Hidden among human society, the vampiric Mandurugo creature is slowly draining her unassuming husbands of their blood and life to sustain her eternal youth and beauty.
In Philippine folklore terminology, Mandurugo is distinguished from the broader category of aswang, a general term for malevolent shape-shifters. The name mandurugo itself comes from the root word dugo, which means “blood” in several Philippine languages. A mandurugo is literally “one who deals in blood.”
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The mandurugo is typically described as a woman of striking beauty by day, indistinguishable from any other person in her community. And unlike many vampiric notions, she is not seen as a revenant or a part of the undead, but rather a real life woman or creature with powers.
A Beautiful Woman in the Dark
As mentioned, the mandurugo blends in with the rest of human society and targets mainly young men. She marries time and time again to feed on her husbands. She feeds on her husband at night, laying in bed next to him as he sleeps. She has a pointed tongue she uses to prick and suck his blood and life.
She also has the ability to shapeshift into a harpy-like creature with wings and at night she can fly and hunt her prey, something she has in common with another vampiric creature in Filipino mythology we’ll come back to.
Her appetites give rise to fear and mystery. If a man suddenly falls ill without explanation, communities whisper that a mandurugo may have visited him in the night. If livestock weaken or drain perplexingly, people suspect the same hunger at work.
For protection, some would make a concoction of duhat (Java plum) mixed with ginger, manzanitas bark, yantok, blood and makahiya leaves and used as an offering to the mandurugo, so she wouldn’t harm those in the household.
Folklore and Fear of the Filipino Shapeshifters
The Mandurugo is thought of being a type of Aswang creature, shapeshifting monsters in Filipino myths and legends. These creatures were documented to be some of the most feared in folklore and their motifs were often nothing but causing most harm.
Asawang: Aswang is an umbrella term for various shape-shifting evil and malevolent creatures in Filipino folklore, such as vampires, ghouls, witches, viscera suckers, and transforming human-beast hybrids. Spanish colonists noted that the aswang was the most feared among the mythical creatures of the Philippines, even in the 16th century.
Most of the stories and legends about the Mandurugo are found in both Tagalog and Bicol lore, specifically around Capiz, Panay Island it seems to have been most prominent.
We have documented tales about the lore from the Spanish from the 16th century and where the lore about the Asawang and Mandurugo were seen and understood through the Christian lense and demonology, that made an impact about how they are seen today.
It seems that the lore about the Mandrurugo changed drastically. In pre-colonial Philippines the Mandurugo used protective rituals during vulnerable life stages such as childbirth. It is also likely that once, the mandurugo were a type of Kinnara or kinnari, gentle and beautiful winged creatures that resemble slim youths. They have wings same as birds on their backs, some on their buttocks, in oral tradition it is believed that the Kinari will love and serve devotedly any human who has treated it kind and when the human breaks the creature’s heart the kinari turns into a blood sucking monster.
The Manananggal Vampiric Creature Targeting Pregnant Women
As mentioned, the Mandurugo is only one of many vampiric creatures with a bird-like appearance. The manananggal is described as being an older, beautiful woman capable of severing its upper torso in order to fly into the night with huge bat-like wings.
They are definitely similar and have sometimes been used interchangeably in stories. The main difference being who they are hunting. The Manananggal prey on unsuspecting, sleeping pregnant women in their homes. The myth of the manananggal is widely recognized in the Visayan regions of the Philippines.
The word manananggál is derived from the Tagalog word tanggál, meaning “to remove” or “to separate”, and literally translating to “remover” or “separator”. They also use an elongated proboscis-like tongue to suck fetuses from these pregnant women. They also prefer to eat the heart and the liver and the phlegm of sick people. Folklore also associates the creature with targeting newlyweds, lovers, newborn children, and occasionally grooms who were abandoned before marriage.
Traditional practices for killing a manananggal include applying salt, garlic, ash, or fire to the lower half, thereby preventing the upper torso from reuniting with it. If it fails to recombine before sunrise, the creature is believed to die.
The Girl With Many Lovers
One of the most famous stories about the husband hunting mandurugo vampire, is the Tagalog story of The Girl With Many Lovers.
A young girl said to have been the most beautiful in the land, married at the age of sixteen. Although she was from an unknown place and an unknown family, her beauty won everyone over. Her husband was young and strong, but something was wrong. Although there were no clear signs of illness or disease, he withered away within a year and died.
After his death she remarried, but her second husband, and then her third, suffered the same fate. After all the death that kept following her, suspicion around her grew, although nothing could be proved.
Her fourth husband, having been warned, feigned sleep one night while keeping a knife close at hand. At midnight he felt a presence looming over him and then a prick in his neck. He stuck at the creature with his knife, and heard a screech and the flapping of wings.
The next day, his bride was found dead near their house with a knife wound in her chest, having been a blood sucking Manurugo the whole time.
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References:
mandurugo | Facts, Information, and Mythology
https://solarspell-dls.sfis.asu.edu/mea/wikipedia/wp/v/Vampire.htm
Bicolano Myths : ASWANG (BIKOLANO MYTHOLOGY)
Mandurugo: A vampire from Filipino folklore