The Kapre is the giant tree-dwelling being of Philippine folklore: a tall, dark, hairy, cigar-smoking creature who lives in the great old trees — the balete, the acacia, the mango — watching the world from its branches, sometimes frightening, sometimes mischievous, sometimes oddly benevolent, the brooding guardian of its tree.
The Giant of the Tree
The kapre is described as an enormous, dark-skinned, hairy humanoid — a giant, often seven to nine feet tall or more — with a muscular build and a fondness for sitting in the branches of great old trees, smoking an enormous cigar or pipe (or rolled tobacco) whose glowing ember can be seen in the dark canopy at night. It dwells especially in the ancient balete trees (the strangler fig, deeply associated with spirits in Filipino belief), the acacia, and other great trees, and it is bound to its particular tree, which it guards and inhabits.
The Watcher in the Branches
The kapre is a creature of the night and the tree-tops, often glimpsed (or sensed) as a great dark presence in the canopy, the red glow of its cigar marking it in the darkness, the smell of its strong tobacco-smoke betraying its presence. It can make itself invisible, and it is said to play tricks on travelers — confusing them, leading them in circles, hiding their belongings, or simply watching them pass with its glowing red eyes. Yet the kapre is not usually truly malevolent; it is more a mischievous, brooding, territorial guardian than a predator, and it is even said sometimes to fall in love with a human woman, or to befriend and protect those who treat its tree with respect.
The Guardian of the Old Trees
The kapre embodies the Filipino reverence for and wariness of the great old trees, especially the balete, which were held to be the dwelling-places of spirits, to be passed with respect and the murmured “tabi-tabi po.” To cut down a kapre’s tree, or to disrespect it, was to invite the creature’s anger; to honour it was to be left in peace, or even aided. A figure of the deep forest and the ancient tree, the kapre is one of the most beloved and atmospheric of Philippine folk-creatures. In the Kapre, Filipino myth gave form to the brooding guardian-giant of the great trees — the dark, hairy, cigar-smoking being who watches from the canopy of the old balete and acacia, the territorial spirit of the tree, mischievous and frightening yet not without a strange benevolence.