay, locality, city,
province and region has its
own story passed on from
generation to generation.
Kibaan
• Folklores abound the Northern part of the
country as it is close to the mountainous
areas where unknown creatures are
presumed to reside.

• In Ilocos, as often heard in their tales lived

a bird-like beast with reverse toes and
fingers.

• According to the stories passed on from

previous generations, a Kibaan is prone to
fall in an unrequited love with girls from
the town and villages.
 Kibaan
• The Kibaan would, in turn, get his heart
broken and would eventually seek revenge
to make up for his misfortune.

• He is believed to have a special magic

powder that would elicit a harmful skin
condition to whose direction it has been
blown at.

• However, like some non-human entities,

the Kibaan can be appeased by asking for
forgiveness.
Pasatsat
• A tale that sets back from around the time
of the Japanese occupation

• In Pangasinan, Pasatsats are known to be

the ghosts of the casualties during the
war.

• According to folktales, poor people who

were unable to afford a coffin for their
dead loved ones used a pamalisan (reed
mat) instead.

• They used the said mats to cover the

bodies of those who died and were killed
at that time.
 Pasatsat
• However, due to the inhumane living conditions at that
time, people who were desperate enough took gold, shirts
and other personal effects that could be exchanged for
money.

• According to the Pangasinenses, the tortured souls might

have felt their graves desecrated so thus emerging
themselves as ghosts.

• They often show their ghastly forms to random passersby.

Those who would witness such apparition are required to
stab the ghoulish figure until they disintegrate into thin
air and emit a vomit-inducing foul odor.

• Hence the term Pasatsat which came from the vernacular

“satsat” that means to stab.
Amalanhig
• Hiligaynon-speaking groups such as those who
live in Iloilo, Capiz, Aklan, Antique and Guimaras
know of a monster that greatly resembles that of
an aswang except for its other characteristics.

• They say that Amalanhigs of the Visayan

mythology is a variant of aswangs but had failed to
transfer their curse to the next of kin. They rise
from their graves and bites of the neck of any
victim they set their eyes on.

• Amalanhigs are known to chase their victims.

Once they are able to reach any living human, they
would tickle them to their deaths. The victims
would then die of laughter and terror all at the
same time.
 Amalanhig
• In order to ward off an Amanlanhig,
should you encounter one, it is a must
that you run in a zigzag direction.

• Due to their muscle rigidity and

stiffness, Amalanhigs are only able to
run straight.

• You could also opt to climb any highly

elevated areas or seek the confines of
any bodies of water. Amalanhigs are
said to fear heights and water.
Berberoka
• Somewhere up North, specifically in areas
like Abra, Apayao and Ilocos Norte there
lived a freshwater ogre that uses deceptive
tactics to catch a possible victim.

• The people in the Northern Philippines

dubbed them as Berberoka who usually
preys on fishermen.

• It shares a lot of similarities with the

Greek’s naiad – a female creature who
resides in bodies of freshwaters such as
wells, brooks and streams.
 Berberoka
• Berberokas are said to suck water from
swamps or lakes leaving a school of fish
in the water surface.

• As fishermen flock towards the surface

deemed as a source of an unusually
great day’s treat, a Berberoka then
drowns them and feast on their dying or
lifeless bodies.

• They say that you can ward off a

Berberoka by bringing along crabs
because they have a fear of such.
 Bungisngis
• Dubbed as the Filipino Cyclops,
the Bungisngis of Orion, Bataan is
said to less threatening than its
Western counterpart.

• Known for its unique laugh, the

one one-eyed monster got its
name from the Filipino word
“ngisngis” which means “to
laugh.”
 Bungisngis
• However, the cheerier the persona this creature has, the more
horrifying its looks would appear. Aside from the sole eye
dangling in the middle of its forehead, it also has a huge upper
lip, humongous teeth and two long tusks.
Mangangatok
• They say that when someone’s death is
impending, you will hear a knock and once you
open the door, three hooded figures will appear
before you – a young woman and two elderly
men.

• They call them “Mangangatok” which means

those who knock.

• They are perceived as those creatures that send

someone to their deaths much like the grim
reaper.

• Apparently, there is no way to keep

Mangangatoks at bay. Neither can they be warded
off, nor ignored. Once you hear them knock, a
member of your family would die shortly.
Mangangatok
• They say that when someone’s death is
impending, you will hear a knock and once you
open the door, three hooded figures will appear
before you – a young woman and two elderly
men.

• They call them “Mangangatok” which means

those who knock.

• They are perceived as those creatures that send

someone to their deaths much like the grim
reaper.

• Apparently, there is no way to keep

Mangangatoks at bay. Neither can they be warded
off, nor ignored. Once you hear them knock, a
member of your family would die shortly.
Admit it or not, there are things in the world that
are beyond human comprehension.

Whether the stories told above are true to its core

or not, one cannot deny that they pique the
interests of those who hear them.

Such is the beauty of oral tradition,

Ancient Tagalog
Deities
Philippine Mythology
 Pantheon of Ancient
Tagalog Gods
Philippine mythology is derived from Philippine
folk literature, which is the traditional oral
literature of the Filipino people. This refers to a
wide range of material due to the ethnic mix of
the Philippines. Each unique ethnic group has
its own stories and myths to tell.
❑ The stories of ancient Philippine mythology include deities, creation
stories, mythical creatures, and beliefs. Ancient Philippine mythology
varies among the many indigenous tribes of the Philippines.

❑ Some groups during the pre-Spanish conquest era believed in a single

Supreme Being who created the world and everything in it
❑ while others chose to worship a multitude
of tree and forest deities (diwatas)

❑ Diwatas came from the Sanskrit word

devata which means “deity“, one of the
several significant Hindu influences in the
Pre-Hispanic religion of the ancient
Filipinos.
• The Tagalog people are major ethnic
group in the Philippines. They form a
majority in Manila, Marinduque and
Southern Luzon, and a plurality in
Central Luzon and the islands of
Mindoro, Palawan, and Romblon.
Good Tagalog
Deities in
Ancient
Philippine
Mythology
 First
Generatio
n
❖ The supreme god of the Bathala
Tagalogs; creator of man and
earth and addressed sometimes
as Bathalang Maykapal.
❖ He dwells in Kaluwalhatian
together with the lesser gods
and goddesses.
❖ Aside from the lesser gods and
goddesses, he sent his anitos in
order to assist the daily lives of
every human.
❖ When most of the natives were
converted to Christianity during
the Spanish Era, he was
referred to the Christian God.
❖ The ill-tempered god of the Amanikable
sea because among the
first generation gods (aside
from Bathala), he was
never married after his
love was spurned by a
beautiful mortal maiden,
Maganda.
❖ In frustration, he swore
vengeance against the
humans by sending
turbulent waves and
horrible tempest in order
to wreck boats and to
drown men.
❖ Known by the Tagalogs as the
Idiyanale
god of animal husbandry and
aquaculture  by others the
god of agriculture,
❖ the god who is in charge of
animal welfare and aquatic
resources, he usually lives in
the woods and guards the
animals from hunters, also on
waters takes in charge of the
fishes and other marine life.
• The goddess of Dumangan
good harvest.
• She was married
to Idiyanale and
had two
offspring.
❑ She is major fertility deity of the Lakampati
ancient Tagalogs.
❑ Farmers with their children brought
offerings for him at the fields and
invoke him to protect them from
famine. Some sources also said that
food and words are offered to him
by his devotees asking for "water"
for their fields and "fish" when they
set sail in the sea for fishing.
❑ Lakampati was a hermaphrodite
deity and was commented by some
authors and friars as “the
hermaphrodite devil who satisfies
his carnal appetite with men and
women”.
 Second
Generatio
n
❑The goddess of moon Mayari
and one of the three
daughters of Bathala
to mortal women.
❑She was the most
charming of all the
goddesses and had
two sisters namely
Tala and Hanan.
❑The goddess of Tala
the stars;
❑sister of Mayari
and Hanan and
one of the three
daughters of
Bathala by a
mortal woman.
▪ The goddess of Hanan
morning;
▪ sister of Mayari
and Tala and one
of the three
daughters of
Bathala by a
mortal woman.
✓The strong, agile Dumakulem
guardian of mountains
and the son of
Idiyanale and
Dumangan.
✓His sister was Anitun
Tabu.
✓He later married
Anagolay.
▪ The fickle-minded Anitun Tabu
goddess of wind and
rain.
▪ She was the daughter
of Idiyanale and
Dumangan and the
sister of Dumakulem.
❑The goddess of Anagolay
lost things and
the only offspring
of Lakapati and
Mapulon.
❑She was married
to Dumakulem.