The Asuang (AFI: [a'swaŋ]) is a goblin, sorcerer or demon of the Philippine mythology, known in almost all the Philippine archipelago, particularly among the Tagalogs, Pampangos, Bicolans, etc.
It is a nocturnal demon that takes the forms it wants, like those of a dog, cat, bird or other animal. The aswang preferably takes children, abandoned and lonely walkers. With its horribly dilated tongue, black and flexible as silk, it extracts fetuses from women who are pregnant. To him the pains in childbirth are attributed.
Many different and even contrary fables refer to the asuang, because the different Filipino peoples confuse under the name of asuang the memories of several demons different from their ancient religion (like the size and the bed-bed); so today asuang is usually, for everyone, the generic name of a series of elves or equivalent to the meaning of the Spanish voice, witch or goblin. The bird Tiktik, nocturnal bird, announces with its song the proximity of the asuang. Bibliography
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