INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world.
These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.
I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.
Gosh it’s the last episode of November if you can believe it, this month has gone so fast! This week we’re escaping to warmer climates and heading over to the Philippines for this monster - so imagine you’re on a nice sunny beach in Manila whilst you’re listening to this one - or maybe you already are, and I’m very jealous.
DESCRIPTION:
In this episode, we’re covering the wonderful Engkanto from Filipino folklore. These magical beings are very popular in the Philippines, however, it’s interesting because it is also known as an umbrella term within this folklore. Engkanto has historically been the term for any creature in Filipino mythology, including mermaids, elves, sirens etc. But we’re going to focus on the idea that they’re a humanoid elven spirit - because I think that’s the easiest way to summarise them.
The best way to describe an Engkanto is an environmental spirit that can transform into a human form. They are usually described as exceptionally beautiful humans, with blonde hair, which is rare in the Philippines, but will often have pointed ears that give them away. Although a lot of the time, they’re quite different from each other - you can usually spot one by touching their skin, and finding that the texture is quite rough or that they do not have a philtrum, the space between their lip and nose and high bridged noses. They also smell like sweet flowers when they are near humans, so that’s another sign to look out for.
It’s important to note that they are not elves in the way we imagine, as in, they’re not immortal, and can get sick, old and die from injury and illness. They are both male and female, but the female variants are called Engkantadas.
They live in the forest and woodlands in the Philippines, making their homes in large trees, which sometimes annoys the Kapre, another forest monster from this part of the world which I covered not too long ago. As always you can scare off spirits with salt, if you do want to scare them off that is.
However, they do also have powers - their first and probably most powerful is that they have access to a space that humans do not. As I said above, the Engkanto have their homes in large trees, and inside there appears to be a mansion-like dwelling place with lit rooms and large mirrors. People are advised not to eat anything once inside their houses, especially rice that isn’t white. Anyone who eats it won’t be able to get out of the tree and will be forever stuck inside Engkanto’s dwelling - much like the normal fae warnings or underworld warnings against food in those zones.
You know I said they had loads of mirrors, well these are actually portals to the outside world, that have schedules of when they open and close - therefore if you get stuck in one, you have to wait for the next cycle to come around before you can get out, but some of them have years, decades of waiting time. This is how you can escape the clutches of them, but if you’ve eaten - then I’m afraid they will not open for you.
However, it’s also the place where the Engkantos are most powerful, and where they will bring humans. Most importantly, when they go into these realms, they reveal their true selves - which are pretty ugly elvish creatures, most people tend to panic at this point - but some marry them, and turn into one of these themselves.
Why would they bring humans in? Well, if they like you, they can take you into this realm and grant you the power of wealth or just power. If they don’t like you though, they can give you illnesses, depression and cause massive confusion, as well as purposefully misleading travellers in the woods. They are also known to kidnap people they do like, so that’s also a problem. But the biggest problem with this is that in their realm, time moves awfully fast, and some people are known to be in there for years, whilst only thinking they were gone a few hours. There have been people who have been in comas or been committed that have said they had followed an Engkanto and thought they had been conscious or only gone a few minutes.
Why don’t we see them more often then? It’s said that unfortunately humans took advantage of the Engkantos, who tried to teach us technology and healing and so the Engkantos placed a veil between their special place and our world, apparently they are like parallel universes to ours too. Only the chosen by the Engkantos are allowed into the veil, and can interact with the beings of the woods. It’s said that you could be born with these gifts, or you could earn them through good deeds to the mystical folk.
Their reasoning behind this is simple - the ancestors in the Philippines became far too dependent on them, asking them for help with every little need rather than only in dire situations, not returning the things they borrowed and using them to show off to others. I think that’s a fair enough reason honestly.
ORIGIN:
Onto etymology, now this one is pretty simple - it is a Filipino word, but due to the history of the Philippines, it comes from the Spanish for enchanted one. You might even recognise this word if you’re Spanish, or if you’ve seen the Disney movie Encanto - which is about an enchanted house - so it all makes sense in the end.
The history behind this monster is pretty fun though. Unfortunately, this one has no specific dates or times of when it made its way into folklore, but we do know it’s from before the Spanish invaded the Philippines in 1565 - so it is pretty old.
We also know that before the colonisation of the Philippines, it was a pretty long time ago, and old customs and beliefs were the only thing that people could lean upon to explain their surroundings. Ancestors of the country would have looked at everything in a mystical way, which is how most folklore is created across the world anyway - and the Engkanto as a spirit that can cause trouble is a great way to explain this.
It was believed that illnesses and sickness were punishments from unseen entities which were accidentally offended by the early Filipinos or sometimes they were seen as symptoms of a curse or hex and were inflicted by malicious beings driven by jealousy, hatred and other dark intentions.
In terms of finding these creatures though, to this day, it’s still an interesting topic, as in rural areas there is still a massive social stigma towards Albinos - as they have this blonde hair and very pale skin, they are considered the child of an Engkanto and a human. Albino individuals are colloquially called “Anak Araw” or Child of Sun, and actually face a lot of hardship for this in different cultures too. Albinism is something that can really show up in folklore, just because older civilisations didn’t know about melanin or enough about biology to understand this.
But interestingly, this creature does open us up to the belief that early, and some modern Filipinos have about the Earth too. There are theories that the Earth is made of 3 layers spiritually. The lower being the Underworld, a space for lower spirits - and they’re not called that because they are lesser - they’re just at the lowest point. The middle layer is where we all live, and the third, the Skyworld, or the space of higher beings, such as the Engkantos. It is believed that some of these higher beings from Skyworld used to mingle and interact with human beings. Some of them even had relationships with humans and they bore children for them. Which is why some of us might have stronger connections to this spirit world, as our ancestors could come from the Skyworld instead. It is also said that when someone has spiritual relatives or are spiritual themselves, they will return to the Skyworld when they pass on.
CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Now onto modern media, we have nothing this week I’m afraid - unfortunately I could only find one bit of modern media and that’s the film Engkanto from 1992. So I’m going to cover some forest fae folk like them within the media.
For art, unfortunately, because they’re a bit ambiguous in the way they look - there isn’t really any set pictures of them or any guidelines on what they look like other than the elven ears, blonde hair and lack of philtrum - everything other than that is all speculation, so I would really recommend looking at independent art for this one.
In movies, we have; Brave, Epic, The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, Spirited Away, The Hallow, The Guardian, Bright, Labyrinth, Maleficent, The Last Witch Hunter, Pan’s Labyrinth, Legend & Shake & Rattle and Roll 13.
For TV, we have; Game of Thrones, The Haunting Hour, Lost Girl, The Magicians, Merlin, Once Upon a Time, Supernatural, Torchwood, Ducktales, Fairly Odd Parents, Gargoyles, Gravity Falls, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Winx Club, The Owl House & Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
In video games, we have ones such as; World of Warcraft, Undertale, Legend of Zelda, Terraria, Tears to Tiara, Shin Megami Tensei, RIFT, Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Kingdoms of Amalur, Guild Wars, Folklore, Dwarf Fortress, Final Fantasy 14, Pokemon, Fate/Grand Order, Elder Scrolls Oblivion and Skyrim, Unavowed, Fable, Dragon Age, A Tale of Two Kingdoms, Drakengard, Arena of Valor, City of Heroes, Dragon Quest & Touhou Project.
My book recommendation this week is Vida Cruz-Borja’s Song of the Mango and Other Myths which came out on November 1st - or her previous book Beyond the Line of Trees, which is all about Filipino mythology - she’s an absolutely wonderful storyteller and I really recommend having a look. Or there’s Philippine Myths, Legends, and Folktales, The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology and Philippine Demonological Legends and Their Cultural Bearings by Maximo D Ramos for some cracking info on Filipino myth monsters.
DO I THINK THEY EXISTED?
Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?
You know what, it’s a rarity, but I honestly am not sure about this one. Only because it seems subtle enough to get away with, they’re not prancing about the forests with giant cigars like the Kapre or splitting their bodies in two as a Manananggal, so I think they’re able to get away with it.
Do I think they’re good spirits? Not really, at least it doesn’t seem so to me. But much like the Tonte of Norse mythology, I love this idea of having a separate realm of where humans can’t get in and then they can’t get out without the monster helping them to.
But what do you think? Did the Engkanto roam the Earth? Let me know on Twitter!
OUTRO:
I love Filipino mythology, and this is another monster that I’ve been looking forward to. I do also find it interesting that this monster is an umbrella being too, I’ve never had that on the podcast other than stuff like Vampires I suppose, but that’s usually when it comes from other cultures - not just one.
Next week, we’re heading over to Scandinavia and looking at a proper legend - make sure to check under those bridges and don’t linger around after nightfall for the frightening Trolls next Thursday!
For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.
Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.
But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.