The pinoy myths of Aswangs

My post- halloween couch potato films are two horror-suspense films starred by Lovi Poe: Aswang and Tiktik. Indeed, the sexy Lovi Poe is fast gaining a reputation for being the Philippines’ horror princess.

 In Aswang, Abwaks are zombie-like creatures who prey on humans. They’re comfortable on land (they can disguise themselves as humans), underground (they stalk their prey by burrowing themselves on the ground like aardvarks), on air (they can transform into big crow-like birds), and, apparently, also on water (one abwak attacked a main character while he was bathing in the lake). Revenge can transform you into the object of your violence, for one, in the imperatives of a species determined to arrest its extinction, in a small town living perpetually under threat, and above all,  in the dissonances between the urban and the rural, the modern and the ancient, the natural and the supernatural, and the point when the lines between them blur. 

 In Tiktik, Lovi plays a pregnant woman who is the object of the tiktiks, a horror flick based on mythical creatures from Filipino folklore who prey on pregnant women by eating their babies (while still in their bellies). This flick is said to be the first ever movie in the Philippines shot completely in blue screen, meaning that the entire film was shot inside a studio with the environment completely controlled by the special effects team.

 In the late-January/early-February of 2008, many citizens of Silay City "had become insomniac for almost a week, vigilant of the 'aswang' attack in their area,". In this case, some residents reported a new type of aswang wandering the cities at night, describing it as a cross between a frog and a human. The creature was known as "oko" and was observed on the roofs throughout the city.

According to historian William Scott, the aswang were “flesh-eaters who devoured the liver like a slow cancer…(and) also ate the flesh of corpses, disinterring them if not well-guarded or actually causing them to disappear in the plain sight of mourners at a wake” (Scott 1995: 81). Spanish lexicons listed alok, balbal, kakag, oko, onglo, and wakwak as synonyms of aswang.

The myth of the aswang (also known as mangalok, boroka, tik-tik, wak-wak, wuk-wuk, and others) varies upon each area's own beliefs and stories and is generically used to represent witches, shapeshifters, monsters and other ghouls. The more popular variation depicts the aswang as a vampire-like creature that can take human form during the day and even carry a job, usually as a butcher. It has the ability to change into other animals or even inanimate objects, depending on the area's folklore. At night, they hunt their prey, usually appearing in the form of an ugly old woman with long, wild hair, bloodshot eyes, long nails, and a distinctive black tongue. It can also appear as a frog (oko) bat, pig, a large black dog, and even in a form that closely resembles that of the Latin American chupacabra.

The ethnographic accounts suggest that witches are considered to be malignantly evil. Lieban (1967) noted that the supernatural powers of witches are considered to be “rooted in the individual, a constitutional resource” in contrast to sorcerers whose “powers” are taken from “resources outside of the individual,” such as magical procedures and spirit guides.

In the Visayas, it has been shown that the power of witches reside within the individual and not outside, say for example in another supernatural being. Although “witchhood” may have originated from the “cave spirits,” it is thought to be transmitted usually along kinship lines—the “germs” or kagaw being contagious. Scott, in his rendition of contact period Visayan culture, pointed out the possibility that families of suspected witches were put to death together with the witch-suspect. Moreover, an aswang could not simply be killed with bare hands but certain weapons ascribed with special powers had to be used, usually metal knives or bamboo spikes. In contemporary Cebuano culture, the aswang motif is not simply an individual “affliction” but rather a family trait. In other words, the community generally views witchcraft as transmittable along kinship lines (among kaliwat sa aswang, roughly translated as “clan of witches”)

How to deal with Aswangs?
Buntot-pagi (Stingray’s Tail) – I can still remember my dad have this kept in a cabinet, I wondered what it is and he forbids us in using it because if the Buntot-pagi hits you you’ll be sick and get thin, later I knew that it was used to fight Aswangs. It is use like a whip and lashes on Aswangs doing more hurtful damage to them.

Bawang (Garlic) – wearing garlic around your neck would protect you from being attacked because Aswang doesn’t like the smell of garlic. By hanging a whole chain of garlic at the doors and windows it would prevent the Aswang from coming closer.

Asin (Salt) – by spraying salt to his body it acts like an acid that burns the skin of the creature. In the case of the manananggal where half of its body is left in a remote part of the forrest, it is said that if you found the half of it’s lower body you need to spray salt to it so that the upper half cannot merge with its body.

Araw (Sun) – just like other demonic creature it is said that if the Aswang is caught by a ray of sunlight on beast form it would burn