POST#8: Urban Legends: Philippines' Urban Legend

Have you ever heard someone who uttered unusual stories that you haven’t heard nor you have heard

before?  Of course, several of us know unusual stories like “The White Lady of Balete Drive” and “The Robinson’s half-snake and human.” In fact, we are not aware that those stories were actually urban legends. Philippines is actually rich with unusual kinds of stories which can be also called Urban Legends. As the matter of fact, there are various kinds of urban legends in every part of our country.

While I was searching for an article about the Philippines’ Urban Legends, I happened to come upon a discussion regarding about my topic.

Meiros, who posted her thoughts about our urban legends on the discussion explained that in our country, the Philippines, has different kinds of legends; particularly, most of them were all about mythical creatures

such as aswang, manananggal, mangkukulam, and mambabarang. Meiros family tend to believe that all of them are true for the Philippines was a part of a lost civilization who practices dark magics, voodooism, witchcrafts and others; however, because of our improving society,  those activities became infamous but somehow survived through time.

She stated descriptions about Aswang where her grandmother said that Aswang(s) were just ordinary people; and their power came from a certain stone that is handed down from their ancestors to the next generation and it has the power to live long whatever age they have, unless, they give that stone to an heir and continue the curse of their elders being an aswang as well. One of their abilities is to transform into a dog, pig, bird, and a turkey. They can also turn a banana trunk into a corpse to confuse people when they abduct their real victims and their favorite food are body parts –particularly, the heart and the liver.

There are two types of aswang; the tik-tik and the wak-wak, but they have the same sound as they move.

Tik-tik obviously makes a ticking sound and so on the wakwak. Her grandmother told her that when an aswang is far from you, you can hear its voice really near and when it’s near from you, its voice sounds afar. They also have their pets which they order to look at their victims which was called “hinop-tanan,” and they can sneak even in a small opening of a house. It is because of their oil that makes their bodies slippery that can enter any small openings.

So to identify whether a person is an aswang or not, you can use the oil from a coconut mixed with plant’s stem and prayed by the Lord’s Prayer. And to stay them back, you can use garlic, holy water, salt and ginger. Bringing coins could also help you, because when you have coins with you, aswangs cannot carry you when they fly, and finally, to kill them, you must have a tail of a stingray as a whip.

As she ended her post, she added a story which has circulated and that is related to aswangs.

There was an event, a festival where they were celebrating their honor to their patrons. There were three guys who were invited by their friend who was a girl to go to their house and celebrate. As they went to the barrio, they saw the liveliness of it where they became excited and they became hungry as well because of the food they see everywhere. While walking, they happen to come up with an old man, and asked them if they live on that barrio. The three answered no, and the old man told them to leave the barrio when suddenly, they heard the voice of their girl friend, calling them and approached her. When they looked back to the old man, he mysteriously vanished. When they entered her house, it was a typical Filipino house made of bamboo and dried grass. They was served with a lot of food and they ate as if there is no tomorrow. They ate different kind of Filipino cuisine; lechon, adobo, and the girl’s mother’s best dish, dinuguan. While eating, one of the guys accidentally ate a chunk of meat; afterwards, he realized that he just ate a human finger with a nail on it! Their friend asked them to stay there for a night because it’s already late. The two other guy agreed but the guy who ate the finger excused himself that he will just going to urine outside, and he took the chance to escape and luckily found a vehicle to go home and he returned home safely.

For what I believe, aswang(s) are real. Just look at the pieces of information that several people have, and there were numerous sightings of aswang lately. In addition, aside from mythical creatures, Philippines also focus on business competition, historical figures and health related issues.