Tagalog religion
Tagalog religion mainly consists of Tagalog Austronesian religious elements, supplemented with other elements later obtained from Hinduism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Islam. It was contemporaneously referred to by Spanish priests as tagalismo.
Many Tagalog religious rites and beliefs persist today as Tagalog Philippine syncretisms on Christianity and Islam. Tagalog religion was well documented by Spanish Catholic missionaries, mostly in epistolary accounts and entries in various dictionaries compiled by missionary priests.
Anitos: Ancestral Spirits of the Ancient Tagalogs
The ancient Tagalogs believed in anitos, the spirits or souls of their ancestors. They honored and worshipped them in daily life especially the spirits of parents and grandparents who had died. These ancestor spirits were often represented by small idols kept in homes, sometimes made from gold and shaped like animals, such as crocodiles. Anitos weren't only from the home. Some were believed to live in mountains, forests, and rice fields. These were often the souls of ancient warriors or previous inhabitants of the land. The Tagalogs believed that these spirits could protect or harm, so they treated them with respect. Unlike other nearby cultures that worshipped many gods and spirits without making idols, the Tagalogs made physical representations only for certain anitos mainly those connected to the household.Different regions and tribes had their own names for these spirits. While Tagalogs called them anito, others used names like nitu, aitu, or hantu. This shows how widespread and deeply rooted the belief in ancestor spirits was across Southeast Asia.
The belief in anito are sometimes referred to as Anitism in scholarly literature literally means veneration of the spirits of the dead. The word anitism or ancestor worship from the Hispano-Filipino form anitismo, though not in current usage, it was a precolonial Tagalog belief system, a continual invocation and adoration of the anitos, the souls or spirits of their ancestors. From its original meaning of "ancestral spirit".
Pantheon
The highest beings in Anitism are always the primordial deities, led by Bathala. Of these five primordial deities, only Bathala, Amihan, and Ama-n' Sinaya are living deities. The other two, Ulilang Kaluluwa and Galang Kaluluwa, have turned into ashes during the first centuries of the cosmic creation. The next in rank are the deities, whether they live in Kaluwalhatian, Kasamaan, or in the middle world. The third in rank are the deities sent by Bathala to aid mankind. These anitos usually serve specific communities, and seldom spread their influence from their domain, such as the case of the diwata, Makiling. Like mankind, these anitos are sometimes prone to misdeeds but are generally good. The fourth in rank are mankind's anito ancestral spirits. The last rank includes tao which houses the kakambal, mga hayop, halaman at puno, lamang lupa, and taga dagat.Ancient Tagalog Deities
Bathala – Bathala or Maykapál is the supreme god, the creator and ruler of the universe. He is the most powerful god and is also known as Bathalang Maykapal. The ancient Tagalogs believed that he was the king of the diwata and the chief god or father of all the lesser gods. Bathala is also known as Abba and Diwatà – Derived from the Sanskrit words deva and devata, which mean "god" or "celestial being".Bathala: supreme god and the creator and conserver of all
According to the early Spanish missionaries, the Tagalog people believed in a creator-god named Bathala, whom they referred to both as maylikha and maykapal. Loarca and Chirino reported that in some places, this creator god was called Molaiari or Dioata. Scott notes:Bathala was described as "may kapal sa lahat ," kapal meaning to mould something between the hands like clay or wax.
Most scholars believed that Bathala, Badhala, Batala, or Bachtala was derived from the Sanskrit word bhattara or bhattaraka meaning noble lord. This term was used commonly by Hindus in Southeast Asia in reference to God.
Lakapati – Also called Lakanpati, is the primary deity of fertility and abundance. Often described as androgynous, possessing both male and female traits, symbolizing the power to bear fruit or seed in union.
Buan – Buan is the diwata of the moon and is referred to as the maiden on the moon. Tagalogs from Laguna call Buan "Dalágañg nása Buwán" or "Dalágañg Binúbúkot". According to Spanish chronicles, ancient Tagalogs revered the moon especially when it first appears. During this time, they celebrated grandly, worshiped it, and warmly welcomed it, asking for their desires: some would ask for much gold; others for plenty of rice; some for a beautiful spouse, or a noble, wealthy, and well-mannered partner; and others for good health and long life. In short, everyone would ask for their deepest wishes, believing the moon could abundantly grant them.
Lakan Bini – Also known as Lakang Daitan – He is the guardian of the throat and the protector against throat-related illnesses. Some writers mistakenly recorded his name as Lacambui, and claimed he was the god of food among the ancient Tagalogs.
Araw – Araw or King Sun is the ancient diwata or god of the sun. According to Juan de Plasencia, the ancient Tagalogs worshipped the sun because of its brilliance and handsomeness. When it rained while the sun was shining and the sky had a reddish hue, they believed that the anito were gathering to bring war upon them. Because of this, they became extremely frightened and would not allow women and children to leave their homes until the sky cleared.
Balangao – Balangao or Balangaw is the diwata or god of the rainbow among the ancient Tagalogs. In classical Tagalog, the correct term for the rainbow is Balangaw, while bahaghari is a poetic term referring to it. Ancient Tagalogs believed the rainbow was a bridge to the heavens for spirits and the dead who died in battle or were eaten or killed by crocodiles. The name Balangaw is phonetically and thematically similar to Varangaw, the Visayan rainbow and war goddess.
Bibit – Bibit is an anito associated with illnesses. Offerings were made to Bibit when someone was sick. The catalona needed to heal Bibit first before beginning the treatment of the sick person.
Bathala is among the five primordial deities in the Tagalog pantheon. It is believed that he lives in an abode called Kaluwalhatian, which is an ancient Tagalog people's version of heaven, known as the sky realms and the court of Bathala. Kaluwalhatian has no room for growing rice and forbids chasing of deer. Bathala resides here with other deities such as Amanikable, god of hunters and turbulent waters; Idiyanale, goddess of labor; Dimangan, god of good harvests; Lakapati, goddess of fertility; Ikapati, goddess of cultivated fields; Mapulon, god of seasons; Tala, goddess of the stars; Hanan, goddess of morning; Dumakulem, god of mountains; Anitun Tabu, goddess of wind and rain; Anagolay, goddess of lost things; and Diyan Masalanta, goddess of love. Minor deities who live in Kaluwalhatian include Liwayway, a dawn goddess; Tag-ani, a harvest goddess; Kidlat, a lightning god; and Hangin, a wind god. The abode Kaluwalhatian, however, is not to be associated as a place where ancestral spirits go to. The place where good ancestral spirits go to is located below the earth and is called Maca, while the place where evil ancestral spirits go to is called Kasamaan, which is also below the earth. Unlike Kasanaan, which is a 'village of grief and affliction', Maca is peaceful and filled with the joyous bounties good ancestral spirits deserve in the afterlife. Maca is ruled jointly by Bathala, who has the prowess to summon and order spirits from Maca if he pleases, and Sitan while Kasamaan is ruled solely by a deity named Sitan, keeper of all souls and master of four evil deities, namely, Manggagaway, causer of diseases; Manisilat, destroyer of families; Mangkukulam, causer of fires; and Hukluban, causer of deaths.
Francisco Demetrio, Gilda Cordero Fernando, and Fernando Nakpil Zialcita summarize a number of Tagalog beliefs regarding Bathala:
The Tagalogs called their supreme god Bathala Maykapal or Lumikha. An enormous being, he could not straighten up due to the lowness of the sky. And the sun burned brightly near him. One day, Bathala got a bolo and pierced one of the sun's eyes so that it could generate just enough heat to sustain life. At last, Bathala was able to straighten up and with his hands pushed the cooler sky to its present level. Bathala is also known as the grand conserver of the universe, the caretaker of things from whom all providence comes, hence the beautiful word 'bahala' or 'mabahala' meaning 'to care'.
The missionaries who observed the Tagalog peoples in the 1500s noted, however that the Tagalogs did not include Bathala in their daily acts of worship. Buenaventura noted in his Vocabulario de la lengua tagala that the Tagalogs believed Bathala was too mighty and distant to be bothered with the concerns of mortal man, and so the Tagalogs focused their acts of appeasement to the immediate spirits that they believed had control over their day-to-day life.
Other deities and powers
As Bathala was considered a "distant" entity, the Tagalog people focused their attention more on "lesser" deities and powers, which could be more easily influenced than Bathala. Because the Tagalogs did not have a collective word to describe all these spirits together, Spanish missionaries eventually decided to call them "anito," since they were the subject of the Tagalog's act of pag-aanito. The term, anito, has three meanings. The first is deity including Bathala and the lower deities living and not living in Kaluwalhatian. The second is non-ancestral spirits, the beings sent by Bathala along with the deities to aid mankind in everyday life. These non-ancestral spirit anitos can be formless or possess forms of various beings. The last is ancestral spirits, the souls of human beings who have passed on. These ancestral spirit anitos can also be summoned by Bathala to aid their relatives and descendants in special cases, usually through dreams or flickers of light. According to Scott, a careful search of sources from the 1500s reveals that there was no single word in Tagalog for the other deities to whom Bathala was superior: when necessary, Spanish lexicographers referred to them all as anito. Other accounts and early dictionaries describe them as intermediaries, and the dictionaries used the word "abogado" when defining their realms. These sources also show, however, that in practice, they were addressed directly: "in actual prayers, they were petitioned directly, not as intermediaries." Scott cites the example of a farmer's prayer to Lakapati, where a child would be held over a field, and the farmer would pray: "Lakapati, pakanin mo yaring alipin mo; huwag mong gutumin " Demetrio, Fernando and Zialcita, in their 1991 reader The Soul Book, categorize these spirits broadly into "ancestor spirits" and "non-ancestor spirits", but then further sub-categorize them into "ancestor spirits", "nature spirits", and "guardian spirits".Deities living with humans, and not in Kaluwalhatian, Maca, or Kasamaan are :
- Aman Ikabli, the patron of hunters
- Aman Sinaya was an ancestor spirit, the god of oceans and one of the five primordial deities who was invoked by Fishermen as a guardian spirit. Scott notes that he was "the inventor of fishing gear, was named when first wetting a net or fish hook"
- Amihan – the deity of peace and one of the five primordial deities
- Bibit, who caused illness if not given recognition in the ordinary course of daily activities.
- Bighari, the goddess of rainbows,
- Dian Masalanta, the patron of lovers and childbirth.
- Haik, the sea God, called upon by seamen in a major ceremony, asking for fair weather and favorable winds.
- Lakambini, the god of purity, food, and festivities, the advocate of the throat, was invoked in case of throat ailments.
- Lakan Bakod was "the lord of fences " and "was invoked to keep animals out of swiddens". Scott quotes San Buenaventura as saying Lakanbakod's larauan "had gilded genitals as long as a rice stalk", and "was offered eels when fencing swiddens – because, they said, his were the strongest of all fences."
- Lakang Balingasay, the god of insects,
- Lakapati "was worshipped in the fields at planting time" and "was fittingly represented by a hermaphrodite image with both male and female parts"
- Linga, the god of medicine
- Manananggal, the goddess of fright
- Mankukutod, protector of coconut palms, given an offering by Tuba tappers before climbing a tree, direct descendant of the ashes of Ulilang Kaluluwa and Galang Kaluluwa, two of the five primordial deities lest they fall from the trunk.
- Meylupa, the crow god of the earth,
- Silagan, the god of proper burial practices
- Uwinan Sana, guardian of grasslands or forests, acknowledged as overlord of grasslands or forests whenever entering them, to avoid being regarded as trespassers.