Philippine mythology
Creation gods Bathala Other gods According to Philippine mythology, Bathalang Maykapal, or Bathala for short, was the Supreme God of the ancient Tagalogs and King of the Diwata. ... Kan-Laon Mythical beings Kan-laon means he who is king of the ancient of days which means the supreme God in Visayan. ... Aswang Diwata Duwende Juan Tamad Malakas and Maganda Mambabarang Manananggal Mangkukulam Mariang Makiling Nuno sa punso Mythical animals Title: Aswang Description: Philippine ghoul Gender: Male/female Region: Western Visayas Equivalent: Tik-tik, Wak-wak An Aswang (or Asuwang) is a ghoul in Filipino folklore. ... In Philippine mythology, a diwata or encantada is a mythological figure similar to fairies. ... Juan Tamad (Filipino for Lazy John), is a character in Philippine folklore noteworthy for extreme laziness. ... A manananggal in Filipino folklore or penanggalan in Malay folklore is a mythical creature . ... Mangkukulam: derive from the Filipino word kulam which means curse. Another name for witches as used by Filipino. ... A Nuno or Nuno sa Punso is a dwarf-like creature of Philippine mythology, one which is mostly invisible to the human eye. ... Bakunawa Ekek Kapre Manaul Sarimanok Sirena Sigbin Siyokoy Tikbalang Tiyanak Mythical heroes The Bakunawa attempting to eat the moon. ... Kapre is a Philippine mythical creature similar to that of the Bigfoot creature, but with more human characteristics. ... An Islamic Legend says that The Prophet found a cock in the firts of the seven heaven. ... Dyesebel is a mermaid fictional character created by Filipino comics legend Mars Ravelo. ... The Sigbin are mythical creatures of the Philippines that come out at night and are said to suck the blood of their would-be victims from their shadows. ... Philippine folklore is unlike the Greek or Roman mythologies, which are long situational epics connected and happened to form cities and lands. ... The Tikbalang, in one artists interpretation. ... A Tiyanak waiting for a kind-hearted person to victimize The tiyanak (also tianak or tianac) is creature which, in Philippine mythology, imitates the form of a child. ... Ama-ron Bernardo Carpio Lam-Ang Mythical objects Bernardo Carpio is a legendary figure in Philippine Mythology who is said to be the cause of earthquakes. ... Agimat Related topics An agimat, intended to be worn with a necklace. ... Ifugao folklore Tagalog folklore Visayan folklore Mindanao folkore Philippine religions Paganism

Philippine mythology and folklore include a collection of tales and superstitions about magical creatures and entities. Some Filipinos, even though heavily westernized and christianized, still believe in such entities. The prevalence of belief in the figures of Philippine mythology is strong in the provinces. There are a number of religions that exist in the Philippines. ... Pagan and heathen redirect here. ...

Because the country has many islands and is inhabited by different ethnic groups, Philippine mythology and superstitions are very diverse. However, certain similarities exist among these groups, such as the belief in Heaven (kaluwalhatian, kalangitan','kamurawayan), Hell (impiyerno, kasanaan), and the human soul (kaluluwa).

Philippine Folk Literature

Main article: Philippine folk literature

Philippine mythology is derived from Philippine folk literature, which is the traditional oral literature of the Filipino people. This refers to a wide range of material due to the ethnic mix of the Philippines. Each unique ethnic group has its own stories and myths to tell. Philippine folk literature refers to the traditional oral literature of the Filipino people. ...

While the oral and thus changeable aspect of folk literature is an important defining characteristic, much of this oral tradition had been written into a print format. To point out that folklore in a written form can still be considered folklore, Utely pointed out that folklore "may appear in print, but must not freeze into print."^[1] It should be pointed out that all the examples of folk literature cited in this article are taken from print, rather than oral sources.

University of the Philippines professor, Damiana Eugenio, classified Philippine Folk Literature into three major groups: folk narratives, folk speech, and folk songs.^[2] Folk narratives can either be in prose: the myth, the alamat (legend), and the kuwentong bayan (folktale), or in verse, as in the case of the folk epic. Folk speech includes the bugtong (riddle) and the salawikain (proverbs). Folk songs that can be sub-classified into those that tell a story (folk ballads) are a relative rarity in Philippine folk literature. These form the bulk of the Philippines' rich heritage of folk songs. The Oblation UP Diliman, the flagship campus of the U.P. System UP Baguio UP Extension Program in Pampanga Temporary Campus UP Los Baños UP Manila This article is about the University of the Philippines System. ... For other uses, see Myth (disambiguation). ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the people. ...

The Philippine pantheon

Main article: Gods and Goddesses in Philippine Myth

The stories of ancient Philippine mythology include deities, creation stories, mythical creatures, and beliefs. Ancient Philippine mythology varies among the many indigenous tribes of the Philippines. Some tribes during the pre-Spanish conquest era believed in a single Supreme Being who created the world and everything in it, while others chose to worship a multitude of tree and forest deities (diwatas). Diwatas came from the Sanskrit word devadha which means "deity", one of the several significant Hindu influences in the Pre-Hispanic religion of the ancient Filipinos. Below are some of the gods and goddesses of the various ancient Philippine tribes: Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... See also: List of deities Look up deity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... OM, a sacred syllable and a quintessential symbol of Hinduism. ...

Luzon gods

Bathala - The main god of the Tagalog, who is formally known as Bathalang Maykapal or Maykapal. He is the Tagalogs' chief god, the creator of the universe and humanity. The origin of his name is Sanskrit, Battara Guru which means "The Great Teacher". According to Philippine mythology, Bathalang Maykapal, or Bathala for short, was the Supreme God of the ancient Tagalogs and King of the Diwata. ... The Tagalogs are one of the largest Filipino ethnic groups. ...

Apo Laki - the son of Bathala is the Tagalog god of the sun and lord of war. To the Pangasinese, Apo Laki is the god Ama-Kaoley. Pangasinan, officially Province of Pangasinan (Pangasinan: Luyag na Pangasinan), is one of the provinces of the Republic of the Philippines. ...

Anitun Tabu - the Tagalog goddess of the wind and rain.

Dian Masalanta - The ancient Tagalogs' goddess of love, pregnancy, childbirth

Idianalé - The ancient Tagalog goddess of animal husbandry.

Lakan Bakod - The ancient Tagalog god of gardens who protect and watchover plants and sometimes the crops.

Lakan Pati - The ancient Tagalog's deity of cultivated fields, a hermaphrodite.

Mayari - The ancient one-eyed Tagalog goddess and protector of the moon. She is the daughter of Bathala and sister of Tala and Apo Laki. In Tagalog mythology, Mayari is the beautiful lunar deity who was the daughter of Bathala, the king of the gods, to a mortal woman. ...

Tala - the goddess of stars in Tagalog mythology. Her origins are varied depending on region. Tala may refer to: Samoan tala, the monetary unit of Samoa. ...

Tadaklan - The Tinguian god of thunder, as worshiped by those people of central Luzon. He has a pet, Kimat, the lightning dog. When Kimat attacks, he comes down from heaven and bites whatever it is aimed at.

Other gods

The Bicolanos also have Aswang, the god of evil. Aswang is the brother and enemy of Kagurangnan/Gugurang. Gugurang/Kagurangnan is the Bicolano chief god and keeper of a sacred fire atop Mt. Mayon. Haliya is the Bicolano goddess of the moon and protector of women. The Visayan supreme deity is Kan-Laon (or Lalahon). He lives in Mt. Kanlaon. The ancient Visayan sky god is Kaptan, who he is often shown as the sibling of Maguayen, the god of the sea. Bicolano or Bikol is an Austronesian language used in the Philippines particularly on the Bicol Peninsula on the island of Luzon. ... Bicolano or Bikol is an Austronesian language used in the Philippines particularly on the Bicol Peninsula on the island of Luzon. ... Visayan may refer to: Visayan languages, spoken in the central Philippines. ... Kan-laon means he who is king of the ancient of days which means the supreme God in Visayan. ... Kanlaon Volcano, or Mount Kanlaon, is a stratovolcano on Negros island in the Philippines. ... Visayan may refer to: Visayan languages, spoken in the central Philippines. ...

Creation stories

There are many different creation stories in Philippine mythology, originating from various ethnic groups.

Tagalog version

Malakas and Maganda awakened and emerging from a split bamboo.

Malakas and Maganda descending from their bamboo of origin. The split bamboo was pecked by a sarimanok.

A popular legend tells the story of how Bathala created the people of the islands. An Islamic Legend says that The Prophet found a cock in the firts of the seven heaven. ...

In the beginning when the Earth was still young, the gods, Bathala; Aman Sinaya; and Amihan, were the only beings that existed. Bathala was god of the Sky (Langit) and Aman Sinaya was goddess of the Sea (Dagat). The two have been fierce rivals for a long time, and everyday, they would try to outdo each other. Bathala used his lighting bolts and thunder, and Aman Sinaya used her waves and typhoons.

One day, Aman Sinaya decided to send her tempests into the Sky to cause a wild commotion. In order to stop her, Bathala threw giant boulders that came from atop of the mountains. It created thousands of islands onto the surface of the Sea, which became the Philippine archipelago. Amihan, the Northeast Wind in the middle of the two realms, decided to stop the battle once and for all by taking the form of a bird. She then flew back and forth between them. This made the Sky and the Sea closer than it was before. At the point where the two realms met, both deities agreed to end the fight and become friends.

As a sign of friendship, Bathala planted a seed underneath the ocean floor. It soon grew into a bamboo reed, sticking out of the edge of the Sea. Amihan had gazed upon it one day and heard voices, coming from inside the bamboo. "Oh, North Wind! North Wind! Please let us out!", the voices said. She pecked the reed once, then twice. All of a sudden, the bamboo cracked and slit open. Inside were two human beings; one was a male and the other was a female. Amihan named the man "Malakas" (Strong) and the woman "Maganda" (Beautiful). She then flew them onto one of the islands where they settled, built a house, and had millions of offspring that populated the Earth.

Then, it finally came when the children were too numerous for Malakas and Maganda to control. One day, they were ordered to work in the fields, but instead, they did nothing. When the parents arrived home, they noticed that their instructions weren't followed. Asking for some guidance, they prayed to the great god, Bathala, and he came to them and said, "Let your anger be shown to everyone and it shall make them into what they are meant to be." So out of their anger, they grabbed spoon ladles and began to give blows to everyone.

All the children started running away. Some hid under the bamboo tables and became slaves. A few of them went inside the burning cauldron and turned into the Aetas of the islands. Others climbed up the rooftop and became the datus of the villages. While some climbed on top of the trees and were believed to have become the commoners. Those who fled to the mountains turned into hunters and the ones who ran to the seashore turned into fishermen.

The Aeta are an indigenous people who live in scattered, isolated mountainous parts of the Philippines. ... Datu or datto is the title for ancient tribal chieftains and monarchs in pre-Hispanic Philippines. ...

Visayan version

This is an ancient Visayan account of creation: Visayan may refer to: Visayan languages, spoken in the central Philippines. ...

Thousands of years ago, there was no land, sun, moon, or stars, and the world was only a great sea of water, above which stretched the sky. The water was the kingdom of the god Maguayan, and the sky was ruled by the great god, Kaptan.

Maguayan had a daughter called Lidagat, the sea, and Kaptan had a son known as Lihangin, the wind. The gods agreed to the marriage of their children, so the sea became the bride of the wind.

A daughter and three sons were born to them. The sons were called Likalibutan, Liadlao, and Libulan, and the daughter received the name of Lisuga.

Likalibutan had a body of rock and was strong and brave; Liadlao was formed of gold and was always happy; Libulan was made of copper and was weak and timid; and the beautiful Lisuga had a body of pure silver and was sweet and gentle. Their parents were very fond of them, and nothing was wanting to make them happy.

After a time Lihangin died and left the control of the winds to his eldest son Likalibutan. The faithful wife Lidagat soon followed her husband, and the children, now grown up, were left without father or mother. However, their grandfathers, Kaptan and Maguayan, took care of them and guarded them from all evil.

After some time, Likalibutan, proud of his power over the winds, resolved to gain more power, and asked his brothers to join him in an attack on Kaptan in the sky above. They refused at first, but when Likalibutan became angry with them, the amiable Liadlao, not wishing to offend his brother, agreed to help. Then together they induced the timid Libulan to join in the plan.

When all was ready, the three brothers rushed at the sky, but they could not beat down the gates of steel that guarded the entrance. Likalibutan let loose the strongest winds and blew the bars in every direction. The brothers rushed into the opening, but were met by the angry god Kaptan. So terrible did he look that they turned and ran in terror, but Kaptan, furious at the destruction of his gates, sent three bolts of lightning after them.

The first struck the copper Libulan and melted him into a ball. The second struck the golden Liadlao and he too was melted. The third bolt struck Likalibutan and his rocky body broke into many pieces and fell into the sea. So huge was he that parts of his body stuck out above the water and became what is known as land.

In the meantime the gentle Lisuga had missed her brothers and started to look for them. She went toward the sky, but as she approached the broken gates, Kaptan, blind with anger, struck her too with lightning, and her silver body broke into thousands of pieces.

Kaptan then came down from the sky and tore the sea apart, calling on Maguayan to come to him and accusing him of ordering the attack on the sky. Soon Maguayan appeared and answered that he knew nothing of the plot as he had been asleep deep in the sea. After some time, he succeeded in calming the angry Kaptan. Together they wept at the loss of their grandchildren, especially the gentle and beautiful Lisuga, but even with their powers, they could not restore the dead back to life. However, they gave to each body a beautiful light that will shine forever.

And so it was the golden Liadlao who became the sun and the copper Libulan, the moon, while Lisuga's pieces of silver were turned into the stars of heaven. To wicked Likalibutan, the gods gave no light, but resolved to make his body support a new race of people. So Kaptan gave Maguayan a seed and he planted it on one of the islands.

Soon a bamboo tree grew up, and from the hollow of one of its branches, a man and a woman came out. The man's name was Sikalak and the woman was called Sikabay. They were the parents of the human race. Their first child was a son whom they called Libo; afterwards they had a daughter who was known as Saman.

Pandaguan, the youngest son, was very clever and invented a trap to catch fish. The very first thing he caught was a huge shark. When he brought it to land, it looked so great and fierce that he thought it was surely a god, and he at once ordered his people to worship it. Soon all gathered around and began to sing and pray to the shark. Suddenly the sky and sea opened, and the gods came out and ordered Pandaguan to throw the shark back into the sea and to worship none, but them.

All were afraid except Pandaguan. He grew very bold and answered that the shark was as big as the gods, and that since he had been able to overpower it he would also be able to conquer the gods. Then Kaptan, hearing this, struck Pandaguan with a small lightning bolt, for he did not wish to kill him but merely to teach him a lesson. Then he and Maguayan decided to punish these people by scattering them over the earth, so they carried some to one land and some to another. Many children were afterwards born, and thus the earth became inhabited in all parts.

Pandaguan did not die. After lying on the ground for thirty days he regained his strength, but his body was blackened from the lightning, and his descendants became the dark-skinned tribe, the Negritos.

As punishment, his eldest son, Aryon, was taken north where the cold took away his senses. While Libo and Saman were carried south, where the hot sun scorched their bodies. A son of Saman and a daughter of Sikalak were carried east, where the land at first was so lacking in food that they were compelled to eat clay.

The Negritos include the Atis, and at least 5 other tribes of the Philippines, the Semang of the Malay peninsula, and 12 Andamanese tribes of the Andaman Islands. ...

Mythological stories

The legend of Maria Makiling

Main article: Maria Makiling

A popular Filipino myth is the legend of Maria Makiling, a fairy who lives on Mount Makiling. Title: Maria Makiling Description: Protector of Mt. ...

Mythological creatures

Main article: Philippine mythical creatures

Filipinos also believed in mythological creatures. The Aswang is one the most famous of these Philippine mythological creatures. The aswang is a ghoul or vampire, an eater of the dead, and a werewolf. Filipinos also believed in the Dila (The Tongue), a spirit that passes through the bamboo flooring of provincial houses, then licks certain humans to death.^{[citation needed]} Filipino mythology also have fairies (diwata and engkanto), dwarfs (duwende), kapre (a tree-residing giant), manananggal (a self-segmenter), witches (mangkukulam), spirit-summoners (mambabarang), goblins (nuno sa punso), ghosts (multo), fireballs (Santelmo), mermaids (sirena), mermen (siyokoy), demon-horses (tikbalang) and demon-infants (tiyanak). Philippine folklore, unlike Greek or Roman mythologies, has not been organized into a formal pantheon, does not generally contain long epics, nor has it been relegated to history. ... Title: Aswang Description: Philippine ghoul Gender: Male/female Region: Western Visayas Equivalent: Tik-tik, Wak-wak An Aswang (or Asuwang) is a ghoul in Filipino folklore. ... A ghoul is a monster from ancient Arabian folklore that dwells in burial grounds and other uninhabited places. ... Philip Burne-Jones, The Vampire, 1897 Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings that subsist on human and/or animal lifeforce. ... In folklore, lycanthropy is the ability or power of a human being to undergo transformation into a wolf. ... In Philippine mythology, a diwata or encantada is a mythological figure similar to fairies. ... Kapre is a Philippine mythical creature similar to that of the Bigfoot creature, but with more human characteristics. ... A manananggal in Filipino folklore or penanggalan in Malay folklore is a mythical creature . ... A Nuno or Nuno sa Punso is a dwarf-like creature of Philippine mythology, one which is mostly invisible to the human eye. ... ... Sirena is an academic journal founded in 2004. ... Philippine folklore is unlike the Greek or Roman mythologies, which are long situational epics connected and happened to form cities and lands. ... A Tiyanak waiting for a kind-hearted person to victimize The tiyanak (also tianak or tianac) is creature which, in Philippine mythology, imitates the form of a child. ...

Indian Influence

The Philippines has cultural ties with India through the Indianized kingdoms of Southeast Asia. ^[3] Ancient Filipino literature and folklore show the impress of India. The Agusan legend of a man named Manubo Ango, who was turned into stone, resembles the story of Ahalya in the Hindu epic Ramayana. The tale of the Ifugao legendary hero, Balituk, who obtained water from the rock with his arrow, is similar to Arjuna's adventure in Mahabharata, another Hindu epic. The Ramayana have different versions among the many Philippine ethnic groups. The Ilocanos have the story of Lam-Ang. The Darangan, or Mahariada Lawana, is the Maranao version of the Ramayana. Dark blue: the Indian subcontinent, Light Blue: Other countries culturally linked to India, notably Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia and Malaysia, Purple: Regions not included in Indosphere, but with significant current or historical Indian cultural influence, notably Afghanistan, Tibet, Yunnan and Baluchistan region. ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ... Ilokano (variants: Ilocano, Iluko, Iloco, and Iloko) is the third most-spoken language of the Republic of the Philippines Being an Austronesian language, it is related to such languages as Indonesian, Malay, Fijian, Maori (of New Zealand), Hawaiian, Malagasy (of Madagascar), Samoan, Tahitian, Chamorro (of Guam and the Northern Mariana... The Biag ni Lam-ang or Life of Lam-ang (complete Iloko title: ) is a pre-Hispanic epic of the Ilokano people from the Ilocos region of the Philippines. ...

References

Specific

General

• Barangay-Sixteenth Century Philippine Culture and Society by William Henry Scott
• http://sambali.blogspot.com/2004/12/apung-iru.html
• http://www.angelfire.com/realm2/mdf/
• Philippine Folklore Stories by John Maurice Miller

William Henry Scott (1921-1993) was an anthropologist and leading historian on the Cordilleras and prehispanic Philippines. ...

See also

• Animism
• Anito
• Buddhism in the Philippines
• Folk religion
• Hinduism in the Philippines
• Gabâ
• Mythology