In Defense of the Manananggal

The image of the manananggal strikes fear in the heart of most Filipinos. Here is this hideous, bat winged, half-bodied woman perching on the roof to hang down her long, evil tongue in order to suck out the life in the pregnant woman’s belly! Imagine a dark, windy night, in a small hut in the province, and hearing a thud, as if some thing had landed on the roof, and then scraping, scratching sounds up there … yiiikes! Oh let’s take out our rosaries and pray that the manananggal doesn’t get us!

Research into the manananggal, strangely enough, has yielded that these monsters weren’t present in the pre-Hispanic myths of the Filipinos.

In fact, they seem to have been an invention of the Spanish clergy.

Before our colonization by the Spaniards, there are reports of babaylans, shamans, mostly women, who led the worship, who were knowledgeable about herblore and healing. In short, they were leaders – spiritual leaders, even healers and probably midwives as well. They had a solid place in society, a respected status.

There are also reports of male babaylans – but these men were depicted as wearing skirts and other women’s clothing. Wearing women’s clothes and acting like women was a way of accessing the divine feminine. Perhaps these men already had a feminine orientation to begin with – in modern parlance perhaps they were gay. As baybaye or babaylans, they were respected as well.

With the Spanish colonization, a new religion was imposed, a new order – a male-centric or patriarchal one. After putting down numerous rebellions – many incidentally led by women, by the babaylans, according to our history books – a new order was superimposed over the old one. The datus or the male chiefs were utilized as kapitans… but there were no leadership roles for women. So what happened to the babaylans? There was no place for them in the new society. They fell from grace. The conquered provinces with the strongest rebellions, the most revolt, Capiz, Roxas – the Visayas – became the new seedbed of tales of manananggals. And these are historical accounts written in Spanish by the conquerors – by the friars, not fiction. Strangely enough, areas which remained unconquered, like Mindanao, spawned no stories of manananggals.*

Were the Spaniards horrified at the show of bullishness of the women, of their power, of the respect they garnered? It seems that these strong women were seen as perversions, as something unnatural. In short, women leaders were seen as bitches. Or witches. They were demonized. From spiritual leaders became depicted as supernatural monsters. From being healers, they became viewed as unnatural beings. Supernatural, unnatural – meaning they were not in the “natural” order of things, as imposed by the new patriarchal power.

The colonizers could not regard these very different way or paradigm of our native land – let’s call it matriarchy – as “different but equal.” Those people could not be seen as contemporaries or colleagues. They could only be seen as either barbarians or perversions, that could not be part of the “natural” order.* Not being able to accommodate the other resulted in the demonization of the other.

They do say that the gods of the old religion become the devils of the next. As the gentle, nature loving Pan became the hoofed and tailed devil of Christianity. The babaylans became the manananggals.

The friars also burned what indigenous literature there was in the archipelago. Report is that they were scandalized by the openly sexual tone, though surprised that almost everyone was literate. By destroying and forbidding this literature they transformed a literate society into an illiterate one. It seems only some indigenous peoples like the Mangyans have preserved the ancient script, and they do continue to write poetry on bamboo.

Upon my reflection of manananggals, and the popular image of them perching on roofs to suck out the life of fetuses, I began to think – did the word manananggal refer to one who removed babies? They were women who could give the gift of abortion to other women!

I mean if the babaylans were healers and midwives, then most probably, they would know how to perform abortions as well.

In a matriarchal society, such abortions might not be viewed as “sinful”. As Arnold Swartzenegger said in the movie where he became pregnant, “my body, my choice!”

The idea of a forceful abortion is horrible. But if it was an unwanted pregnancy, a manananggal might be seen as a wonderful blessing.

This history that I’ve unearthed has turned everything around for me. From being horror movie monsters, I now think that maybe the manananggals are heroes. Leaders of the resistance. I once viewed Capiz and those nearby provinces with awful dread. But if it’s true that that’s where people rebelled and fought, and these rebellions were led by women – whether they used magic or not, I now see them as strongholds, heroic places, as places that might have managed to preserve some of the old ways, the old lore, places that refused to lie down, roll over, and be stepped on. They are no longer scary but admirable.

How strange these inversions are. It’s amazing how certain pieces of facts transform the landscape. How different things look when you know the truth. Enemies turn out to be friends. Who your thought as allies turn out to be enemies, out to do you harm. Indeed, the truth will set you free. Free to really decide. It also truly seems that truth casts out fear. Certainly it has cast out my fear of the manananggal. I wonder then if fear only comes from illusion, or unreality.

For now when I think of manananggals, and of them having wings and flying across the sky, over rooftops… in absolute freedom in the night – I just feel exhilaration, and even envy. How fun it would be to be able to leave your body or at least half of it on the ground and fly off into the moonlit night!

The fear then of these “women monsters,” or the manananggal has come from our colonizers, who made us see through their squinted eyes, that strong women are unnatural and fearful monsters; that places where women, and gays, are respected as leaders are dreadful and terrible – horrible, not natural. From this perverted view, the freedom and power of the babaylans are depicted as batwings and claws. The knowledge they had of medicine, including abortion, became a furtive and terrifying delivery of death.

But batwings are still wings. And the thought of being able to fly, to soar through the night now gives me a feeling of freedom, independence, and strength. What once was feared – a woman’s strength, knowledge, and independence – is now admired. And now I know, I am right, I think, in admiring the manananggals.