NOTE: This is a reaction to an article by GMA Network claiming that Nagmalitong Yawa Sinagmaling Diwata and the yawa from pre-colonial Filipino myths and folklore were demonized by the Spaniards, thus giving birth to the Bisayan pejorative “pisting yawa!” Article here: https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/specials/content/206/our-progressive-past/
Does the Bisayan curse “pisting yawa” refer to Nagmalitong Yawa Sinagmaling Diwata (a character from the Panay Bukidnon or Sulod epics and mythology)? Did the Spaniards demonize the yawa? Let’s see…
The term “yawa” in old Ilonggo beliefs refers to an otherworldly or a supernatural being while the yawa among Bisayans refers to malevolent beings in general. That’s why we Ilonggos have the term “yawan-on” which equates to something evil or non-human. This doesn’t refer to Nagmalitong Yawa Sinagmaling Diwata but rather to the kind of beings she belongs. Also, there are lines in the epics that indicate Nagmalitong Yawa Sinagmaling Diwata and yawa are two different entities. Among the Bisayans, specifically in Eastern Samar, the Spanish Fr. Ignacio Alcina mentioned in his Historia de Las Islas E Indios de Bisayas (1668) that the yawa was a malevolent male forest diwata who abducted women. In other accounts, the yawa strangled people according to the deity Maka-ubus’s whim.
It should be noted that the Hinilawod epic along with most of its characters including Nagmalitong Yawa were only discovered and documented from the hinterlands of Panay Island by the anthropologist F. Landa Jocano in 1955 while the Yawa of the Bisaya was cited by Alcina in his writings in 1668. How could the Spaniards demonize a character from an epic they haven’t heard of, since they had virtually no contact with the Panay Bukidnon or Sulod tribes.
Is the yawa a demon? Not really but based on the accounts of natives during Alcina’s time, them being viewed as demons or evil spirits has basis and not just the sole machination of the Spaniards in their effort to convert our ancestors to Catholicism as some would have you believe.
Before the arrival of Catholicism our ancestors already feared or dreaded such beings as the yawa, which they preferred to avoid since these beings were not like them – not human – and were unpredictable (sometimes good, mostly mischievous). The Cebuanos have the “dili ingon nato” which refers to “beings not like us” whom they prefer to steer clear of. Were the yawa revered back then? Probably but they were mostly feared by our ancestors even before the Spaniards set foot on our shores. Our ancestors already had a stereotypical view on these beings: yes, some are good but they can make you sick on a whim so it is best to avoid them.
This violent aspect of these beings only made them look evil compared to the Christian god and that was one of the things the Spanish missionaries capitalized on when they were converting the natives. God won’t give them boils or sores if they cut the crooked tree in their backyard and God won’t spirit away their women and children into the woods like the yawa do. God will protect them from these mischievous beings.
So, it’s natural that when most of our ancestors converted to Catholicism, the yawa – for their mischief – were cast out, relegated as a demonio or Satan himself in favor of the generally benevolent God similar to how Zoroastrian deities and entities were shunned by those who converted to Abrahamic religion – Baal bad, God is good. Thus, the Bisayans came up with “pisting yawa” as an expression or to curse someone or something while the “yawan-on” among us Ilonggos is presently used to refer to something demonic or an evil person.
For further reading on this matter, please refer the excellent work of Christian Jeo Talaguit here: https://www.academia.edu/49594833/Pisting_Yawa_The_Devil_who_was_once_a_Bisayan_Deity_The_14th_DLSU_Arts_Congress_Pandemic_Resilience_and_the_Arts_
Art & Fiction + Philippine Folklore & Mythology 