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The various peoples of the Philippines spoke different languages and thus used different terms to describe their religious beliefs. While these beliefs can be treated as separate religions, scholars have noted that they follow a "common structural framework of ideas" which can be studied together. [3]
Today, only a handful of the indigenous tribes continue to practice the old traditions. The term animism encompasses a collection of beliefs and cultural mores anchored more or less in the idea that the world is inhabited by spirits and supernatural entities, both good and bad, and that respect must be accorded to them through worship.
Taotao carvings sold in a souvenir shop in Siquijor Island. Anito, also spelled anitu, refers to ancestor spirits, evil spirits, [1] [2] [3] nature spirits, and deities called diwata in the Indigenous Philippine folk religions from the precolonial age to the present, although the term itself may have other meanings and associations depending on the Filipino ethnic group.
Animism is a metaphysical belief which focuses on the supernatural universe: specifically, on the concept of the immaterial soul. [10] Although each culture has its own mythologies and rituals, animism is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples' "spiritual" or "supernatural" perspectives.
The Austronesians are believed to have brought animist beliefs incorporating shamanism, ancestor worship, totemism, and tattoos. Beliefs in benevolent and malevolent spirits was established by their arrival. [13] By 200 to 300 CE, Hindu mythologies arrived in the Philippines through trade routes and migration.
Laon (meaning "the ancient one"), [note 1] [1] was a pre-colonial female supreme creator deity in the animist anito beliefs of the Visayan peoples in the Philippines.She is associated with creation, agriculture, the sky, and divine justice.
Filipino shamans, commonly known as babaylan (also balian or katalonan, among many other names), were shamans of the various ethnic groups of the pre-colonial Philippine islands. These shamans specialized in communicating, appeasing, or harnessing the spirits of the dead and the spirits of nature . [ 2 ]
Ilocano culture and beliefs are shaped by centuries of Catholicism and the influence of animism-polytheism traditions. These traditions are rooted in their agricultural lifestyle, communal values, and close-knit family structures. [5] The Ilocano population extends across most parts of the Philippines, beyond the Ilocos Region.