Blogpost #8: Funny Tikbalang!

Nowadays, Tikbalang are became funny and they are used to make a symbol of many things in our generation. Comedy , in the contemporary meaning of the term, is any discourse or work generally intended to be humorous or to amuse by inducing laughter, especially in theater, television, film and stand-up comedy. I include comedy because other people are interested in funny things and they make smile when there are things in their surroundings that makes them happy.

Tikbalang now are the symbol of homosexual because in television we can hear that some homosexual artists make as a Tikbalang because their mouth and sometimes their face are look like Tikbalang. But this is not mean that I insult them I am just write what I hear in the television. 

Like Jose Marie Borja Viceral who uses the stage name "Vice Ganda", is a Filipino television presenter, endorser, actor, and recording artist. Viceral is a regular host/judge on ABS-CBN’s noontime variety show It's Showtime, and has starred in several films, two of which are considered the highest-grossing films in Philippine cinema is one who have the role of Tikbalang in the fanhtasy series "Juan Dela Cruz".

According to this article entitled First look: Vice as tikbalang in 'Juan dela Cruz' posted  by ABS-CBN.Vice Ganda confirmed  that he will play the character of Santana, the queen of tikbalangs, which are creatures that are supposed to be half-man, half-horse.The comedian, however, stressed that he will not be a regular in the series because of his busy schedule. Apart from the noontime show "It's Showtime" and the weekly show "Gandang Gabi Vice," Vice Ganda is also working on the movie "Girl Boy Bakla Tomboy" for this year's Metro Manila Film Festival.

Being a homosexual is not mean that you are a Tikbalang it is just a symbol to make some people laugh and smile, but it is not intended to hurt the feeling of homosexual people but to realize to people that they are important in our country.

Tikbalang have a good and bad effects in our lives. Like they make us happy, creative, sometime bad, realistic and funny. So with those perspective with Tikbalang we proved in ourselves that they are important to us because of their simple effects that can we use as an inspiration, sometime hobby, and a character in our lives.

Blogpost #7: Infected Art & Infected by art!

Tikbalang now are included in the field of arts because some of the Flipinos make them as an art. Filipinos makes painting, drawing and featured them in some performance which is they are the main character. Our arts here in the Philippines are considered as a world class because of our skill of creativeness. Being creative is our advantage to represents our country. We say that the Tikbalang can we make as an inspiration because of its popularity in our culture, beliefs and in arts.

According to this article entitled Will the “tikbalang”live on? by Nancy Cudis . One of the common characters in the stories I have read is tikbalang. According to Nancy " And I’m not surprised to find him in the three graphic novels I just read. He is very prominent in the Skyworld series as a warrior-hero. As a matter of fact, he is a prominent character in Filipino mythology, such that anyone in my generation and those before me knows about him. Tikbalang is like a centaur in Greek mythology, only he is able to stand, walk, and act like the next human being, but most of his body (head and feet) is that of an animal, often portrayed as a horse, and a very tall demon horse with limbs disproportionately long."

Tikbalang invaded the world of art by using them as a character on many comic stories. Many have used them as a hero, villain, or a supporting character. And many people enjoy reading about them because of the twists they give on the storyline.  

I read this article entitled  Tikbalang by Emerald Fury. According to Emerald " My version of the Tikbalang was to play on giving it long limbs and adding tribal symbols that are crude representations of the Tagalog alphabet as tribal paint and if it resembles someone, I did use my version of the Jersey Devil to make aspects of the Tikbalang, such as the hoof hands and hair, but in my universal idea, the Jersey Devil is a Tikbalang that has lost touch with its nature source and thus, grew corrupted and violent from being deprived of its home of power. So, this version is essentially a healthy form of the Tikbalang."

She has her own version of Tikbalang where she put it some forms of arts like tribal symbols. We saw how Filipino be creative in simple way we can create a good art work with the use of Tikbalang. So that Tikbalang are very common now to us it can be our art. It inspired us to make become our creativeness wake up.

Now art is part of our lives and we can also combined with anything you want to imagine in your art.We can also apply some creatures to form a beautiful artworks like the Tikbalang. Tikbalang is an exact creature that can we use to put an art because it has the physical appearance of being bad and good.

Blogpost #6: Arts

Art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. Art now here in the Philippines are common to each and everyone of us. We use it to express our talent, and not just our talent but our feelings and emotions. Some of us love arts and we also considered it as our hobby and some are business. Our artists here are very good in arts their arts can compete to international countries.

Our creative skills that make us confident to make some good arts are one of our talent. People can create very artistic arts that we proud of. Monsters are one of the characters that are very popular now. I watched some movies that has art and I say that this movie make by a very good artist because his imagination he or she formed this glamorous movie that all of us are amazed. The title of this movie is "Monsters University" directed by Dan Scanlon.

According to this article entitled Monsters University written by Dana Stevens. Pixar Studios has painted itself into a corner (though because it’s Pixar, it’s an adorable corner, surrounded by top-quality enamel paint). They’ve established a reputation for themselves as the animation studio of record, the place for state-of-the-art children’s entertainment that also reliably hits the sweet spot for adults. At their best, Pixar movies can realistically aspire to the status of lasting cinematic art.

This fantastic art that represents to the creative skills of the people that we can make this kind of art because of our wide imaginations and we want to improve our art to inspire the next generation to convince them to become an artistic person. This movie get the attention of many people because of the artistic production that people love.

According to article entitled Beware of the Greek Monsters by Maria Paravantes. According to her " After Germany, The Greek Monsters - curated by director and set designer Paris Mexis - settled down in Greece’s largest independent museum, where lots of work was done to showcase the beautiful beasts. Each art piece includes details about their creation, their history, as well as poetic extracts explaining the symbolism or philosophy behind their imposing presence."

Monsters or mythical creatures are make an art and they are also exhibit in some largest museums in the world to become them popular in all of us. They are now popular in the field of art I hope that the next generation inspired to this art piece that artists made. It is a good source of being artistic.

Sometimes arts can become our inspiration because of it we can express our talent and our own feelings. Arts also creates happiness to us by simply look at it. It gives us a meaningful life that we can use to become happy. Arts are very popular now  in the form of paintings, sculptures, drawing, drawings, photography, performance, new media, and installation art. These kinds of arts sometimes we want to do but some of us have no ability to make it but othera can do it.

Blogpost #5: Cultural Perspective

 We are full of many culture about mysteries here in the Philippines that some of us knew. Culture can affect our lives because of some beliefs that we have to consider. I already discussed how Tikbalang be good and evil in their own way. So let's talk about our culture about the Tikbalang and how they will affect our beliefs.

According to the article entitled Monsters From My Youth written by Jon(his nickname) The Philippines has its own set of ghouls and goblins that torment the hearts, minds, and active imaginations of its citizens.  A couple of these Filipino mythical creatures are the Manananggal and the Tikbalang.

Many people in our country believes that aswangs really does exists than to those who don't believe. And most of them firmly believes that many aswangs are secluded in a place where there are less people. The perfect example for that is the provinces here in the Philippines such as Siquijor and Capiz. Aswangs have been a part of the Filipino culture and the Tikbalangs are one of them.

Our lives can't complete without these creature that sometimes scared us in our imagination. Our culture now changed, but it doesn't change our beliefs about these mythical creatures. I've searched this article entitled Fighting 'aswang' and taming 'tikbalang' written by Simon Louis Errol E. Torres. According to this article, Creatures like aswang, tikbalang, nuno sa punso, kapre, and manananggal. Life in the Philippines would not be complete without them. A typical Filipino childhood would be empty without threats from parents or housemaids about the wrath of these “hindi nakikita” (what can’t be seen). We wear various amulets and herbal thingamajigs to thwart “evil spirits”; we believe we’re not alone. There are far more stranger things out there, watching us, living a life that once in a while may bump into our own.

Filipinos are very curious about myths because we want some stories that  will not already prove by us. We want a  better explanations and research that can become the basis of existence by these creatures. But most of us can't do this observation and experiment because we are scared just like me. But with this opinions and stories we can imagine how they live and we determined what culture we have with Tikbalang. But like what I have said in my past blogs they are not true they are just a form of our wide imagination.

I can't forget this beliefs that my parents said to me when I was a child about the Tikbalang. Every time it happened I thought  about these creature and I talk to myself  and I say that  "Where are their venue for their wedding" I entertain myself like a crazy man and I say again   "I go there". They said to me that every time there is sunlight and when rain falls the Tikbalang getting married.

Tikbalang is important in our culture and it cannot remove to our minds even our generation changed and even our technologies evolved this is not the reason to forget our culture about them. Our beliefs is our golden treasure that we inherited to our ancestors. So we have to take care of this beliefs and keep this to our minds and spread to the next generation.

Blogpost #4: Wicked Tikbalang!

I discussed in my third blog the good side where the Tikbalang has. We knew that they have a good part in their personality but don't be deceive by that part of their personality because they are also a creature that has a bad side that sometimes they can't control. I think the dark side of the Tikbalang is their nature because most of the stories and articles that I've read about them, they are very bad and naughty. 

Some writer that wrote about the Tikbalang believe that they are very bad and naughty because of the past stories that we inherited in our ancestors. Our ancestors is the source of this story about the Tikbalang.

According to this article entitled Tikbalang Mystery in the Philippines by Cotopher. The origin of the Tikbalang started during the Spanish Colonization. It is a fact that horses were brought to the Philippines by the Spaniards. The conquistadors propagated the myth about the Tikbalang to scare the natives from going out at night.

Our ancestors get this information during the Spanish Colonization. This article said that horses aren't originally came here in the Philippines but they are brought only by the Spaniards here in the Philippines. So this story is not originally came here and the Spaniards take this story and they distributed this story to our beloved ancestors. Then our ancestors narrated it to us.

Another part of this article that says, Tikbalangs are said to lead travelers to astray. They play tricks on travelers such as they will return to the arbitrary path regardless on where they go. Another trick that they can do is that they can mimic the appearance, voice and the mannerisms of those who are close to the person journeying. The victim is tricked into following the Tikbalang until they get lost and sometimes never to be seen again.

We knew how naughty and bad they are. They are very strong to lead the travelers astray. I discovered that they also copy the voice, appearance and behavior of any one to confuse their victim. This part of their personality is sometimes we don't know because we are focusing only in their physical appearance to put in our minds that that they are very scary.

This article entitled Legendary Humanoids - Tikbalang, the Demon Horse written by Lon Strickler says that, It travels at night to rape female mortals who will then give birth to more Tikbalang. It is sometimes believed to be a transformation of an aborted fetus which has been sent to earth from limbo.

The very worst that they do is that, they get the virginity of a woman to give birth to more Tikbalang. The Tikbalang now can be a good and an evil one. It is depend to the story that we can make. Our story can make them good to the perception of the people and they can also be bad if we make them bad in the story that we make about them.

There are good and bad times, but our mood changes more often than our fortune.-Thomas Carlyle

Good and bad depend in our mood. If we are in good mood we can make a good things to others but if we are in bad mood we can do worst things that others can't accept. Like what I have said in my last blogs all of us has a good and bad side that we cannot remove because it is part of our personality. 

Blogpost #3: Unbelievable Tikbalang!

  In my second blog we talk about the good against evilness and I made children or kids as my example. We realized that our good and evilness can create conflict in the flow of our lives. Good and evil are considered as a human nature because  it is present always in our personality. I can't believe that the Tikbalang has also a good heart and they used it to help human in danger. Now we talk about the good side of a Tikbalang.

I watched some movie where the Tikbalang featured and represents as a helpful and friendly. This movie is the entry in the 34th Metro Manila Film Festival hailed as the first Filipino-digital animated film directed by Robert Quilao entitled DAYO: Sa mundo ng Elemetalia. This movie is about the 11-yearold boy named Bubuy that bullied by his classmates and onetime his classmates forced him to go in the Balete Tree to again forced him to burn the tree and  he accidentally burned it. So the Balete tree became angry and the tree get Bubuy's grandmother and grandfather and take them in the world of Elementalia. So Bubuy try to save his two love ones in danger by the help of two friends named Anna the "manananggal" and NARSI the "Tikbalang".

 This article entitled Meet the voice actors of Dayo written by Michael Kho Lim describe NARSI the "Tikbalang" as a Narcissistic cool rocker tikbalang (the underworld creature with the head of a horse and the body of a human). 

 Tikbalang can also be good not only a bad creature. Their positive attitude can make them not scary because we changed our perspective about them. Good in nature is not meant that we are good in our overall behavior. This good attitude can become evil if we cannot control our emotions and feelings when we have struggle in life.

According to this article entitled Are Tikbalang Elves? wriitten by BJ Recio. Like many fey creatures, the mysterious tikbalangs are forest guardians that one will only see if they allow you to. But unlike their gnomish or elven cousins, they have little reason to hide their presence from those that offend them. Though they [are known] to employ deceptive magic to ward off the many gates to Kalikasan, they are just as likely to kick a trespasser out of their demesne.

 

Like what I have found out on researching about my past blogs. I found out that Tikbalang plays tricks on humans by getting them lost in the woods. They just love to have fun and that is through playing on humans. That is the side of their naughtiness. But that bad side of them is just the one-fourth of their being, their good side are the one that is almost defines their whole personality. Because they are the creature who have the role of protecting the forest. And "Forests" are important to us Humans, that is where we almost got everything we need to continue, to survive on living here on earth. We should be thankful to the guardians of forests for protecting one of our natural resources, Thanks for the help of Tikbalangs. All of us have a purpose why we are here on earth. Like the Tikbalang, and their purpose is such a great help to us. 

Blogpost #2: GOOD AGAINST EVIL

Good is a global community of a people and organizations working towards individual and collective progress. Having good stuffs is a big achievement in all of us because they expect that we have a good personality and appearance. But in each of us, we know that we are also evil in nature. Evil is the quality of being morally bad or wrong; wickedness. This evilness can result of erroneous view by the other people to us. 

 

Kids caught my attention on this matter and I want to make them as my example. Kids now in this generation are very active and a fast learner in the field of technology. In the age of six, kids are already know how to use computers and they also know how to play online games. In a younger age, most of them influenced by their parents to say bad words and they also influenced by the other kids. Nowadays, kids are became lazy, lier, rude, disrespectful and sometimes became thief. I am wondering why these kids became an evil one and they will not focusing in their good behavior I think because of lack of guidance of their parents. 

According to this article entitled Child Behavior Problems: What’s Normal and What Isn’t written by Amy Morin, "Kids aren’t meant to be robots. As they grow and learn, they will test limits. Kids will break household rules just to see how you'll react. If they receive a negative consequence for breaking the rules, it should deter the behavior from happening over and over again." 

As the kids grows, they learn, and that is by exploring different kind of things. They don't think of what is good or bad in everything they do as long as they are having fun on what they are doing. Like watching TV, playing toys, eating different kind of foods, reading books, playing with the other kids and so on. At a very young age they extremely need guidance, and that guidance could only be get from their own parents. The parents could still take actions and mold their children to be a good individual as long as they are still kids. Because kids would be very willing to follow the adults because of their young minds, because they still don't have their own principle except to follow the people who are older than them especially their parents.   

This article I read talks about the good behavior of kids on how they help the environment in a simple way entitled How Kids Are Saving the Planet by Lori Brown. According to her , "Mary McLeod Bethune once said, “We have a powerful potential in our youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends.”

 

Mary McLeod and our very own Dr. Jose P. Rizal shares the same perspective about the youth. They have seen the potentials of the young ones. They both looked beyond the age of the youth. As a new starters in the race of life, the young ones have the most freshest ideas because of their young brains. And also, as they grow, there is learning, discovering and ideas flowing on their mind. As that kind of process happens on them, their minds mold. And as they grow older, they also enhances their own unique abilities, talent and skills which they could also contribute sooner or later in the community.

Good and Evil, I think are one of the natures of the creatures that God created. Even Tikbalangs can be good because one of their personalities is that they are friendly, they also called the guardians of forest. But they also had evilness hiding on their personality, they also has naughtiness hiding on themselves.  

 

BLOGPOST #1: THE TIKBALANG HUMAN-HORSE

        Every time I remembered what my mother said to me about the story of Tikbalang, I felt scared because she said that the Tikbalang exist now and they usually appears up in the mountains. But there's no evidences that will prove that the Tikbalang exist. I think this is her way to push me not to go away in any place in our town.So I want to know if they are exist or not in this mysterious world.By the way I am Keneth J. Cabucana a first year accountancy student at Asia Pacific College.

 

            I read this article entitled THE TIKBALANG HUMAN- HORSE by Fliin High. According to this article, "Tikbalang is demi-human, half-horse, half human. Its lower torso is part horse and the upper is human, its like a centaur, but more scary type as its eyes are red, and is said to carry an axe(palakol in local dialect) everywhere it goes. Tikbalang nests in the forests of the Philippines, and is said that it would astray a traveler's way, making it go back to the same place over and over again. The Tikbalang's spell can be undone by turning your shirt inside-out or saying "padaan po or tabi po" meaning excuse me may I pass. According to people who witnessed the so called monstrous "Tikbalang". It smokes huge tobacco and eats leaves from 5-storey trees; and is said to be taking beautiful teenagers who pass by his home. They most likely live near rivers and humongous trees. When it rains in a sunny day, people here in the Philippines would say"There are Tikbalangs getting married". You can tame a Tikbalang when you snatch one of its golden hair, there are only 3 of them; so break-a-leg! Once you get the golden hair, you get to ask anything you want the Tikbalang to do."

All of us know what is Tikbalang is, and when we talk about the Tikbalang we felt scared. Some of us said that they can encounter sometimes a Tikbalang in the middle of the forest and they think that it is true. This article above said that the only way to escape to the spell of the Tikbalang is by turning your shirt inside-out or saying excuse me may I pass. My childhood days I love to known more about the Tikbalang and now I make a research about it and I learned many from this like they are the guard of the forest and they smoke a big cigars.

 

 We know what are the characteristics that the Tikbalang have and what are the tactics on how to escape to the spell of the Tikbalang. This article caught my attention entitled Tikbalang Stories and Modernity by Rex Raymond Torrecampo.

  "As a little boy, this was something the existence of which everyone took as a matter of fact. It was something elders warned children about whenever they had to go into wooded areas. Or, perhaps, it was to warn them against going into wooded areas, who knows? As the topic of scare stories that children loved to tell each other when they got tired of playing in the yard, the tikbalangranked among the classics. They were these half-human half-horse creatures that suddenly appeared from nowhere inthe woods to give you a god almighty scare. Or, sometimes they would not even bother to show up at all but, all the same, lead you around in circles in the woods. It was said that those who were led around in circles walked for hours on end only to find themselves right back at the spot where they started from. They could be lost for days. Some – it was whispered – went lost forever."

 Just like me this article talks about scare stories that the children loved to tell each other after playing in the yard, the Tikbalanggranked and I do it when I was a kid and when I got tired I want to hear some stories came from my mother and that is the story of Tikbalang. Even I scared to that story I always want to know it because I can't sleep every time I remembered it.
   
 In reading the articles that I have searched, there are so many stories about the Tikbalang but I think this is not  a true story. They just used it to scared people, to remind them to do not destroy the forest because it is the habitat of many animals and it is also a beautiful place where there is  fresh air that all of us can use. I think the message of the story of Tikbalang is to be conscious about your surroundings and you must love the nature like the Tikbalang, they protected the forest because they want to sustain the beauty and clean of all the forest. The only thing that I want to the Tikbalang is that they love challenges and sometimes they can be friendly. 

 

    

       
         

          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Tikbalang

Appearance:
A Tikbalang is somewhat reminiscent of a Minotaur; however, instead of a bull’s head and physical traits, Tikbalang have horses’ heads and features. Often they are described as having unusually long limbs and when they sit, their knees reach above their head. In many of the Filipino comics they are portrayed as being very tribal and often have tribal tattoos and loincloths as well as ancient weapons.
Personality:
They love challenges and will grant favors to those who can defeat them in a race or other physical challenges. They can be friendly, but like many fey creatures they are also tricksters and have been known to enchant, seduce and/or kidnap young maidens to satisfy their proportionate libidos. 
Often these creatures are encountered as guardians of bridges and thick groves, especially bamboo. They could be used similar to “bridge trolls,” demanding that someone defeat them or bribe them in order to pass over their bridge or through their grove. Sometimes they can also be found in hot springs, they are said to bathe in these during the full moon.
Common Powers:
Tikbalang are incredibly fast, and they are often depicted as excellent archers. Sometimes Tikbalang are said to be able to grant wishes, and in other stories are said to be able to disappear into a cloud of falling rocks. In still others, they can take humanoid form, usually the appearance of someone close to the traveler they are harassing. Occasionally, their manes also have razor sharp spines.
According to some stories, they share similar powers and personality to a Kapre such as the ability to turn invisible (occasionally even given the Kapre’s love for cigars). This may be storytellers confusing the creatures, or perhaps the two races have exchanged magical tricks and other commerce with one another. 
As with the other fey creatures, they are known to cause disorientation that could be just a function of their environment if they are from the realm of Faerie and that this is a side-effect of moving into and out of said realm. Certainly, many fey creatures (and those in Filipino mythology) seem to have this ability, but Tikbalang are considered to be masters of it. The have been known to drive some poor souls insane after becoming so lost in their illusions. This ability has not been shown in the comic book Tikbalang, so it may only be true of those guarding the paths to the Faerie realms or perhaps just the shamans of their people since the depictions appearing in the comics seem to focus on tribal warrior types of characters. 
Interesting notes:
It is said that being quiet in forest so as not to disturb or turning one’s clothes inside out is a way of avoiding the ire of a Tikbalang (since the trickster finds the inside-out clothing humorous). 
If one can find the golden hairs in their mane and pluck them, it is said that Tikbalang can be controlled and perhaps will even grant wishes; other stories simply have this as a result of being able to outmatch it in a contest or wresting a stone from their person. The Mars Ravelo superhero Flash Bomba acquired his powers in this fashion. In Trese, she defeats a Tikbalang in a race and gains three “favors” as a reward.
In some provinces, Tikbalang are considered Aswang and are of a demonic nature. Perhaps these stories are created by separate tribes of Tikbalang, individual Tikbalang who’ve made dark pacts, or perhaps they’re simply a different breed from the more trickster type.
- See more at: http://www.writeups.org/fiche.php?id=4910#sthash.Tw48UVO2.dpuf

Appearance:
A Tikbalang is somewhat reminiscent of a Minotaur; however, instead of a bull’s head and physical traits, Tikbalang have horses’ heads and features. Often they are described as having unusually long limbs and when they sit, their knees reach above their head. In many of the Filipino comics they are portrayed as being very tribal and often have tribal tattoos and loincloths as well as ancient weapons.
Personality:
They love challenges and will grant favors to those who can defeat them in a race or other physical challenges. They can be friendly, but like many fey creatures they are also tricksters and have been known to enchant, seduce and/or kidnap young maidens to satisfy their proportionate libidos. 
Often these creatures are encountered as guardians of bridges and thick groves, especially bamboo. They could be used similar to “bridge trolls,” demanding that someone defeat them or bribe them in order to pass over their bridge or through their grove. Sometimes they can also be found in hot springs, they are said to bathe in these during the full moon.
Common Powers:
Tikbalang are incredibly fast, and they are often depicted as excellent archers. Sometimes Tikbalang are said to be able to grant wishes, and in other stories are said to be able to disappear into a cloud of falling rocks. In still others, they can take humanoid form, usually the appearance of someone close to the traveler they are harassing. Occasionally, their manes also have razor sharp spines.
- See more at: http://www.writeups.org/fiche.php?id=4910#sthash.Tw48UVO2.dpuf

Tikbalang

Appearance:
A Tikbalang is somewhat reminiscent of a Minotaur; however, instead of a bull’s head and physical traits, Tikbalang have horses’ heads and features. Often they are described as having unusually long limbs and when they sit, their knees reach above their head. In many of the Filipino comics they are portrayed as being very tribal and often have tribal tattoos and loincloths as well as ancient weapons.
Personality:
They love challenges and will grant favors to those who can defeat them in a race or other physical challenges. They can be friendly, but like many fey creatures they are also tricksters and have been known to enchant, seduce and/or kidnap young maidens to satisfy their proportionate libidos. 
Often these creatures are encountered as guardians of bridges and thick groves, especially bamboo. They could be used similar to “bridge trolls,” demanding that someone defeat them or bribe them in order to pass over their bridge or through their grove. Sometimes they can also be found in hot springs, they are said to bathe in these during the full moon.
Common Powers:
Tikbalang are incredibly fast, and they are often depicted as excellent archers. Sometimes Tikbalang are said to be able to grant wishes, and in other stories are said to be able to disappear into a cloud of falling rocks. In still others, they can take humanoid form, usually the appearance of someone close to the traveler they are harassing. Occasionally, their manes also have razor sharp spines.
- See more at: http://www.writeups.org/fiche.php?id=4910#sthash.SH7iV49V.dpuf

Tikbalang

Appearance:
A Tikbalang is somewhat reminiscent of a Minotaur; however, instead of a bull’s head and physical traits, Tikbalang have horses’ heads and features. Often they are described as having unusually long limbs and when they sit, their knees reach above their head. In many of the Filipino comics they are portrayed as being very tribal and often have tribal tattoos and loincloths as well as ancient weapons.
Personality:
They love challenges and will grant favors to those who can defeat them in a race or other physical challenges. They can be friendly, but like many fey creatures they are also tricksters and have been known to enchant, seduce and/or kidnap young maidens to satisfy their proportionate libidos. 
Often these creatures are encountered as guardians of bridges and thick groves, especially bamboo. They could be used similar to “bridge trolls,” demanding that someone defeat them or bribe them in order to pass over their bridge or through their grove. Sometimes they can also be found in hot springs, they are said to bathe in these during the full moon.
Common Powers:
Tikbalang are incredibly fast, and they are often depicted as excellent archers. Sometimes Tikbalang are said to be able to grant wishes, and in other stories are said to be able to disappear into a cloud of falling rocks. In still others, they can take humanoid form, usually the appearance of someone close to the traveler they are harassing. Occasionally, their manes also have razor sharp spines.
- See more at: http://www.writeups.org/fiche.php?id=4910#sthash.SH7iV49V.dpuf

An extremely brief primer on Filipino Mythology

An extremely brief primer on Filipino Mythology

An extremely brief primer on Filipino Mythology