#suddenly felt an surge of pinoy pride just then

[astro-inthestars]

*spawns in your inbox* hello if you feel like it could you tell me tales and folklore and traditions from the philippines?

OOH OOH OOH i can do that for sure!! We've got some pretty funky tales around here! First thing that came to mind was the creepy monster folklore we have here though <333 One of the main things people might know about us!! (besides our amazing food <33)

Okay okay SO first up, over here there are things we call Aswang. It's basically like... a category almost, due to the amount of interpretations. It's the typical witch/ghost/demon around here! Sometimes it's seen as a beautiful woman, or a monstrous dog, or a elusive ghost with sharp nails and teeth!

Something that may or may not fall under this category, is one of my favorite folktale monster from over here: The Manananggal! Ohhhh this one is soooo messed up and I love it-

It's a creature that sometime appears like a normal woman, but transforms into a horrific creature, with huge bat wings, sharp teeth and nails, and a longgg tongue! Basically our equivalent of a vampire- BUT what makes this motherfucker special??? This bitch can DETACH its torso from its lower body, and flies into the night sky!! And it usually ain't pretty, with its stomach guts or bloody ripped torso flailing in the wind! Its main prey (or the target audience of this cautionary folktale) are pregnant women. Also!! Fun fact; its name, Manananggal, is from the root word "tangal" which means "remove" and with the prefix "ma" it makes the full word mean "remover" or "seperator," orrrr "one who seperates itself" quite literally in this case <3

Enough of the horrors though! Hmmm, let me tell you some traditions we have, though some may not be "official" traditions, and are just some habits we're taught throughout our life- So much so that I actually had a hard time trying to think of some 'traditions' due to thinking these are all normal... and not knowing if other countries actually did them so. . . aahaha- well anyway!

First most notable one is obviously our signs of respect, AKA the uses of the words 'po' and 'opo' and our (probably?) well-known sign of pagmamano! First of all, 'po' is a word used in sentences that indicate respect, like when you're talking to someone older than you, or someone with notable authority! Like "Excuse me po, can I use the restroom?" And with 'Opo,' it's just the "respectful" version of our "Yes" which is just 'Oo' (when you say "oo" to someone older than you or someone with authority, it's regarded as disrespect or that you treat this person casually or are very close and familiar) And pagmano? Well that's also a respectful gesture, like po and opo! But unlike the phrases, this one is a gesture, and is usually only used for older people! Usually elders, actually. The gesture is you taking the older person's hand and gentle placing their knuckles on your forehead, like this in the image!

And along with it you usually say "Mano po" or just any variation of a greeting!

Oh, here's something more "traditionally" a tradition,a nd one of my favorite ones... guess what??? Us Pinoys? We celebrate FOUR MONTHS of Christmas!!!! THAT'S RIGHT!! We celebrate that shit early <3 It's mostly because the Filipino are SUPER duper religious, but also... CHRISTMASSSSS!! We call them "Ber Months" because for us, as soon as September hits... well? That's already CHRISTMAS BABEY!! Christmas lights UP, trees READY, christmas songs BLASTING, parols SELLING- wait. hold on- DO YOU GUYS HAVE PAROLS???

I just looked it up and CHRISTMAS PAROLS ARE A UNIQUELY FILIPINO THING?? OKAY OKAY parols are basically christmas lanterns! THey're bright and colorful and AWESOME and stalls for them line the streets at Ber Months- HERE HERE LOOK!!!

These are what the big and bright ones look like!

And these are what the smaller and simpler ones look like! They're all made from bamboo sticks and japanese paper!! it's AWESOME!

Okay okay, this is probably wAyyYYY too long already but here's some honorable mentions: -Us Filipinos' daily meal ALWAYS include rice. Unless its snacks or dessert or appetizers, I guess- but every main meal, Breakfast, Lunch, and Supper, we have rice! We cook an "ulam" which is what is paired with the rice! It's like rice is the default, and whatever the food is will be eaten with the rice! Like, fried chicken is ulam! Then we eat it with rice! -We've got impeccable hospitality!!! Like, if ANY stranger comes into a Pinoy's home, they WILL offer to eat with them! No matter who! They'll always tell the guest "Kain po!" ("Come eat!") and usually the person would be modest and decline, but eat anyway! It's truly interesting how hardwired these things are... -Our modes of transportation are WAY different from American ones, I find!! Over here we've got Jeepneys, Tricycles, and Pedicabs! So i don't have to explain, here's what they look like:

Jeepneys, tricycles, and pedicabs respectively! Not much to say about the last two, but the jeepney seems REAL notable- They're from military jeeps, but longer and redesigned for transport. And yes, all jeeps have weird designs and briht colors, and most likely has anime on them. Don't ask, I don't know either. These are our main forms of transport over here!! But that doesn't mean we don't have the usual bus or taxi, of course! -Every region and town here has its own fiesta!! we've got SO many fiestas in this country!! and it all varies from region to region.. They usually span a week long or even a month!! Festivals here are typically held to honor patron saints or to display the region’s primary local harvest!

Well, anyway, that's all I've got a- ......what do you mean it's 1 am.