Names are just words and they can apply to any number of different creatures.
Don’t be so closed minded to assume that there is only one thing that a name can describe.
Take the Tianak for example – everybody knows the spirit in the form of a baby, waiting to trick travelers at best and murdering them at worst.
But there are other shapes it takes.
Most of which might be unfamiliar to you.
But they exist all the same.
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Analyn was busy with her cooking when she heard a sudden noise.
“Kaloy! That better not be you!” she said.
Her shouts were met with silence and she knew something important had been broken.
She rushed out of the kitchen to see shards of broken porcelain strewn about on the floor.
Analyn gasped. “How many times have I told you to be careful around the vases! Now mama and papa are going to have a fit!”
Out of the corner of the room skulked Kaloy. He was a child that had only seen eight summers, but was filled with the energy of ten children.
“I’m sorry ate, I was jumping around and I hit the vase with my elbow. Please don’t be mad.”
“It’s not to me you should apologize to, that case cost papa a lot of money when he went to China. And now it’s a million little pieces.”
“It can’t be a million, I can count them right here.”
“You know what I mean.”
Suddenly smoke started to waft from the kitchen.
“My adobo!!!” Analyn screeched.
She ran into the kitchen and saw that her pan was scorched. The chicken she had laboriously worked on was burnt to a crisp (and not in a good way).
“Kaloy! See what you made me do, now dinner is completely ruined!”
“I’m sorry ate.” He bowed his head in a sign of contrition.
“Now what are we going to do?”
Their parents had left for an important trip – something about business for her father’s company. They were left alone in the house and it would be a few days before their parents returned.
“Now what are we going to do?” she repeated.
That vase was an antique, there would be no way to replace it. The pieces were so big that repairing it was out of the question, they would be able to see the glue. The more Analyn tried to think of a solution the more she gave up and told her brother that they would have to come clean to their parents.
But Kaloy had another idea.
Now, their family was a peculiar one. They had generations of those that could see spirits. Her lolo said it was because when someone was born into their family their third eye would be open, though it didn’t work for everyone. And it didn’t work for Analyn.
Even if she was sightless, she had trusted in those that could see the world parallel to theirs.
And at this point all she had to do was trust in an eight year old boy.
Kaloy said, “Ate I know how to fix everything, we just need a favor from the spirits.”
“What do you mean?”
“Recently a new spirit moved to the trees near our house. I asked the other spirits and they said that they were powerful and would bestow good luck and fortune to those that help it.”
“Kaloy I know you mean well but dealing with spirits is not as easy as you may think.”
“The spirits are nice and will help us, I know they will.”
“You’ve never had to hear stories from our relatives.”
Analyn bade Kaloy to have a seat on the sofa.
“Do you remember tita Kim?”
“Who’s that?”
“I guess you were too young the last time you met. Anyway, hers is a story that you should hear.”
“It was about 4 years ago, tita Kim was working in Makati as an interior designer. She had just finished a job when she got a call about a space near the Rockwell area. The owner was sparing no expense to have it renovated and tita sprang at the chance.”
“The moment she went through the door, she knew something was wrong.”
“What was it?” Kaloy intoned.
“She never spoke of specifics, but it left a huge scar.”
“She was attacked?”
“No, something much worse.”
“Tita entered the living room and she saw a woman in black crying on one of the chairs. She was with her client and she knew that she was the only one who could see the woman. She tried to ignore her but the sobs became louder and louder until it was a deafening screech. At that point she excused herself to go to the bathroom and in the reflection, she saw the woman, tears running down her face.”
“She was about to cut her losses and cancel the project but the client was insistent that she do the work. It was at that point that the client confessed that he knew tita’s third eye was open. He was begging her to help him stop the black lady.”
“Tita agreed to help him but it came at a price. She never said what she did or what ritual she used, but in the end the black lady never visited the house again.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad ate, she was able to get the ghost out of the house,” said Kaloy.
“You didn’t let me finish. The black lady never went back to the house because she found another thing to haunt.”
“What was that?”
“Not what. Who.” Analyn’s face became dour. “Tita did get rid of the ghost in the house but that meant that the black lady started haunting her. Every night she would hear the ghost crying and every time she would look into a mirror the morose face would be there.”
“What happened to tita?”
“It became too much to bear alone so she called for help from the family. It took three whole days for the ritual to be done. Our relatives (at least those that had the third eye) put all their power and knowledge into sealing the ghost away. It left a mark on tita Kim, she quit her job and went back to the province to try to get as far away from it as she could.”
“But ate the spirits I am talking about are different from that! They are spirits of nature and would not seek to harm us, or anyone else.”
Analyn sighed, might as well listen to his plan before she shoots it down. “Alright, what are you thinking of?”
“Ate, like I said there is a new spirit. If we ask it for help it might be able to repair the vase (and maybe the kitchen).”
“But what will it cost? Nothing is ever free in these situations.”
“I’m sure we can come up with something.”
“If you say so.”
“It’s getting late, if we want to talk to the spirit we might as well do it now.”
The siblings trudged through the forest and Kaloy pointed towards a balete tree.
“Ate! Here it is!”
It was at this point that Analyn gave her trust to her brother. She couldn’t see the spirit, much less talk to it so she had to rely on Kaloy. That did not ease her anxiety about the situation.
“Spirit!! Spirit!! Are you there?!!”
Suddenly the atmosphere shifted. Even Analyn felt it. There was something there and not there at the same time.
It began with a crying baby that suddenly materialized.
Kaloy stepped towards it but Analyn shouted, “NO! DON’T TOUCH IT!”
Her words came a moment too late. As soon as Kaloy touched the baby its true form appeared. The baby changed into a little man with an old man’s face wrinkled skin and a moustache. It had a flat nose and eyes the size of coins and its right leg was much shorter than the other.
The spirit pounced on Kaloy and opened its mouth to show bloodstained teeth.
The story would have ended there had Analyn not prepared.
She had salt and garlic, typical wards against most spirits. And it was time to use them.
Analyn threw the salt at the spirit and it let go of Kaloy. She grabbed his arm and ran towards their house.
“What was that!!?” Kaloy screamed.
“I think it was a Tianak.” Calmly replied his sister.
“Not like the Tianak that I know. Aren’t they just babies? What was that thing it turned into?!”
“Wait, didn’t we pass that tree already?”
“Did we? I was too busy running to notice”
“You have a lot to learn. Turn your clothes inside out.”
“What will that do?”
“It will confuse the creature and break the spell that we’re under.”
“Wait, we’re under a spell?”
“Yes, tito Boy always told us about this. If you meet a spirit in the forest it will most likely seek to confuse you and make you lost using their magic. No arguments just turn your clothes inside out.”
Kaloy surrendered to his sister and the moment he turned his shirt inside out, the moment he did the trees shifted
“The spirits can’t tell we’re the same people if our clothes are inside out. Now hurry! Let’s get back home.”
After what seemed like hours they eventually got to their house. The clocks showed that they had only spent 30 minutes out.
Analyn looked at Kaloy with sharp eyes.
He broke the silence. “I know I know, you told me so.”
“Next time, when your spirit friends tell you about a new spirit, you’d better be more careful.”
“Yes ate, I will. Let’s just tell ma and pa that we broke the vase.”
“And that I burned the kitchen.”
“As long as they don’t know about the Tianak.”
“Agreed.”
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Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Inspired by a Tianak description in Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology. Ramos. 1971.
Tianak Illustration by Christian Bitao
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