There is no single mythic origin for anito as a class; rather the term is a cultural‑linguistic category with deep Austronesian roots. Linguistically, anito (also anitu) derives from Proto‑Malayo‑Polynesian *qanitu and Proto‑Austronesian *qaNiCu glossed as 'spirit of the dead', with cognates across the region (e.g., Micronesian aniti, Polynesian atua/aitu, Malaysian/Indonesian hantu/antu, and Formosan hanitu/hanidu). This etymological network, together with local cosmologies, grounds anito as a longstanding category for ancestors, place‑owners, and non‑human spirits rather than a single creation myth.
As a class, anito lack a single visual form in the sources. Ancestor anito are socially treated as familial persons and may be represented by carved humanoid figures (taotao) made of wood, stone, or ivory that house or represent the spirit. Many nature or deity anito, by contrast, 'do not normally appear in human form' and are often described as genderless or androgynous; their manifestations are tied to places or forces (fields, forests, seas, winds, lightning) rather than uniform anthropomorphic description.
Abilities and behaviors vary by type. Ancestor anito (ninunò) act as protectors, intercessors, advisors, and can be invoked in pag‑anito rituals for protection or counsel; they may also act as psychopomps guiding souls to spirit realms. Vengeful or displeased ancestor spirits can manifest as harmful apparitions (mantiw) and cause illness or misfortune unless appeased. Nature/deity anito 'own' particular locales or phenomena and receive outdoor offerings; many do not normally intervene in everyday human affairs but can be propitiated for favors or to avert harm. Overall, anito and the living maintain reciprocal obligations—ritual communication, offerings, and taboos—through specialists who mediate requests, diagnoses, and repairs to the social‑spiritual relationship.
Weaknesses
- conditionReciprocal relations and offerings: their goodwill and continued positive influence depend on proper reciprocal relations (offerings, observance of taboos and customary behavior); failure of these relations risks angering them or diminishing their favor.
Wards
- ritualPag‑anito (séance/ritual mediated by specialist)
- ritualPagdiwata (ritual directed to nature spirit/deity)
- conditionMaintenance of offerings, sacrifices, and observance of local taboos/customary behavior toward place spirits and ancestors
Aguingay
Aguingay (also Agingay) is a legendary woman from the Bulusan epic of Sorsogon, Philippines. Presented as a mortal of exceptional beauty and tragic fate, her life and death are etiologically linked to local landscape features (Mt. Bulusan and two lakes) and commemorated in an annual festival.
Alan
A class of non‑human spirit-beings in Tinguian (Philipine) folklore associated with reproductive wastes and springs; said to transform discarded menstrual blood, afterbirth, or miscarried tissue into human children whom they rear, and to dwell in fine houses near springs. Key described features include wings and backward-pointing fingers and toes.
Amalanhig
Amalanhig are Visayan undead beings in Philippine folk belief, described as aswang who failed to transfer their monstrosity or power before death and who rise from graves to attack living humans. Accounts portray them as externally human in appearance with enlarged upper canines and as predators that bite, feed with a pointed tongue in some tellings, or — in an alternative variant — tickle victims to death.
Angalo
Angalo is a primordial culture-hero and giant in Ilocano mythology credited with shaping the landscape of Luzon and explaining natural phenomena; narratives present him as the first man and an ancestral figure whose bodily acts produced mountains, valleys, seas, and celestial features.
Anggitay
A Philippine folkloric female equid–human hybrid often described with the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a horse. Frequently compared to the Greek centauride and sometimes presented as a female counterpart to the tikbalang; traditionally associated with an attraction to gemstones and jewelry and with a local homeland in Santo Tomas, Batangas in some accounts.
Aswang
The most feared supernatural being in Philippine folklore — a shape-shifting monster that appears human by day but transforms at night to prey on pregnant women and children.
Bakla
Bakla is a Philippine social and gender category—commonly an assigned‑male‑at‑birth person who adopts a feminine gender expression and is often treated as a third gender. Historically some bakla served as indigenous ritual specialists (babaylan, katalonan), but the term itself denotes a social identity, not a supernatural being.
Bakunawa
A dragon- or serpent-like mythic being from Philippine tradition associated with the moon and eclipses; its actions explain lunar eclipses and some natural phenomena and were integrated into ritual practice and calendrical knowledge.
Bal-Bal
A Philippine folkloric undead/monster that steals corpses from funerals and graves and feeds on them, noted for keen scent for dead bodies, sharp claws and teeth, foul breath, and reportedly leaving a banana‑tree trunk in the coffin as a substitute for the stolen corpse.
Bathalà
In pre‑colonial Tagalog religion Bathalà (also Maykapál) functions as the transcendent supreme creator-preserver — the originator and ruler of the universe. The lexeme also served as an honorific applied to lesser tutelary spirits and portentous phenomena, and was later syncretized with the Christian Dios after Spanish contact.
Batibat
The Batibat is a vengeful, tree-dwelling female spirit in Philippine (Ilocano and Tagalog) folklore associated with causing suffocative sleep afflictions, nightmares, and sleep paralysis when trees that house it are felled and used near human sleeping spaces.
Berbalang
Berbalangs are a class of corpse‑eating, astral‑projecting beings described in a late‑19th‑century ethnographic account from the island of Cagayan Sulu (Mapun). The report portrays them as a village community whose members are said to dig up graves to eat corpses and, by entering trance, liberate an astral body to possess and feed on the living; protective measures recorded include lime and a coconut pearl talisman.
Community Record
- [1]Anito (Wikipedia). Wikipedia contributors, 'Anito,' Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.wiki
- [2]Anito (Wikidata). Wikidata entry Q3549810, 'anito'.wiki
- [3]Archive items mentioning 'Anito' (contextual—not used for ethnographic claims). Archive.org listings containing the word 'Anito' but not used for ritual or cultural claims in the present entry.other