BEHAVIORAL EFFECTS OF
THE PHILIPPINE MYTHICAL MONSTERS
A Research Paper Presented to the
English Resource Center
School of Accountancy and Business
Asia Pacific College
Magallanes, Makati City
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for
RESWRIT-Research Writing
Kim Edward S. Raymundo
December 2013
Chapter 1
A.
Background of the study
People
not only from the Philippines but also from other countries believe in the
superstitious belief of the existence of the Philippine Mythical Monsters.
These monsters came from the beliefs of Filipinos in their culture. Tikbalang,
kapre, tiyanak, aswang, manananggal, nuno sa punso, duwende, enkanto,
mambabarang, kumakatok, amalahig, amomongo,anggitay, bal-bal, batibat,
berbalang, berberoka, bungisngis, mangkukulam, pugot, tiktik, sentimento,
sirena, siyokoy, wakwak, and many other monsters are exapmles of these
monsters. (http://www.choosephilippines.com/specials/lists/744/aswang/)
The
Philippine mythical creatures date back to the early years of Spanish
colonization in Visayas, Philippines. According to the History, the Spanish
colonization started around 1521 up to 1898. During those times, the Spaniards gave a big
influence to the culture of the Filipinos because they spread their beliefs to
increase their colonies. The Spaniards are the ones who created the belief on
the existence of the monsters in which they said that these creatures live in
the land of the Philippines. From then on, stories and folklores about these
monsters were passed on to generation to another generation.
The
media took the superstitious idea of the Philippine monsters by means of
creating series and movies showcasing each monster. Examples of which are the
movie series entitled “Shake, rattle, and roll” and the movie “Tiktik: The
Aswang Chronicles”. The idea of making such creative movies came from the
stories that were told by the ancestors of the Filipinos. Even up until now,
these stories are being passed down to the younger generation and also new
stories are being shared by other people who said that they have encountered
the Philippine monsters. However, there is no solid evidence that these
monsters are real. These monsters are mythical, in other words they don't
exist, and although, according to a philosopher “The imagery of mythology is
symbolic of spiritual powers within us.” which means that there is significance
in portraying theses monsters to the people.
The
researcher observes that superstitions about the existence of the Philippine
monsters affect the behavior of the people. Although these monsters are
believed to be unrealistic or non-existing, the people's psychological aspects
and behavior are still greatly affected.
The researcher’s interest in this
topic was inspired by a desire to investigate on the effects of believing in
the mythical monsters of the Philippines. Having a little background on the
nature of Filipino superstition will allow the reader to better understand
people who hold on to these myths. Furthermore, knowledge of Philippine monster
myths and their effects may increase the reader’s appreciation for it.
The
purpose of this paper is to discuss the effects of Philippine monster myths and
legends on Filipino behavior.
B. Statement of the Problem.
This study aims to answer this
question:
1.
What
are the effects of Philippine monster myths and legends on Filipino behavior?
C. Significance of the Study
Youth. This research paper would be able to
help the youth in terms of learning the importance of the Filipino culture.
Moreover, the researcher hope that giving more emphasis to the behavioral
effects to the youth would give rise to a new level of interest for them to
further study for research purposes.
Teachers and Professors of Film. Teachers and professors of film would
benefit from this study because they would be able to use information in
preparing lessons for making a movie about the Filipino culture and mythology.
Film Makers. Information from this study would help
film makers make use the understanding within their production committees on
the variety of different mythological creatures in the Philippines that may
affect the viewer’s behavioral aspect. It is believed that furnishing data on
how different kinds of mythical creatures affect each individual’s
psychological belief in making a film. Film makers would be able to make good
use of such information in making excellent movies and series through a more
focus effort along with their work group.
Future Researchers. This study is important for future
researchers in making similar studies especially there still seems to be a need
for mythological study for discovering further behavioral effects to the
society. The Filipino culture is further diminishing because of modernization
and that is why future researchers must revive or uplift the Filipinos beliefs.
In utilizing this research paper as a source of valuable data, there might be
an improvement in giving more psychological effects of the Philippine mythical
creatures not only to the citizens of the Philippines but also in other
countries.
Tourists. This study will help provide
information about the Philippine culture to the people who would want to visit
the country of Philippines. It is essential for them to make use of this
research paper so they would not offend the Filipino culture when they come and
visit. This research paper hope that mythologist from other countries would
increase their knowledge about the behavioral effects of the belief in the
existence of the Philippine mythical creatures.
D. Scope and Delimitation
This research paper will not focus on other beliefs of the Filipinos;
instead it would focus on the behavior of the people on the belief on the
existence of the mythical monsters that are a part of the culture of the
Philippines. This also points out that there are different behaviors that are
contributed by different mythological monsters because of different
perspectives, of the people in the society, that are needed to be considered
not only by the Filipinos but also people from other countries as well.
Because of time constraints, the researcher aims to give
more emphasis to the effect of the Philippine mythical creatures to the behavioral
aspects on the society. The areas such as Business and Medicine won’t have
further emphasis.
Resources of the research will focus more on different types
of people who are psychologically affected by the Philippine mythical
creatures.
E. Materials and Methods.
The researcher employs an interpretative approach in a
psychological perspective in interpreting the concept of the Philippine
mythical creatures. This research paper will interpret several ideas and points
that involve different perspective of the psychological effect of the
Philippine mythical creatures on the society.
Information relevant to the study was gathered from various
reference materials such as books, news articles, and journal articles. In
addition, people who are fond of believing the super naturals were interviewed
to strengthen the findings of this study.
Chapter 2
What are the effects of Philippine monster myths and legends
on Filipino behavior?
Superstitions brought
by Philippine Monsters
People from the Philippines are very strict
when it comes to their culture. They are very conservative when it comes to
their beliefs and superstitions. It seems that this lifestyle has a great
effect on how they behave. One of the things that people from the Philippines
believes in, is the existence of monsters with supernatural powers. The belief
on the existence of these monsters started at the central island of the
Philippines called Visayas. Tales and Stories about these creatures came from
the Spaniards who colonize the Philippines. Since then, their influence started
to spread all throughout the country, and up until now it is still spreading. People
who believe in the existence of these monsters changed the way they behave
because of what these monsters are capable of. These behavioral effects are
either negative or positive. An example of a positive behavior brought by these
monsters is that the children of the society will not go outside their house during
the night. One negative example is that it increases the curiosity of the
people. Too much curiosity will lead them to the idea of going to the forest
during midnight and try to find these monsters. The results, most of the time,
is that they end up getting lost because they can’t find their way back. (http://voices.yahoo.com/mythical-creatures-philippines-23176.html )
The belief of the
existence of the mythical monsters gives a lot of different superstitious
belief to the people. Some of these superstitions are as follows:
a. “It is bad to point at the trees” – This is what people
say whenever someone points at the trees to give direction. It is said that
pointing is rude and it is the same when it comes to the Monsters that are said
to be living in the trees of the forests. The monsters that are offended are believed
to give curse to anyone who offends them. It is said that, you can prevent
yourself from being cursed is to bite the tip of your pointing finger and spit.
This kind of behavior is not acceptable in today’s modern society. Spitting in
public places is not allowed because Scientists and Experts said that spitting
in public is one of the causes of spreading diseases. After all, how can biting
the tip of your pointing finger and spitting can prevent any curse?
b. “Tabi-tabi po!” – People say this whenever they will pass a
banyan tree (Balette tree) or a “punso” (It is a mounted pile of mud which is
believe to be a house of the nuno). People say this because it is a sign of
respect to supernatural monsters. The behavior that they show whenever they say
this is somehow silly in the modern society. Today, people seem to think that
saying this is not the reason why they are not cursed by the mythical monsters;
instead they think that these monsters don’t exist at all. (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/394777/encountering-the-engkanto )
c. In some cases, people
will avoid virgin forests because they fear they might encounter these mythical
monsters. The tikbalang, is well known for his mystical powers that can cause
people to get lost when people go to their territory. The people say this
because they want to protect the environment. People get scared to go deeper in
the forests because of this belief.
d. The idea of having
these Philippine mythical monsters increases the creativity of the people.
Movies, novels, short stories and other things are being created inspired by
these monsters. People are fascinated by these mythical monsters because of
their characteristics. Filipinos seems to patronize movies about the mythical
monsters because it somehow affects their behavior by adapting the things they
see in the movies. This also applies to novels and stories about the mythical
monsters. As said from the article entitled “psychological effects of horror
movies films” by Lissa Meriam, posted on the site http://diminishthestigma.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/psychological-effects-of-horror-films/,
there are a lot of things that pushes people to create movies and stories
featuring some scary characters. That is why we can relate this from the
Philippine Horror movies about the Mythical monsters because it also affects
the people’s behavior.
e. People
who believe in the existence of the Tikbalang (one of the most popular mythical
monsters of the Philippines) would say the impression, “Umuulan kahit maaraw?
Siguro may kinakasal na tikbalang”. In some cases, people who are lost in a
forest would wear their clothes inside-out because it Is believed to counter
the spell of the Tikbalang. Another good example of behavior that is brought by
the Philippine monsters is that people would not attempt to cut down a balette
tree because of they believe that there are Supernatural beings that lives in
those kinds of trees.
Behaviors brought by
the Philippine mythical monsters
The behaviors (a-f) were based on the article entitled “Psychological
effects of Horror Films” by Lissa Meriam on the site http://diminishthestigma.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/psychological-effects-of-horror-films/.
a. Discipline- the Philippine mythical monsters are used
to discipline the children of the society. Because the fearsome characteristics
of these monsters, children will not stay outside of their house during the
night. Thus, making it safer for them because there are less chances of them
being kidnapped or having serious accidents. One great example of this is the
Aswang. Aswang are really terrifying that is why stories about them make the people
stay home during the night.
b. Curiosity- in these mythical monsters leads people to
some dangers. Since humans are naturally curious in their surroundings they
tend to go out into the forest and search for these monsters. The result of
such curiosity is that they end up getting lost for a couple of days or
sometimes they never come back home. An example of these monsters that gives
people curiosity is the Tikbalang because people would go to forest just to try
and catch one.
c. Exhilaration and risk taking- because of the movies
and stories about the Philippine monsters, people tend to be more alert. Being
alert increases the level of risk a person could take. Knowing that most of
these creatures, such as the aswang, roams during the night, people tends to be
ready and defend themselves when they get startled.
d. Desensitization- Watching, reading, and listening about the
mythical monsters will either increase or decrease the reflexes of the people
when they are constantly exposed to the tales and folklores on the said
monsters.
e. Fear and triggering- Some people, specifically the children, who
are exposed to such terrifying movies or stories about the Philippine monsters
may cause trauma. Especially when it comes to the Aswangs and the Manananggals.
f. Sleep difficulties- Because of the fear
that the mythical monsters are living in the forests, people tends to find
sleeping difficult. They would think too much about them being a victim by the
mythical monsters. The best example for this is the Tikbalangs and the
Engkantos.
g. Isolation- When
people claim that someone is practicing witchcraft or a creature that has a
body of a human, they tend to stay away as much as possible. This leads to
isolation. Because people are afraid of them, the ones who are falsely accused
are force to live in the world alone. Base on the article “Mangkukulam shot
dead in Pangasinan” by the ABS-CBN news team on the site http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/10/10/13/mangkukulam-shot-dead-pangasinan,
An old woman was shot because people were accusing her of practicing witch
craft.
h. Dishonesty- A
lot of people claim that they have encountered the supernatural monsters but
whenever they are asked to give proof, all they can do is give lame excuses and
reasons. People in the modern society want to get noticed and that is why they
come up with lies just to fit in with others. The most popular among these make
believe stories are the aswang, tikbalang, nuno sa punso, and the kapre. Like
in the article entitled “7 Mythical creatures that were found in real life” by
Kier Harris on the site http://www.ranker.com/list/7-mythical-creatures-that-were-found-in-real-life/kier-harris,
it was stated there that people will believe anything that have evidences even
though most of these evidences are not that relevant or reliable.
Other
effect of Philippine monsters on behavior
In other countries,
people would visit the Philippines because of the superstitious belief in the
existence of the Philippine mythical monsters. These people are thrill seekers
who would like to experience the presences of the monsters. According to Allan
Merlin, he visited some places of the Philippines in order to find and interact
with the mythical monsters. Why would these people do this? It is because they
want extreme experience and that is why their behavior is greatly affected. Having
an encounter with the Philippine monsters is believed to be a great
accomplishment for thrill seekers from other countries.
Based on the things that are happening
recently on the society, people can’t seem to get out of their habit in making
actions controlled by their belief in some mythical monsters that were brought
to our culture and by doing this they are only making their life far away from
reality. The people seem to be like a puppet of their own fear on their belief
on the things that don’t exist. Having their misbelief being the controller of
their lives, they tend to influence more individuals. However, during the
modernization of the society, a few of them were able to escape from the
shackles of their misbelief and managed to have the normal behavior.
Generally, the culture of the people
from the country of the Philippines is the one who dictates the people to act
in such manner. Having these different kinds of behavior makes the belief, in
something that doesn’t exist, stronger. However, we couldn’t ignore the fact
that a lot of people who oppose to the idea of the existence of such monsters.
The behavior of an individual is a reflection of his own beliefs and ideas
after all. This is why this study would show the reality of our modern society.
Reading articles about how people view
the Philippine mythical monsters is too time consuming, and that is why this
paper helps the readers to face the truth on how the belief on this monsters
affects the behavior of the people.
Chapter 3
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
SUMMARY
This paper attempted to
enumerate different behaviors brought by the Philippine mythical monsters.
The research design used
in this study us the interpretation research method wherein data from documents
and other reference materials were used to answer the research question posed.
The research findings are the following:
1.
There are a variety of monsters that are said to be living in
the country of the Philippines. These monsters are not only known by the people
living in the country of the Philippines but also people from different
countries.
2.
The belief on the Philippine mythical monsters came from the
Spaniards. The influence of the Spanish culture started when they colonized the
Philippines (1521-1898) and continued growing until the present.
3.
Behaviors are greatly influenced by the beliefs of a certain
society. Changes about the belief started when the modernization grew which
resulted to people to question the existence of these monsters.
4.
The researcher observed that Philippine mythical monsters
have psychological and behavioral effects to the society.
5.
This study aims to show how these monsters affect the
behavior of the people who believes that they exist.
CONCLUSIONS
Based on the findings of this study, the
following conclusions are drawn:
1.
There are a lot of behaviors that affects each individual but
varies in different interpretations.
2.
Belief in the mythological creatures increases the creative
skills of the people.
3.
People from other countries go to the Philippines just to try
and have an encounter with the mythical monsters of the Philippines.
4.
These monsters don’t really exist because they are
unrealistic.
RECOMMENDATION
After citing the
conclusions of the study, the researchers hereby make the following suggestions
and recommendations:
1.
People who believe in the Philippine monsters should find
more information regarding their existence.
2.
People who want to give further research about the Philippine
Mythical Monsters should gather more information about the topic.
References:
“Mythical Creatures of the Philippines” Elise Eeasterbrook, Retrieved November
26, 2013 http://voices.yahoo.com/mythical-creatures-philippines-23176.html
“Tibalang” Micha F. Lindemans, Retrieved October 22, 2013 http://www.pantheon.org/articles/t/tikbalang.html
“Banyan Tree” Marjorie Gorospe, Retrieved April 19, 2011 http://ph.news.yahoo.com/centuries-old-balete-tree-attracts-tourists-aurora-town-20110418-215005-158.html
