Creation Myths Among The Early Filipinos: S.J Cagayan de Oro Philippines

Creation Myths among the Early Filipinos
B y
F r a n c i s c o De m e t r i o , S .J.
Cagayan de OroPhilippines
Introduc tion: the cre ator god or gods native conce pt of
cre ation.
I. The e arly cre ation myths : cos mogony (myths , ve rs ions and
c omme nts ).
II. The cre ation of the firs t man and woman: origin of man
from bamboo s talk.
I I I . Othe r motifs ,
1 ) t he egg motif,
2) the flood motif and the s ymbolis m of re birth,
3) the bad cre ator or mar plot motif.
Conclus ion: links of cre ation myths of the Filipinos to
s uch in othe r areas .
INTRODUCTION: The cre ator god or gods and native
concept of cre ation
From the reports of early chronicle rs , we know that the
ancie nt peoples of the Philippine s had a notion of a powe rful
be ing (or be ings ) who was re s pons ible for the cre ation of the
e arth and of e ve rything on it, the trees, the animals , and man.
The name of the creator-god (or gods ) varie d with the various
tribe s : Laon or Malaon for the Indios or Bis ayan1; Makapatag
again for the Bis ayan Makaobus for the Ibabao Bis ayan,2 Bathala
1 . Pe dro Chirino, S.J., Re lacion de las Is las Filipinas , Manila, 1890,
In Emma He le n B lair and Jame s Ale xande r Robe rts on. The P hilippine
Is lands , 1493-1803 (Cle ve land, 1903-1909) V o l . 13 pp. '26-217, esp. pp. 74
75.
2. Francis co Alzina, S .J., His toria de las Is las Bis ayas P ar t I, Book
3. An P r e liminar y Trans lation of the Munoz Te xt of Alzina, P art I,
Books 1 to 4 by P aul S. Lie tz (Chicago, 19 61),p p . 184 & 114.
42 F RANCIS CO DEMETRIO, S .J.
Maykapal for the Tagalo' g3 Gugurang for the Bikol,4 Batala for
the Moro,5 Eugpamulak Manobo for the Bagobo6 with aliases:
Manama and Kalayagan Bulalakaw for the Ne gritos of Panay
Is land7 and so on.
The s upre me be ing8 is ge ne rally take n to be very good and
kindly, ve ry powe rful, and dwe lling in the sky. To him is in
variably cre dite d the work of cre ation.9
The following points mus t be borne in mind whe n one con
siders cre ation among the e arly P hilippine pe oples Firs t, the re
is no que s tion of cre ation in the s trict the ological sense as pro
ductio re i ex nihilo s ui et s ubje ct! or the bringing of s ome thing
into exis tence from non-existence, not only as regards its e lf but
als o as re gards the mate rial out of which it came to be . In othe r
words , the cre ation which the e arly peoples in the Philippine s
kne w, and, for that matte r, als o the othe r primitive peoples of
the pas t and of the pres ent, refers to what is known by
the ologians as s econd cre ation. This conce ption pres uppos es
a pre-exis ting matte r or s ubs tratum out of which the e arth was
3. Chirino, op. cit pp. 74-75. For a more comple te account of
B athala and its variants , cf. Jos e L. Llane s , An Annotate d Dictionary
of P hilippine My thology , UMJ EAS , V (J uly , 1956), 51-55.
4. Jos e Cas tano, O.F.M., Bre ve Notic ia Ace rca de l Origin^ R.e-
ligion, Cre e ncias y S upe rs ticione s de los Antiguos Indios de l B ic ol
In: We nce s lao Re tana, Archivo de l Bibliofilo F ilipinoI I (Madrid, 1895ff.),
pp. 359-360.
5. Mig ue l de Loarca. Re lacion de las Is las Filipinas (Manila?, ca.
1580); In: B lair and Robe rts on, Is lands , V o l . 5 p. 170.
6. Fay Coope r Cole , The Wild Tribe s of Davao Dis trict, Mindanao.
Fie ld Mus e um of Natur al His tory, Anthropolog ic al Series , XI I (Chicago,
1913) p. 106.
7. Manue l L. Carre on (e d.), iMaragtas : The Datus from Borne o
(the e arlie s t known Bis ayan t e xt), S MJ, VII (1943).
8. For the B ukidnon in Mindanao, Magbabaya is the name of the
s upre me be ing who is conce ive d pe rhaps to be only one pe rs on, although
the name its e lf s eems to be in the plur al form. Information was s up
plie d by Re v. Vince nt Culle n, S.J., in a pape r e ntitle d: Towards a
Cate che s is for the B ukidnon, type s cript, p . 1 (B ukidnon, 1966). Fathe r
Culle n atte nde d the F irs t P le nary Counc il of Mamumuhats or native
s hamans or prie s ts of the B ukidnon in Mindanao, 1966.
9. Thes e concepts are ve ry muc h in accord with the characte ris tics
of the s upre me be ing (s ) of the s ky as dis cove re d by his torians of r e
ligion. Cf. Eliade , Patte rns in Comparative Re lig ion (Ne w York, 1963),
pp. 40-42, 46-52 53-59 etc.
CREATION MYTHS AMONG THE E ARLY F ILIP INOS 43
made .10 Whe n the primitive s s peak of the cre ation of the world,
the te rm world is us ually unde rs tood to me an the earth pri
marily, and, s pecifically, the ir native e arth or place or is land,
and the n als o e ve rything that the ir e arth or place founds or
s upports on its lap: the trees, the stones, the rocks, the trees,
the s prings , rivers , lakes , mountains , s ky, flowers , caves, s hadows ,
and so on; e ve rything in othe r words that we nt to' make up the
place or vicinity, each in its appointe d place. This con
ce ption of the e arth has be en characte rized by Eliade not as
chthonian or as e arth known to the agriculturis ts , but as cosmic,11
the e arth as known to the e arlie r laye r of mankind who were
ye t on the le ve l of food-gatherers . Thirdly, in a numbe r of folk
tales and myths , the animals are thought of as alre ady in ex
is tence before the e arth its e lf was made . The birds like the
eagle, the ducks , the turtle , and the toad are ofte n re s pons ible
for s ecuring the pre-exis ting mate rials which the creator (s) used
to form the earth. And las tly, the winds , the s ky, and the ocean
are als o pres uppos e d as e xis ting prior to the formation of the
earth.
In this conne ction one s hould add that in the s tories of the
formation of the e arth the re is always a s truggle be twe e n two
hos tile forces. It is the s truggle that looms large in the story.
The cre ation of the e arth happe ns only as a s ort of accident.
With the formation of the e arth comes als o the cre ation of the
firs t man and woman.
I. THE EARLY CREATION MYTHS : COS MOGONY
The following are various s pecimens of thes e Philippine
cre ation tales . The firs t is a fores horte ne d vers ion of Pavons
account.
10. The diffe re nce be twe e n the firs t and the s e cond cre ation
lies in this : the te rm of origin in the firs t cre ation is the non-e xis te nce
or nothingne s s , while the te rm of origin in the s econd cre ation is s ome
pre -e xis ting mate rial: dirt, s and, s lime of e arth, rock, etc or the
he ave n, the world carrie d on the s houlde r of a primordial giant. The
Indian and the Gre e k concepts of cre ation are not diffe re nt from the
primitive . Vis vakarman, the Al] -Cre ator, (Rig-Ve da X, 81 and 82)
is s aid to have ge ne rate d the e arth and unfolde d the he ave ns in the ir
gre atne s s . In the words of R. C. Zae hne r, Vis vakarman carve s the m
out of the pr imal wooda word which, s trange ly e nough, corre s ponds
e xactly to the Gre e k hyle or pr imal matte r. [ The Comparis on of Re
ligions (Bos ton, 1962), p. 32].
1 1 . Patte rns , pp. 242 ff.
1 . Away back in the long ago. the re was only a vas t imme ns e
s ea forme d by oce an. It so happe ne d that a bloody s truggle ens ue d
be twe e n King Manaul and King Tubluc k Laui.
Afte r the s truggle , Manaul was impris one d. B ut he broke his chains
and fle w away into s pace s e e king ve nge ance on Tubluc k Laui. He was
we arie d with his flying and he s aw no place on whic h to alight. The
e arth and the s ky, offe nde d by Manaul who de clare d hims e lf the ir e ne my
trie d to pus h him away. The wave s las he d at him; the rains fe ll from
the s kie s ; and the gods of the air, Canuay and Amihan s e nt forth gales
and winds . The conflict c ontinue d unre s olve d for ye ars until finally
we arie d by the s train, the c onte nding partie s s ought to know e ach othe rs
de s ire s in toke n of re conciliation. Manaul be gge d for light, and fire
flies atte nde d him; he as ke d for couns e llors , and the birds we re at his
s ide. B ut in his gluttony , Manaul de voure d s ome liv e chicks ; and,
s till uns ate d, he de voure d (s ome of) the birds , large and s mall. In
the ir turn, his bird couns e llors de voure d the fireflies . Whe n his owls
(the bir d couns e llors ) pas s e d by, he s wore to the m that the y s hould be
punis he d for e ating his fireflie s . Thus he made the m s tay awake all
night, giving the m double -s ize d eyes so the y mig ht see be tte r and not
e at his fireflies . The king of the air (Tubluc k Laui) ange re d by Manauls
e ating (s ome of) his bird couns e llors , vomite d lightnings , thunde rbolts
and whirlwinds . He appe ale d to King Captan of the Higue s ine s , ge nius
(pe rhaps ance s tor) of the pe ople of the s ea (s e a s pirits ), to punis h
Manaul. Captan s e nt huge rocks and s tone s from the s ky to crus h
Manaul. B ut he e as ily es caped unhur t. In this manne r the e arth had
its be g inning: for Manaul, finding a s upport on thes e big s tones , made
the m re main fixe d fore ve r. The y be came his dwe lling, and he live d
happily fore ve r. The s e lands (i.e . the Bis ayas ) had the ir be ginning
fr om that time and are s till he re today. Thanks to the rage of Captan
agains t Manaul, the world had its be g inning . 12
Comme nt
Firs t of all, le t us re mark that this s tory ans wers ve ry we ll
to the de s criptive de finition of a myth as: a s tory set in the
time before the world as we know it be gan, whos e dramatis
pers onae are divine or s emi-divine beings , whos e actions are
12. King Manaul was once a mig hty monarc h who gove rne d all
the birds of the unive rs e . Wi t h the laps e of time , Manaul be came a
bad king and was punis he d by e nchantme nt and turne d into a bird
s imilar to an eagle. His impris onme nt, howe ve r, had a cos mic purpos e :
he was to br ing the human race into e xis te nce by g iving life to Sicalac
and S icauay (S ilalac and S ibabay-e in Pove dano MS 1572): the firs t
couple . King Tubluc k Laui s eems to have be e n re s pons ible for the
punis hme nt of Manaul. In what pre cis e ly cons is te d the s in of Manaul
is not give n us to know; nor pre cis e ly in what the ir s truggle cons is ted.
We know howe ve r that Tubluc k Laui was the god of the winds . (P avon
MS S [1838-1839] Trans cript No. 5-C, p. 26). Cf. als o Loarca, Re lacion,
p. 121.
e xe mplary or at le as t e xplanatory of the s ubs e que nt s tate of
things and affairs in the world today.13
The s tory is set back in the pe riod outs ide of profane or
his torical time . The phras e, Away back in the long ago with
which the s tory opens is cle arly anothe r expre s s ion of the in
illo te mpore which Eliade has pointe d out to be characte ris tic
of myth-te lling. The action of the s tory is e nvirone d in
e te rnity, in those s trong and powe rful time s whe n the gods
we re mos t active in the univers e , and man had not ye t come
upon the scene. True, the animals were the re already. The
actors in the s tory are cle arly s upe rnatural cosmic characters.
We have Manaul range d s ingle hande d, s ave for his fireflies and
bird couns ellors , agains t Tubluck Laui (King of the air) 5 s up
porte d by his lightnings , thunde rbolts and whirlwinds , and his
allies : the gods of the e arth and the s ky, the gods of the air:
Amihan and Canauay, and Captan, the powe rful s kydwe lling
guardian of the pe ople of the sea. The hero, Manaul, is de picte d
as a bird. He broke his chains and flew off into space and was
afte rwards tire d of his flying. He is cle arly, too, a ve ry powe r
ful figure . He broke his bonds , thre w defiance at both earth
and s kyand was uns cathe d by the rain of rocks which Captan
le t fall from on high. His ve ry de ft way of fixing the very
rocks tc> become his own foothold on the ope n ocean, thus cre at
ing the earth, is a s ign of s overeign power. His action agains t
the guilty owls is e xplanatory of the wide-eyed vigils thes e
birds keep in orde r that the y may re cognize his fireflies and not
make the mis take again of pre ying on the m.
In mythic thinking, the wate rs are s aid to be ve ry ancie nt,
pre dating and pre-exis ting the e arth and all the animate and
inanimate forms s he carries upon he r lap.14 This the ory is also
give n concre te expre s s ion here. The s tory be gins whe n the re
was only a vas t imme ns e sea forme d by ocean.
The Struggle Be twe e n The Hos tile Forces.
We s hould note als o the motif of s truggle be twe e n the hos tile
forces . The s truggle is not only one. It s eems that the re were
a series of the m. The s tory te lls us that a bloody conte ntion
obtaine d be twe e n Manaul and Tubluck Laui, and that the
forme r was impris one d by the latte r. But the forme r escaped,
13. Eliade , My th and Re ality (Ne w York, 1963), pp. 5-20 and
P atte rns , pas s im, esp. pp. 410-434.
14. Eliade , Patte rns , 188-215.
hurle d defiance at both the e arth and the s ky gods and thus
me rite d the ir ire. Then, we arie d by the s train of conte ntion, the
partie s s ought to unde rs tand each othe rs desires. A truce fol
lowed. Reques ts we re made and complie d with. Light was
s upplie d and couns el give n to Manaul. But the truce is broke n
ane w by Manaul, pre ying on his birds . This s tarts a chain-reac-
tion: the birds (the owls ) in turn pre y on the fireflies. Manaul
punis he d the owls ; and this in turn causes Tubluck Laui to call
upon Captan to hurl rocks and stones from the s ky at Manaul,
and a re s umption of hos tilitie s ensues.
One might conje cture that pe rhaps here is an ins tance of a
s urvival of the once ve ry wide ly he ld the ory in antiquity: the
pe riodic re turn of e ve rything that had exis tence and form upon
the e arth to the s tate of chaos, of latencies , and dis s olution in
wate r. This e te rnal re currence to the condition of things in
the be ginning prior to the act of cre ation was neces sary if the
world was to be re ne we d and to continue in exis tence. For it
is precis ely this eve r-recurring re vers al to the condition of seeds
in wate r that s erved as a pre paration for the emergence of a
ne w birth of things and of men. A ne w race is born to repeople
the earth. The world of things surges ane w, and wake ns to
the fullne s s of life and energy. Thus the unive rs e continue s to
exis t and does not comple te ly dis appe ar e xhaus te d of its vitali
ties. In this myth, the n, the re turn to chaos and dis s olution in
wate r would s eem to be s ymbolis e d by the series of s truggle s
be twe e n the various eleme nts and the alte rnating triumph and
victory of the one over the other. Thus , at the be ginning of the
myth we are told that it happe ne d that a s truggle be twee n
King Manaul and Tubluck Laui took place, in which Manaul
was bes ted. In the ne xt ins tance , however, we are told that
Manaul who had be en impris one d by Tubluck Laui escaped.
The n anothe r s truggle follows . Afte r this s truggle during which
the earth and the s ky and the air gods were involve d, a truce
was s truck. But the n a third s truggle took place because of
Manauls tre ache ry. It seems that in this third s truggle , the
act of the cre ation of the lands of the Bis ayas took place.
The motif of conflict be twe e n the dragon and the god or
sun-hero is an e xtre me ly wide s pre ad motif.* ( B l l . l l , A531,
* The capital le tte rs and the numbe rs re fe r to S tith Thomps on' s
clas s ification of motifs in his Motif Inde x of Folk Lite rature (B looming
t on Indiana Unive rs ity Pre s s , 1955). S ubs e que nt re fe re nces to this
work wi l l be like wis e note d.
B875.2, D1385.14 G357.1 H1561.6, K835). One may come upon
it in the ancie nt Ne ar Eas t, in Greece and Ge rmany. It is also
found in Ce ntral and Northe rn As ia, and in Indone s ia [ Eliade,
The Two and the One (London, 1965) p. 92]. In Ve dic mytholgy
this motif of conflict is seen in the s truggle be twe e n Indra whos e
name othe rwis e is Vritra-han or s layer of Vritra and Vritra
hims e lf, the encompas s er who impris ons the waters by means
of his nine ty-nine fortresses. [R. C. Zae hne r, Hinduis m (London,
1962), pp. 29-30]. Vritra s ymbolizes darknes s , immobility, the
pote ntialthe amorphous , the undiffe re ntiate d, whereas Indra
s ymbolizes all the oppos ite to these. Indra wins outs mas hing
the fortres ses , thus making the s un to s hine. This victory of
Indra for the Ve dic Indian had a cos mological s ignificance: the
cosmos re duce d to chaos by Vritras impris oning the wate rs is
once again set free, and Indra can recreate and re fas hion the
world. In othe r words : Indra, the creator, creates the univers e
ane w. (Eliade , op. cit., p. 92-93; Zae hne r, op. cit., p. 30.)
Agains t this wide r conte xt of world folklore and mythology,
we might be able to unde rs tand be tte r the deeper me aning of
the s truggle s be twe e n Manaul and Tubluck Laui in the Bis ayan
myth. Pe rhaps , too, our conje cture may find he re in s ome s olid
basis which may e ndow it with s ome me as ure of probability:
name ly, that the series of s truggle s be twe e n thes e two primordial
be ings of Philippine myth may ye t be concrete expres s ions of
the the ory of pe riodic re turn of e ve rything to the s tate of chaos
only to be re fas hione d into a ne w birth of ne we r forms .
It is we ll to note als o that the re are a numbe r of anachro
nis ms and dis crepancie s in the above s tory. The earth is s up
pos ed to have its be ginning from the rocks and stones which
Captan hurle d at Manaul and which the latte r fixe d fore ver on
the ocean; ye t in the e arlie r portion of the s tory we are told
that both the s ky and the e arth s purne d Manaul becaus e he
had de clared hims e lf the ir enemy. Howe ve r, thes e dis crepancies
do not de tract from the main burde n of the myth: the cre ation
or formation of the e arth through the s truggle be twe e n the divine
forces pe rs onifie d in Manaul and Tubluck Laui.
2. The ne xt s tory, found in Gas par de San Agus tins Con-
quis ta de las Is las Filipinas ,15 te lls of the origin of the is land of
Bohol, and of the firs t s ky-woman to s ettle on that is land. She
15. Madrid, 1698, p. 196.
was the daughte r of a chie f of he ave n. She fe ll through a hole
in the s ky, and was s alvaged by ducks . He re als o is the the me
of the earth-divers which has be en compare d withand found
ve ry s imilar to, the North Ame rican Indian (Iroquois ) earth-
dive r tale. I quote from a trans lation of the tale give n by Bacil
Kirtle y.16
The pe ople we re liv ing be yond the s ky. One day, the chie fs
daug hte r fe ll s ick. The me dicine me n of the barangay s aid, The cure
is in the roots of the wild bale te t r e e . . . . Dig around it and le t he r arms
touch the roots .
The y dug around the root and the y place d the s ick girl in the
tre nch, whe n s udde nly the woman fe ll throug h the hole in the s ky.
Be low the s ky was big wate r. The gakits (wild ducks ) s aw the woman
fall. The y caught he r lig htly on the ir backs whe re s he re s ted. The
gakits fou^d Big Turtle . Whe n Big Turtle s aw the woman, he calle d
a council of all s wimming animals . The y s aid, we mus t s ave the woman
and make he r a hous e . The le ade r commande d the frog: Dive and
br ing up dir t fr om the tre e roots . The frog trie d and faile d. The mous e
trie d als o and faile d. F inally the Big Toad volunte e re d: I wi ll try .
At this , all animals je e re d and laughe d e xce pt Big Turtle who s aid, You
do we ll to try. Pe rhaps you wi ll be lucky.'
The Old Toad took a long bre ath and we nt down, down. At las t
a bubble of air came up and the Old Toad followe d. In he r mouth s he
carrie d a fe w grains of s and whic h s he s pre ad around Big Turtle s s he ll.
The n an is land gre w on Big Turtle s back, and it be came Bohol Is land,
and the woman live d upon it.
The n the re follows an account of how the Toad looked for
light in the uppe r world. And the s tory of the good and bad
creatures , born of the woman, follows .
Comme nt
For the s tude nt of folklore , this myth contains a numbe r of
inte re s ting motifs . We re gre t that we cannot in this pape r
engage in a de taile d s tudy of each of them., and that we can
only me ntion the m and make s ome curs ory re marks . Mos t of
thes e motifs have be en clas sified by S tith Thomps on. The earth-
pe ople are des cended from the s ky-people (A1231; T i l l . 2); the
myth als o makes both the good and the bad pe ople sons of the
s ky-woman. The ce le s tial tre e (A811 812) which is ide ntifie d
as a wild bale te ; the tre e growing at the bottom of the primordial
waters from whos e bas e the dirt for the formation of the e arth
16. Cf. his note in J our nal of Ame ric an Folklore 70 (1957), 362-363.
CREAT ION MYTHS AMONG THE E ARLY F ILIP INOS 49
was to be s ecured (A814.4). The s hamans or me dicine me n of
the he ave nly barangay pre s cribing the cure for the s ick daughte r
of the chie f (A1438.1); the cure be ing to lay the s ick girl ins ide
the tre nch which had be e n dug around the root of the wild balete
and for he r to touch the roots with he r arm. The hole in the
s ky through which the woman fe ll (A21.1). The primordial
wate rs (A810 f f ). The frie ndly animals (the ducks . B300ff.);
the earth-divers , es pe cially the Old Toad. And the earth forme d
ove r the back of Big Turtle . (A844.1; A815).
The s ky-woman giving birth to the race of me n, may be an
ins tance of parthenoge ne s is , or conce ption without be ne fit of
hus band. How this came about is not told. He r contact with
wate r might have caus ed he r to conceive. Folklore is rich with
ins tances of unmarrie d wome n made pre gnant through bathing
(T523).
As in the case of the pre vious myth, there are a numbe r of
de tails which may not eas ily be accounte d for by logical reason.
We do not know for ins tance what was the manne r of the sky-
womans s icknes s (although we are at le as t give n a hint of the
kind of re me dy s ugges ted: laying he r ins ide a trough s cooped
around the roots of the wild balete which is re minis ce nt of a
ve ry common ancie nt be lie f, name ly, of re cove ring s tre ngth
through contact with Earth (D1778; D1833; G221.2). We are not
told who cre ate d the sky-people, nor the s ky, the sky-tree, and
the tree unde r the primordial waters and the ground in which
it was rooted. These and a thous and othe r de tails tease the
logical mind. It would be fatuous to find ans wers to all these
ques tions . The primitive mind prefe rs to le ave the m unas ke d
and unans we re d. No matte r. The abiding truth is what myth
is at pains to convey: the re is an affinity be twe e n the earth-
dwe lle rs and the pe ople who inhabit the s ky: the y are blood
re lations ; the animals are be ne factors of mankind s ince the very
be ginning. The ducks s aved mans ances tress from drowning,
the Toad s ecured the dirt for the building of the e arth to be he r
and the ir home , and eve n today the back of Big Turtle is the
s upport of the wide earth.
This myth s eems to be ve ry ancie nt. It pe rhaps attes ts to
a primordial pe riod whe n the s ky-people and the earth-people
we re frie ndly and he lpful to man. It has echoes of a long los t
paradis e, in thos e e arly time s be fore the e arth was forme d.
In othe r words , it s eems to attes t to a primordial s tate of blis s
now los t.
The myth als o serves notice that events and happe nings and
the s ocial ins titutions on e arth have the ir counte rparts .in the
s ky. For ins tance, people in the s ky get s ick even as the e arth
lings do; jus t as the re are s hamans and me dicine me n here below,
so als o are the re s uch pers ons in he ave n; as he re so there, the
s hamans are re s pons ible for pre s cribing the cure for sickness.
As the tree (wild balete) grows in he ave n, so the re are trees
in the sea as we ll as on land. There are barangays in the s ky
even as the re were among the Malays . Eve ry barangay had a
chie f whe the r on e arth or in he aven.
We see the n, that this tale ans wers ve ry we ll to the des crip
tive de finition of a myth: a s tory told of the divine or s emi
divine beings , whos e s e tting is back in the firs t time s whe n
the world was not ye t forme d, and what were give n in thos e
time s have become e xe mplary for all times after the formation
of the world.
3. A third tale re ports how in the be ginning the re was only
darknes s . Then the he ave ns covered the e arth so that the two
toge the r looke d like an imme ns e tabo or coconut shell-bowl.
Within the bowl a rat was born. It gradually gre w in size until
it trans forme d its e lf into the giant Angngalothe Bis ayan Atlas
who carrie d the he ave ns on his s houlders . One day he eased
hims e lf, and from his faeces and urine were born the is lands ,
lakes and rivers , of the archipelago. God who s aw him thus
occupied gave him a kick which s ent him to China by way of
Marive le s . They s ay that in the Marive le s mountains the re are
two ve ry large footprints .
4. A less crude vers ion of the s ame anecdote te lls of a great
giant who s upporte d the world on his s houlders . In a mome nt
of wearines s the giant s hifte d his pos ition so abruptly that the
world fe ll into the ocean in a thous and fragme nts , which the n
be came the numbe rle s s is lands of the archipe lago. [ W, E. Re tana.
Appe ndix to Martine z de Zunigas Es tadis mo de las Is las F ili
pinas . (Madrid, 1893). Quote d by Fe rnande z Lope z in Re ligion,
p. 40].
Comme nt
Thes e two tales are e vide ntly e tiological, that is. the y are
me ant to account for at le as t one ve ry e vide nt fact, the more
than 7000 is lands of the P hilippine archipelago. This is the
le as t common de nominator be twe e n the two tales . But in both
CREATION MYTHS AMONG THE E ARLY F ILIP INOS
51
we see als o a typical phe nome non of the he ave ns and the world.
Whe the r it was the he ave ns or the world which the giant carrie d
on his s houlde rs , the effect is the s ame: the coming to be of
the is lands and islets of the archipelago.
In both tales we might infe r that the Philippine Is lands are
of divine or s emi-divine origin, als othat the giant, a s emi-divine
be ing, has ve ry human needs; and that it is in atte nding to these
needs that the formation of our pres e nt worldthe archipe lago
came about. One gets the impre s s ion that it is almos t by accide nt
that the Philippine s came to be.
In the firs t tale God is made to appe ar as though he were
a prude of the firs t order: punis hing the poor giant for atte nd
ing to the needs of the nature which in the firs t place God (in
the s uppos ition that he was the Cre ator) had give n to the giant.
In the s econd vers ion, it was his wearine s s in s upporting the
huge world that made him le t the burde n fall. What the re la
tion be twe e n the giant and mankind in the Philippine s we
are le ft to conjecture . B ut one thing is s ure: man' s mores now-
a-days are no diffe re nt from the mores of the huge giant whos e
wearines s was accountable for the nume rous isles of the P hilip
pines . He re again the re fore the mythic me ntality is evident:
the deeds of s emi-divine be ings in illo te mpore are e xe mplary
for mankind. The rough tre atme nt God is made to de al to the
all-too-human giant is pe rhaps als o a mirror of the hiya or
sense of e mbaras s me nt with which Filipinos even today re gard
the neces sary, natural atte ntion io the needs of nature . The
me ntion of China is als o s ignificant. It is as though the te lle r
of the myth is s aying that China is whe re the uwalang hiya
giant belongs . And that China is God-fors aken land. Pe rhaps
an ins tance of Filipino pre judice agains t the indus trious china
man who make s his garde n crops grow, to the e mbarras s me nt
of the native Filipino garde ne r, by the s cientific use of human
excre ta as fe rtilize r.
The two huge footprints s aid to be found in the Marive le s
mountains may be actually the re or not. In any case, there might
be more than two footprints there. Again, the s tory is e tiological
of one or more inde ntions on the s urface of the mountain which
may look like two huge footprints . I have had no time to inquire
about the his toricity of thes e allege d prints .17
17. The e xis te nce of giants in time s pas t s eems to be atte s te d to
ve ry wide ly. B lume ntr itt in his Dictionario unde r Ang ng alo re fe rs
There are othe r motifs in thes e two tales , however, which
s ituate the m among the mos t ancie nt myths . I refer, firs t of all,
to the motif of the hie rogamy or divine marriage be twe e n the
e arth and the s ky or he ave ns which I be lie ve is hinte d at in
the words : the he ave ns covered the e arth. Various traditions ,
Egyptian, Indian, Gre e k, etc., als o have myths te lling of the
marriage be twe e n the he ave n and the e arth.18 Any mis giving
as to whe the r a marriage is me ant or not whe n the he ave n is
s aid to cover the e arth is, I think, dis pe lle d by the fact that this
cove ring becomes f r u i t h f u l . A rat is s aid to be born within the
bowl, that is, the he ave n and the e arth joine d together.
What is quite unique in this myth, howe ve ras i' ar as my
knowle dge goes to date in thes e matte rs , is the combination of
the hie rogamy and the mountain motifs . The e arth covered by
the s ky looked like an imme ns e tabo or coconut s hell-bowl turne d
backs ide up. An imme ns e coconut s he ll turne d ups ide down
cannot but look like a mountain.. And the mountain in mythic
thought is clos ely re late d to the time and place of creation. It
is the ce nte r of the univers e , the particular point whe re in pas
sage is pos s ible be twe e n the thre e cos mic layers : the he ave n,
the e arth and the unde rworld. The mountain, too, is closely
linke d with the s ymbol of the pillar of the world. It is both in
this world and out of it. Its bas e is immane nt with human life ,
but its s ummit is hidde n high in the clouds whe re the gods dwe ll.
It is the re fore ve ry appropriate as the ladde r conne cting the
e arthly re gion with the he ave nly. Ne xt, the re is the motif of
trans formation. The rat born of the union of e arth and s kyis
s aid to grow in s ize until it trans forme d its e lf into a huge giant
name d Angngalo. Trans formations of this s ort are not uncom
mon in myth. Thirdly, the re is the implicit motif, too, of the
rais ing of the s ky high above the earth. The giant Angngalo
is s aid to carry the he ave ns on his s houlders . So it is implicitly
affirmed by the myth that the union, of e arth and s ky was
te rminate d by the birth of the ir offs pring, the giant, Angngalo,
to the P e ak of Adam on the is land of Ce ylon. On its s ummit the re is
a gigantic footpr int whic h s ome s ay be longs to B uddha, othe rs to Adam.
The footpr int is s aid to have originate d from the we ight of e ithe r B uddha
or Adam whe n the y s te ppe d upon the s ummit of the mountain and
jumpe d to he ave n.
18. Cf. Eliade , Patterns, pp. 241-242 whe re he give s ample e vide nce
of the hie rogamy be twe e n e arth and he ave n from Oce ania, Indone s ia,
Afric a, North Ame rica, Gre e ce , Japan, China, Ge rmany and Egypt.
and this te rmination is concrete ly de picte d by portraying him
as carrying the we ight of the firmame nt on his s houlders afte r
the manne r of Atlas .
From He s iod among the Gre eks we know that the giants
are offs prings of Gaia or the e arth.19 He re , however, it is not
e arth alone that gives birth to Angngalo, but the Earth embrace d
by the Sky.
The picture of the giant eas ing hims e lf and his excreta be
coming the is lands and his urine the sea of the archipe lago, may
s eem crude and vulgar at the firs t blus h. But this is the point
whe re we mus t not le t our own particular mode rn, we s te rn and
Chris tian s e ns ibilitie s dis tract us from s eeing the myth in its full
re ality. The giant is afte r alla s emi-divine, or even divine
be ing. And, although he has human needs, neverthele s s thes e
are s atis fied in a manne r that is s upe rhuman. For his was te
becomes cre ative of our e arth: the Philippine Archipe lago and
the seas which was h the s hores of our is lands . In a sense, the re
fore, our land and our wate rs are by origin divine or at leas t
s emi-divine: gigantic. Pe rhaps this was a de libe rate des ign
among the mythmake rs of this particular myth to at leas t
magnify what in thems elves are minute : by at leas t pos tulating
a divine origin to the m, although the y be originally no more
than divine was te-matter.
Le s t our readers be re volte d by this the y s hould realize that
even the mos t rational and aes thetic Gre eks had myths that are
no less re volting than this . We only have to re call He s iods ac
count of how Ouranos was cas trate d by his s on Cronos through
the connivance of his own mothe r Gaia. For Ouranos had the
cannibalis tic habit of de voring eve ry ne w son of his for fe ar that
he might be dis lodge d from his s overeign pos ition.20 We also
know that in this s ame myth, Aphrodite or Venus , the goddess
of love, was born out of the s aline foam which gathe re d around
the pe nis of Ouranos which Cronos had cast into the sea ne ar
the is land of Cyprus .21 We ne ed not als o me ntion how the crea
tion of the unive rs e was brought about, according to the
Babylonian myth Enuma Elis hby the dis me mbe rme nt of the
body of the s altwate r goddess Tiamat by the he ro Marduk; and
19. The ogony147 ff.
20. Ibi d. , 165 ff.
2 1 . Ibi d. , 188 ff.
how mankind was forme d out of clay and the blood of the
giante s s s vizie r Kinger-zu.22
C r e a t i o n M y t h s A m o n g N o n -Ch r i s t i a n T r i b e s
The non-chris tian tribe s of the Philippine s als o have stories
which te ll of the ir be lie f in the cre ation of the world. Here,
as in the case of the lowland, chris tianis e d peoples , cre ation is
not take n in the s trict the ological sense, but rathe r as the forma
tion of the world, or of man and woman, through the inte r
me diary of s ome pre-exis ting mate ria.
5. The tribal his torians of the Tagakaolo te ll us that they
are des cended from Lukbang, Me nge dan and Bode khis wife .
Thes e three pers ons live d on a s mall is land. Two childre n were
born to Me nge dan and Bodek: Linkanan and Lampagan. These
two, in turn, be came the parents of two birds , Kalau and S abitan
who flew away and brought back bits of s oil which the parents
moulde d with the ir hands until the y forme d the earth. Othe r
childre n we re born and through the m the world was pe opled.23
Comme nt
The myth is inte re s ting among othe r things for the triad
which it pos its . We know that two of thes e were' hus band and
wife : Me nge dan and Bodek. We do not know what the re lation
of thes e two is to the third party: Lukbang. We re the y s emi
divine beings , we can only guess at it becaus e of the ir power
to form the world. Inte re s ting, toois the fact that thes e three
live d on a s mall is land. Once again, we come face to face
with a motif ve ry common in myths conne cte d with the cre ation
of the world: the is landor the mo u n t a i n [ Eliade, Patte rns ,
375 f. The Myth of the Ete rnal Re turn, (Ne w York, 1954) p . 12 f.].
The motif of inces t: the marriage of brothe r and sister, is also
seen here. But what is s urpris ing is the ne xt motif of birds as
the firs t offs pring of the two ince s tuous beings . It is thes e birds
who flew away and brought back the piece of e arth out of which
our earth was forme d by the ir parents . We know els ewhere that
birds have a gre at de al to, do in the folkbe lie fs of e arly Filipinos .
22. Cf. Ale xande r He ide l (e d.) The Baby lonian Ge ne s is : The S tory
of Cre ation (Chicago, 1963), p. 47.
23. Cole , Tribe s of Davaoy pp. 159-60.
(Cole, Tribes of Davao, 173, 108 137). Might it be that some
species of birds like the limokon or the cuckoo are looked upon
as re lations or ances tors of human-kind? That is why the y are
re lie d upon to have particular care for people, a care which the y
s how by s upplying me n with s igns and warnings to ale rt the m
of on-coming danger.
It was only afte r the e arth had be e n forme d that othe r chil
dren, pre s umably, now human beings , were born of both
Linkanan and Lampagan.
It is inte re s ting to note that the motif of earth-divers in the
tale of the Boholanos (Old Toad) is playe d by the two brother-
birds . They are not s aid to dive for the piece of soil. They are
s aid howe ve r to fly to a very dis tant place and thence fe tch the
piece of clay for the earth. The flying over long dis tance is jus t
as hazardous as the diving into the bottom of the primordial
ocean in orde r to re trie ve a fe w grains of s and or soil. Here,
again, it seems that the close affinity be twe e n the animals and
human be ings is highlighte d. In fact the animals , i.e., the birds
are s aid to be blood brothe rs of the human childre n of the first
parents- These ideas are cle arly portraye d des pite the de murs
of the rational inte llige nce which would like to as k que s tions as
to whe re the birds got the piece of clay, who made that piece of
clay, and why by moulding by the hand it could become the
earth.
6. The Bilaans say that Me lube ing of a cle anly dis pos i
tion, ke pt rubbing his hands white . He pile d the s curf on one
s ide until it be came so high that it annoye d him. Thereby he
made e arth out of it.24
He re again we notice that the earth is s aid to be in s ome way
or othe r conne cte d with s ome divine or s emi-divine be ing in
its origin. Again, the cre ation of the e arth is portraye d as a
fortuitous event: here, as a re s ult of an annoyance on the part
of Me lu.
7. The various Manobo tribe s have diffe ring accounts of the
cre ation of the world. Thos e around the Talakogon dis trict be
lie ve that Makalindung is the creator. He is s aid to have set up
his work on pos ts (s ome s ay the y are of ir on)and that the re is
one ce ntral pos t. He dwe lls at the ce ntral pillar in company
with a python. The Manobos of Argauan and Hibung rive r
dis tricts be lie ve in Dagau, a fe male de ity, as the creator, or, at
24, Cole , ibid., p. 135.
le as tthe controlle r of the world. A python, too, is he r com
panion. The Manobos of Uppe r Agus an around the S imulan
and Umayan rive r, on the othe r hand, be lie ve that the world is
like a huge mus hroom s upporte d in the cente r by an iron pillar
which is unde r the control of highe r and more powe rful diwatas .25
De s pite the varying sex of the de ity s aid to have cre ate d the
world m the above vers ions of Manobo cre ation myths , one thing
is commonly he ld by the m: the be lie f in a world pillar s ituate d
at the cente r of the world. In this re gard, thes e myths may be
counte d among the ancie nt myths which also te ll firs t of a center
of the world and, too, a world pillar. We know that the center
plays a gre at part in thes e cre ation myths . It is not unus ual
the n that thes e Manobo vers ions would pos tulate that the
creator, male or fe male , s hould res ide at the ce ntral pillar. The
ce ntral pillar as we have pointe d out above could be s ubs titute d
by a mountain, by a te mple or by a tree. Why a python is s aid
to dwe ll in company with the cre ator at the ce ntral pillar may
be due to the fact that whe n the e arth quake s this move me nt
of the e arth can be e xplaine d as an action of the python who
guards the ce nte r of the earth.
8. Othe r tribes , like the Bagobos be lie ve that Eug
pamulak Manobo, the gre at Diwata, made the s eathe land, and
plante d trees; he is als o s aid to have created the s un, the moon
and the stars. And the gre at eel (Kas ili) a fish, s nake like in
appe arance which he wound around the world. He also made
the gre at crab (Kuyamang) and put it ne ar the gre at eel, and
allowe d it to go whe re ve r it pleas ed.26
The world ringe d round by the gre at eel recalls a s imilar
though not quite the s ame conce ption in Gre e k mythology.
Home r be lie ve d that the world was als o he mme d in by s ome
thing. B ut for him it was not a fish or a s nake that had the
world around its folds , rathe r it was the ancie nt Okeanos or
ocean that ringe d the world round. Okeanos was a river-god
with an ine xhaus tible powe r of be ge tting. For Home r, Okeanos
was the origin of e ve rything [ Iliad 14 246; and Ke re nyi, Gods
25. John M. Garvan, The Manobos of Mindanao. Me moirs of the
National Acade my of Scie nces , Vol. XGI II. (Was hington, D.C., 1941),
p. 224; Cf. als o H. O. Be ye rs Orig in Myths Among the Mountain
Pe ople s of the P hilippine s P hilippine J our nal of Scie nce , VIIII, Se c
tion D, 88-89.
26. Laur a Es te lle Wats on Be ne dict, Bagobo Myths ' , J our nal of
Ame ric an Folklore , 26 (Jan.-March, 1913),15-16.
of the Gre e ks (Ne w York 1960) p. 15]. B ut Kas ili was not
alone he had ne ar him. the crab Kuyamang. Eve n as Okeanos
had his cons ortthe goddes s Thetys , rightly invoke d as the Mothe r
by whom Oke anos be got e ve rything (Ke re nyi, op. c i t . , 15).
One inte re s ting fe ature of the Manobo tale, howe ve r is the
be lie f in a gre at Diwata who was re s pons ible for e ve rything that
exis ts Eugpamulak Manobo. The Gre eks re fe r e ve rything to
the action of Oke anos and Thetys . Zeus the s upre me God is a
late come r on the scene. But the Manobos be lie ve in a cre ator
who is s upre me over all that he had created. The gre at eel and
the gre at crab are both s ubje ct to him, and the y follow his bidding.
9. The Manobo be lie fs as re porte d by Garvan te ll of the
world pillar, a motif quite common in folklore (A841, A841.3.
A843)and which is linke d with the notion of the Ce nte r of the
Unive rs e whe re the firs t cre ation is s uppos e d to have take n
place. Like the world tre e or the world mountain, the pillar
is whe re comme rce be twe e n e arth and he ave n us ed to take place
in illo te mpore , that is to s ayin the e arly time s whe n gods
de igne d to cons ort with me n, in the aetas aure a mundi, or the
golde n age.27
The various fe male goddesses s aid to guard the ce ntral pillar
of the world in company with a python or s ome othe r animal
may yet be a s urvival of a s till more ancie nt be lie f of the associa
tion be twe e n the Gre at Goddes s and the Tree of Life , es pecially
27. P rof. Mirce a Eliade has wr itte n s ome ve ry inte re s ting pages
on the s ymbolis m of the ce nte r or axis of the wor ld with whic h are
linke d the Cos mic Mountain and the Cos mis Tre e (H 619.3). According
to him, it is at the ce nte r that the thre e cos mic re gions me e t, the
s ky above , the world be low, and the e arth; it is als o the re that a bre ak
throug h can occur, a pas s ing from one cos mic zone to anothe r. (P at
te rns , p. 111). It is als o the re at the ce nte r whe re the world tree
grows that one come s upon abs olute re ality, the cours e of life and
s acre d powe r. (ibid., p. 380). That is why the s hamans in the ir mys tic
flights e ithe r in s e arch of the s ouls of the s ick, or, as ps ychopomps for
the s ouls of the de ad, re pair to the cos mic mountain, pole or tre e which
the y c limb to re e s tablis h the eas y communications as in illo te mpore
be twe e n He ave n and Earth. For him (i.e . the s haman) the Mountain
or the Cos mic Tre e again becomes the actual me thod of attaining He ave n,
s uch as it was be fore the f all. For the s haman, He ave n again come s
clos e to Earth; no highe r than a hous e , jus t as it was be fore the pr i
mordial r upt ur e . ( The Ye arning for Paradis e in P r imitiv e Tra
dition/' in My th and My thmaking [ e dite d by He nry A. Mur r ay ] (Ne w
York: Ge orge B r azille r c . 1960) p. 67.
as s een in the ancie nt Ne ar Eas toccurring also in Egypt.22 Of
cours e, the Philippine non-Chris tian be liefs do not have all the
e le me nts which us ually we nt with the comple x of be lie fs which
made up the the ory of the Gre at Mothe r and the Tree of Life .
Ce rtainly we can ve ry we ll re cognize the motif of the Ce nte r
in the P hilippine beliefs . But the ce ntral pillar s upporting the
world does not ne ces s arily carry with it the notion of the Tree
of Life . The ide a of the World Tree may be seen in it. however.
But the notion of the Tree of Life is not the re, nor is the othe r
concomitant notion of immortality. The othe r notion us ually
found in the ancie nt Ne ar Eas te rn stories, name ly, the Tree of
Life as be ing hard to get at or its difficulty of access us ually
ass ociated with the Tree of Life and the Ce nte r is I think, im
plicit in the fact that the pillar is s aid to be guarde d by a python
or s ome othe r mons trous be ing.
28. Cf. Eliade , Patte rns , pp. 283-290.
II. THE CREATION OF THE FIRS T MAN
AND WOMAN
A . M a n a n d W o m a n E m e r g e F u l l G r o w n f r o m B a m b o o S t a l k
A c c o r d i n g t o t h e L o w l a n d T r i b e s
1 . The Bis ayans Loarca write s , had a legend, according
to which
. .the land bre e ze and the s ea bre e ze we re marrie d; and that the
land bre e ze broug ht forth a re ed, whic h was plante d by the god Captan.
Whe n the re e d gre w, it broke into two s e ctions , which be came a man
and a woman. To the man the y gave the name of Sicalac, and that
is the re as on why me n from that time on have be e n calle d lalac, the
woman the y calle d S icauay, and the nce forth wome n have be e n calle d
babaye s /' 1
2. Pove dano, on the othe r hand, gives a vers ion with some
inte re s ting de tails . Maca-aco was the fathe r of the firs t pe ople
whom he s hut up in two joints of the bamboo tree. Then came
the King of Turtle-doves . Whe n he alighte d on the bamboo,
the re came forth from, the joints a man, who was ve ry dark but
ve ry hands ome , who was name d S ilalac; and one othe r, a woman,
who was name d Sibaba-ye.2
3. A much longe r account is give n us by Pavon. He re is
an abridge d vers ion.
The firs t man and the firs t woman we re the re s ult of a romantic
e ncounte r be twe e n two ve ry powe rful s pirits , Captan, the hands ome
and powe rful god of the land (s ky) breezes , and of Maguaye r the
be autiful and powe rful goddes s of the sea breezes . During the ir firs t
e ncounte r, whic h was als o the ir las t on e arth, the y both trie d to outdo
each othe r in dis play ing the ir powe rs . Both s howe d how the y could
control the e le me nts ove r whic h the y had charge : Captan ove r the ke y
and e arth, by his lig htning and pe als of thunde r; Maguay e nin turn,
almos t s we pt Captan off his fe et. Har dly had s he commande d him to
le ave he r pre s e nce , whe n a huge wave broke at his fe et, but in his
ag ility he es caped be ing carrie d into the de e p. At this s how c f powe r
by Maguaye n, Captan be gge d pardon, as s e rting it was not in orde r
to ve x he r that he s howe d he r s ome of his s e rvitors , but to make he r
re alize that all the s e are he rs be caus e of his love for he r. Maguaye n,
on the othe r hand impre s s e d by the ag ility of Captan confe s s ed that
for a long time now s he had be e n long ing to me e t him who was not
1 . Re lacion, B lair and Robe rts on, Is lands , 5, pp. 121-123.
2. Robe rts on Te xt, pp. 34-35; in He s te rs e dition, p. 46.
only hands ome , but powe rful e ve n as s he was . Afte r anothe r mutual
s how of powe r, and Captan lay ing all his s e rvants at the fe e t of his
lady love , the y both clas pe d hands . The n the y dive d into the sea; and
thus the g e nii of the winds of the e arth and of the s ea we re unite d.
I n conclus ion, P avon adds : Nothing els e was known of this e ve nt,
whic h according to be lie f le d to the orig in of the firs t man and the
firs t woman. The place whe re the firs t idy ll occurre d is pointe d out
as a diminutiv e he rb, whic h vaunte d its e lf gaily in the horizon and
whos e tiny gre e n le ave s are s et a-quive r by the firs t ze phyrs which
accompany the de parture of the s tar king at the bre ak of dawn-3
Comme nt
The tale has many inte re s ting de tails which would re quire
a longe r tre atme nt to e xploit, es pe cially if one cared to go a
little de eper into the me aning of the myth. Suffice it for the
time be ing to point out that here is the proto-type of love and
marriage taking place in the e arly time s before the birth of
mankind. The dramatis pers onae are ance s tral gods and may be
re garde d as the founde rs of conjugal union among the Bis ayan.
He re , toois e vide nt the motif of conflict be twe e n two prime val
powers , and the ir re conciliation seems to put a close to the
olde r orde r of things whe n hos tility and irrational ins tincts
(chaos ) rule d, and to mark the be ginning of a ne w phas e in
the life of the univers e , that harmony be twe e n the land and the
sea breezes which pre pare d the way for the coming of the firs t
man and womanthrough whos e union the world would be
gradually peopled. In the unabridge d vers ion Captan is dressed
in the garme nt of birds plumage , while Maguayans body was
a colle ction of pe arls and mothers-of-pearl, he r hair like a bit of
pure gold thre ad. These s ymbols toomay be leads to deeper
unde rs tanding of the e arly re ligious be lie fs of the Bis ayans .
B . C o n t i n u a t i o n o f t h e S a m e T a l e o f M a n j s Or i g i n
f r o m t h e B a m b o o
1 . Povedano, rathe r s ke tchily, continue s his narrative thus :
As s oon as the y be he ld each othe r, the y fe ll in love ; but s he re
je cte d him s aying that it could not be; s ince the y both is s ue d from one
and the s ame hollow s te m. The n the y agre e d to s pe ak to the king of
the e arthquake , Macalinog. As s oon as he s aw the m, he s aid that it
3. P avon MS S Trans cript 5-D pp. 5-8.
was ve ry good, and that the y s hould marry, for the re we re not e nough
pe ople .4
2. Pavon s upplie s many inte re s ting de tails to the above
incide nt. The following is a brie f s ummary of it.
A be autiful
Maguay e n he ld
wande ring ove r
bamboo tre e gre w on the s pot whe re Captan and
the ir idy llic love . The n one day, King Manaul, s till
the wate ry was te s , came in s e arch of a place whe re on
to alight. For unt i l the n the re was no othe r tre e in all the w o r l d .
Lulle d by the quie t of the place , Manaul was about to f a l l as le e p whe n
he he ard from be twe e n the joints of the bamboo a s ound, pe c pec,
pec, tec, eec, te c, and the voice as of a womans: Ope n me , oh lord,
king of the air. Manaul fle w away whe n he he ard this . B ut once
ag ain we arie d with flying he re turne d to res t on the branch. And
ag ain he he ard the nois e , this time the voice of a man s aying: Look
thou, king of the air, and lord of birds , if with only two pe cks of thy
be ak thou give s t us fre e dom, thou wilt be joy f ul at s e e ing us, and we
s hall thank the e so. And with a mour nful plaint was re s ume d the
pick, pick, tick, tick.
Curious and de s irous to catch a chick whic h may be hidde n within
the bamboo, Manaul be nt toward the tr unk and lis te ne d. He was not
for le tting go what he could de vour. S icauay, the as tute , kne w ve ry
we ll the tas te of Manaul; so s he s imulate d the s ound of a chick from
within. This arous e d his curios ity all the more . J us t the n a be autiful
lizard appe are d on the tre e trunk. Manaul lunge d forward and pe cke d
at it; but the lizard es caped. His pe ck, howe ve r, cracke d the trunk;
and what a vis ion Manaul s aw. His eyes we re pinne d on the two
ve ry be autiful figure s is s uing from the cracke d oamboo, and we re now
grac e fully bowing to him. With joy the y gre e te d and thanke d him
for the ir be ing. S oon afte rwards , Manaul once again fle w away. And
the pair rais e d the ir eyes s kywards as thoug h in praye r.5
3, Alzina in his His toria has only a s hort re mark on the
Bis ayans be lie f conce rning the cre ation of the firs t man and
4. Robe rts on Te xt, p. 36; in He s te rs e dition, p. 46.
5. Pavon, MS S 5-D, pp. 9-10; Quirino-Garcia, Manne rs , p. 399.
Wi t h re gard to the Bis ayan be lie f that the firs t man and woman is s ue d
for th from a bamboo tre e one mig ht compare this notion with the
be lie f of the Borne o Kay ans that the firs t man and woman we re born
fr om a tre e whic h had be e n fe rtilize d by a cre eper s waying backwards
and forwards in the wind (A 1221.4). The man was Kaluban and the
woman Kal ubi Ang ai. B ut the y we re both s aid to be incomple te , with
the ir le gs and the lowe r half of the ir trunks mis s ing, so that the ir
e ntrails protrude d. S t ill the y we re marrie d and be came the proge nitors
of mankind (S ir Jame s Fraze r, Folklore in the Old Te s tame nt, I 34).
Als o at Amboy na and ne ighboring is lands , s ome inhabitants c laim the y
woman. The y as cribed, he tells us, a ve ry conte mptible be gin
ning to the firs t man and woman, s ince the y were two coconuts
or two s talks of ba mboo. . . . 6 Loarca also reports that the
Bis ayans took the firs t human pair to have be e n created from
the bamboo. He te lls bes ides of anothe r group of Bis ayans , the
Tinguiane s who s ay that a kite pe rche d upon a reed, pecked
at it, and man and woman came out2 Catalina Villaruz records
the be lie f of Tagalogs of s outhe rn Luzon in the firs t quarte r of
this ce ntury s aying that The firs t man was s uppos ed to have
s prung from a bamboo pole. He be came so big that the bamboo
could no longe r hold him and so it cracke d and out he came.
The s ame s tory is told of the firs t woman Once out of the
bamboo matrix, the y looke d at each othe r, fe ll in love, and the n
live d toge the r as man and wife .8
4. The following tale was collecte d late in the second
quarte r of this ce ntury by an anonymous worke r in Balingas ag,
Mindanao, for the Bure au of Public Schools . The tale has a
C h r i s t i a n , or to be more exact, a j udaeo-chris tian coloring, and
s ounds ve ry much ]ike the account in Genes is . What is me an
ingful, however, is the inte rpre tation give n by the raconte ur of
womans origin from the rib on the le ft s ide of man. Ve ry
probably the s toryte lle r be longs to Eve s own sex. There follow
a s ummary and a quote.
Adam was the firs t man to whom s ome of the wis dom of God was
give n. He could talk, think, and re as on. A companion too was give n
him so that he mig ht not be lone ly. While Adam was as lee p, God e x
tracte d Eve fr om the le ft rib of Adam jus t unde rne ath the he art. With
a s ignificant me aning, God did not e xtract he r fr om the fe e t of man
so that s he mig ht be s te ppe d upon; nor was s he take n fr om the he ad
so that s he wi ll be unde r the wi ll and control of mans powe r; but s he
are de s ce nde d from tree s like the Cape lle nia Moluccana which was
fe rtilize d by the P andion Haliae tus (ibid. I 36). The Pars e e s are s aid
to have a tradition that a tre e gave bir th to the prime v al man, Me s chia,
whos e body was afte rwards divide d, one part be ing male , the othe r,
fe male , Me s chia and Me s chiana (C. S. Wake , S e rpe nt Wors hip, and
othe r Es s ays with a Chapte r on Tote mis m, London: G. Re dwig 1888,
p. 38.)
6. I 3, p. 182.
7. Re lacion, B lair and Robe rts on, Is lands , 5 pp. 120-128.
8. B is ay an Folktale s V o l . 2P ape r No. 44, in H. Otle y Be ye r
Colle ction, Manila, P. I. Type s cript,
te cte d by man. This woman was Eve , the firs t woman.9
C. T h e W i t n e s s o f t h e N o n -Ch r i s t i a n P e o p l e s
1 . Among the non-chris tianized peoples of the Philippine s
are found a varie ty of be lie fs conce rning the origin of man and
woman. As far as one can as certain, the Tinguians do not have
any de finite be lie fs conce rning the cre ation of the firs t man and
woman. Kadaklan is s aid to have created e ve rything, the s un
the moon and the stars . But among the ir myths the re is nothing
that te lls of the origin of man and woman. The Bagobos , on the
othe r handbe lie ve that Eugpamulak Manobo or Diwata took
two lumps of e arth, s hape d the m into human figures , s pat upon
the m and the y be came man and woman. B ut the y we re very
old; the y marrie d and live d together. Tuglay was the man
and Tuglibong, the woman. He built a ve ry big hous e, and
plante d seeds of various kinds which Diwata had give n him.10
2. Cole furnis he s us with inte re s ting de tails of the be liefs
in the origin of man and woman among the mountain tribe s of
Davao Gulf in Mindanao. He re ports that the Bagobos be lie ve d
that a race of monke ys once possessed the world; but the firs t
human be ings dispossessed the monke ys of it. The e ntire human
race is de rive d from the firs t pair. (Cole, Tribes of Davao,
p. 125).
3. The Bilaans s ay that Melu-a, afte r he had made the
world from the accumulate d he ap of de ad s kin from his hands 12
was much pleas ed with his workand the n decide d to make
two be ings like unto hims e lfbut s malle r in size. For this he
us ed the re mnants of the mate rial he had us ed to form the
world. He was about through s haping both figures except for
the nos e of one, and the nos e and s ome othe r part of the other.
The n came Tau-Tana or Tau Dalom Tana who de mande d that
9. Re port on Balingas ag. Type s cript, Manue l Gapuz Colle ction
( MGC) , Xav ie r Unive rs ity, Cagayan de Oro, P hilippine s .
10. Be ne dict, Bagobo Myths , p . 15. According to he r (ibid., note
3,) Tuglay and Tuglibong are ge ne ric, not s pe cific name s . The y are
als o ide ntifie d with the Mona who, in Bagobo myths , we re s uppos e d
to have inhabite d the e arth be fore time be gan; and the y kne w only
the crude s t of Bagobo arts and indus trie s , we re e xtre me ly poor, the ir
dres s was the s oft s he ath torn fr om coconut trees .
1 1 . Cole , Tribe s of Davao^ p. 106.
12. Cole , ibid., p. 135.
Ibid., p. 136.
Cf. s upra, p. 55.
Cole , op. cit. p. 164.
Ibid., p. 137.
Melu-a leave him the noses to make . Afte r much argume nt,
Tau Tana gaine d his point and so made the noses of the firs t
two people, but he made the m ups ide down. Becaus e of the
argume nt on the noses, Melu-a forgot to finis h the mis s ing part
of the othe r pers on and we nt home ins te ad to his abode in the
clouds , while Tau-Tana re turne d to his dwe lling unde r the earth.
The n the rains came and the two pe ople on e arth were about
to pe ris h becaus e of the wate r that ran off the ir heads into the ir
ups ide down noses. Melu-a, s eeing this came to the ir res cue
res et the ir noses, and told the m that the y s hould save the hair
that fe ll from the ir he ads and the s curf that came off from
the ir bodies , in orde r that whe n he came again he could make
many more people. And the y live d in a village with ple nty to
eat and did not have to laborbut s imply to pick the fruits they
des ire d from the trees .13
4. The Tagakaolos to whom we have re fe rre d above14 have
Lingkanan and Lampagan, who gave birth firs t to two birds
Kalau and S abitan, as the pare nts of all peoples of the world.
The Atas (or Ae tas or Etas )the Bataks and the Mamanuas be
lie ve that the gre ates t of all s pirits who is Manama made the
firs t me n from blade s of grass, we aving the m toge the r until the y
re s embled a human form. In this manne r he made e ight pers ons
male and fe male who late r be came the ances tors of the Ata
and of all the ne ighboring tribe s .15 The Bilaans te ll us that the
firs t pe ople cre ate d by Me lu and Fiuwe igh were Adnato and
Andawi, male and fe male . The ir childre n we re Tafi or Mas tafi,
male and Lakarol, fe male. (Cole notes that s ome informants
claim that Mes a, Lakbang and Mangarang were als o original
firs t people.) The des cendants of Tafi and Lakarol were S inudal
(fe male )Moay (male )Limbay (fe male )Made nda (fe male )
Sinamoway (male )Kamans a (male )Gilay (fe male )Gomoyau
(male ) Salau (male ) Salayane (fe male ) Bae n (fe male )
Kanfal (fe male )Latara (male ) _16
5. A s econd vers ion gives Me lu and Dwata as the firs t
creators who made Fiuwe igh and Sewe igh. The las t two were
the re al ances tors of me n becaus e the y took e arthmade it into
the form of pe ople and the n whippe d the m until the y move d.
3

4

5

6

1
1
1
1
Otis and Lakbang, male and fe male , were the two pe ople made
by Fiuwe igh and Seweigh. From the m two childre n, also male
and fe male , were born, name ly, Mas tafi and Lakarol. Thes e two
live d in a dis tant place toge the r with the ir one ani ma l , a bird,
calle d Bas wit. They s ent him on a long journe y and upon its
re turn it brought back a pie ce of e arth and a fruit of the pandag
tree. Lakarol plante d the fr uit on the piece of e arth, and whe n
it gre w the leaves that fe ll from its branche s gradually forme d
the e arth. (Cole, Tribes of Davao, p. 137).
6. A third ve rs ion te lls how the re were in the be ginning
four be ings Me lu and Fiuwe igh who were male s , and two
fe males , Dwata and Sawe igh. They live d on an is land as large
as a hat which was calle d Salnaon. There were no trees nor
grass on the is land. And the y als o had a bird called Bas wit who
we nt across the wate rs to s ecure s ome earth, the fruit of the
rattan and of othe r trees. The bird re turne d and Me lu be at the
e arth it brought like the way a woman beats the pot until he
made the land; the n he plante d the seeds in it and the y grew.
Afte r some time he s aid, of what use is the land without pe ople ?
So the othe r thre e re plie d, le t us make wax into pe ople . So
the y did. But whe n the y place d the m ne ar the fire the y me lte d.
The refore the y de cide d ne xt to make me n out of dirt. Me lu and
Fiuwe igh be gan to work on man. All we nt we ll until the y were
re ady to make the nose. Fiuwe igh who was doing it place d the
nose ups ide down; whe n Me lu s ugges ted that the pe ople would
drown if he le ft the nose that way, Fiuwe igh be came ve ry angry
and re fus e d to change it, the n le ft in a huff. Me lu quickly s eized
the nos e and turne d it the way it is now. But you can see that
in his has te the cre ator pres s ed his fingers at its roots .17
17. Ibid., pp. 136-137. Of the Tiruray be lie f on the origins of man
and woman. Datu P iang in his Moro and P ag an Le ge nds , re ports that
the firs t woman was forme d by S ualla fr om the rib of the firs t man
who was ve ry lone ly. Althoug h the firs t child of the firs t couple die d,
ne ve rthe le s s his de ath w^as the occas ion of many be ne fits : the s oil whic h
the cre ator us e d to bur y the child be came the broad e arth; the firs t
corn gre w from the te e th of the de ad c hild rice , from his nav e l7 and
bananas , from his hands . B ut S ualla had a s is te r with an e vil dis pos i
tion. Envious of he r brothe rs cre ations , s he cas t he r comb down and
it turne d into the firs t pig to de vour the banana plants , he r bnyo-s pittle
fr om he r hig h home in Bonggo, be came the rats whic h pre y upon the
crops of corn and rice (E. Ars e nio Manue l, F olk Lite rature , p. 149).
Afte r I had wr itte n the s e page s , I was informe d by Mr. Trnnquilino
Comme nt
From the fore going accounts one may conclude that among
the e arly Bis ayans and Tagalogs the be lie f was pre vale nt that
the firs t human be ings came from a tree, in particular, the
bamboo; a motif rathe r common in folklore (A1251).
Among the non-Chris tian tribe s of Mindanao the following
motifs are attes ted: that monke ys were the firs t possessors of
the e arth (Bagobo); that bad creators , Tau Tana or Sawe igh.
inte rfe re d in the cre ation of man (Bilaan, A60); and that the
primordial pare nts firs t gave birth to animals like the birds ,
Kalau or S abitan, and only afte rwards to human offs prings
(Tagakaolo). More ove r, one le arns that birds were ins tru
me ntal in s e curing the piece of e arth for the forming of this
world (Tagakaolo and B ilaan)that the e arly peoples live d in
a kind of paradis iac exis tence (B ilaan)that clay figures s haped
like me n we re whippe d until the y move d (s econd Bilaan
ve rs ion)and that the creators s pat upon the two lumps of earth
and made the m man and woman (an action quite analogous to
Gods in Genes is whe n he bre athe d into the face of man in
orde r to make him a living s oul. This s pitting motif obtains
among the Bagobos . One le arns finally that the firs t parents
were living on a s mall and dis tant is land with a bird for com
panion (two vers ions of the B ilaan), and that the firs t man and
woman we re cre ate d before the formation of the e arth (s econd
Bilaan ve rs ion).
S itoy a native B ukidnonthat the re are at le as t two cre ation-mylhs
whic h he had he ard in Malay balay and the s urrounding areas . Thes e
are s aid to be ve ry ancie nt. One ve rs ion te lls of a ball of lig ht which
the y c all talabungc oout of whic h the firs t man and woman e me rge d.
(The ball is pe rhaps homologizable with the egg motif to be dis cus s ed
be low in chapte r I I I ) . The s econd ve rs ion make s Magbabaya, the
cre ator, fas hion the firs t pe ople out of clay. For a fulle r account of
this s econd ve rs ion, cf. chapte r III , note 24).
III. OTHER MOTIFS
Be fore clos ing, I would like to pick up again s ome motifs
which though allude d to e arlie r in the pape r des erve furthe r
comme nt. There are at le as t thre e of these: the egg motif in
conne ction with the cre ation of the firs t man and woman, and in
conne ction with the cre ation of our world;the animal motif
(python and pig) at the ce ntral pillar of the world, and the
bad cre ator motif.
1 ) The Egg Motif
His torians of re ligions inform us that in many mythologie s
the egg is an arche typal s ymbol of world cre ation. Clas s ical
s tude nts are acquainte d with the Orphic cosmic egg which was
fas hione d in the aithe r by Time, and out of which emerged the
firs t gre at God Eros or Love (Phane s ) who, as the principle of
ge ne ration, be came the cre ator of the whole world. But Phane s
was s wallowe d in turn by Zeus who the re by be came the rule r
and cre ator of the world. We me e t s uch myths over a very-
wide area: in Polyne s ia, India, Indone s ia, Iran, Gre ece Phoe nicia,
Latvia Es tonia, Finland, We s t Africa, the ce ntral and the wes t
coasts of S outh Ame rica.
What is of s pecial inte re s t is the fact that many myths of
the cre ation of the firs t man and woman are patte rne d on the
eme rge nce of the cosmos from an egg. Man is be lie ve d to have
be e n born from an egg, among the Oce anians .1 Among the
Mandaya in Mindanao the egg as the origin of the firs t man and
the firs t woman is als o found. This we s hall discuss more fully
be low.
Howe ve r, it is not only the coming to birth of man that is
patte rne d afte r the cos mogony from an egg. The s ymbols of the
re novation of nature and of ve ge tation (S pring and Ne w Ye ar)
as we ll as the feas ts and cults of the de ad are also patte rne d on
the s ymbolis m of the world egg. And we know that this s ymbol
is m is not to be seen in any kind of birth, but rathe r in re birth in
imitation of the pe riodic re cre ation of the world. In othe r words ,
in all the s e myths and rituals conne cte d with the tree, with the
1 . R. B. Dixon, Oce anic My thology (Bos ton, 1916), p . 160 f. for
Indone s ia; p . 109 for Me lane s ia; p. 109 n . 17, for Microne s ia. Cf. als o
Elia.de Patte rns , pp. 413-414.
coming of s pring and the ne w ye ar as we ll as the feas ts of the
de adin all thes e, the the ory of e te rnal re turn to the be ginning
is e xe mplifie d. The be ginning is the mythic time of creation.
Thes e myths and rituals wherein, the motif of the egg is found,
in the words of Eliade , cannot be e xplaine d by any e mpirical
or rationalis t inte rpre tation of the egg looke d upon as a seed:
it is founde d on the s ymbol e mbodie d in the egg which bears
not so much upon birth as upon re birth mode lle d on the cre ation
of the world.2 We cannot now go into a dis cus s ion of Eliade s
conce ption of a s ymbol. We re fe r the re ade r to his many writ
ings on it.3
Egg Motif in Philippine Cre ation Myths
As me ntione d above, the re are myths which e xhibit the
egg motif in the Philippine s . Two vers ions of Mandaya myth
cle arly s how this . The firs t vers ion relates that the limokon
bird laid two eggs. Out of the one was hatche d the firs t woman
Mag, and out of the othe r the firs t man Begenday. In the s econd
vers ion, two eggs were laid at the he adwate rs of the Mayo Rive r.
A woman emerged from the firs t egg. A s nake was born out of
the s econd. It late r we nt downs tre am and at the mouth of
the rive r, it ble w up, and from its carcass the body of the firs t
man came forth.4
It mus t be me ntione d, howe ve r, that the various myths as
we have the m do not e xplicitly indicate the s ymbolis m of re birth
as mode lle d on the cos mogony. As a matte r of fact, whe re ve r
the egg motif comes in, it is always a que s tion of two eggs (one
for the man and the othe r for the woman), not of one egg.
It would s eem that the Philippine myths would be much clos er
to the patte rn of the cos mogonic egg, did the y portray the man
and the woman as coming from one s ingle egg. There is how
ever, an indication of the ide a of re birth in thes e myths on ac
count for the fact that thes e cre ation myths are ge ne rally accom
2. Eliade , P atte rns , p. 414.
3. P atte rns , pp. 8-11 13 26 3132 f., 39, 46 111. 437-58 pas s ion.
Imag e s and S ymbols : A S tudy in Re ligious S y mbolis m. Trans . P hilip
Mair e t (Ne w York, 1961) pas s ion; Me thodological Re marks of the S tudy
of Re ligious S y mbolis m/ in: The His tory of Re ligions : Es s ays in
Me thodology, eds . Mirce a Eliade and Jos e ph Kitag awa (Chicago, 1959),
pp. 86-107.
4. Cole , Tribe s of Davao, pp. 173-174.
panie d with flood myths . And invariably the flood myths contain
refe rence to a bird of birds e ithe r as the firs t sons of the
s urvivors , or as bringing in the matte r for the formation of the
e arth from far dis tant places , or as mes s enger of a god of the
dead. We s hall dis cus s the flood myths later.
There is, howe ve r, pe rhaps a Philippine myth which is pat
te rne d ve ry much like the cos mogonic egg, but portraye d unde r
anothe r s y mbol . I re fe r to the e arly Bis ayan myth which make s
the firs t man and woman emerge full blown from the s ame
bamboo joint, thanks to the accide ntal pe cking by Manaul. Al
though it is not an egg laid by Manaul out of which the firs t
man and woman are hatche d, the re is howe ve r a ve ry pos itive
action of the bird in re gard the bamboo pole. Firs t of all he
alights upon it to catch his bre ath afte r his long flights , the n
he actually pecks at the bamboo whe n a lizard s hows its e lf on
it. The actions of Manaul pe rhaps could be analogous ly take n
as an act of hatching. And the one joint of bamboo whe re in
were concealed the firs t man and woman could als o be homologis -
ed with an egg s he ll containing within it two contras ting or
oppos ite be ings : man and woman, the mas culine and fe minine .
In this way, the myth seems to approach more closely the
cos mogonic egg, which before its bre akage or cre ation, con
taine d within its e lf the opposites : white and black, he ave n and
earth, night and day, de ath and life , mas culine and fe minine .5
Nor is that all. The Bis ayan seem als o to have anothe r myth
which again runs along the s ame patte rn of s ymbolis m as the
cos mogonic egg, with a difference. I. re fe r to the myth of the
giant Angngalo and his birth from the e arth covered by the s ky
and which looked like a giant tabo or coconut s hell-bowl, turne d
tops ide down. In a pre vious chapte r we have e xplaine d this as
analogous to the mountain motif and have conne cte d it with
the s ymbol of the ce nte r. Pe rhaps we could also e xplain this
myth, particularly the giant tabo or coconut s hell-bowl as anothe r
variant of the cos mogonic egg, the bre aking of which, me ant the
s e paration of the cos mogonic egg into two halve s , the e arth be low
and the he ave n above. And the cosmic s e paration of the pri
mordial fe minine and the primordial mas culine also es tablis hes
once and for all the dichotomy of male and fe male among human'
beings , animals and plants .
5. Eric h Ne umann, The Gre at Mothe r: An Analys is of the Arc he
type (Ne w York, 1963) pp. 42-45.
2) The Flood Motif and the S ymbolis m of Re birth
We s aid above that the egg motif the world over is ge ne rally
linke d with the s ymbolis m not of bir thbut of re birth, or the
re pe tition of the birth of the world at the mome nt of cre ation.
We s aid too that the egg motif, e ithe r in myth or ritual, has
de finite conne ctions with the s ymbols of the re novation e ithe r
of nature or of ve ge tation as we ll as with the cult of the dead.
Now S pring and the Ne w Ye ar the ms elves , in mythic thinking,
are s ymbols of the firs t eme rge nce of the world from chaos and
unforme d exis tence or the gre at round, before it be came frag
me nte d. In othe r words , the coming of S pring and the Ne w Ye ar
thems elves are s ymbolic of the e te rnal re turn to the s tate of
chaos and the s tate of late ncies or of seeds in the be ginning.
This re turn (according to archaic the ory) can be effected eithe r
by an ekpyros is , ge ne ral conflagration, or by a cataclys m in the
form of a unive rs al de luge. This re turn to the original s tate is
neces s ary in orde r to re ne w the exhaus te d forces and energies
of the e ntire univers e , and thus s ecure its continual exis tence.6
In this way the e te rnal round of exis tence in cycles is s ecured.
In this conne ction, the egg motif, whe the r on the cos mic or the
human le ve l is a s ymbol not so much of bir thbut of re birth.
Like the treethe egg is als o a s ymbol of nature and its continual
re ne wal through de ath unto ne w life .7
We me ntione d that this re ne wal could be effected by a
unive rs al flood. Now we have flood myths among the Ifugaos
and othe r pagan tribe s of the Philippine s .
The Ifugaos te ll of a gre at drought which drie d up all the
rivers . The old me n s ugges ted that the y dig up the rive r which
had s unk into its grave in orde r to find the s oul of the river.
For 3 days the y dug whe n s udde nly a gre at s pring gus he d forth.
It came so fas t that many die d before the y could get out of the
pit. In the ir joy over the waters , the Ifugaos cele brate d a feas t.
B ut while the y were re joicing it gre w dark; the rains fe ll, the
rive rs rose up so that the old me n finally advis ed the people to
run to the mountains for the rive r gods were angry. The pe ople
we re all ove rtake n by the wate rs except two, a brothe r and a
s ister: Wigan and Bugan. Wigan was s afe ly s ettled on top of
Mt. Amuyao and Bugan, on the s ummit of Mt. Kalawitan. The
6. Eliade , P atte rn, pp. 212 254.
7. Ibid., pp. 324-26; 414-416.
wate rs continue d to rise until the e ntire e arth was covered
exce pt the tops of the mountains . For 6 months the flood covered
the earth. There was ple nty of fruits and nuts on the mountain
tops for the s urvivors . B ut only Bugan had fire. Wigan was
cold becaus e he had no fire.
The s tory goes on to te ll how afte r the waters had receded,
Wigan journe ye d to Mt. Kalawitan and was re unite d with his
sister. They s e ttle d down the valle y whe re the Banaual clan
now life . Bugan re alize d one day that she was with child. In
he r s hame she le ft he r home and followe d the course of the
rive r. Exhaus te d and faint afte r the long journe y and cons ume d
with grie f, s he s ank to the ground only to be comforte d by the
appe arance of the god Maknongan who came to he r in the guis e
of a be nign old man with white be ard. He ass ured he r that he r
s hame had no foundation. What she and Wigan had done was
right becaus e it was through the m that the world would be
re pe ople d.8
In this s ynops is it is cle ar that the re was a be lie f among the
Ifugaos of the s uccessive exis tence of races of mankind; that the
old race was wipe d away by a floodand that a ne w ge ne ration
came into exis tence through the s urvivors of the flood. Re birth
is implicit in this flood myth.
Among the Ata we have this re port from Cole .9
Long afte r this (the cre ation of the firs t male and f e male ), the
wate r cove re d the whole e arth and all the Ata we re drowne d e xce pt
two me n and a woman. The wate rs carrie d the m far away and the y
would have pe ris he d had not a large e agle come to the ir aid. This
bird offe re d to carry the m to the ir home s on its back. One man re fus e d,
but the othe r two acce pte d its he lp and re turne d to Mapula.
He re again we see pres uppos e d a ne w ge ne ration of Ata,
s prang from the two re mnants of the flood who were flown to
the ir home by the bird. This tale also pres uppos es the exis tence
of a pre vious race of me n who pe ris hed during the cataclys m.
The notion of the re birth of mankind through the s urvivors he lpe d
by the bird is quite clear.
Among the Mandaya we have it re ported that many ge nera
tions ago a gre at flood occurre d which kille d all the inhabitants
of the world exce pt one pre gnant woman. She praye d that he r
8. Be ye r, Myths of Orig in, pp. 212-213.
9. Tribe s of Davao, p. 164.
child might be a boy. This was grante d and the s on who was
born of he r s he calle d Uacatan. Whe n f ull grown, he took his
own mothe r to wife , and from the ir union came all the Mandaya.
(Shade s of the Oe dipus comple x).10
Again in this tale the re are two things pres uppos ed: the
pre vious exis tence of a race of me n now e xtinct on account of
the flood, and the exis tence of a ne w race from the two s urvivors .
As for the Bis ayan, one may not agree with Alzina whe n he
s ays Conce rning the flood which the y now call in the ir tongue
ang paglunup sa calibutan (lit. the inundation of the world)
that the y kne w nothing about it.11 Fans le r at leas t has a
Bis ayan s tory of a flood, s upplie d by Vice nte L. Ne ri of Cagayan,
Mis amis , which he had he ard from his grandmothe r. A flood
took place on account of the quarre l be twe e n Bathala and the
god of the sea, Dumagat. It s eems that Bathalas s ubjects the
crow and the dove were s te aling fis h which we re the s ubjects
of Dumagat. He as ked for re tribution from Bathala and he got
nothing. In re turn he opened the big pipe through which the
wate r of the world passes and flooded the dominion of Bathala
until ne arly all the pe ople we re drowne d.12
And Pavon te lls a s tory of how the crow got its black color.
The s tory in s hort goes this way: In ve ry re mote times , God
thought it good to s end a gre at punis hme nt to men. There fol
lowe d a gre at inte rnal war which took away the lives of many.
The n a rive r ove rflowed its banks and took the live s of many
more. The judge of the de ad Aropayang alarme d over the mis
fortune that had happe ne d s ent out the crow and the dove to
e xamine and count the dead. The dove came back and gave a
faithful account of the dis as ter. The crow who came much late r
could not do so becaus e it forgot to count the de ad in its eager
ness to peck at the eyes of the dead. Furious , Aropayang hurle d
a bottle of ink at the bird and thus s taine d the fe athe r of the
crow forever, and he curs ed it to be lame on one foot whe re it
10. Ibid., p. 173. Ge ne rally the s urvivors of the flood are a brothe r
and a s is ter. The re is anothe r ins tant of a mothe r-s on partne rs hip. This
was broug ht to my atte ntion by Dr. J uan Francis co of U. P. afte r I had
wr itte n the s e page s . He s ays that the Flood-myth of the Higaunons
of Mags ays ay in northe rn Mis amis Orie ntal te lls of a mothe r and a s on
who s urvive d the gre at flood.
1 1 . His toria, pp. 191-192.
12. De an S. Fans le r, F ilipino P opular Tale s (Ne w York, 1921) pp.
420-421.
was hit by the inkwe ll.13
In thes e two tales , we have the motif of a flood if not of a
unive rs al de luge. The pas s ing away of one ge ne ration of me n
who pe ris he d in the flood wate rs and the coming of anothe r
ge ne ration afte r the flood are at leas t hinte d at. The followe rs
of Bathala and the pe ople in the Pavon tale we re not altoge the r
e xtinguis he d. So we can s uppos e that at leas t two or more
s urvivors re maine d to re pe ople the world. And so, too, we can
s ay that the notion of re birth is implicit. In both s tories again,
the re figure two birds : the crow and the dove. In thes e tales
which are more folktale than myths , the birds do not lay eggs.
B ut it is inte re s ting how the y are s ent to count the dead. So
it s eems that the many motifs common to e arlie r myths of cosmic
re birth re appe ar in thes e tales : the flood, the s urvival of s ome
people, the birds , the dead. The rebirth, is not for the individual
dead, howe ve rbut for the ne w race of me n who will be bom
to re pe ople the world from the s urvivors .
Now for a brie f comme nt on the othe r two motifs : the
animals at the ce ntral pillar, and the bad creators .
2) Animals at Ce ntral P illar
The animals at the ce ntral pillar are e ithe r a python or pigs
or an eel and a crab. The Manobo of the Talakagan dis trict
in the Agus an Valle y be lie ve that the world is s et on posts, one
of which is at the center. The cre ator Makalindung, live s at
the ce ntral pos t in company with a python. In like manne r,
the Manobo of the Argauan and Hibung Rive rs s ay that a fe male
de ity, name d Dagau, live s at the four fundame ntal pillars of
the world in company with a python.14 The Bis ayan and B ukid
non in northe rn Mindanao affirm that the re are pigs s tatione d
close to the pillars of the world.15 The Manobo, however, s ay
that the Cre atorEugpamulak Manobomade the gre at eel
(Kas ili) , a s nake like fis hand he wound it all around the world.
He als o s tatione d the gre at crab (Kuyamang) ne ar the great
eel and le t i t go whe re ve r it like d.16
13.
14.
p. 89.
15.
s cript.
16.
MS 1838-1839, Trans cript No. 5-C pp. 27-28.
J ohn Garvan, Unpublis he d Notes , re fe rre d to by Be ye r, op. c it
Re port on the Lumbia Dis trict by P ublic S chool Teacher. Type-
S upr a p . 22.
Le t us note in pas s ing that only 3 of the 4 accounts refer
s pecifically to the ce ntral pillar or pillars and the animals
s tatione d there. The Bagobo be lie f does not te ll of a ce ntral
pillar, but cons iders the world as encircle d in the folds of the
gre at Kas ilL As with the 3 accounts , the Bagobo gives an
e tiological e xplanation for the e arthquake . Pe riodically the great
Crab bite s the Eel, and its wriggling causes the e arth to move.
In the Bohol cre ation myth above cited, e arthquate could be eas i
ly e xplaine d als o by the mobility of its foundations : the broad
back of big Turtle . The Manobo be lie fs e xplain the quaking
of the e arth by the move me nt of the pythons wound around the
pillars . And the Bis ayan and Bukidnon vers ions attribute the
e arth move me nts to the pigs running around, or rubbing the ir
s ides agains t, the earth-s upports . That is why the Bis ayan s ay
whe n the e arth quake s : Bowa, Bowa, Bowa ! The cry for
s hooing away pigs .17
We have pointe d out above that the ce ntral pillar of the
world is analogous to the motif of the ce nte r of the univers e.
And that one of the characte ris tics of the cente r in mythological
thought is that it is difficult of access; becaus e it is there that
pas s age is made pos s ible from one cosmic zone to the othe r; it
is there, toothat the tre e of life is locate dand the food of
immortality s ecured. The tree of life is ofte n de picte d as guarde d
by a mons te r, a s nake. We might see a faint re mnant of this
the ory in the S ubanu tale: A Story of Punbe nua, Who We nt
to the Nave l of the Sea.18 He we nt in s earch of the live r of
the black s nake which was ve ry much de s ire d by his wife in
labor at childbirth. The s nake live d in the tree Dangal Bahai
that gre w in the place calle d Pus u Dag atroote d on a rock.
But one more thing worth me ntioning is a re mark by Jos e ph
Campbe ll.19 He is not re fe rring to the ce ntral pillar of the world,
but rathe r to the labyrinth. It is inte re s ting to note that the
labyrinth and the ce ntral pillar are both unde rground, and both
e ntail hards hip in ge tting the re ; and the refore, homologizable
with the cente r. According to Campbe ll, in the his torical
de ve lopme nt of mythic thinking, pigs took the place of s erpents
as s acred animals of the labyrinth. The pigs in turn gave way
17. B.eport on Lumbia.
18. Chris tie , S ubanuns , pp. 96 ff.
19. Jos e ph Campbe ll, The Mas ks of Gods , P rimitive Mythology
(Ne w York, 1959), p. 197.
to the bull, and the bull to the hors e. If we could homologize
the journe y to the labyrinth with the journe y to the cente r of
the world, the n it would be s een that our pagan and Bis ayan
myths about the ce nte r are ve ry old. The Manobos have the
python and the Bis ayan the pigs as s ituate d in the s acred zone
of the center.
3) The Bad Cre ator or Marplot Motif
In folk be lie f over a wide are a of the world (Ce ntral As ia
and South-Eas te rn Europe )the creator-god is not s eldom
portraye d as clos ely ass ociated with the de vil in the act of crea
tion. The de vil is pres ented as the blood-brother of God, or
co-eternal with him, and without the de vils he lp, God is s aid
to be unable to comple te the world.20
Some time s the de vil is s aid to have be e n cre ate d by God.
But the manne r of his cre ation is inte re s ting. In a way God
creates the de vil out of his own s ubs tance. S itting upon a rock,
the Mordvinians de pict God as s aying to hims e lf: If only I
had a brothe r, I would make the Wor l d! The n he s pat upon
the wate rs and from his s pittle a mountain was bom. He s plit
it with his s word, and from the cle ft s te ppe d out the de vil.
The de vil the n propos ed to God that the y s hould be brothe rs
and create the world. So the y did.21
The Trans ylvanian gypsies te ll that God was lone ly and
that he did not know how to make the world. Whe n he thre w
his wand downthe de vil aros e from it. The Finns de pict God
looking at his image in the wate r and as king his image how to
make the world. The Bulgarian legends make God s peak to
his s hadow as he walks alone: Ge t up, comrade ! The de vil
arose from the s hadow of God. The two the n divide d the
Unive rs e be twe e n the ms e lves : God would have control of the
heave ns and the living; the de vil of the e arth and of the dead.
Bes ides the y te ll that it was through the advice of S atan that
20. Dae nhardt, Naturs age n, I (Le ipzig-Be rlin, 1907) pp. 338 ff. and
Eliade , Two and One , p. 85.
2 1 . Dae nhardt, op. cit pp. 61 ff; U. Har v a Die re ligios e n Vors tel-
lunge n de r Mordwine n, (He ls inki, 1954), pp. 134-135; re fe rre d to by
Eliade . op. cit., p. 86, n . 1.
God kne w whe re to place the wate rs in the e arth.22
In othe r traditions (Altai-Kizi, Buryats , Voguls and Tran
s ylvanian gyps ie s )the motif of gods powerles s nes s alone to
cre ate is joine d with anothe r the me : his ignorance as to whe re
the de vil comes from. It is unde rs tood that this motif s ymbolis es
gods noncomplicity in the exis te nce of e vil in the world.
On the le ve l of re ligious folklore , the re fore, the Ce ntral
As iatic and Europe an pe ople have pre s erved a fe e ling for the
ne ed to make a place for the De vil, not only in the cre ation
of the world~whic h could be unde rs tood as the need to e xplain
the origin of e v i l b u t als o close to God, as a companion born
of Gods des ire to es cape from his s ol i t ude . What counts
for us is that the popular mind has be en pleas ed to imagine
the lonelines s of God and his comrade s hip with the De vil, and
the De vils role as Uods s e rvantcollaborator or eve n chie f
couns e llor; to imagine , moreover, the divine origin of the De vil,
for es s e ntially Gods s pittle is nothing less than divine ; to
imagine , in fact, a ce rtain s ympathy between. God and the
De v i l . . . . 23
Among s ome othe r traditions , es pe cially the Oce anian and
S outh Sea is lands , as a counte rpoint for the goodness of the
creator, the de vilus ually s hown to be e qually powe rful, is s aid
to dampe n the bright work of the creator: s poiling it by introduc
ing s ome e le me nt of impe rfe ction. (Analogous to the tares
s hown by the e ne my of the s ower in the Gos pe ls ).
It is in this conne ction that we take up a s crutiny of our
Philippine myths . The Bilaan my thfor ins tance te lls that
Melu-a, the creator, was jus t about to comple te making the firs t
two human be ings (s ave for the ir noses and anothe r part of the
anatomy of one of the m) whe n Tau Tana or Tao Dalom Tana
who live d unde r the e arth appe are d on the scene de manding that
Melu-a le ave the noses to him. De s pite the obje ctions of Melu-a,
he pre vaile d over him. But Tau Tana s poile d the work. He
place d the noses ups ide down on the faces of the firs t human
beings . This ange re d Melu-a who at once le ft for his home in
the s kywithout finis hing the s till unfinis he d part of one of the
original pair. Whe n the rains came, the two were almos t drowne d
22. Dae nhardt, op. cit., pp. 34 ff. & p. 44; W. S c hmidt, Urs prung de r
Gotte s ide e , vol. x ii pp. 49and p. 123; cf. als o A. Straus s , Die Bulgare n
(Le ipzig, 1898) pp. 6 ff; Dae nhardt, op. cit., p. 2 ff. as cite d by Eliade ,
op. cit., p. 86 n n . 1-4.
23. Eliade op. cit., pp. 87-88.
becaus e wate r ran down from the ir heads into the ir upturne d
noses. Melu-a in pity came down and res et the ir noses.
Again, in the third ve rs ion of the Tagakaolo cre ation myth,
we come across two male deities who we re re s pons ible for the
cre ation of man: Me lu and Fiuwe igh. We can eas ily s pot the
latte r as the bad creator. He was als o re s pons ible for the mak
ing of the noses, but he place d the m ups ide down. Nor would
he correct the m at the behes t of Me lu. Whe n Me lu re primande d
him on the score that this would je opardize the live s of the
pair whe n it raine d, he be came ve ry angry and le ft in a huff.
Me lu s eized the noses, res et the m; but he did it in a hurry that
he pres sed his fingers on the roots of the m.
In thes e two myths the pres ence of the bad cre ator motif
is quite e vide nt. In others , pe rhaps the motif is found only
in a ve ry faint and s e minal form. We might detect this pe rhaps
in the Tagakaolo myth (als o me ntione d e arlie r in chapte r two)
which de picts the creators as a pair of hus band and wife :
Me nge dan and Bodek, toge the r with a third party: Lukbang,
a male . The myth, however, as re ported by Cole does not give
us the re lations hip e ithe r ove rtly or othe rwis e of this latte r to
the forme r. In this re gard, we might be pe rmitte d to hazard
a guess which though a guess is ye t educated, that whe ne ve r
we have at le as t two male cre ators with or without the ir fe male
cons orts , we might have a faint s urvival of this motif; although
it may ne ve r ris e highe r than the s e minal level.
Finally, it is worth noticing that the re appe ars to be no
recorded effort of our P hilippine mythmake rs to account for e vil
(phys ical and moral) in man and in the world at large, by ap
pe aling to the Cre ators (God' s ) loneline s s and incapability to
create, and so ne ces s itating the introduction of the bad creator.
In this point the myths of the Ce ntral As iatic and Europe an
peoples on the one hand, and our own, on the other, vary
gre atly.
The re is one point of agre e me nt, howe ve r.24 The good and
24. Afte r the s e page s had be e n s e nt to the Editor, I had a dis cus
s ion with a native B ukidnon informant, Mr. Tranquilino S itoy, me mbe r
of the National Commis s ion for the Inte g ration of Cultur al Minoritie s ,
Marawi City. He re late d to me a B ukidnon cre ation-myth, to date un
known to me . It goes this way: The cre ator, Hari ta mg a Magbabaya
or s imply, Magbabay a who live d in the 7th he ave n (ikapito ha lang it) ,
came down to e arth and moulde d the bodie s of the firs t pe ople from
clay. He wante d the m to be pos s es s ed of a s turdy body cove ring. So
bad creators are portraye d as co-equal in powe r; although it
might appe ar that the tas k give n the bad cre ator is quite trivial:
forming the noses of the firs t people. Ye t upon e xamination
one realizes that this was a ve ry critical job s ince the prope r
pos ition of the noses on the faces of the firs t pair me ant the ir
s urvival in case of rain. To set the ir noses ups ide down was
to je opardize the ir lives . This the good cre ator s aw. (Cf. also
p. 46note 17how S uallas s is ter s poile d his work in the Moro
my t h).
The action of the bad cre ator the n, could be take n as cas t
ing the pall of pe ril over the work of the good creator. Why
he did is not told. Pe rhaps the mythmake rs we re playing on
a low key: unde rs tating a ve ry vital fact of human exis tence:
the pres ence of e vil, impe rfe ctionlack of harmony, phys ical
defect and so on. The myth fas tens on the obvious fact that
P hilippine native s ge ne rally have low flatte ne d noses. If this
be a de fect or impe rfe ction (compare d with the fine ly chis elle d
nos es of othe r race s ), the n it is attribute d ultimate ly to the pri
mordial act of tre ache ry on the part of the bad cre ator whe n
he set the noses ups ide down. But the actual pres s ing down of
the root of the noses (thus flatte ning the m) was , nevertheles s ,
the re s ult of the good cre ators hurrie d action in orde r to save
mankind from pe ris hing.
In a way, the n, becaus e this defect or impe rfe ction is cons e
que nt upon the action of the good creator, pe rhaps we s hould
be allowe d to dete ct he re an indire ct effort to implicate the
good cre ator in the exis tence of defects and impe rfe ctions in
be fore bre athing the g ift of life into the m he we nt back to the s ky in
orde r to s e cure s ome hard mate rial for the ir s kin. While he was away,
his own brothe r, Mang ilala, the te mpte r, came up to the e arth from
the 7th tie r of the Unde rworld whe re he live d. He s potte d the life le s s
forms whic h his brothe r had made . And he was ple as e d. He thoug ht
with hims e lf: S hould my brothe r finis h what he had be gun, he would
be come more powe rful than I. So he at once bre athe d life into the
forms of clay so that the y be gan to live as human be ings . Whe n Mag
babay a re turne d, he found his cre ature s alre ady alive and the ir cove r
ing ve ry fr ail. He kne w it was his own brothe r who had s poile d his
work. Ins te ad of de s troying the m, he took pity on the m and allowe d
the m to c ontinue as the y we re thinly cove re d by the ir s kin. Howe ve r
he s ave d the e xtre mitie s of the ir hands and fe e t by providing the m
with the cove ring he had broug ht down fr om he ave n. This be came the
nails on the ir finge rs and the ir toes. B ut afte rwards whe ne ve r pe ople
are te mpte d to do what is e vil, the B ukidnon s ay that this is due to the
fact that the ir life was bre athe d upon the m by the Ev il One .
man and in the world. In this way, pe rhaps the mythmake rs
were e quivale ntly s aying ' that e vil is s ome how or othe r within
the compas s of the good cre ator (he s ave d the firs t pair from
drowning ), and ye t not altoge the r contrdlable by him, (his
s aving action re s ulte d in s ome evil, although le s s e r). He re the
mind of the Ce ntral As iatic and Europe an peoples as we ll as
of s ome of our native tribe s s eem to be at one.
CONCLUS ION
This s urvey of the cre ation myths of the Philippine s is not
exhaus tive . The write r is cons cious that the re are many more
ite ms that could be gathe re d before a truly compre he ns ive work
on this s ubje ct could be writte n. B ut he be lie ves that a s tart
mus t s ome how be made . He believes , too, that our s tude nts of
folklore and mythology s hould, in the tradition of Fans le r and
Bartle tt, e xert efforts towards s ituating the body of Philippine
myths agains t the background of comparative mythology and
unive rs al folklore . In this way, the Filipinos will be gin to
re alize that the ir ancie nt myths and tales , although colored with
the ir own characte r and culture , are ne vertheles s part of the
more worldwide s tre am of mythology and folklore . That is why
we have expe nde d s ome time on the analys is of the various motifs
throughout this s tudy. It is hope d that this re alization of the
unive rs al fe llows hip which our folktale s and myths e njoy with
the myths and tales of the res t of the world will he lp towards
cre ating within the Filipino s oul,a sense of confidence and pride
even, in thes e ] iving mirrors of his pas t. He will awake n to the
factit is hope d, that his ancie nt traditions are not s ome thing
to be as hame d ofbut s ome thing to be che ris he d and value d
becaus e the y mirror forth the his tory of the human s pirit as it
rises up to highe r conques ts through the continual s truggle with
the forces of ignorance , meannes s , and irrationality that has been
our lot s ince the fall.

Creation Myths Among The Early Filipinos: S.J Cagayan de Oro Philippines

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