ONE aspect of the Filipino culture that I find very interesting is our belief in aswang.
We are in the year 2020, a time when almost everyone has a smart phone and access to scientific information (though not everyone uses it wisely). Though we exist in a modern era, whenever we hear news of aswang or whatnot sighting, we always become curious and ask for more details. The remnants of the animistic beliefs of our ancestors still remain.
It makes you wonder though. It sounds like a silly question when you think about it, but could the aswang and other entities actually be real? Who is to say they aren’t? There have been sightings of these entities as recent as a few months ago.
We are an archipelago of islands separated by large bodies of water, yet when you ask around for descriptions of these entities, they are somewhat similar. They are even similar to the monsters and mythical creatures from other countries.
Duwendes are similar to dwarves, kapres to giants, sirenas to mermaids, the tikbalang to a centaur somewhat, and tik-tik to vampires.
We have fantasized these creatures as beings with magical powers that may either help or harm. Creatures that you hear about in fairytale and horror stories pique your imaginations. These creatures are said to inhabit a “kingdom” – a world where only they live.
Well, now science is starting to discover that black holes, if they are in the right condition, could possibly lead to other dimensions and could even exist on planet Earth. Who isn’t to say one of these dimensions could be the “kingdom” of the aswang and engkantos?
Perhaps somewhere, in the depths of a forest or cave there is the literal gateway to the spirit world.
Then there is also the less fascinating, more mundane possibility that our image of the aswang is just an exaggeration of sightings of strange animals and other phenomena. Perhaps the sigbin is a mammal we haven’t discovered yet. The manananggal is a giant bat that screeches while it flies, hence the assumption that it’s half a woman’s body. The yanggaw phenomenon may be a rare type of disease not yet recognized by science.
Whatever it may be, we cannot discredit these beliefs and sightings. As Neil deGrasse Tyson said, “No matter what eyewitness testimony is in the court of law, it is the lowest of evidence in the court of science.”
It could be the stepping stone for a phenomenal discovery./PN
