User:Alternativity/sandbox/Indigenous religious beliefs of the Philippines

Various terms have been used to refer to the religeous beliefs of the 175 Ethnolinguistic Nations of the Philippines have been collectively referred to as Anitism, Bathalism, and more generally, Animism.

The profusion of different terms arises from the fact that these indigenous religeons mostly flourished in the pre-colonial period before the Philippines had become a single nation. The various peoples of the Philippines spoke different languages and chroniclers thus used different terms to describe their religeous beliefs. While these beliefs can be treated as separate religeons, scholars have noted that they follow a "common structural framework of ideas" which can be studied together.

Some writers have noted that these beliefs have similarities with Shintoism, although they do not draw a historical linkage betwen the two belief systems. More historically linked are the various indigenous religeous beliefs the various religeons of oceania and the maritime southeast asia, which draw their roots from austronesian beliefs as those in the Philippines.

As of 2010, an estimated 2% of the Philippine population identified as practicing indigenous beliefs - the majority of whom live in isolated areas where Islam, Catholicism, or Protestantism have not become dominant.

On the other hand, many aspects of these traditions have been integrated into the local practice of Catholicism and Islam, resulting in syncretistic practices called "Folk Catholicism" and "Folk Islam."

The folklore narratives associated with these religeous beliefs constitute what is now called Philippine Mythology, and is an important aspect of the study of Philippine culture and Filipino psychology.