page_title: Anito
section_title: Altars and sacred areas
hierarchical_section_title: Anito / Religious objects and places / Altars and sacred areas
caption_attribution_description: English: The century-old Enchanted Balete Tree in Lazi, Siquijor. A natural spring emanates from its roots, where doctor fish were introduced, giving visitors the unique experience of having their dead skin cells cleaned by these fish.
context_page_description: Anito, also spelled anitu, refers to ancestor spirits, nature spirits, and deities in the indigenous animistic religions of precolonial Philippines. It can also refer to carved humanoid figures, the taotao, made of wood, stone, or ivory, that represent these spirits. Anito is also sometimes known as diwata in certain ethnic groups.
  Pag-anito refers to a séance, often accompanied by other rituals or celebrations, in which a shaman acts as a medium to communicate directly with the spirits. When a nature spirit or deity is specifically involved, the ritual is called pagdiwata. The act of worship or a religious sacrifice to a spirit is also sometimes simply referred to as anito.
  The belief in anito are sometimes referred to as Anitism in scholarly literature.
context_section_description: Ancient Filipinos did not have temples or permanent buildings of worship. However, they did have semi-permanent spirit houses. They can range in size from small roofed platforms to structures similar to a small house (but with no walls). These were known as magdantang in Visayan and ulango or simbahan in Tagalog. They can also be used as places to store taotao. Among Bicolanos, taotao were also kept inside sacred caves called moog.
  During certain ceremonies, anito are venerated through temporary altars near sacred places. These were called latangan or lantayan in Visayan and dambana or lambana in Tagalog. These bamboo or rattan altars are identical in basic construction throughout most of the Philippines. They were either small roof-less platforms or standing poles split at the tip (similar to a tiki torch). They held halved coconut shells, metal plates, or martaban jars as receptacles for offerings. Taotao may sometimes also be placed on these platforms.
  Other types of sacred places or objects of worship of diwata include the material manifestation of their realms. The most widely venerated were balete trees (also called nonok, nunuk, nonoc, etc.) and anthills or termite mounds (punso). Other examples include mountains, waterfalls, tree groves, reefs, and caves.
caption: Diwata are believed to inhabit this 400-year old balete tree in Lazi, Siquijor with a natural spring between its roots
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX S6500", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "COOLPIX S6500V1.0", "Image DateTime": "2015:09:01 07:57:40", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "234", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "58252", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3285", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/25", "EXIF FNumber": "31/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1400", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:09:01 07:57:40", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:09:01 07:57:40", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "33/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "9/2", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4608", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3456", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "58128", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "25", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Portrait", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}