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There is little evidence remaining of the nature of religion in Middle Ages of the Philippines. The possibilities include animism, Philippine mythologies such as Anito, and influences from Hinduism or Buddhism. The earliest pieces of evidence that exist are archaeological finds including Hinduist or 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 became the dominant religion. However, some of the indigenous Philippine tribes continue to practice animism today, and many of the traditions in Anito have been Christianized and turned into Folk Catholicism. ==Ancient artifacts== The Philippines's archaeological finds include many ancient gold artifacts.〔Jesus T. Peralta, "Prehistoric Gold Ornaments CB Philippines," Arts of Asia, 1981, 4:54-60.〕〔(Art Exhibit: Philippines' 'Gold of Ancestors' ) in Newsweek.〕 Most of them have been dated to belong to the 9th century. The artifacts reflect the iconography of the Srivijaya empire’s Vajrayana Buddhism and its influences on the Philippines’s early states.〔Laszlo Legeza, “Tantric Elements in the Philippines PreHispanic Gold Arts,” Arts of Asia, 1988, 4:129-136.〕 The artifacts’s distinct features point to their production in the islands. It is probable that they were made locally because archaeologist Peter Bellwood discovered the existence of an ancient goldsmith’s shop that made the 20-centuries-old ''lingling-o'', or omega-shaped gold ornaments in Batanes. The Golden Tara was discovered in 1918 in Esperanza, Agusan by Bilay Campos a Manobo tribeswoman.〔(Agusan Gold Image only in the Philippines ).〕 The Golden Tara was eventually brought to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois in 1922. Henry Otley Beyer, the Philippines’s pioneer anthropologist-archaeologist, and some experts have agreed on its identity and have dated it to belong within 900-950 CE. They can not place, however, its provenance because it has distinct features.〔Agusan Image Documents, Agusan-Surigao Historical Archives.〕 The golden-vessel kinnari was found in 1981 in Surigao. The kinnari exists in both Buddhist and Hindu mythology. In Buddhism, the kinnari, a half-human and half-bird creature, represents enlightened action. The Buddhist Lotus Sutra mentions the kinnari as the celestial musician in the Himavanta realm. The kinnari takes the form of a centaur, however, in India's epic poem, the Mahabharata, and in the Veda's Purana part. The other finds are the garuda, the mythical bird that is common to Buddhism and Hinduism, and several Padmapani images. Padmapani is also known as Avalokitesvara, the wisdom being or Bodhisattva of Compassion. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Religion in the pre-colonial Philippines」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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