09/03/2025
Our friends and colleagues over at Philippine Spirits have posted their annual monthly PH art prompt for spooky season!
Welcome to
Each day of October is a prompt for a different mythical
creature from the Philippines!!
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Find the full list at https://phspirits.com/halimaween-2025
Day 1 – Aswang
Depending where in the Philippines you are, ‘Aswang’ can mean many different things.
They can be:
Bloodsucking vampires or cannibals – In some beliefs such as for the Karay-a in Panay Bukidnon, ‘Aswang’ are warriors who have eaten human flesh.
Self-segmenters – In some parts of Eastern Visayas, Quezon Province and other areas ‘Manananggal’ and ‘Aswang’ are synonymous. ‘Manananggal’ refer to creatures that can split in half and fly, usually eating the innards of their victims.
Shapeshifters – Some ‘Aswang’ can turn into dogs, cats, black pigs, birds.
Witches – They can cause illness to people from afar as well as other magic like turning co**ses into other objects.
Co**se Eaters – Some descriptions have ‘Aswang’ as exclusively eaters of dead bodies.
As well as any combination of those above!
Day 2 – Gaki
From the Bontok ethnolinguistic group. Lumawig decided to make a new generation deserving of a more beautiful world and ordered Gaki to plug the hole which caused a flood.
Day 3 – Muntianak
From the Tagakaolo ethnolinguistic group. The spirit of a child whose mother died while pregnant, and who for that reason was born in the ground. The muntīanak wanders through the forest frightening people but seldom hurting them.
Day 4 – Diakay dalin,
EDIT PROPER SPELLING IS
Dikay dalin
From the Pangasinan ethnolinguistic group. Dikay dalin are spirits of the earth or mound, the counterpart or version of the Ilocano ca-i-ba-an. (Kaibaan) Stepping on their habitat brings about incurable sickness.
Day 5 – Mamumuyag
The West Visayans call her mamumuyag. She gives various ailments to those she hates. She gives them a twisted mouth. She gives them painful tumors.
Day 6 – Sigbin
From the Visayas. It may look like a locust or a frog or may also look like a goat without horns, long hind legs like a kangaroo and large ears that it can flap. It has a long tail that it uses to whip victims. Its bite is said to be the reason behind sicknesses with no visible cause. Only the owner of the sigbin can counteract the malign effects of a sigbin's bite. It comes out of its hiding place to go to human habitats at night, especially during holy week to look for charcoal which the creature eats on those days. Said to be owned by the supernaturals of the forest.
Day 7 – Mariang Binokong
From Negros. A beautiful woman. She has hair as dark as a starless night that is long, curly and sweet scented. She was born to cruel parents that she and her sister ran away from. They lived in the forest until a criminal named Joseng Bantug came to the house where the sisters lived. Maria fell in love with Jose but Jose was in love with her sister. She heard him confess his love to her sister, after which Maria walked into the wilderness and never came back.
Day 8 – Dapu
From the Kapampangan ethnolinguistic group. She is called Indung Tíbuan (The mother from which we sprang and grow). She is a gigantic crocodile. She carries Yátu, the earth, on her back. Earthquakes are caused when she moves.
Day 9 – The Engkantada of Laguna de bay
An old woman or a beautiful spirit. Can heal people. Can curse people as well as in the case of Larina, whom she cursed to stay in the bottom of Laguna de Bay. (As she combs a seed out, another comes in, and every seed that is combed out becomes a green plant (Water Lettuce) that floats out of the lake and down the Pasig River.)
Day 10 – Tikbalang
Have human bodies but horse heads, long limbed, when they sit their knees reach above their heads. Also described as a 'tall thin black man with a horse's head and terrible teeth ‘Leads travelers astray by causing confusion or blindness. It is homicidal and brings sickness. Can assume the shape of an old man, a horse or a “monster”.
Day 11 – Kantanod
From the Tagalog ethnolinguistic group. A kantanod is literally someone or something “who keeps watch.” The root word is tanod. In folklore, a kantanod is a creature similar to the aswang. The pregnant woman should not venture out alone at night if she does not want to expose herself to the aswang and the kantanod. Unlike the aswang , however , the kantanod keeps watch over a pregnant woman from a distance.
Day 12 – Oribig
From the Mansaka ethnolinguistic group. A celestial bird. At the behest of the god Taganlag it went to the ends of the universe to get soil which eventually became the earth
Day 13 – Irago/ Oriol/ Oryol
From Bicol. Her human form looks like a beautiful maiden with a beautiful voice. She has long, black, wavy hair and white, smooth skin. In her serpent form she is a multicolored serpent whose scales glisten in the sun. Daughter of the god Asuang. Can transform herself into a seductive woman and can appear or disappear at will.
Day 14 – Tabfiad
From the Bontoc ethnolinguistic group. A gigantic snake with legs. Its main diet is live animals or humans. In times long past there were brave warriors that decided to stop the monster. They bait it using a dog in a basket covered with burning wood shavings and cotton. The Tabfiad swallows it and gets cooked from the inside. It then turns into a large black rock. But despite its demise people still fear that there may be another.
Day 15 – Butatiw
From the Kalinga ethnolinguistic group. The "butatiw" is a phenomenon that fascinates people. It is a bright light or group of lights that you see from a distance at night. It is usually seen at a far-off mountain. They look like they are dancing as they tend to dart from side to side. It also has the abilities to divide, multiply in number, and then merge again to become one.
Day 16 – Mambukay / Kalambukay
From Antique. A female engkantu who dwells near the shallow wells. She is the object of ritual offerings by Ma-aram every year.
Day 17 – Mahomanay and Tahamaling
From the Bagobo ethnolinguistic group. Tahamaling of the Bagobo is a female spirit with a red complexion, and the mahomanay, her male counterpart, has a fair skin. E. Arsenio Manuel, writing about the Bagobo, noted: ‘The balete tree is the favorite residence of the Bagobo “spirit” tahamaling, ‘the keeper of animals.’
Day 18 – Busaw Hemanga
From the Tboli ethnolinguistic group. Busaw with 2 horns like a carabao. It lets victims go if they are offered to.
Day 19 – Tala
In Kapampangan myth Tala is male. Tala, the son of Unag Sumala. Unag Sumala is the dawn, so the morning star came down to earth and became man. He was born as a human child, but he was carrying the first grains of rice in his hand. That’s one version. The other version was that while Tala was coming down Bundok Arayat, he met Lakambini, and they had s*x, and her eggs became the first rice grains.
Day 20 – Ungo
In Zamboanga this creature is called Ungo, she is referred to as a ‘she’. She looks like a woman and becomes a bird or a beast by night. She goes out to steal a human co**se changing the co**se into a pig or fish, then she takes it home and cooks it. She can turn humans into beings like her, giving some of the co**se to her neighbors.
Day 21 – Umangob
From the Ifugao ethnolinguistic group. Descriptions vary from a dog like creature to a lion like or wolf like creature. It also has fiery eyes. There is an old custom among the Ifugao to hand their dead under the house and build fires around it they keep the vigil and plant the crimson herb, dongla, around the house (The umangob is afraid of it). It is only afraid of the dongla and live fire. It can pass through these though because it moves like lightning.
Day 22 – Walo
From the Maranao ethnolinguistic group. Has eight hairy heads and a thousand eyes. Guards a section of heaven where the souls of all humans are located. The souls are kept in tightly covered jars.
Day 23 – Mr. Brown / Mr Jones
A Kapre called Mr. Brown was called as such in American times when they colonized the 'brown race' of the Filipinos. Can be seen at night in Malacanang. He likes mischief but mostly good, tricks those who forget to greet him (usually in the form of being tripped by an unseen entity).
Day 24 – The Two Demons of Buhi
Two ferocious black demons. The Franciscan friar Mateo de San Jose and his acolyte encountered these two demons who were dragging an indio principal (big man) who was tied up with a thick chain around his throat. The man told the priest his sins and turned over the shroud he was wearing (that was a defence against entering hell) and the two black demons seized him and disappeared.
Day 25 – Benisalsal
From the Tinguian ethnolinguistic group. A mischievous and unpleasant spirit who is said to cause illness, headache, sore feet, and bad dreams. It is also said to throw things. This spirit belongs to a group of disturbers and mischief-makers that include Balingen-ngen, Dapeg, and Kikiba-an.
Day 26 – Gugurang
From the Bikol ethnolinguistic group. Gugurang was a good and powerful god who dwelt inside the volcano Mayon. He was given full control over the people and whenever they disobeyed his wishes, he would warn them by letting the volcano pit rumble. If the people mended their ways they would be forgiven, but if not, Gugurang would cause the volcano to erupt to wipe out the sinners.
Day 27 — Maklium-sa-bagidan
Visayan god of fire and the Skyworld.
Day 28 – Ob-Obanan
From the Bontok ethnolinguistic group. An underworld goddess. Her white hair is inhabited by insects, ants, centipedes, all the vermin that bother man. Punished a man for his rudeness by giving him a basket filled with all the insects and reptiles in the world.
Day 29 – Todtod
From Visayas. It has two teeth up and two down. It is large and has a stone arm.
Day 30 – Mebuyan
From the Bagobo ethnolinguistic group. There is a special place in the Bagobo underworld for children who died at their mother’s breasts. They are nourished by the goddess Mebuyan whose entire body is delicious breasts. When they no longer need nursing and can shift for themselves they go to another district underground to join people who died later in life of disease or any form of sickness.
Day 31 – Bakunawa
The Bakunawa is a serpent or dragon that is believed to eat the sun or moon during an eclipse. It is kept at bay by loud noise and music. It seeks to possess all 7 moons by swallowing them. The Bakunawa already swallowed 6 moons, but was stopped by the god Bathala from eating the last one.
Sources:
The Soul Book. Demetrio, F. R., Cordero-Fernando, G., & Zialcita, F. N. 1991.
The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990
The Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore, Maximo Ramos, 1990, Phoenix Publishing
The Creatures of Midnight, Maximo Ramos, Phoenix Publishing, 1990
Negros Oriental and Siquijor Island Legends, Beliefs and Folkways. Aldecoa-Rodriguez. 2000.
MANGITA AND LARINA. http://www.sacred-texts.com/asia/pfs/pfs08.htm
Southeast Asian Birth Customs: Three Studies in Human, Donn Vorhis Hart, Anuman Rajadhon (Phrayā), Richard J. Coughlin · 1965
Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths. Eugenio. 2001
Three Tales from Bicol, Perla S. Intia, New Day Publishers, 1982
Igorotak: Igorot Creatures Collection. Tor Sagud. 2021
The Enduring Ma-Aram Tradition, Alicia P. Magos., New Day, 1992
Auntie Myrna, interviewed on June 1 2024
Mike Pangilinan interviewed 2025
Ang Diablo sa Filipinas. Isabelo de los Reyes, trans. Anderson, Galache & Guillermo.2014.
Bikol Beliefs and Folkways: A Showcase of Tradition. Nasayao 2010.
DICCIONARIO MITOLÓGICO DE FILIPINAS, Ferdinand Blumentritt, The Aswang Project, 2021
