Philippine mythology is derived from Philippine folk literature, which is the traditional oral literature of the Filipino people. This refers to a wide range of material due to the ethnic mix of the Philippines. Each unique ethnic group has its own stories and myths to tell. Lahi.PH created the MITOLOHIYANG FILIPINO series to highlight the gods and goddesses of very diverse Philippine mythology.
The stories of ancient Philippine mythology include deities, creation stories, mythical creatures, and beliefs. Ancient Philippine mythology varies among the many indigenous tribes of the Philippines. Some groups during the pre-Spanish conquest era believed in a single Supreme Being who created the world and everything in it, while others chose to worship a multitude of tree and forest deities (diwatas). Diwatas came from the Sanskrit word devata which means “deity”, one of the several significant Hindu influences in the Pre- Hispanic religion of the ancient Filipinos.
As an archipelago inhabited by different ethnic groups, Philippine Mythology and superstitions are very diverse. However, certain similarities exist among these groups, such as the belief in Heaven (Kaluwalhatian or Kalangitan), Hell (Impiyerno), and human soul (kaluluwa).
Before the arrival of the Spaniards and the introduction of Roman Catholicism in the 1500s, the indigenous inhabitants of the Philippines were adherents of a mixture of animism, Hinduism, and Vajrayana Buddhism.
MITOLOHIYANG FILIPINO by Lahi.PH
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