Religion in pre-colonial Philippines

The nature of religion in the pre-colonial Philippines is often unclear. Religions present include animism, Philippine mythologies such as Anito, and influences from Hinduism and Buddhism. The earliest pieces of evidence that exist are archaeological finds including Hindu- Buddhist gold statues. The earliest written evidence comes from the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, dated to around 900 CE, which uses the Buddhist-Hindu lunar calendar. With the arrival of Islam in the 14th century, the older religions gradually disappeared, and after the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 Christianity specifically Roman Catholicism became the dominant religion. However, some of the Indigenous peoples of the Philippines continue to practice animism today, and many of the traditions in Anito have survived in the form of Folk Catholicism.

Animism was widely practiced in the pre-colonial Philippines. Today, only a handful of the indigenous tribes continue to practice the old traditions. The term animism encompasses a collection of beliefs and cultural mores anchored more or less in the idea that the world is inhabited by spirits and supernatural entities, both good and bad, and that respect must be accorded to them through worship. These nature spirits are known as "diwatas", related to Hindu Devatas.

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