Aswang

Aswang are shapeshifters, believed to appear human-like by day but transform into different monstrous forms to harass and eat awake humans at night or day, especially pregnant women who are about to give birth. Aswang can change from human to animal form, typically as a large black bird with a long tongue (tiktik), as a half-bodied monster (manananggal), as a bat, a cat, a pig or a black dog. Some aswang can change form at will, others through the use of foul oils concocted by good magicians (albularyo, manggagaway, manghihilot). Aswang appear at night (rarely during the day) to prey upon unwary travelers or sleeping people. It is said that they have a peculiar liking for the taste of human liver.

The myth of the aswang is popular in the Visayas, especially in provinces such as Aklan, Capiz, Antique, and Ilo-Ilo. Aswang (mostly, tiktik) also have a peculiar liking for the fetus of pregnant women and are said to find their quarry by the scent of the mother, which to the aswang smells like ripe jackfruit. Upon finding the house of the pregnant mother, the tiktik alights on the roof from where it stretches its tongue until it is as thin as a thread and uses it to enter the womb and feast on the fetus. The only way for a person to repel this creature from a home is to put one's brooms upside down, to put a "badiawan twig" over all the windows, or to place a blessed or magic dagger anywhere in the house.

Aswang is an umbrella term for various shape-shifting evil spirits in Filipino folklore, such as vampires, ghouls, witches, viscera suckers, and werewolfs. The Aswang is the subject of a wide variety of myths, stories, arts, and films, as it is well known throughout the Philippines.[1] Spanish colonists noted that the Aswang was the most feared among the mythical creatures of the Philippines, even in the 16th century.[2]Although with no specific motive other than harming others, their behavior can be interpreted as an inversion of the traditional Filipino's values. The Aswang is especially popular in Visayas, southern parts of Luzon, and parts of Mindanao.

"So, what is an aswang?"

The Aswang is one of the more pervasive folkloric concepts in Philippine culture. In terms of popularity, it is the Philippine equivalent of the Western Werewolf/Vampire. It is difficult to encapsulate in one sentence what an aswang is but a lot of people across different ethnicites agree on a lot of things about it : (1) that its diet consists mainly of human liver and blood, (2) that it has an unholy preference for unborn children. (3) that it is also known to prey upon children and sick people. On a broader sense, the term Aswang can be used to denote the entire menagerie of evil beings in Philippine folklore. On a stricter sense however, the Aswang is a human being that can change shape at will without severing any part of its body. Thus, the half-bodied flier called the Manananggal is strictly different from the Aswang. A subspecies perhaps?

Classifications of the Aswang

As a shape shifter it can take any of the following forms:

- Humanoid

- Canine

- Porcine

- Avian

- Feline