This paper explores a hybrid form of Christianity manifested in the oral narrative literature and ethnobotany of the Agta indigenous people at Mt. Asog in the Bikol Region of the Philippines. Based on field research (2002-2004), it studies a hybrid form of belief in a reality composed of visible and invisible beings existing at the same space and time. In this reality, the belief in the power of plants and animals is instrumental for different relations between human beings and various invisible entities. The Bikol Region is predominantly Christian due to its history as a part of Spanish colony. Yet, the Mountain people of Asog believe in a reality in which indigenous culture overpowers Christianity. It is a cultural hybrid that shows the power and identity of Philippine post-colonial culture.

Bikol is known for the deep veneration for the Blessed Virgin Mary articulated in the nine days celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Peñafrancia. Highlighted by the mass media, this feast has become a center of the perceived identity of our region. But the exploration of other parts of a post-colonial culture outside the perceived centers expands knowledge. Interdisciplinary studies of Bikol oral literatures can deconstruct and expand the common perceptions of our identity. As contribution to Philippine post-colonial studies, this paper shows that the old, Bikol pre-colonial animism still exists, though in different forms. It remains relatively pure in some situations and has absorbed and overpowered some Christian elements in other situations.