Spiritual Beliefs of the Early Filipinos

As the first chapter that will discuss the Philippines and its early history, it is
important to introduce the terms Philippines and Filipino, since these will be used
widely in the book. The name Philippines came from the navigator Ruy Lopez de
Villalobos when he named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas' in 1542, after the heir
of the Spanish throne Prince Phillip II. After almost three decades, the archipelago
would then become part of the vast Spanish Empire as one of its colonies. What
about the term Filipino? Before the term was widely used to refer the people of the
Philippines, Filipino was used to refer to Spaniards born in the colony. However,
according to the historian William Henry Scott, Filipino was also used in some friar
accounts of early seventeenth century to refer to the natives before they became
indios. The term was also used by some Spaniards to call the natives in the
eighteenth century, and by Rizal in the late nineteenth century. It may seem
confusing but for consistency, Filipino would be used in this book to refer to any
native born in the archipelago and those who spoke its languages even before the
dawn of Spanish colonization.'

Unlike its neighbors, the Philippines did not have any thriving and powerful kingdoms
or vast empires before the advent of Islam and its sultanates in the fifteenth century,
and Spanish colonization in the late sixteenth century. The archipelago was
decentralized by then, and was divided into localized settlements called barangay.
This term came from the word balangay, an Austronesian sea-going vessel. These
barangays were not just small political entities but they could also be seen as
economic, social, cultural, and spiritual institutions. The spiritual life in the barangay
was led by the local spiritual leader called babaylan in Visayas and catalonan in
Luzon, particularly in Tagalog areas. This position was usually obtained by a female
but a male could also serve as one; however he must act and dress as a female.
The position could be passed from one generation to the next, but being a child or a
relative of the babaylan is not enough to become the next spiritual leader, since one
must also acquire all the skills and abilities needed to fulfill the position. The
babaylan led the barangay in all rituals, particularly those involving sacrifices for the
local deities and spirits to gain favors—as she was believed to have the power to
transcend to the spiritual realm. Accounts vary in the use of the terms for these
deities due to linguistic and geographical differences. Visayans called them diwata
while the Tagalogs used anito. These deities were manifested by the forces of
nature but they can also be represented through wooden carvings and other
inanimate objects.

This chapter focuses on the early Filipino beliefs that would give light on how they
worshipped their deities—from the Visayan archipelago to the islands of Luzon and
Mindanao. It would also prove that this country already had its own belief systems
and world views before the coming of Islam and Christianity. To have better
understanding of these different but related forms of early religious manifestation, it
is important to discuss and analyze the primary sources coming from religious and
non-religious accounts presented in this chapter.

Excerpt from Relation of the Worship of the Tagalogs, Their Gods, and
Their Burials and Superstitions by Fray Juan de Plasencia
The first document for this chapter is written by Fray Juan de Plasencia, one of the
first Franciscan missionaries in the Philippines. He was responsible for the
foundation of various towns in Luzon particularly in Laguna and Tayabas areas and
the conversion of their inhabitants to Catholicism. He was also the author of
numerous religious books such as the Doctrina Christiana, the first book printed in
the Philippines; and other works that would eventually preserve early Filipino cultural
traditions such as Las costumbres de los Tagalos en Filipinas and Vocabulario de la
lengua Tagala. Considered a zealous missionary, Plasencia denied himself of
luxuries and was known to be the defender of the natives from the Spanish officials
which resulted in the Manila Synod of 1582. Plasencia was also instrumental in the
resettlement of the natives as he suggested the reduccion policy in the synod. He
died in Liliw, Laguna in 1590.

Manunggul Jar is a Neolithic jar found in

Manunggul Cave, Lipuun Point, Palawan in the
early 1960s. This is an example of a secondary
burial wherein the bones of the corpse are placed
inside. The top portion of the jar contains scroll
designs and a befit with two human figures; one
guiding the boat while the other is going to the
afterlife. The Manunggul Jar is one of the most
important archaeological artifacts in the Philippines
as it signifies not only prehistoric indigenous burial
practices but also the belief in a soul and life after
death of early Filipinos.

Photo courtesy of Ringer/Wikimedia Commons

The Relation of the Worship of the Tagalogs, Their Gods, and Their Burials and
Superstitions is the second part of his Costumbres de los Tagalos (1589) which was
a report to a Spanish noble after receiving His Lordship's letter requesting
information about the natives. The Costumbres is Plasencia's account of the
traditions, society, marriage, laws, dowries, and spiritual beliefs of the Tagalogs.
Primary Source

In all the villages, or in other parts of the Filipinas Islands, there are no temples
consecrated to the performing of sacrifices, the adoration of their idols, or the
general practice of idolatry. It is true that they have the name simbahan, which
means a temple or place of adoration; but this is because, formerly, when they
wished to celebrate a festival, which they called pandot, or "worship," they
celebrated it in the large house of a chief. There they constructed, for the purpose of
sheltering the assembled people, a temporary shed on each side of the house, with
a roof, called sibi, to protect the people from the wet when it rained. They so
constructed the house that it might contain many people—dividing it, after the
fashion of ships, into three compartments. On the posts of the house they set small
lamps, called sorihile; in the center of the house they placed one large lamp,
adorned with leaves of the white palm, wrought into many designs. They also
brought together many drums, large and small, which they beat successively while
the feast lasted, which was usually four days. During this time the whole barangay,
or family, united and joined in the worship which they call nagaanitos. The house, for
the above-mentioned period of time, was called a temple.

Among their many idols there was one called Badhala, whom they especially
worshiped. The title seems to signify "all powerful." or "maker of all things." They
also worshiped the sun, which, on account of its beauty, is almost universally
respected and honored by heathens. They worshiped, too, the moon, especially
when it was new, at which time they held great rejoicings, adoring it and bidding it
welcome. Some of them also adored the stars, although they did not know them by
their names, as the Spaniards and other nations know the planets—with the one
exception of the morning star, which they called Tale. They knew, too, the "seven
little goats" [the Pleiades]—as we call them—and, consequently, the change of
seasons, which they call Mapolon; and Balatic, which is our Greater Bear. They
possessed many idols called lic-ha, which were images with different shapes; and at
times they worshiped any little trifle, in which they adored, as did the Romans, some
particular dead man who was brave in war and endowed with special faculties, to
whom they commended themselves for protection in their tribulations. They had
another idol called Dian Masalanta, who was the patron of lovers and of generation.
The idols called Lacapati and Idianale were the patrons of the cultivated lands and of
husbandry. They paid reverence to water-lizards called by them buaya, or
crocodiles, from fear of being harmed by them. They were even in the habit of
offering these animals a portion of what they carried in their boats, by throwing it into
the water, or placing it upon the bank.

Their manner of offering sacrifice was to proclaim a feast, and offer to the devil what
they had to eat. This was done in front of the idol, which they anoint with fragrant
perfumes, such as musk and civet, or gum of the storax-tree and other odoriferous
woods, and praise it in poetic songs sung by the officiating priest, male or female,
who is called catolonan. The participants made responses to the song, beseeching
the idol to favor them with those things of which they were in need, and generally, by
offering repeated healths, they all became intoxicated. In some of their idolatries
they were accustomed to place a good piece of cloth, doubled, over the idol, and
over the cloth a chain or large, gold ring, thus worshiping the devil without having
sight of him. The devil was sometimes liable to enter into the body of the catolonan,
and, assuming her shape and appearance, filled her with so great arrogance—he
being the cause of it—that she seemed to shoot flames from her eyes; her hair stood
on end, a fearful sight to those beholding, and she uttered words of arrogance and
superiority. In some districts, especially in the mountains, when in those idolatries
the devil incarnated himself and took on the form of his minister, the latter had to be
tied to a tree by his companions, to prevent the devil in his infernal fury from
destroying him. This, however, happened but rarely. The objects of sacrifice were
goats, fowls, and swine, which were flayed, decapitated, and laid before the idol.
They performed another ceremony by cooking a jar of rice until the water was
evaporated, after which they broke the jar, and the rice was left as an intact mass
which was set before the idol; and all about it, at intervals, were placed a few
buyos—which is a small fruit wrapped in a leaf with some lime, a food generally
eaten in these regions—as well as fried food and fruits. All the above-mentioned
articles were eaten by the guests at the feast; the heads [of the animals], after being
"offered," as they expressed it, were cooked and eaten also.

The reasons for offering this sacrifice and adoration were, in addition to whatever
personal matters there might be, the recovery of a sick person, the prosperous
voyage of those embarking on the sea, a good harvest in the sowed lands, a
propitious result in wars, a successful delivery in childbirth, and a happy outcome in
married life. If this took place among people of rank, the festivities lasted thirty days.

Source: The Philippine islands, Vol. VII

Excerpt from Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas by Antonio de Morga

Antonio de Morga was a Spanish high-ranking official in the Philippines from 1593 to
1603. A lawyer by profession, Morga held the position of oidor or judge of the Real
Audiencia when he first came to the colony. With little experience in military combat,
Morga led the Spanish fleet in its Pyrrhic victory against the Dutch in 1600. However,
Morga was best known as the author of Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (Events in the
Philippine Islands), one the most comprehensive accounts of sixteenth century
Spanish colonization of the archipelago.

Sucesos, as it is called by today's students of history, was published in 1609 when

Morga was already in Mexico City. The book covers the political, economic, social,
and cultural life of the Filipinos and Spaniards from 1493 to 1603. This
encompassing work was based on documentary research as well as Morga's
personal involvement and observation. This was possible due to his position in the
colonial government. The work became more popular when Jose Rizal annotated
and critiqued the book in 1890. In the excerpt of the " Sucesos " below, Morga talks
about the "ignorance" and "stubbornness of the non-Christian Filipinos.

Primary Source

In matters of religion, the natives proceeded more barbarously and with greater
blindness than in all the rest. For besides being pagans, without any knowledge of
the true God, they neither strove to discover Him by way of reason, nor had any
fixed belief. The devil usually deceived them with a thousand errors and
blindnesses. He appeared to them in various horrible and frightful forms, and as
fierce animals, so that they feared him and trembled before him. They generally
worshiped him, and made images of him in the said forms. These they kept in caves
and private houses, where they offered them perfumes and odors, and food and
fruit, calling them anitos.

Others worshiped the sun and the moon, and made feasts and drunken
revels at the conjunction of those bodies. Some worshiped a yellow-colored bird that
dwells in their woods, called batala. They generally worship and adore the crocodiles
when they see them, by kneeling down and clasping their hands, because of the
harm that they receive from those reptiles; they believe that by so doing the
crocodiles will become appeased and leave them. Their oaths, execrations, and
promises are all as above mentioned, namely, May buhayan eat thee, if thou dost
not speak truth, or fulfil what thou hast promised, and similar things.

There were no temples throughout those islands, nor houses generally used
for the worship of idols; but each person possessed and made in his house his own
anitos, without any fixed rite or ceremony. They had no priests or religious to attend
to religious affairs, except certain old men and women called catalonas: These were
experienced witches and sorcerers, who kept the other people deceived. The latter
communicated to these sorcerers their desires and needs, and the catalonas told
them innumerable extravagancies and lies. The catalonas uttered prayers and
performed other ceremonies to the idols for the sick; and they believed in omens and
superstitions, with which the devil inspired them, whereby they declared whether the
patient would recover or die. Such were their cures and methods, and they used
various kinds of divinations for all things. All this was with so little aid, apparatus, or
foundation which God permitted, so that the preaching of the holy gospel should find
those of that region better prepared for it, and so that those natives would confess
the truth more easily, and it would be less difficult to withdraw them from their
darkness, and the errors in which the devil kept them for so many years. They never
sacrificed human beings as is done in other kingdoms. They believed that there was
a future life where those who had been brave and performed valiant feats would be
rewarded; while those who had done evil would be punished. But they did not know
how or where this would be.
 They buried their dead in their own houses, and kept their bodies and bones
for a long time in chests. They venerated the skulls of the dead as if they were living
and present. Their funeral rites did not consist of pomp or assemblages, beyond
those of their own house where, after bewailing the dead, ail was changed into
feasting and drunken revelry among all the relatives and friends.

Excerpt from Relacion de las Islas Filipinas by Miguel de Loarca

As one of the first Spanish conquistadores to arrive in the archipelago, Miguel de

Loarca observed the native cultural traditions before they were fully acculturated to
Christianity. In 1575, Loarca, along with two friars, traveled to China and witnessed
grandeur of the "great kingdom." He was also the first Spaniard to conduct the
colony's earliest census. As a loyal Spanish military officer, Loarca also became one
of the earliest encomenderos in the country.

In his Relacion de las Islas Filipinas (1582), Loarca documented the customs
and traditions of early Filipinos. His work discussing the natives is significant since it
was one of the earliest Spanish accounts coming from a layman. Unlike friar
accounts, Loarca's Relacion is a layman's point of view of the affairs of the natives in
the early colonial era. This excerpt from his Relacion talks about the beliefs of the
people from Panay or the so-called Pintados.

Pintados was the term used by the

Spaniards to refer to the tattooed
settlers of the Visayan region. The
tattoos could symbolize bravery and
experience in war among men.

Primary Source

Also, during their revelries, the singers who have good voices recite the exploits of
olden times; thus the always possess a knowledge of past events. The people of the
coast, who are called the Yligueynes, believe that heaven and earth had no
beginning, and that there were two gods, one called Captan and the other
Maguayen. They believe that the land breeze and the sea breeze were married; and
that the land breeze brought forth a reed, which was planted by the god Captan.
When the reed grew, it broke into two sections, which became a man and a woman.
To the man they gave the name of Sicalac, and that is the reason why men from that
time on have been called lalac; the woman they called Sicavay, and thenceforth
women have been called babayes. One day the man asked the woman to marry
him, for there were no other people in the world; but she refused, saying that they
were brother and sister, born of the same reed, with only one knot between them;
and that she would not marry him, since he was her brother. Finally they agreed to
ask advice from the tunnies of the sea, and from the doves of the air; they also went
to the earthquake, who said that it was necessary for them to marry, so that the
world might be peopled. They married, and called their first son Sibo; then a
daughter was born to them, and they gave her the name of Samar. This brother and
sister also had a daughter, called Lupluban. She married Pandaguan, a son of the
first pair, and had a son called Anoranor. Pandaguan was the first to invent a net for
fishing at sea; and, the first time when he used it, he caught a shark and brought it
on shore, thinking that it would not die. But the shark died when brought ashore; and
Pandaguan, when he saw this, began to mourn and weep over it—complaining
against the gods for having allowed the shark to die, when no one had died before
that time. It is said that the god Captan, on hearing this, sent the flies to ascertain
who the dead one was; but, as the flies did not dare to go, Captan sent the weevil,
who brought back the news of the shark's death. The god Captan was displeased at
these obsequies to a fish. He and Maguayen made a thunderbolt, with which they
killed Pandaguan; he remained thirty days in the infernal regions, at the end of which
time the gods took pity upon him, brought him back to life, and returned him to the
world. While Pandaguan was dead, his wife Lubluban became the concubine of a
man called Maracoyrun; and these people say that at that time concubinage began
in the world. When Pandaguan returned, he did not find his wife at home, because
she had been invited by her friend to feast upon a pig that he had stolen; and the
natives say that this was the first theft committed in the world. Pandaguan sent his
son for Lubluban, but she refused to go home, saying that the dead do not return to
the world. At this answer Pandaguan became angry, and returned to the infernal
regions. The people believe that, if his wife had obeyed his summons, and he had
not gone back at that time, all the dead would return to life.

Baylanas. The natives of these islands have neither time nor place set apart
for the offering of prayers and sacrifices to their gods. It is only in case of sickness,
and in times of seed-sowing or of war, that sacrifices are offered. These sacrifices
are called baylanes, and the priestesses, or the men who perform this office, are
also called baylanes. The priestesses dress very gaily, with garlands on their heads,
and are resplendent with gold. They bring to the place of sacrifice some pitarrillas (a
kind of earthen jar) full of rice-wine, besides a live hog and a quantity of prepared
food. Then the priestess chants her songs and invokes the demon, who appears to
her all glistening in gold. Then he enters her body and hurls her to the ground,
foaming at the mouth as one possessed. In this state she declares whether the sick
person is to recover or not. In regard to other matters, she foretells the future. All this
takes place to the sound of bells and kettle-drums. Then she rises and taking a
spear, she pierces the heart of the hog. They dress it and prepare a dish for the
demons. Upon an altar erected there, they place the dressed hog, rice, bananas,
wine, and all the other articles of food that they have brought. All this is done in
behalf of sick persons, or to redeem those who are confined in the infernal regions.
When they go to war or on a plundering expedition, they offer prayers to Varangao,
who is the rainbow, and to their gods, Ynaguinid and Macanduc. For the redemption
of souls detained in the inferno above mentioned, they invoke also their ancestors,
and the dead, claiming to see them and receive answers to their questions.

Gold Death Mask of Oton (1300-1400 CE).

This death mask was discovered by archaeologists

Alfredo Evangelista and F. Landa Jocano in Oton,
Iloilo in 1960s. Consisted of gold eye-mask and nose-
disk, the death mask was believed to repel evil spirits
from entering the body. The practice of putting death
mask was adopted from the Chinese which also
signifies cultural and economic relations with them.
The death mask is a testament to a rich burial tradition
of early Filipinos and their belief in the afterlife. Aside
from its religious importance, the death mask is a
manifestation of early Filipino goldsmiths as a
profession in the precolonial society.

Excerpt from Relacion de las Islas Filipinas by Pedro Chirino

As one of the most well-known and devoted Jesuit missionaries of the early colonial
period, Pedro Chirino certainly has a place in Philippine history as founder of various
towns and parishes across the archipelago; as well as his crucial role in recording
the ancient Tagalog script baybayin to Latin alphabet. His position in early Philippine
historiography is also settled for his numerous works such as the Relacion de las
Islas Filipinas (1604) which was later transformed into a massive two-volume History
of the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus. The latter discusses not just the
Jesuit missions but also the Catholic conversion of the Filipinos in general. He was
also responsible for the elevation of the Jesuit mission in the Philippines as a vice-
province, thereby becoming independent from the Mexican mission. Chirino died in
Manila on September 16, 1635.

The following document is from Chirino's Relacion, an important chronicle of

the early colonization period, focusing on the spiritual transformation of the colony
based on his experiences in the laborious evangelical missions of the Jesuits. The
reading is an excerpt from chapter 21 of this 82-chapter book which narrates the
"false religion of the Pagans' and superstitions of the Filipino.
Primary Source

All their government and religion is founded on tradition, and on custom introduced
by the Devil himself. who spoke to them through their idols and the ministers of
these. They preserve it in songs, which they know by heart and learn when children,
by hearing these sung when they are sailing or tilling their fields, when they are
rejoicing and holding feasts, and especially, when they are mourning their dead. In
these barbarous songs they relate the fabulous genealogies and vain deeds of their
gods—among whom they set up one as the chief and superior of them all. This deity
the Tagalos call Bathala Mei Capal, which means "God the creator or maker;" the
Bisayans call him Laon, which denotes antiquity. These songs relate the creation of
the world, the origin of the human race, the deluge, paradise, punishment, and other
invisible things, relating a thousand absurdities, and varying much the form, some
telling it in one way, others in another. To show better what lies and fables these all
are, there is one story that the first man and the first woman came from the knot of a
cane which burst off from its plant. After that, certain disputes resulted concerning
the marriage of these two, on account of the difficulties arising from the first degree
of blood-relationship, which among them is inviolable, and thought to be allowed
only that first time from the necessity of propagating mankind.

In short, they recognized invisible spirits, and another life; also demons, the
enemies of men, of whom they were in abject fear from the evils and dread which
these, caused them. Accordingly one of ours converted many of them by means of a
well-painted picture of hell. Their idolatry is in a word (as with many other nations),
an adoration and deification of their ancestors—especially of those who
distinguished themselves through valiant deeds, or cruelties, or obscene and lewd
acts. It was a general practice for anyone who could successfully do so to attribute
divinity to his old father when the latter died. The old men themselves died with this
illusion and deception, imputing to their illness and death and to all their actions a
seriousness and import, in their estimation, divine. Consequently they chose as a
sepulcher some celebrated spot, like one which I saw on the shore of the sea
between Dulac and Abuyo, in the island of Leite. This man directed that he should
be placed there in his coffin (which was done), in a solitary house remote from any
village, in order to be recognized as the god of sailors, who would offer worship and
commend themselves to him. There was another, who had caused himself to be
buried in a certain place among the mountains of Antipolo; and out of reverence to
him no one dared to cultivate them, fearing that he who should go thither might meet
his death. In memory of these departed ones, they keep their little idols—some of
stone, wood, bone, ivory, or a crocodile's teeth; others of gold. They call these
Larauan, which signifies, "idol," image," or "statue;" and in their necessities they
have recourse to these, offering to them barbarous sacrifices.
 Laon (or Kanlaon/Manlaon) is the Babaylan or Catalonan was the
supreme deity among the early spiritual leader of the barangay.
Visayans. Laon's counterpart in The babaylan led the barangay in
Tagalog is Bathala, Kabunian in all cultural ceremonies including
llocos and Cordillera, and sacrificial rituals called pag-
Gugurang among the Bicolanos. aanito.
The Tagalogs adored a blue bird, as large as a thrush, and called it Bathala, which
was among them a term of divinity. They also worshiped the crow (as the ancients
worshipped-the god Pan and the goddess Ceres). It bore the name Mei lupa,
signifies "master of the soil." They held the crocodile in the utmost veneration; and,
whenever they made any statement about it, when they descried it in the water, they
called it Nono, which means "grandfather." They softly and tenderly besought it not
to harm them; and to this end offered it a part of what they carried in their boats,
casting the offering into the water. There was no old tree to which they did not
attribute divinity; and it was a sacrilege to cut such a tree for any purpose. What
more did they adore? The very stones, cliffs, and reefs, and the headlands of the
shores of the sea or the rivers; and they made some offering when they passed by
these, going to the stone or rock, and placing the offering upon it. I saw many times
in the river of Manila a rock which for many years was an idol of that wretched
people. This scandal, which occasioned great evils, lasted until the fathers of St.
Augustine (who dwell nearby) with holy zeal broke it to pieces, and erected in its
place a cross.

Besides these, they had a thousand other superstitions. If they beheld a

serpent or lizard, or heard anyone sneeze, they would always retrace their steps,
and on no account go further at that time, for such an occurrence would be an evil
omen. They had no places set aside for worship, or public days for general
festivities. Not until we went to Taitai did I learn that in many of the houses there was
another one, but smaller, made of cane, as it were a little tower, fashioned
somewhat curiously, to which they passed from the main house by a short bridge,
also made of cane. In these were kept their needlework and other sorts of
handicraft, by means of which they concealed the mystery of the little house. From
information that I received from some of the faithful, it was in reality dedicated to the
anito, although they offered no sacrifice in it, nor did it serve for other use than as it
was dedicated to him—perhaps that he might rest there when on a journey, as Elias
said to the other priests. I had all these houses demolished, so that not one
remained. I also found in some little hamlets of the Pintados a small house at the
entrance of the village with only the roof and ground floor, which served as a place
where sacrifices are performed. But, after all, it was not the general practice to have
any common place of worship, as did the ancient Pagans, or to come together to
any one place for solemn rites, or to have public and general sacrifices offered in the
name of the community. Individuals, however, made offerings, each one for his own
intention or need, and in his own house or other private place; but they chose jointly
their own priest, male or female (of whom there were many), according to their own
devotion and taste. In Mindanao, I saw many houses furnished on the outside with
small platforms made not unskillfully, of cane, and on these stood some little wooden
idols very poorly carved; and in front of the idols was an earthen pot containing
some hot coals and a little of some disagreeable aromatic, which must have been a
sacrifice to the idols.

But although those people had no temples, they had, in the second place,
priests and priestesses, whom the Tagalogs call Catolonan, and the Bisayans
Babailan. They vied with each who could best contrive with the Devil (who deceived
them) to take advantage of the blindness of the people, to deceive them by a
thousand frauds and artifices. These priests practice many deceptions upon those
blinded infidels—especially in cases of sickness with which the latter are afflicted,
which so oppress them that they seek at once a remedy, and whomsoever gives or
promises it to them they revere and worship, and give him their all. Indeed there are
some of these priests who have a special compact with the Devil, who lends them
signal aid and assistance, Almighty God permitting this for his own hidden purposes.
The Devil communicates with them through their idols or anitos, playing the role of
the dead man whom they are adoring; and often he enters into the person of the
priest himself, for the shod space of the sacrifice, and makes him say and do things
which overwhelm and terrify the onlookers.

"The Creation of the World," a Bicol Origin Myth

As an oral tradition, the last reading of the Chter is different from the first four
because it is a myth from the natives themselves. As stated by Damiana Eugenio in
the first book of the voluminous Philippine Folk Literature Series (1981), "myths are
the prose narratives which, in the society which they are told, are considered to be
truthful accounts of what happened in the remote past." She added that these myths
are the story of mankind and other creatures and their relationship with nature and
the deities. Thus, it is significant to include such literature in this textbook to grasp
other forms of sources as well as points of view.

The following account is the creation myth of the Bicolanos as told by\
Rosario Bonto, documented in the book Ethnography of the Bicol People.

Primary Source

Thousands and thousands of years ago, there was a time when the space occupied
by the universe was vacant. The moon, the sun, the stars, and the earth were
conspicuous by their absence. Only the vast expanse of water and the sky above it
could be seen. The kingdom of the sky was under the rule of the great god Languit,
while the water was under the sovereignty of the god Tubigan. Languit had a
daughter called Dagat, the sea, who became the wife of Paros, the wind, who was
the son of Tubigan. Four children were born to Dagat and Paros, three of whom
were boys called Daga, Aldao, and Bulan, and one girl called Bitoon. Daga, a strong
man, possessed a body of rock; Aldao, a jolly fellow, had a body of gold; Bulan, a
copper-made man, was a weakling; while the beautiful Bitoon was made of pure
silver. After the death of their father Paros, Daga, being the eldest son, succeeded in
control of the winds. Soon after, Dagat, the mother died, leaving her children under
the care of the grandparents Languit and Tubigan.

After assuming control of the winds, Daga became arrogant and ambitious,
desiring to gain more power, so he induced his younger brothers to attack the
kingdom of Languit. At first they refused; at Daga's anger, Bulan and Aldao were
constrained to join him in his plot. Preparations were made and when everything
was ready, they set out on their expedition and began to attack the gates of the sky.
Failing to open the gates, Daga let loose the winds in all directions so that the gate
was destroyed and the brothers succeeded in gaining entrance. But they were met
by the enraged Languit who set out three bolts of lightning after them. All of them
were struck by lightning. The copper body of Bulan melted into a ball; so also was
the golden body of Aldao. Daga's body fell into the sea and became what is now the
earth.

Their sister Bitoon, on discovering the absence of her brothers, went out to
look for them. But upon meeting the enraged god Languit, Bitoon was also struck by
another bolt of lightning which broke her body into many pieces. Then Languit
descended from the sky and called Tubigan and accused him of helping their
grandsons in their attack on his kingdom. But Tubigan defended himself saying he
had no knowledge about the attack for he was asleep far down into the sea. Tubigan
succeeded in pacifying Languit and the two regretted and wept over the loss of their
grandchildren. Since they could not revive them, they gave each body a light.

Tubigan then planted a seed which grew into a bamboo tree. From one of its
branches came a man and a woman, who became the first parents of the human
race. Three children were born to them. One called Maisog invented a fish trap. One
day he caught such a very big and grotesque looking whale that he thought it was a
god, so he ordered his people to worship it. The people gathered around and began
to pray; but no sooner they had begun, when gods from the sky appeared and
commanded Maisog to throw the whale to the water and worship no one but the
gods. But Maisog was not afraid and defied the gods. Languit, the king of the sky,
struck Maisog with lightning and stunned him. Then he scattered the people over the
earth as a punishment. In this way the earth was peopled.

Maisog's body was blackened by the lightning and all his descendants are
black. But Maisog's son was carried to the north and became the parent of the white
people. His other children were brought to the south where the sun was hot and it
scorched their bodies so that all their people were of brown color. The other people
were carried to the east where they had to feed on clay due to scarcity of food.
Because of this diet, their descendants were of yellow color. In this way the earth
came into being.