Creation Myths

from the Philippines

edited by

D. L. Ashliman
© 2003

Contents
1. How the World Was Made.

2. The Creation (Igorot).

3. How the Moon and the Stars Came to Be (Bukidnon).

4. Origin (Bagobo).

5. The Story of the Creation (Bilaan).

6. In the Beginning (Bilaan).

7. The Children of the Limokon (Mandaya).

8. The Creation Story (Tagalog).

9. Links to related sites.

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How the World Was Made

This is the ancient Filipino account of the creation.

Thousands of years ago there was no land nor sun nor moon nor stars, and the world was only a great sea of
water, above which stretched the sky. The water was the kingdom of the god Maguayan, and the sky was ruled
by the great god Captan.

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

Three sons and a daughter were born to them. The sons were called Licalibutan, Liadlao, and Libulan; and the
daughter received the name of Lisuga.

Licalibutan had a body of rock and was strong and brave; Liadlao was formed of gold and was always happy;
Libulan was made of copper and was weak and timid; and the beautiful Lisuga had a body of pure silver and was
sweet and gentle. Their parents were very fond of them, and nothing was wanting to make them happy.
After a time Lihangin died and left the control of the winds to his eldest son Licalibutan. The faithful wife
Lidagat soon followed her husband, and the children, now grown up, were left without father or mother.
However, their grandfathers, Captan and Maguayan, took care of them and guarded them from all evil.

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

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

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

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

Captan then came down from the sky and tore the sea apart, calling on Maguayan to come to him and accusing
him of ordering the attack on the sky. Soon Maguayan appeared and answered that he knew nothing of the plot
as he had been asleep far down in the sea.

After a time he succeeded in calming the angry Captan. Together they wept at the loss of their grandchildren,
especially the gentle and beautiful Lisuga; but with all their power they could not restore the dead to life.
However, they gave to each body a beautiful light that will shine forever.

And so it was that golden Liadlao became the sun, and copper Libulan the moon, while the thousands of pieces
of silver Lisuga shine as the stars of heaven. To wicked Licalibutan the gods gave no light, but resolved to make
his body support a new race of people. So Captan gave Maguayan a seed, and he planted it on the land, which,
as you will remember, was part of Licalibutan's huge body.

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

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

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

Pandaguan did not die. After lying on the ground for thirty days he regained his strength, but his body was
blackened from the lightning, and all his descendants ever since that day have been black.
His first son, Arion, was taken north, but as he had been born before his father's punishment he did not lose his
color, and all his people therefore are white.

Libo and Saman were carried south, where the hot sun scorched their bodies and caused all their descendants to
be of a brown color.

A son of Saman and a daughter of Sicalac were carried east, where the land at first was so lacking in food that
they were compelled to eat clay. On this account their children and their children's children have always been
yellow in color.

And so the world came to be made and peopled. The sun and moon shine in the sky, and the beautiful stars light
up the night. All over the land, on the body of the envious Licalibutan, the children of' Sicalac and Sicabay have
grown great in numbers. May they live forever in peace and brotherly love!

Source: John Maurice Miller, Philippine Folklore Stories (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1904), pp. 57-64.

Preface by John Maurice Miller (or his editor): As these stories are only legends that have been handed
down from remote times, the teacher must impress upon the minds of the children that they are myths and
are not to be given credence; otherwise the imaginative minds of the native children would accept them as
truth, and trouble would be caused that might be hard to remedy. Explain then the fiction and show the
children the folly of belief in such fanciful tales. (page 5)

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The Creation
Igorot

In the beginning there were no people on the earth.

Lumawig, the Great Spirit, came down from the sky and cut many reeds. He divided these into pairs which he
placed in different parts of the world, and then he said to them, "You must speak."

Immediately the reeds became people, and in each place was a man and a woman who could talk, but the
language of each couple differed from that of the others.

Then Lumawig commanded each man and woman to marry, which they did. By and by there were many
children, all speaking the same language as their parents. These, in turn, married and had many children. In this
way there came to be many people on the earth.

Now Lumawig saw that there were several things which the people on the earth needed to use, so he set to work
to supply them. He created salt, and told the inhabitants of one place to boil it down and sell it to their neighbors.
But these people could not understand the directions of the Great Spirit, and the next time he visited them, they
had not touched the salt.

Then he took it away from them and gave it to the people of a place called Mayinit. These did as he directed, and
because of this he told them that they should always be owners of the salt, and that the other peoples must buy of
them.

Then Lumawig went to the people of Bontoc and told them to get clay and make pots. They got the clay, but
they did not understand the molding, and the jars were not well shaped. Because of their failure, Lumawig told
them that they would always have to buy their jars, and he removed the pottery to Samoki. When he told the
people there what to do, they did just as he said, and their jars were well shaped and beautiful. Then the Great
Spirit saw that they were fit owners of the pottery, and he told them that they should always make many jars to
sell.

In this way Lumawig taught the people and brought to them all the things which they now have.

Source: Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company, 1916), pp. 99-
101.

Notes by Mabel Cook Cole:

1. Lumawig is the greatest of all spirits and now lives in the sky, though for a time his home was in the
Igorot village of Bontoc. He married a Bontoc girl, and the stones of their house are still to be seen
in the village. It was Lumawig who created the Igorot, and ever since he has taken a great interest in
them, teaching them how to overcome the forces of nature, how to plant, to reap and, in fact,
everything that they know. Once each month a ceremony is held in his honor in a sacred grove,
whose trees are believed to have sprung from the graves of his children. Here prayers are offered for
health, good crops, and success in battle. A close resemblance exists between Lumawig of the
Igorot and Kaboniyan of the Tinguian, the former being sometimes called Kambun'yan.
2. The Bukidnon of Mindanao have the following story: During a great drought Mampolompon could
grow nothing on his clearing except one bamboo, and during a high wind this was broken. From this
bamboo came a dog and a woman, who were the ancestors of the Moro.
3. At the north end of the village of Mayinit are a number of brackish hot springs, and from these the
people secure the salt which has made the spot famous for miles around. Stones are placed in the
shallow streams flowing from these springs, and when they have become encrusted with salt (about
once a month) they are washed and the water is evaporated by boiling. The salt, which is then a
thick paste, is formed into cakes and baked near the fire for about half an hour, when it is ready for
use. It is the only salt in this section, and is in great demand. Even hostile tribes come to a hill
overlooking the town and call down, then deposit whatever they have for trade and withdraw, while
the Igorot take up the salt and leave it in place of the trade articles.
4. The women of Samoki are known as excellent potters, and their ware is used over a wide area. From
a pit on a hillside to the north of the village they dig a reddish-brown clay, which they mix with a
bluish mineral gathered on another hillside. When thoroughly mixed, this clay is placed on a board
on the ground, and the potter, kneeling before it, begins her molding. Great patience and skill are
required to bring the vessel to the desired shape. When it is completed it is set in the sun to dry for
two or three days, after which it is ready for the baking. The new pots are piled tier above tier on the
ground and blanketed with grass tied into bundles. Then pine bark is burned beneath and around the
pile for about an hour, when the ware is sufficiently fired. It is then glazed with resin and is ready to
market.

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How the Moon and the Stars Came to Be

Bukidnon (Mindanao)

One day in the times when the sky was close to the ground a spinster went out to pound rice. Before she began
her work, she took off the beads from around her neck and the comb from her hair, and hung them on the sky,
which at that time looked like coral rock.

Then she began working, and each time that she raised her pestle into the air it struck the sky. For some time she
pounded the rice, and then she raised the pestle so high that it struck the sky very hard.
Immediately the sky began to rise, and it went up so far that she lost her ornaments. Never did they come down,
for the comb became the moon and the beads are the stars that are scattered about.

Source: Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company, 1916), p. 124.

Notes by Mabel Cook Cole:

1. The common way to pound rice is to place a bundle of the grain on the ground on a dried carabao
hide and pound it with a pestle to loosen the heads from the straw. When they are free they are
poured into a mortar and again pounded with the pestle until the grain is separated from the chaff,
after which it is winnowed.
2. According to the Klemantin myth (Borneo), the sky was raised when a giant named Usai
accidentally struck it with his mallet while pounding rice. See Hose and McDougall, Pagan Tribes
of Borneo, p. 142.

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Origin
Bagobo (Mindanao)

In the beginning there lived one man and one woman, Toglai and Toglibon. Their first children were a boy and a
girl. When they were old enough, the boy and the girl went far away across the waters seeking a good place to
live in. Nothing more was heard of them until their children, the Spaniards and Americans, came back. After the
first boy and girl left, other children were born to the couple; but they all remained at Cibolan on Mount Apo
with their parents, until Toglai and Toglibon died and became spirits. Soon after that there came a great drought
which lasted for three years. All the waters dried up, so that there were no rivers, and no plants could live.

"Surely," said the people, "Manama is punishing us, and we must go elsewhere to find food and a place to dwell
in."

So they started out. Two went in the direction of the sunset, carrying with them stones from Cibolan River. After
a long journey they reached a place where were broad fields of cogon grass and an abundance of water, and there
they made their home. Their children still live in that place and are called Magindanau, because of the stones
which the couple carried when they left Cibolan.

Two children of Toglai and Toglibon went to the south, seeking a home, and they carried with them women's
baskets (baraan). When they found a good spot, they settled down. Their descendants, still dwelling at that place,
are called Baraan or Bilaan, because of the women's baskets.

So two by two the children of the first couple left the land of their birth. In the place where each settled a new
people developed, and thus it came about that all the tribes in the world received their names from things that the
people carried out of Cibolan, or from the places where they settled.

All the children left Mount Apo save two (a boy and a girl), whom hunger and thirst had made too weak to
travel. One day when they were about to die the boy crawled out to the field to see if there was one living thing,
and to his surprise he found a stalk of sugarcane growing lustily. He eagerly cut it, and enough water came out to
refresh him and his sister until the rains came. Because of this, their children are called Bagobo.

Source: Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company, 1916), pp. 133-
134.
 Note by Mabel Cook Cole:
This is a good example of the way in which people at a certain stage try to account for their
surroundings. Nearly all consider themselves the original people. We find the Bagobo no exception
to this. In this tale, which is evidently very old, they account for themselves and their neighbors, and
then, to meet present needs, they adapt the story to include the white people whom they have known
for not more than two hundred years.

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The Story of the Creation

Bilaan (Mindanao)

In the very beginning there lived a being so large that he cannot be compared with any known thing. His name
was Melu, and when he sat on the clouds, which were his home, he occupied all the space above. His teeth were
pure gold, and because he was very cleanly and continually rubbed himself with his hands, his skin became pure
white. The dead skin which he rubbed off his body was placed on one side in a pile, and by and by this pile
became so large that he was annoyed and set himself to consider what he could do with it.

Finally Melu decided to make the earth; so he worked very hard in putting the dead skin into shape, and when it
was finished he was so pleased with it that he determined to make two beings like himself, though smaller, to
live on it.

Taking the remnants of the material left after making the earth he fashioned two men, but just as they were all
finished except their noses, Tau Tana from below the earth appeared and wanted to help him.

Melu did not wish any assistance, and a great argument ensued. Tau Tana finally won his point and made the
noses which he placed on the people upside down. When all was finished, Melu and Tau Tana whipped the
forms until they moved. Then Melu went to his home above the clouds, and Tau Tana returned to his place
below the earth.

All went well until one day a great rain came, and the people on the earth nearly drowned from the water which
ran off their heads into their noses. Melu, from his place on the clouds, saw their danger, and he came quickly to
earth and saved their lives by turning their noses the other side up.

The people were very grateful to him, and promised to do anything he should ask of them. Before he left for the
sky, they told him that they were very unhappy living on the great earth all alone, so he told them to save all the
hair from their heads and the dry skin from their bodies and the next time he came he would make them some
companions. And in this way there came to be a great many people on the earth.

Source: Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company, 1916), pp. 139-
140.

Notes by Mabel Cook Cole:

1. This story is well known among the Bilaan, who are one of the tribes least influenced by the
Spaniards, and yet it bears so many incidents similar to biblical accounts that there is a strong
suggestion of Christian influence. It is possible that these ideas came through the Mohammedan
Moro.
2. Melu is the most powerful of the spirits and the one to whom the people resort in times of danger.
3. A similar story is found in British North Borneo. See Evans, Journal of Royal Anthropological
Institute, 1913, p. 423.
 Return to the table of contents.

In the Beginning
Bilaan (Mindanao)

In the beginning there were four beings (Melu, Fiuweigh, Diwata, and Saweigh), and they lived on an island no
larger than a hat. On this island there were no trees or grass or any other living thing besides these four people
and one bird (Buswit). One day they sent this bird out across the waters to see what he could find, and when he
returned he brought some earth, a piece of rattan, and some fruit.

Melu, the greatest of the four, took the soil and shaped it and beat it with a paddle in the same manner in which a
woman shapes pots of clay, and when he finished he had made the earth. Then he planted the seeds from the
fruit, and they grew until there was much rattan and many trees bearing fruit.

The four beings watched the growth for a long time and were well pleased with the work, but finally Melu said,
"Of what use is this earth and all the rattan and fruit if there are no people?"

And the others replied, "Let us make some people out of wax."

So they took some wax and worked long, fashioning it into forms, but when they brought them to the fire the
wax melted, and they saw that men could not be made in that way.

Next they decided to try to use dirt in making people, and Melu and one of his companions began working on
that. All went well till they were ready to make the noses. The companion, who was working on that part, put
them on upside down. Melu told him that the people would drown if he left them that way, but he refused to
change them.

When his back was turned, however, Melu seized the noses, one by one, and turned them as they now are. But
he was in such a hurry that he pressed his finger at the root, and it left a mark in the soft clay which you can still
see on the faces of people.

Source: Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company, 1916), pp. 141-
142.

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The Children of the Limokon

Mandaya (Mindanao)

In the very early days before there were any people on the earth, the limokon (a kind of dove ) were very
powerful and could talk like men though they looked like birds. One limokon laid two eggs, one at the mouth of
the Mayo River and one farther up its course. After some time these eggs hatched, and the one at the mouth of
the river became a man, while the other became a woman.

The man lived alone on the bank of the river for a long time, but he was very lonely and wished many times for
a companion. One day when he was crossing the river something was swept against his legs with such force that
it nearly caused him to drown. On examining it, he found that it was a hair, and he determined to go up the river
and find whence it came. He traveled up the stream, looking on both banks, until finally he found the woman,
and he was very happy to think that at last he could have a companion.

They were married and had many children, who are the Mandaya still living along the Mayo River.

Source: Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company, 1916), pp. 143-
144.

Notes by Mabel Cook Cole:

1. This origin story is of a very different type from those of the Bukidnon and Bagobo. While the
others show foreign influence, this appears to be typically primitive.
2. The limokon is the omen bird of the Mandaya. It is believed to be a messenger from the spirit world
which, by its calls, warns the people of danger or promises them success. If the coo of this bird
comes from the right side, it is a good sign, but if it is on the left, in back, or in front, it is a bad sign,
and the Mandaya knows that he must change his plans.

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The Creation Story

Tagalog

When the world first began there was no land, but only the sea and the sky, and between them was a kite (a bird
something like a hawk). One day the bird which had nowhere to light grew tired of flying about, so she stirred
up the sea until it threw its waters against the sky. The sky, in order to restrain the sea, showered upon it many
islands until it could no longer rise, but ran back and forth. Then the sky ordered the kite to light on one of the
islands to build her nest, and to leave the sea and the sky in peace.

Now at this time the land breeze and the sea breeze were married, and they had a child which was a bamboo.
One day when this bamboo was floating about on the water, it struck the feet of the kite which was on the beach.
The bird, angry that anything should strike it, pecked at the bamboo, and out of one section came a man and
from the other a woman.

Then the earthquake called on all the birds and fish to see what should be done with these two, and it was
decided that they should marry. Many children were born to the couple, and from them came all the different
races of people.

After a while the parents grew very tired of having so many idle and useless children around, and they wished to
be rid of them, but they knew of no place to send them to. Time went on and the children became so numerous
that the parents enjoyed no peace. One day, in desperation, the father seized a stick and began beating them on
all sides.

This so frightened the children that they fled in different directions, seeking hidden rooms in the house -- some
concealed themselves in the walls, some ran outside, while others hid in the fireplace, and several fled to the sea.

Now it happened that those who went into the hidden rooms of the house later became the chiefs of the islands;
and those who concealed themselves in the walls became slaves. Those who ran outside were free men; and
those who hid in the fireplace became negroes; while those who fled to the sea were gone many years, and when
their children came back they were the white people.
 Source: Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company, 1916), pp. 187-
188.

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Revised January 8, 2003.