Engkanto

Engkanto
Gender	Male/female
Region	Philippines

Engkanto (from Spanish encanto, lit. 'enchantment') are mythical environmental spirits that are said to have the ability to appear in human form.^[1] They are often associated with the spirits of ancestors and spirits of the dead called anito in the Philippines.^[2][3][4] They are also characterized as spirit sorts like sirens, dark beings, elves, and more.^[5] Belief in their existence has likely existed for centuries,^[4] and continues to this day.^[6]

It is a bracket term for enchanted human-like beings of the land which includes a variety of mythical races. The term itself was adopted from the Spanish, who were dumbfounded by the wide array of mythical races in the Philippines and just referred to many of the races as "enchanted".^[7] Though at the same time the term does not differ at all from the archaic Spanish sense of the word as referring to a supernatural apparition, sometimes tied to a place.

Some types of Encanto are the "unbound" spirits which have independent existence. They appear in animal (usually as birds) or human-like forms, have gender differentiation, and have personal names. They are most similar to the elves of European folklore. These are the most common types of spirits to become abyan (spirit guides of babaylan), as they are the most "sociable" and can take interest in human activities. These spirits are usually referred to as engkanto (from Spanish encanto) in modern Filipino folklore. Unlike the "bound" spirits, these spirits can be invited into human households, and their rituals can take place both outdoors and indoors^[8]