Sitan
God of the afterlife who rules Kasanaan or Kasamaan in other sources. He rules his realm together with his agents: Manggagaway, Mansilat, Mangkukulam and Hukluban.
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Illustrated by Hyejin Gabriel Wong
Designed by Peonah Terese Repelente
Introduction - Audio version
Rotten to the Core
Rotten to the Core - Audio version
Good or bad matters after one’s death. A person will be distinguished whether he/she will be going to a paradise or a chaos type of afterlife. Tagalogs have a long tradition where burying a dead relative is given a pabaon which could be in the form of jewelry, food, or even slaves. Sitan, the god of afterlife, is one of the powerful gods as he holds the souls of people determining what path they will take afterlife. Sitan holds Kasanaan, the realm where the spirits of sinful mortals go.
Sitan rules the underworld of Kasanaan along with his agents who are Manggagaway, healer/killer who has the power to shorten or lengthen a person’s life; Mansilat, homewrecker who pretends to be an old woman to be welcomed at home but eventually destroys relationships of couples; Mangkukulam, powerful witch who has the power to burn houses of victims; and Hukluban, shapeshifter who always roams around in different forms. They are the ones who are ruling the underworld, playing with souls and life of people, especially to the souls who are judged and doomed to the underworld.
Tala was one of the goddesses who has grief towards Sitan as she collects souls to live peacefully in the sky making them stars as eyes of the world rather than being judged between their fates. Tala believes that there are more chances to change their souls even afterlife. The sky siblings always have bad terms with the agents of Sitan, making them always fight as they are the ones who start conflicts in the world.
Sitan is always tempted to ruin mankind, the one who always summons creatures like manananggal, tiyanak, nuno, tikbalang and the like, which are always roaming and messing around with humanity. Sitan always plays with the souls of the people and encourages them to commit sins and forbidden acts in order for them to be judged to go to Kasanaan after death. The more people who are enslaved in this world, the more people will bow down to him. Sitan will always be the evil of all the wickedness in the world as he is rotten to the core.
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