Diwatas as Extra-Terrestrial Intelligences
In the comic-book Baylans: Hack the Culture, there is the eerie presence of otherworldly sentient beings called Diwatas. Like many elements found in Baylans, they have been treated differently from depictions found in pop culture. The common understanding of Diwatas are fairy spirits, usually female, that reside in areas untouched by modern man, like virgin forests. While modern literature would describe the diwatas as having these fairy forms, their cultural roots describe them differently. The Manobos of Mindanao describe the diwata as "having bodies with covering like fingernails, smooth and shiny, with skin only on their joints."
The word diwata (or dewata, devata, divata or diuata, as some groups call them), is of Sanskrit origin. It means "divine". The belief in these spirits pervade in all of the indigenous societies in the Philippines. The Ifugaos, for example, have around 1,500 names for these beings. The belief in diwatas didn't die with anceint Filipino pagan religions, however. Modern practicioners of spiritual communication often relate stories of encounters with non-human spirits, which they describe to be enkantos, coming from the Spanish word encanto, or enchanted. New Age followers would call these beings "elementals".
Diwata Encounters
There is a distinct similarity between encounters with Diwatas and Extra-Terrestrial Intelligences, or UFO encounters in the fourth kind. Children who have experienced encounters with a diwata, or engkanto, relate that they have been invited by a spirit who brought them to the diwata kingdom, where they get to see diwatas in the multitudes. Visits to the diwata otherworld often happen with the victim unconscious. The victims would return to civilization with strange markings on their body, mysteriously inflicted wounds and scratches. They will also relate to having communicated to the leader of the group (which they sometimes describe as king), who invited them to join their kingdom.
UFO abductee reports also relate having been brought to a strange place (usually a spacecraft), communicated with a message (usually involving impending disasters), and having returned with mysterious wounds. The Internet is in no shortage of UFO abduction reports.
While there are fundamental differences between the two sets of experiences, these differences may be attributed to the cultural background of the victims. Superstitious Filipinos are more inclined to believe in nature spirits than visitors from outer space. Physical descriptions of the mysterious beings also vary. However, it is interesting to note that the Bagobo description of the diwata, as related above, is a close enough description of an alien grey, the alien form most common in reports from Western cultures. It is highly possible that these beings which we call Diwatas are actually extra-terrestrial intelligences that have lived on Earth long before the evolution of man.
For Further ReadingThe Soul Book: Introduction to Philippine Pagan Religion, Francisco Demetrio, SJ et al.