What is an aswang?
The aswang is not a single monster. In Philippine tradition, the term covers many different figures. What they share is that by day they live in the village as unremarkable people, and by night they hunt. Some separate their upper body, grow wings and fly off. Others turn into dogs, pigs or large birds. Pregnant women feared them most, because some aswang are said to suck out the unborn child.
Five types
The folklorist Maximo D. Ramos organized the tradition and distinguishes five types: the vampire, the viscera sucker, the shapeshifter, the witch and the ghoul. The belief also includes the tik-tik, the sound that gives an aswang away: it grows fainter the closer she is.
Origins and history
The Spanish Franciscan Juan de Plasencia mentioned the aswang as early as 1589 in his account of Tagalog customs. Spanish missionaries used the belief to discredit the native priestesses, the babaylan, as witches. To this day, the province of Capiz is known as the “aswang capital,” a reputation that many people there suffer from.
During the Cold War, even US intelligence made use of the myth. Edward Lansdale describes in his memoir how, in the 1950s, his men staged the body of a dead rebel with bite wounds to drive Huk insurgents away through fear of the aswang.
Episode on this topic
Further reading
- Maximo D. Ramos: The Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore, 1990.
- Maximo D. Ramos: The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology.
- Juan de Plasencia: Costumbres de los Tagalos, 1589.
- Edward G. Lansdale: In the Midst of Wars (memoir).