Manananggal
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| Philippine mythology | |
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| Title | Manananggal |
|---|---|
| Description | Self-segmenting flying viscera sucker |
| Gender | Male or female |
| Region | Philippines |
| Equivalent | Penanggalan |
A manananggal or wakwak in some areas Filipino folklore or penanggalan in Malay folklore is a mythical creature. It resembles a Western vampire, in being an evil, human-devouring monster or witch. The myth of the Manananggal is popular in the Visayan region of the Philippines, especially in the western provinces of Capiz, Iloilo, Antique. There are varying accounts of the features of a manananggal. Like vampires, Visayan folklore creatures, and aswangs, manananggals are also said to abhor garlic and salt.[1]. They were also known to avoid daggers, light, vinegar, spices and the tail of a sting ray which can be fashioned as a whip.[2] Folklore of similar creatures can be found in the neighbouring nations of Indonesia and Malaysia.
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[edit] Features
A manananggal is described as being an older, beautiful woman (as opposed to an aswang), capable of severing its upper torso in order to fly into the night with huge bat-like wings to prey on unsuspecting, pregnant women in their homes; using an elongated proboscis-like tongue, it sucks the hearts of fetuses or blood of an unsuspecting, sleeping victim. The severed lower torso is left standing and it is said to be the more vulnerable of the two halves. Sprinkling salt or smearing crushed garlic or ash on top of the standing torso is fatal to the creature. The upper torso then would not be able to rejoin and will die at daybreak. The name of the creature originates from an expression used for a severed torso: Manananggal comes from the Tagalog, tanggal (cognate of Malay tanggal) which means to remove or to separate. Manananggal then means the one who separates itself from its lower body.
Superstitious folk in the Visayan provinces still hang cloves of garlic or onion around windows, doors, etc. with the purpose of repelling this creature as well as the aswang. They are a favorite theme for sensationalist tabloids. They may be a product of mass hysteria or intentionally propagated to keep children off the street, home at night and wary or careful of strangers, or simply to entertain them.
[edit] Proliferation
There are various ways into which a person can become a manananggal. In one story, a girl that became a viscera sucker admitted to her human suitor that she felt like eating the sputum of sick people. She said that she had this feeling after she rejected the advances of a former suitor which turned out to be an aswang.[2] Another way of producing a manananggal would be by swallowing a black chick, a creature that came from the throat of an old manananggal. The old manananggal cannot die unless they pass this chick to a replacement. The monster chick can be removed by fumigating the victim while attached upside down in a tree. The victim can also be spun round and round until she vomits the chick due to dizziness.[1]
There are four other ways to transform a person into an aswang or as a viscera sucker: by "personal effort", through contamination (addition of an old manananggal's saliva or bits of human flesh to the victim's food), transmission via supernatural means, and heredity. For personal effort, one can force the transmission by holding a fertilized egg to one's body and securing it via a cloth. The egg would then mysteriously osmose to one's body after an unknown amount of time, creating the chick that would make the person a fully-fledged viscera sucker.[2]
[edit] Capiz
The province of Capiz is the subject or focus of many manananggal stories, similarly with the stories of other types of mythical creatures, such as ghosts, goblins, ghouls and aswangs. Among the indigenous people, Capiz has a reputation for harboring many of these creatures.
[edit] Malaysian Penanggal
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It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with penanggalen. (Discuss) |
Similar folklore can be found in the neighbouring Malaysia although with notable differences noted below.
In Malaysian folklore, Manananggal is referred to as Penanggal or penanggalan which literally means "detach", "to detach", "remove" or "to remove". Both terms - Manananggal and Penanggal - may carry the same meaning due to both languages being grouped or having a common root under the Austronesian language family. In Malaysian folklore, a Penanggal may either be a beautiful old or young woman who obtained her beauty through the active use of black magic, supernatural, mystical, or paranormal means which is most commonly described in local folklores to be dark or demonic in nature. Another cause where one becomes a Penanggal in Malaysian folklore is due the result of a powerful curse or the actions of a demonic force although this method is less common than the active use of black magic abovementioned. All Penanggal are females and there is no variation in Malaysian folklore to suggest a Penanggal to be male.
A notable difference between a Penanggal and Manananggal is that a Penanggal detaches only her head with her lungs, stomach and intestines attached while leaving the body in a pre-prepared container filled with vinegar to preserve the body against rapid decomposition.
One version of the tale states that the Penanggal was once a beautiful woman or priestess, who was taking a ritual bath in a tub that once held vinegar. While bathing herself and in a state of concentration or meditation, a man entered the room without warning and startled her. The woman was so shocked that she jerked her head up to look, moving so quickly as to sever her head from her body, her organs and entrails pulling out of the neck opening. Enraged by what the man had done, she flew after him, a vicious head trailing organs and dripping venom. Her empty body was left behind in the vat.
The Penanggal, thus, is said to carry an odor of vinegar with her wherever she flies, and returns to her body during the daytime, often posing as an ordinary mortal woman. However, a Penanggal can always be told from an ordinary woman by that odor of vinegar.
Additionally, unlike the Manananggal which uses a proboscis-like tongue, a Penanggal is commonly depicted as having fangs. The number of fangs varies from one region to another, ranging from two like the Western vampire to a mouthful of fangs.
A Penanggal is said to feed on human blood or human flesh although local folklore (including its variations) commonly agrees that a Penanggal prefers the blood of a newborn infant, the blood of woman who recently gave birth or the placenta (which is devoured by the Penanggal after it is buried). All folktales also agree that a Penanggal flies as it searches and lands to feed. One variation of the folklore however claims that a Penanggal is able to pass through walls. Other, perhaps more chilling, descriptions say that the Penanggal can ooze up through the cracks in the floorboards of a house, rising up into the room where an infant or woman is sleeping. Sometimes they are depicted as able to move their intestines like tentacles.
The most common remedy prescribed in Malaysian folklore to protect against a Penanggal attack is to scatter the thorny leaves of a local plant known as Mengkuang which would either trap or injure the exposed lungs, stomach and intestines of the Penanggal as it flies in search of its prey. These thorns, on the vine, can also be looped around the windows of a house in order to snare the trailing organs. This is commonly done when a woman has just given birth. However this practice will not protect the infant if the Penanggal decides to pass through the floorboards.
A prescribed method of permanently killing a Penanggal requires for it to be carefully followed and tracked back to its lair (which is always well hidden), with the person or creature to be positively identified. The act of destroying it is carried out the next time the Penanggal detaches itself from its body. Once the Penanggal leaves its body and is safely away, it may be permanently destroyed by either pouring pieces of broken glass into the empty neck cavity which will sever the internal organs of the Penanggal when it reattaches to the body, or by sanctifying the body and then destroying it by cremation or by somehow denying the Penanggal from reattaching to its body upon sunrise.
Due to the common theme of Penanggal being the result of active use of black magic or supernatural means, a Penanggal cannot be readily classified as a classical undead being or a vampire as per Western folklore or literature. The creature is, for all intent and purposes, a living human being during daytime (much like the Japanese Rokurokubi) or at any time when it does not detach itself from its body.
[edit] Appearances in film and other media
- Shake Rattle and Roll 1984 (a Horror Anthology movie series)
Manananggal Episode:
Herbert Bautista plays a teenager in a faraway province. A manananggal is said to live within the vicinity and is out to eat people. He is given the task by his grandmother to kill this creature. Having found a way to prevent it from returning to its body, he must now survive the night to protect his family from the creature's attacks. This story is one of the most popular and suspenseful episodes of the entire series.
Cast: Irma Alegre, Herbert Bautista, Mary Walter
- A mananaggal is a staple of Philippine horror movies for years. The most famous one would be in the 1984 movie Shake, Rattle & Roll which is featured in the third episode "Mananaggal" where a teenage boy is given the task to kill the creature. He must survive the night and protect his family from the creature's attacks.
- Krasue, 2002 film by Bin Bunluerit
Shake, Rattle & Roll IV(1992)
A homeless family and their neighbors in the city of Manila are plagued by attacks from a manananggal. A little boy suspects a nun (Aiko Melendez) to be that creature but no one believes him. He finds himself racing to prove his suspicions before he becomes the monster's next victim.
Manananggal in Manila (1997)
An English Speaking Manananggal is spreading terror around Manila.
[edit] Other terms and versions
- Aswang - Manananggals are popularly referred to as Aswangs. But this is because the term Aswang is also generic and can refer to all types of ghouls, mananangals, witches(Mangkukulam), etc.
- Tik-tik - Aside from aswang, manananggals are sometimes referred to as tik-tik. The sound it is supposed to be making while flying. The fainter the sound the nearer it is. This is to confuse the victim. The Tik-tik eats a child in the mothers womb causing the body or face of the child to be disformed. Its apparitions are black cats and crows.
- Leyak
[edit] References
- ^ a b Paraiso, Salvador; Jose Juan Paraiso (2003). The Balete Book: A collection of demons, monsters and dwarfs from the Philippine lower mythology. Philippines: Giraffe Books. ISBN 971-8832-79-3.
- ^ a b c Ramos, Maximo D. (1971). Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology. Philippines: University of the Philippines Press.
[edit] Additional Reading
- Eugenio, Damiana (2007). Philippine Folk Literature: An Anthology, 2nd, Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 498. ISBN 978-971-542-536-0.
- Eugenio, Damiana (2002). Philippine Folk Literature: The Legends. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 490. ISBN 971-542-357-4.
[edit] See also
- Philippine mythology
- Pontianak – Blood sucking creature in a form of a baby that turns into what is known to be the child of the devil.
- Krasue – Floating vampiric female head and entrails that is similar to manananggal.
- Nukekubi - Japanese creature that also detaches its head to feed on victims.
[edit] External links
- http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/manananggal.html
- http://www.geocities.com/gcalla1/manananggal.htm
- http://www.agonyagogo.com/penina.html
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