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Halloween

Tiyanaks Represent what Filipinos are Truly Afraid of

The Philippines’ version of a demon baby says a lot about its culture and the power of Catholicism in the country
tiyanak illustration
Tiyanaks are vampiric babies feared in the Philippines. Illustration by Farraz Tandjoeng

It’s evening, and it is pitch black outside, save for a few, faint streetlights. A woman walks home alone, in a quiet, remote part of her village. Suddenly, she hears a baby wailing.

She wonders where the sound is coming from. She looks around but sees no one. The baby’s cries get louder. There are no other voices around, no one hushing or comforting the babe. It becomes increasingly clear the crying baby is nearby, alone.

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The woman decides to follow the sound of the cries. It’s coming from the woods. She begins to worry about the poor, helpless baby, who is now crying uncontrollably. She takes a step towards the baby’s direction, wondering if the baby is safe.

She walks through the woods, following the cries of the baby that are sometimes louder, sometimes softer. She is so preoccupied in finding the baby that she does not realize she is lost and far too deep into the woods.

Finally, she finds the baby. It is an infant, alone, lying on the ground. She reaches over and picks the baby up into her arms. The baby is silenced.

It is at that moment when the infant appears comforted that it transforms to what it truly is, a vampire baby. It sinks its long claws and sharp teeth into the victim’s flesh until the victim dies. Far into the woods, no one hears the victim’s cries for help.

In the Philippines, this vampire baby is called the tiyanak.

The tiyanak has been the subject of various horror films in the Philippines, and the topic of many Filipino children’s nightmares. But perhaps no one is haunted more by the tiyanak than young women.

The story of the tiyanak is said to originate from the Mandaya people of Mindanao, who believed tiyanaks were the spirit of children whose mothers died while giving birth. The babies were left behind with no one to care for them, thus transforming into their vampiric state.

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But the myth of the tiyanak changed drastically when the Spanish colonized the Philippines and Christianity was introduced. The tiyanak then became the creation or the fault of a sinful mother.

After Filipinos were Christianized, the belief became that tiyanaks were souls of babies who died before baptism. It later evolved to include aborted fetuses, whose spirits came back from the dead to haunt the living… including their mothers.

The fear of the tiyanak exists today, especially in provincial areas across the country. Women continue to fear being haunted by the spirits of their babies if they choose to abort, or if they are not Christianized. In the Philippines, where 80% of the population are Christian, the idea of abortion and not baptizing their baby are seen as grave sins.

The myth propagated to guilt trip mothers and expand the hold of Christianity hundreds of years ago, speaks deeply about the Philippines and its relationship with the Catholic Church at present.

The Church continues to guide Filipinos’ lifestyles, beliefs and practices – and yes, their thoughts on abortion and atheism.

The country continues to have a blasphemy law, a holdover from the Spanish colonial years which was meant to protect the Roman Catholic Church from criticism.

As for abortion, it is still heavily stigmatized, an absolute taboo topic in the Philippines. It remains illegal in the country.