Entanglements between Tao people and Anito on Lanyu Island, Taiwan

Abstract

My chapter is about Anito, a rather nasty kind of malicious spirit intensely feared and hated by the Tao people of Lanyu Island, and about how multidimensional entanglements with Anito ultimately define Tao lives.1 Anito are by no means restricted to Lanyu and are also found in many parts of the Philippines and other neighboring areas (Salazar 1968; Hornedo 1980; Apostol 2010). In this they share common roots with the Tao, whose ancestors were Philippine in origin and are said to have reached Lanyu some 800 years ago. Anito (which are related to Malaysian Antu, Indonesian Hantu, Micronesian Aniti, and Polynesian Aitu) are ancestral spirits roaming the vicinity of villages and their surrounding gardens and forests. On Lanyu, most Anito are said to be evil, intent on upsetting the plans of humans, inflicting physical and mental diseases, causing misfortunes, and stealing human souls (see also Presterudstuen, Chapter 8 herein). Some are less potent or aggressive, causing only minor trouble like stealing food and making someone slip or stumble. And if they are the spirits of one’s own dead, Anito may even be benevolent, blessing their descendants and assisting them in times of hardship. However, even good-natured Anito sometimes attack their nearest living relatives. Anito, then, are ambiguous creatures-monstrous in their intentions, through their bodies (visible to young children, whose eyes are said to be “much purer” than those of adults) and their placement on the margins of human settlements, as well as in their cosmological positioning.