Kapre

For this week's episode, we're heading back over to the Philippines for the fantastic tree dwelling Kapre! How does this monster link to colonialism in the Philippines? How can you tell one is nearby? Find out this week!

Transcript

INTRO:

Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

I’ve been pretty quiet for the last few weeks, I’ve been so busy with my new job and barely been at home so I’ve not had time to be online and being my usual active self - hopefully this week is a bit different!

This week we’re heading over to the Philippines for the first time in a little while, and looking at a really beloved folklore character over there known as the Kapre.

DESCRIPTION:

This is my absolute favourite Filipino monster as I got to research this when I was at uni, with my friend Dominique - who you might remember from the Manananggal episode last year. Although the Manananggal is definitely up there in my top 5, the Kapre by far takes this one for my favourite Filipino myth monster. 

The Kapre is described as a tree giant in Filipino folklore, usually being around 7-9ft tall with dark, thick fur covering most of their muscular body. They are usually found in mango, acacia, bamboo or banyan trees, smoking cigars with their long legs resembling long tree branches whilst they relax in the leaves. You can tell you’ve stumbled upon a Kapre as they have a really strong smell of goat about them, which will definitely lead you to thinking there is one nearby.

They usually wear a belt that grants them invisibility to humans, except on Fridays, and a traditional Filipino loincloth called a bahag, very much like the indigenous tribes of the Philippines. 

They are considered incredibly wise, talkative and generally are not violent towards people, however, they will take vengeance if their orchard is cut down. They do apparently seek after humans for friendship too, and they will always try and court any ladies walking by. If you do end up getting close to a Kapre, they will usually look over you and actually follow you for the rest of your life as a guardian and protector - and this can be achieved through being their friend too, not just a love interest.

If you do get friendly enough, as well as stalking you for the rest of your days, he might even give you his magical white stone, which is about the size of a quail’s egg, and can allow the human to make wishes of the Kapre. The Kapre could also nominate himself as the guardian of a home, and would be considered good luck - even to this day.

On the other hand though, they are also known as tricksters - they often will try and confuse any travellers on their way around their orchards and make them walk around in circles, completely disorientated, or make them completely forget where they are, even if they’re in their own garden. 

Also, there are some stories that if you become the object of affection for a Kapre, they might end up giving into their desires and sexually assualting the person in their sleep - so that’s pretty rough too, but I will say that these stories are much very rare in comparison to the guardian trope. Adding to that, there are some rumours that there are white and black Kapre, white will not hurt you and just tend to watch, but black Kapre will actively harm you. However, you’ll see how this in itself is problematic later on.

Alongside the terrible smell they give off - you can also tell a Kapre is nearby in a tree by seeing smoke emerging from the top of the branches, hearing laughter from a tree or you’ll see what look like fireflies around the tree, which is actually the embers from his lit cigar. They are traditionally male, I’ve not been able to find any records of female Kapre at least - and they are argued to either be quite rugged, and sometimes handsome, to horrendously ugly giants. You could also find one just walking around the forest, not in a tree, but this was exceptionally rare, as they are considered quite lazy - or set in their ways I suppose is the better way to put that.

If you do manage to find one though, which is tricky considering they are invisible to humans, and can only be found when someone is really invested in tracking them down - if you do befriend it, you will be able to see all Kapre and if you interact with it in front of someone else, they will be able to see the Kapre too.

ORIGIN:

Now onto etymology, now for this it’s a bit wild. The word Kapre comes from the Arabic word kafir, which means non-believer, and in Spanish the word is cafre - which unfortunately was used as a term for slaves in the Philippines who were brought over by the Portuguese before the Spanish abolished the slave trade on the islands. 

There’s more to languages in this etymology though, in the Quran, the word root Kufr means ‘denial of truth’ but actually Islamic Filipinos did not use this term.

So how did it even get over to the islands? This is because the roots of this word is within the slaves which they brought over from Africa and the middle east, who used the term to describe the black people brought over. 

I will say that apparently this is also used to this day with a different spelling and pronunciation in Afrikaans as a racial slur, but I will stress that I’m talking about the Arabic and Spanish word for non-believer. This term was also used as a racial slur against the indigeous tribal people of the Philippines when the Spanish invaded - and actually the name of the Kapre was slightly adjusted to agtà, in order to capture another tribe within this horrendous racial labelling for the Aeta people.

So why does this monster link to a colonists racial prejudice? This is actually a really good question - and actually is all to do with the colonisation of the Philippines by the Spanish and Portuguese back in the day, and really encapsulates why this monster even exists within folklore - it’s actually a really sad reflection of racism. 

Before the Spanish invasion, the indigenous people of the Philippines believed in spirits, much like Aswang which we’ve talked about in previous episodes - and monsters like the Manananggal were pretty prevalent within the folklore. They also started to create a myth about a monster called the Pugot, which is a headless, dark skinned man who would also live in trees.

Then came 1565, when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi landed in the islands from Mexico City, and a cool fact here is that they landed during the reign of King Phillip 2nd of Spain, giving the islands his name as an honour - which is why they’re called the Philippines to this day (horrendous again, I know). They brought over slaves from Portugal, Africa, Papua New Guinea and the Middle East, and depending on their skin tones they would be known as cafre. They then turned their attention to the population of the islands to convert them to Christianity, with only a few tribes remaining. 

In the 17th century, these slaves started rebelling - and apparently the Spanish created the Kapre myth to discourage natives from helping the escaping slaves, some of them Filipino themselves - stating that they were cannibals, they smelt like goat and would live in trees like their monster, the Pugot. 

Then over time because of this, the word cafre was used to describe the Pugot, as unruly and uncivilised. One of the surviving Filipino tribes, Aetas - were the main victims of this, outside of the shipped in slaves, and were discriminated against by the Christians for their practises and dark skin like their slaves, who convinced the converted natives to reject them. This led to the link that anyone with darker skin, including the indigenous community from the islands were considered cafre.

Then in the 1980’s, the Philippines introduced the abakada alphabet - the letters C and F do not exist within this, so they were changed to K and P - changing cafre to Kapre, and the monster became its own little entity that it is today, however, having a really complicated racially fired past. 

Although this was the idea back in the 17th century, the origins of this monster are not forgotten, but very much rejected now - the monster is a being unto itself rather than being related to any human, be that indigenous or not. 

There are actually some famous Kapre too. The most famous being Mr Brown, who lives in an old Balete tree in front of Malacanang Palace, where the President of the Philippines resides. The tree is over 100 years old, and actually was given a heritage status back in 2011. Apparently, the rumour started when the first lady found it covered in fireflies, and to this day people still find it smoking. There is an amazing story of a cabbie who was standing in front of the palace one night, and asked for a lighter for his cigarette, and looked up to see Mr Brown offering him a match, the cabbie legged it inside and the whole serving staff laughed at him and told him about the story of the Kapre. There are more stories of the Kapre tapping his cigar ash onto the shoulders of people he doesn’t like, which I also find very funny. 

The other famous Kapre is one that was a friend of the first President, Emilio Aguinaldo, who was his personal guardian and lived under the bridge near his mansion in Cavite. Aguinaldo lived till he was 94, and apparently spat out a white stone before he died - he also sought military advice from the Kapre, and the Kapre in return made him impervious to bullets. However, some say that the Kapre was actually General David Fagen, who was an African-American soldier who defected to the Filipino Revolutionaries during the American-Philippines War. He apparently switched sides due to the racism in the American ranks, and lived out his days after the war in the Presidential garden - some believing that he was the Kapre, or he was just haunting the area. 

Fun fact with this one too, the US were obsessed with getting David back, so much so that there was a bounty on him - someone presented his apparent head later on, and the Filipinos refused to believe he was dead, including the Aeta tribe who give him the nickname Pugot, after the headless and friendly, black skinned monster from Filipino myth - although, not sure if this is a compliment or not.

Lastly though, it’s a reflection on racial discrimination within Asia - there is inheriently an indoctrinated idea that skin colour determines class, with apparently darker skinned Filipinos being poorer as they’re out in the sun all day, and white skinned people being considered higher class as they are protected from the harsh outdoors. If you look at some skin products or advertisements now in some Asian countries, it’s encouraged to lighten your skin. 

Also in contrast to this, sometimes blackface is still used within entertainment to convey indiginous or lower class people, and actually has been used to show a Kapre before in media, I’ve had friends go out to some Asian countries and been paraded around due to their European features, and also if they have darker skin. 

But a happier note to end on, in 2017, the first Aeta, Norman King, graduated from the University of the Philippines and wore his bahag at the ceremony to celebrate his culture and heritage, which I absolutely adore. There’s a fantastic video of his graduation actually made by a soap company which is kind of weird, but it celebrates his heritage and journey to acceptance so beautifully - I posted it and his story on Twitter on Tuesday this week. 

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, as you can imagine - there’s not a lot here, especially within Western media, but I’ve done my best! And really, much like the other sections in this segment with modern media - I usually have an alternative kind of trope to focus on, but this week I couldn’t find anything that fit in the Kapre’s gap because they are so unique.

For art this week, I would really recommend looking at independent art - there are some amazing pieces of art on deviantart and online. The piece I’ve used in my advertising this week is by Totmoartsstudio2 on DeviantArt, which is stunningly gorgeous and perfect for depicting these giants.

In movies, well unfortunately, I didn’t find anything I’m afraid - if you do know any, please do let me know. 

For TV, we have; Mag pakail anman, The Monster Hunter, Elemento, #ParangNormal Activity & Creatures of Philippine Mythology. I would really recommend the latter, as its a YouTube series, about 15 minutes long and is so good, it really helped me with my research this week!

In video games, we only have one actually, and that’s Tiny Castle - sorry bit of a lesser amount on this one this week.  

My book recommendation for this week is Vida Cruz’s Song of the Mango and Other Myths which comes out next year - or her existing book Beyond the Line of Trees, which is all about Filipino mythology - she’s an absolutely wonderful storyteller and I really recommend having a look and pre-ordering her new book if you can. I also know she’s getting married this week, so if you’re listening, Vida - congratulations!

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

I’m going to say that I’m not entirely sure with this one, I think it’s certainly possible that something could be hiding up in the trees in the Philippines somewhere, but I’m not 100% sure. 

I do however, see that the Kapre is a horrendous corruption of their own monster by racial discrimination, basically used to abuse indiginous communities or really anyone who refused to bend to the white European oppression. I also think it’s a reflection of the standards of beauty, that you need to be whiter to be beautiful - and that’s simply not true, and so unbelievably outdated and racist. 

I also think it's incredibly interesting that the Kapre is not linked to this colonial past, and exists just as a protector and guardian tree spirit who enjoys a cigar - and actually, you have to dig quite deep to get to the nitty gritty past of this gentle giant. I’m actually really thankful that this can be remembered in an honourable way, rather than one that could be filled with spite and malice.

This monster holds a real personal significance to me as it reminds me of my wonderful friend Dominique, as I said at the start of this episode, we both did our playwriting course together, and she wrote a beautiful playscript version of a wonderful book called Towards the Fires of Revolution by the wonderful Vida Cruz which features a Kapre, as the main antihero within the story about the Philippines rebelling against their Spanish colonisers. Since then, the Kapre has been idolised in my brain, and I’ve loved this monster ever since. 

But what do you think? Did Kapre roam the earth? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

It’s actually really nice to revisit this monster as it’s such a cool one - and it’s really nice to cover a monster that’s actually a little bit softer and more of a guardian than a monster itself. Also who doesn’t want to look at a giant tree troll who smokes cigars for an episode, they’re just really quite cool.

Next week, we’re heading over to Norse mythology for the first time in ages, and I love a bit of Norse myth. We’re looking at the zombified warriors, the Draugr, but make sure you keep your grave treasures close next Thursday!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.