In our country the Philippines we have these urban legends (to some it isn’t an urban legend) about certain creatures such as aswang, manananggal, mangkukulam and mambabarang. My parents and even my grandparents believed it to be true, my lola (grandma) tells me that in ancient times the Philippines is a part of a lost civilization (sorry I forgot the name) who practices dark magic, and that includes shape-shifting, voodooism, etc. but because of the occupation of other countries that civilization deteriorated, but somehow those practices survived through time. You may ask why I know much of this? Cause I live in Panay northern most of the Visayan Islands, in the province of Iloilo, and the heart of those stories (Capiz, Antique, Dueñas, and Siquijor) are only kilometers away freaky isn’t it?+
According to my grandmother Aswang(s) are ordinary people; their powers came from a cursed stone handed down from generation to generations by their ancestors. This said stone grants them powers and prolong their life; even how old they are they could not die unless someone would inherit the stone and continue the curse of their elders. One of the abilities of an Aswang is to tig-baliw (shape-shift) into different animals, most common animals they shift into are pigs, turkeys, birds and dogs (Have you seen a turkey using high-heels walking the street? or a huge black dog with red fierce eyes from the top of a house? -the people of our barrio have seen these sightings many times). You can distinguish an Aswang attack if you sprinkle salt to the corpse, and you will find a banana trunk instead of the corpse, which the Aswang replaced to devour the real one. Their favorite food are body parts- especially liver and heart. You may say there are different types of aswang such as tik-tik and wak-wak but they are all similar only their sound varies. It was named tik-tik because it makes a ticking sound, so as the wak-wak. My grandmother says that if the sound of the tik-tik or wak-wak seems afar it is surely near you, but if the sound seems near the aswang is far. Don’t you know that these aswangs also had hinop-tanan (pets)? Their pets could be a bird or anything; they serve as the eye to the aswang to watch for the victim. Do you know that an aswang could sneak even in a small opening of a house? Yes, they could!!! My grandmother tells me that they have this lana (oil) put to their body so they could slid to any small openings. So how could we deal with them? First here’s how we could identify them: have you heard the use of oil made from coconut and mixed with plant’s stem and prayed by Lords prayer? Ok, how could we ward them off here’s how: these items such as garlic, holy water, salt, and luya (ginger) are their contra. Don’t you know that aswangs could fly? Yes, and if you’re hooked up by one- bring some coins!!! They are believed that they could not carry you if you have coins ‘cause it is heavy (ask me? I don’t know). And if you think you’re brave enough and want to have a duel with one, I suggest you bring “ikog sang pague” (tail of a stingray) and beat’em. (Authors notice: With this much information how could we tell it’s a myth?
Thanks for the posting by ALIEN EMBRYO
