Anito
Also called Anitu, Anitos.
Anito is the Philippine category covering ancestral spirits, nature spirits and the beings honoured in household and community ritual — a class of relations to the unseen rather than a single kind of creature.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Philippine folklore
- Region
- Philippines (place of origin)
- Trait family
- The Kindly Watchers
- Symbols
- Ancestor
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Ancestor is image-domain Ancestors are those gone before, at once benevolent custodians of a lineage's vitality and fierce presences that haunt, possess and shame their neglectful descendants.
why
Ancestors form a substantial part of the category: the recently dead remain involved in the affairs of their descendants and are addressed as such.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Omens
- Guardian spirit omen
why
Anito are approached through ritual specialists — commonly women — with offerings, and they are understood to attend to the health, harvest and safety of the people who maintain the relationship.
Defensive powers
- Guardian intervention
why
Anito are approached through ritual specialists — commonly women — with offerings, and they are understood to attend to the health, harvest and safety of the people who maintain the relationship.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Wise Old Man carries
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Anito."
- Damiana L. Eugenio, Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths.
- Maria Leach, editor, Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, s.v. "Anito."