Case file · Folklore / legend
The Tao and the anito of Orchid Island
Japanese anthropologist Torii Ryuzo, visiting Orchid Island in 1897, recorded the Tao people's fear of anito, spirits of the dead who cause illness and must be kept away.
1897 CE · 22.05, 121.55 · status: account
The account
Funerals are hurried, men wear armour and brandish spears against anito, and the dead are buried far from homes. The belief shaped modern protests against a nuclear waste site on the island.