#babaylan

This was a fun creature to design and draw, even though the tiny details steadily grew as I went. I love weird creatures and monsters, and this gave me motivation to make some more.

I'll be using this creature as my D&D character's abayan, a nature spirit companion that's part of The Islands of Sina Una babaylan class.

Princess Urduja and the Babaylans: Warrior Princess

In a world filled with diverse belief systems—Abrahamic religions, Oriental philosophies, Hinduism, Buddhism, and even the mythologies of Greece, Egypt, and the Americas—why would someone choose to walk the path of Filipino Indigenous Spirituality?  For me, the answer is simple yet profound: I have returned to the roots of my race, to the spiritual essence of the Filipino people. After years of…

The Babaylan: Warrior Princess

by Migo Kamandag

This depiction is inspired by the classical artworks of Galo Ocampo and Botong Francisco in the 20th century.

In the colonial Philippines, resistance did not always take the form of war. Sometimes, it rose from visions, rituals, and the power of belief. One such figure of resistance was Tapar, a babaylan from Barotac Viejo, Iloilo, who in 1663 led a religious rebellion against Spanish colonialism. His movement, though brutally suppressed, remains a powerful example of how native spirituality resisted foreign domination—not with arms, but with conviction.

Tapar was a charismatic leader and spiritual figure in his community. As a babaylan, he was considered a medium between the physical and spiritual realms, a healer, and a keeper of ancestral knowledge. During a time when Catholic missionaries were working to dismantle indigenous beliefs, Tapar declared a divine mission of his own.

Claiming to be the “God the Father,” Tapar attracted a group of devoted followers, many of whom were women. He did not act alone. Within his circle, he appointed key members of his cult to symbolic religious roles, mimicking and challenging Catholic hierarchy. One follower was named "God the Son," another declared as the “God the Holy Spirit”, and they have even the “Blessed Virgin”, and others were given saintly titles. These roles were not merely symbolic—they formed the foundation of an alternative spiritual order that subverted the Spanish Church.

This group practiced rituals that paralleled Catholic sacraments but were infused with Visayan animist practices, spirit possession, and promises of supernatural protection. Tapar taught that he and his appointed "divine" followers could offer salvation and miracles without the need for friars or churches. His teachings directly contradicted the authority of both the Church and the Spanish crown.

The Spanish friars, particularly the Augustinians, viewed Tapar’s growing influence as a grave threat. His reinterpretation of Christianity and his refusal to submit to colonial religious control marked him as both a heretic and a rebel. In the eyes of the Spanish regime, his movement was a form of spiritual insurrection.

Acting swiftly, Spanish officials organized an armed response. Tapar and his followers were captured and subjected to brutal punishment. Far from a simple execution, their deaths were designed to send a chilling message to others who might defy Spanish rule or reject Catholicism.

Historical accounts tell of a gruesome and symbolic execution. Tapar and his key followers were not merely executed by sword or rope. They were impaled alive on sharpened bamboo spears—a cruel and humiliating form of torture. Their dying bodies were then reportedly left for crocodiles to feast on, an act meant to desecrate them further and deny them a proper burial.

This horrific punishment reflected not just the severity of colonial justice, but the deep fear the Spanish had of spiritual movements outside their control. The babaylan, with their knowledge of native medicine, rituals, and the unseen world, were not just spiritual figures—they were political threats.

Though Tapar’s movement was crushed, his legacy survives as a symbol of indigenous resilience. His story reveals how pre-colonial belief systems did not disappear quietly but instead fought back—sometimes openly, sometimes through hidden rituals and underground communities.

Tapar’s actions show that religious resistance was not passive. By creating a counter-Christian movement, appointing his own divine figures, and promising an alternative salvation, Tapar challenged not just the religion of the colonizers, but their entire system of control. His fate also reveals how violently the Spanish tried to erase such resistance.

Magwayen Boxer Codex inspired depiction

Below the text in Badlit contains an old folk invocation/prayer that reads:

Malulutong Mahulayon

Kon kami pagahunoson

Ihatag Mo ang kamatayon

Nga tawhay ug malinawon

Kay sa agak nga mahumpayon