I have been around Filipinos for most of my life. I first met my wife in August of 1979 and once you meet a Filipino more of them enter your life at an alarming rate because of her friends and extended family. They all have something to say about an aswang and many of them are superstitious.
An aswang is an umbrella term for various shape-shifting evil creatures in Filipino folklore, such as vampires, ghouls, witches, viscera suckers, and transforming human-beast hybrids (usually dogs, cats, pigs). The reason for the variety is because since the Philippines is so widespread and there are over 120 different languages/dialects spoken there, the aswang varies according to the language, culture and folklore. The only thing that is consistent is that the aswang inflicts pain and fear at night.
An aswang is ‘always’ a female (go figure). The reason they are all female is supposedly because strong women are unnatural. Women are supposed to be quiet and dainty. Also, aswang walk among us everyday. The sunlight does not bother them. They could be anyone that you meet on the street just looking for their next prey for that evening. Maybe this is a good reason to be nice to everyone that you meet on the street. Or maybe that’s why Filipinos are so friendly. Maybe they are afraid you are an aswang and if you are mean to them you will be their next target.
The different types of aswang are “Tik-tik and “Wak-wak”, “Sigbin (or Zigbin) and “manananggal”.
The Tik-tik and Wak-wak were named after the sound they make while hunting. This type is able to shape shift into a large bird. The Sigbin (or Zigbin) can turn into something resembling a Tasmanian Devil. The Manananggal is a man eater who can split her body in half and has bat-like wings on her upper torso to fly. They can all turn into dogs, cats or pigs. And I thought only men were pigs.
Aswangs have super powers. But those powers are only activated at night time. Some of the powers of an aswang include shape shifting, super human strength, ability to turn object into your doppelganger so you won’t be missed after they kill you. They also have the ability to trick you with their vocal cords. I’m not sure what they mean by that. Do they sound like someone else or do they have a silver tongue and can even talk an Eskimo into buying a refrigerator? Maybe both. They can hide in plain sight and they often show up at funeral, wakes or the beside of a pregnant woman to eat. With their superhuman strength, they can easily overpower their victims. Aswangs prey on the weak. They prefer sick people and pregnant women, but their favorite prey are children and fetuses. Their favorite thing to eat are the liver and the heart. Yuck!
Although all aswangs are females, they could shape shift into a male if they wanted to. Usually, they appear as a beautiful female though. Some say they are so thin they can hide behind a bamboo stick. Plus, their tongue is proboscis-like. Too bad they are so evil because that kind of tongue could come in handy in the bedroom.
Some ways to tell if a person is aswang are bloodshot eyes, your reflection in their eyes is upside-down, disdain for noise and weakness for bright light. Dogs, cats and pigs with no tails could be an aswang in animal form. If you hear scratching noises from your roof and walls that could mean an aswang is nearby. I could have an aswang at my house almost every night going by these scratching noises.
So, what can you do if an aswang shows up at your house? It depends on your culture as to what you can do however, here are a few. Use special “anti-aswang” oil made from indigenous ingredients like coconut, vinegar, spices and even urine. To prevent an aswang from causing a miscarriage of your pregnant wife and eating the fetuses, there is a prevention for that also. The man of the house should walk around naked in the house waving a bolo or traditional Filipino sword. Additional bolos/swords should be inserted in spaces of bamboo floors to keep the aswang’s tongue from penetrating from under the house.
Can you kill an aswang? Sure. They can be killed by fire, especially the Manananggals. If you stab an aswang in the middle of its back (where the tongue can’t reach to heal it) with a bolo and then bury the bolo in the ground. Of course, magical prayer can weaken an aswang allowing you to cut it up into pieces and throwing the pieces are far away from each other as possible. For the Manananggal, if you can find it’s well-hidden lower half of its body, just sprinkle salt on it. The flying half of the Manananggal will fall from the sky.
It is said that if an aswang holds its mouth close to yours, you will eventually become an aswang also. Except for the feasting on fetuses, it doesn’t sound so bad to be an aswang.
Do I believe in any of this? Not really. It’s one of those things that I’d have to see to believe. I really do not anticipate ever seeing one though. If there are some though, I’m sure I’d get caught. Their talking about aswangs taking the shape of beautiful women and can easily entice you with their voice. Just regular women have that effect on me. I can still resist the regular women, especially now that I’m older, but I’m not sure I could resist an aswang.
How about you? What do you believe? I was told today, by a Filipina, that she thinks aswangs are regular evil people, not creatures. She just might have a point there. There are some very evil people in the world.
Photo: Pixabay : Artist: Anaterate
Information from: Ideapod and Wikipedia
Howdy y’all. It’s me, ninong7 aka UJ aka John. Just a short intro about myself. I am a Texan that has retired in the Philippines. I moved to the Philippines with my wife back in May 2010. I am retired from the US Air Force. The music I like is mostly Classic Country and Classic Rock. I guess you could say that I am “Classic”. I play dominoes when I can find someone that will play, I play chess, cribbage, spades, hearts, Empire Builder, Rail Baron, Acquire and a few other games. I like to write poems and stories (although pretty novice) and I love learning about history, just about any history. I’m at home on my computer a lot but if I could afford to, I’d be traveling and documenting my travels to post in my blog. I hope to get to know a lot of you through PeakD and Discord.