Hello my friends, so today we will be going over the creation story of the Bisayans. So let’s pick up from where I left off and first talk about the creation story. Before I begin, keep in mind that the author who wrote this was not a Bisayan themselves, they were most likely a Spanish friar, etc. who had biases and thus it’s expected to see passages degrading some beliefs and cultural practices. While it is good to criticize the Spanish authors, keep in mind most weren’t reporting in an anthropological way with respect, but to write their own accounts to give a report.
As our stories and myths were recorded through our oral histories instead of written, we have no writing from our ancestors on these myths. We also have to take into account that the description of the myths in The Boxer Codex and other accounts is just a mere summary of the elaborate epic, an art of literature that our ancestors used in telling their stories. What might have been a creation myth that was spoken with many words and could take hours to days to recite, has been summarized for the convenience of the Spanish authors of these accounts. We do not know how the myth was actually told to the many generations prior to the Spaniards and we must make do with the information these Spanish accounts have recorded and any remaining stories and beliefs that survived . With that said, let us begin.
The beliefs held by the Visayans regarding the origin and beginning of the world are ridiculous, riddled with a thousand absurdities. They say that before there was land, there was only sky and sea, which existed ab eterno, and that a bird flew back and forth between the sky and the sea without ever finding a place to alight. This bird was a kite. It was so exhausted from its continuous flying that it decided to stir up a quarrel between the sky and the sea to see if it could find somewhere to alight and rest from its constant flight, for there was nowhere for it to rest in the sky, much less in the sea. So it flew up to the sky and told it that the sea had said it was going to rise up and flood it with its water. And the sky told the kite that if the sea did what it said, and tried to flood it, it would hurl so many islands and rocks onto it that its water would never reach the sky or do it any harm, because the sea would have to go around the islands and rocks and there would not be enough water to come against the sky as it said. It also would not be able to raise itself up because the great weight of the islands and stones would hold it back. Hearing the sky’s words, the kite flew back down to the sea and told it that the sky was very upset with it and that it intended to hurl many large islands and rocks of great weight onto it. Hearing from the kite what the sky was planning to cast unto it, the sea became so angry that it started rising and swelling and ascending with such force and impetus and determination to flood the sky that the sky began to fear and to raise itself even higher so the sea would not flood it. In turn, the sea raised itself with even greater force and fury and tried to go even higher. And the sky, seeing that the sea continued to expand and pursue it, began throwing many large rocks and islands onto its surface. Their weight caused the sea to subside to its original level, and it flowed around the islands and rocks that the sky had hurled onto it, preventing it from rising against it. The sky was then very happy to remain in its same place after what the sea had done. Afterwards, the kite saw the land on the sea and flew down to it, quite content to have found a place to rest from its constant flight.
While resting on the land, it saw a bamboo cane with just two joints floating over to it on the sea. The surf knocked it against its feet, and though the kite kept scurrying away so the bamboo wouldn’t strike its feet, the bamboo kept following the kite and hitting its feet, hurting it. So the kite began pecking vigorously at the bamboo until the two joints broke apart. From one of them came a man, and from the other, a woman. And these were the first man and the first woman there ever were in the world. The man was called Calaque* and the woman Cabaye*. The Visayans say that this is where their words for man and woman come from, because in their language lalaki means man and babaye means woman. The man and the woman were inside the two bamboo joints that the kite broke apart.
They also say that after the man and the woman emerged from the two bamboo joints, the man told the woman that they should be married in order to multiply and create posterity. And the woman objected to marrying, saying that it was not right for them to marry because they were siblings and had been reared together in those two bamboo joints that were separated by no more than a single joint, and if they married they would be punished by the gods Magwayen and Malaon*, for so they are called, being the chief of their gods. The man told the woman not to fear for they could certainly marry, and in order to ascertain whether the gods would be angry with them they should ask the fish in the sea, for these would surely tell them if the marriage would offend their gods. And agreeing on this, they asked the tunas, who replied that it was perfectly acceptable for them to marry and that they had no reason to fear punishment from their gods, for they themselves, though siblings, had also married each other and had multiplied greatly, as could be seen, and had not been punished by the gods for it. And although the woman saw and understood this, she still did not wish to marry her brother for fear of their gods. And the man replied that to obtain even greater assurance that it was acceptable for them to marry without incurring the wrath of the gods, they should also ask the birds what they had to say. Agreeing on this, they sought out the doves and asked them if they, as brother and sister, were to marry, would the gods be angry with them? The doves gave them the same answer as the tunas, namely that it was perfectly acceptable for them to marry and beget many children, for they themselves had done precisely the same thing and has as a consequence multiplied greatly on the earth, and that even though they had been siblings, this had not offended the gods.
And yet despite all the answers the woman received, she dared not marry her brother for her fear of the gods unless she asked one of their gods if she should marry and he told her she should. Under no other circumstances would she consent to do it. The man replied that it would be as she said. And so they went of one accord to consult the god Linog, which is the earthquake. And after they asked him, he replied that it was proper for them to marry and fill the earth with their posterity, and that they should not fear the wrath of the other gods. And with this answer the woman gave in and consented to the marriage. And the fish and the birds and Linog, the god of earthquakes, told them that Linog himself, the earthquake, should be the one to marry them. And thus they went back to him so he might marry them, and he married them, and they were happy.
First let’s talk about this part of the creation story. Throughout the Philippines and many other cultures in the world, this flood myth mentioned in the creation story is constant. It’s hard to dismiss and based on the story, there is some type of flood and either a couple having survived or a small group of people. Majority of these myths mention this primordial pair that reestablishes the human race after a disaster such as the flood.
Though there are local variations, the creation myth is known throughout the Bisayas. In the Panay version the bamboo was actually produced by a marriage between the sea breeze and the land breeze (Miguel de Loarca, 1582), most likely referring to the primordial pair of deities, Kaptan and Magwayen. In Leyte and Samar, the version found here is that the first man and woman came from two young coconuts that were floating on the water and were pecked open by the bird. (William Henry Scott, 1994)
Despite the local variations of the myth, we know the basics of the creation story from there being some sort of bird, the importance of the sky and sea, a bamboo reed or coconuts, and the birth of the first man and woman, Si Kalak and Si Kabay, who implored the advice of the deity of earthquakes, Linog, the fish, and the birds on their marriage, to eventually how they populated the world. It is no surprise how the Bisayans saw the sea and sky as important aspects of their lives coming from an environment where if you take away the islands there is nothing but the sky and the sea which they depended on. One interesting thing to note is how both the first man and woman were brother and sister and were equals. Unlike the story of Adam and Eve where Eve was created from Adams rib, the Bisayan pair were born from the same reed, the same seed, same coconut (or two separate coconuts), thus were born as equals.
Now though we may not see the myth as happening in the literal sense, it does tell a story of how the ancestors of the Bisayans came to be. Traditionally myths and folklore were told in a figurative manner with many metaphors and symbolism. One can see how the ancestors of the Bisayans first arrived on the islands via the sea on boats. According to Lane Wilcken, the author of Filipino Tattoo’s: Ancient to Modern and The Forgotten Children of Maui, he explains the kite in the creation story represents the birds that the early people followed to shore as they were on their boats in the open sea, as birds out in the sea always go back to land. Thus this speaks of the history of the early ocean voyagers who arrived on the islands. The bamboo reed represents an outrigger canoe which held the first people, represented by Si Kalak and Si Kabay (Calaque and Cabaye in The Boxer Codex). In a typical outrigger canoe, known as a bangka, they are made out of bamboo. (The Forgotten Children of Maui, pg. 108)
Now I want to point out this particular passage.
“They also say that after the man and the woman emerged from the two bamboo joints, the man told the woman that they should be married in order to multiply and create posterity. And the woman objected to marrying, saying that it was not right for them to marry because they were siblings and had been reared together in those two bamboo joints that were separated by no more than a single joint, and if they married they would be punished by the gods Magwayen and Malaon*, for so they are called, being the chief of their gods.”
The deities mentioned in The Boxer Codex differ from other sources such as in Miguel de Loarca’s Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas (June 1582). In The Boxer Codex, the author lists Magwayen and Malaon as the chief deities. This contrasts with Loarca’s account as he mentions that it was Magwayen and Kaptan in the creation story. This could be a difference based on region, though the same story is told in both the manuscript and in Loarca’s account with just that difference.
Let’s talk about these 3 primordial deities.
First is Magwayen who is mentioned in both accounts. Magwayen was the primordial deity of the sea and the one who ferried the souls of the dead. We actually don’t know for sure if this was a god or goddess, but it is presumed today Magwayen was a goddess. The meaning behind this deities name actually means “bamboo”. The term for bamboo in Binisaya is “kawayan” and other ethnic groups share this same term or similar. Among the Subanen of Mindanao, this term is actually “gwayan.” With Kaptan in Loarca’s account and with Malaon (the goddess Laon), Magwayen helped to create the world and the first humans. This deity also was known to bring all the souls of the dead to Sulad, a purgatory, by bringing them across a spiritual river called Lalangban on her boat, delivering them to Sumpoy, the God of the Underworld, before reaching the final resting place in Saad, land of the ancestors. (Alcina 1668). Now if you look at what I mentioned earlier, of the bamboo being a metaphor to the boats that the first people used to make their way from island to island, Magwayen’s name makes sense. When you consider that Magwayen delivered the souls of the dead on a boat, across the spiritual river Lalangban, Magwayen is essentially closing the circle of life. The first people were born out of a bamboo reed, they sailed on their bangka to their homes, and then they died crossing a body of water on a boat to their new home in the afterlife. Magwayen was one of the primordial deities in the creation story who helped form the islands and caused the first death of a human, and in the afterlife they are the one who carries your soul to Sulad, where Pandaguan, the first human to die, went to.
It is said that, when the Yligueynes die, the god Maguayen carries them to Inferno. When he has carried them thither in his barangay, Sumpoy, another god, sallies forth, takes them away, and leads them to Sisiburanen, the god before mentioned, who keeps them all. Good or bad alike, he takes them all on equal terms, when they go to Inferno. But the poor, who have no one to offer sacrifices for them, remain forever, in the inferno, and the god of those regions eats them, or keeps them forever in prison. From this it will be seen how little their being good or bad avails them, and how much reason they have to hate poverty.
– Miguel de Loarca’s Relation de las Yslas Filipinas (1582)
The next deity mentioned in The Boxer Codex is Malaon. Now Malaon is actually the same deity as Laon or Lalahon. We know that she was a woman as she is the only deity specifically mentioned that she was a female deity by Miguel de Loarca, by Francisco Alcina, and others. She was known by many other names from the various Bisayan ethnic groups, such as Kanlaon, Malaon, Lalahon, Raom, Laon Sina, & Alunsina. She was identified as the Supreme deity among many of the Bisayan groups and had carved images of her usually made of wood as mentioned in a passage in a Jesuit letter from 1609 of one such image found in Bohol. In Francisco Alcina’s works from 1668, he mentions Laon as being called Malaon and says that she was the creator of all things and was known as “the ancient one” for no one knew how and when she came to be (which we can see this alternate name being used in The Boxer Codex). She was also known as “one who disposes everything and renders everything equal” based on another name she was called by some groups such as the Bisayans of Ibabao, known as Makapatag. From this she was equated to the equality of the divine justice and she was called by this name when she unleashed her punishments to those who have done wrong. She lived in the island of Negros in Mt. Kanlaon and was invoked for a good harvest in the fields. She would sometimes send locusts to eat the crops if the people upset her.
For this reason the first cause or what they judged as the beginning of everything they called in their language, Malaon. This means the ancient one anybody. I have investigated concerning this mode of their thinking, and corresponds to the name that is given to God in the Apocalypse, “Ancient of Days.” Since they had no concept of eternity, nor do they ordinarily understand it today and very few will be found who have an idea of it, they said that this Malaon was the ancient one without knowing when nor how he came to be. Today this Malaon, according to what I have been able to ascertain from discussing and conferring with them, was that they recognized him as the greatest and the most powerful. The most wise in these times judge that this is the true God, which we preach to them, without beginning and He who is the Author and Creator of all visible things. But I have never found anyone, even of the very old, who may be heard to say, “He was the true God.” However, as we shall see below some called him, “Diwata.” Although this is a word they use now and we all use it here to designate the false gods, I judge that it was the name of the true God as I shall describe next. This one they call Malaon in the area of Ibabao, and whom they recognized as the greatest, they also called Makapatag. This means, “he who disposes everything and renders everything equal,” a name with which they indicated the equality of the divine justice. However, in their fashion of conceiving it, as I have traced the matter, they took it [to mean] rigorous punishment and no pardon to anybody. I have investigated concerning this mode of their thinking, and I connect it to this name of the Hebrews who called God, Deus Ultionum, because of the many punishments as they [inflicted]. Generally in Scripture they gave Him in the written Law stern names, as “God of Vengeance,” such as they experienced in their hardships as an unbelieving and stiff necked people. These natives because they are commonly the children of fear, and without it do nothing, as we shall see in their mode of ancient government, fear Him through this name and reverence him more. From here come what I find in some writings, although I judge it to be a poor understanding by the first, who treated these matters. I have not been able to verify what they say in what I have discovered. They held Malaon to have been a woman because she was more ild and less stern. But in what I have been able to trace, Makapatag was the same as Malalaon. However, when they wished to engender fear, they called him by the austere name. Certainly the Indians of Ibabao commonly used both names to designate their Diwata, or God, and this is equivalent to Diwata.
Francisco Alcina’s Historia de las islas e indios de Bisayas (1668) from the English translation of the Muñoz Text.
The final deity we should mention is Kaptan or Makaptan. Though The Boxer Codex doesn’t mention Kaptan, this deity is mentioned as the 2nd primordial deity with Magwayen through Loarca’s account.
Kaptan was a sky god and of creation and death. According to Loarca’s account, he is the one who planted the seed that grew into a bamboo reed in which Si Kalak and Si Kabay were born from. He along with Magwayen, was angry with Pandaguan, the youngest child and second son of Si Kalak and Si Kabay. Together they kill Pandaguan by striking him with a thunderbolt when Pandaguan killed a shark. This shark was the first death in the world and Pandaguan blamed the gods for letting it die. The Boxer Codex further explains that the gods were angered because he performed funeral rites for the shark. When he is killed he is sent to Sulad, however Kaptan (or Laon) along with Magwayen eventually feels pity for Pandaguan and revives him back after 30 days. This part of the myth explains why people don’t come back to life after they die, which I will explain more in detail later. He is also seen as the god who brings disease to his descendants as punishment because he has never tasted the delights of food and drinks from earth. In another passage by Loarca in the same document as his passage on the creation story, he says that they believed that the world has no end and that Makaptan dwelled in the highest in the sky. They considered him a bad god because he sends disease and death among them, saying that because he has not eaten anything of this world, or drunk any pitarrillas, he does not love them, and so kills them. With this you see two opposing forces with Kaptan, one who creates and one who destroys.
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.
– Miguel de Loarca’s Relation de las Yslas Filipinas (1582)
From my understanding of reading these texts, these 3 primordial deities were important and most likely known throughout the Bisayas. It’s interesting to see that both Loarca’s account and the one in the Boxer Codex are pretty much the same, except the difference in the mention of Laon or Kaptan. There is no text that says that Laon and Kaptan were the same deity known by the others name from one group to another. When these two are mentioned they are separate deities. As I said earlier, this difference is most likely the result of variations in the story depending on the person and group Loarca and the anonymous author of the Boxer Codex account got their source from. Just as there are some differences within the Greek Gods and myths through certain accounts, it is probably safe to say one group worshiped one deity more so than the other, thus put emphasis on them. Of course, this is only my personal opinion.
Now I just want to point out something in the Boxer Codex passage that reminded me of something we know of today.
“While resting on the land, it saw a bamboo cane with just two joints floating over to it on the sea. The surf knocked it against its feet, and though the kite kept scurrying away so the bamboo wouldn’t strike its feet, the bamboo kept following the kite and hitting its feet, hurting it. So the kite began pecking vigorously at the bamboo until the two joints broke apart.“
Now does this sound familiar to anyone? To me when I first read this, all I could think of was the national dance of the Philippines, Tinikling. This dance incorporates the use of two bamboo sticks and the performers dance over the sticks as the sticks continuously hit each other. If one makes a mistake, the dancer can get their foot stuck between the two bamboo sticks and hurt their feet. There is another story to how tinikling started out under the Spanish. I actually don’t know the history of the tinikling all too well and if it only started during the Spanish colonial era or if it was a dance prior to their arrival. It would be interesting if the tinikling was a remembrance of this part of the creation story though.
Next let’s discuss the last part of this passage.
“And yet despite all the answers the woman received, she dared not marry her brother for her fear of the gods unless she asked one of their gods if she should marry and he told her she should. Under no other circumstances would she consent to do it. The man replied that it would be as she said. And so they went of one accord to consult the god Linog, which is the earthquake. And after they asked him, he replied that it was proper for them to marry and fill the earth with their posterity, and that they should not fear the wrath of the other gods. And with this answer the woman gave in and consented to the marriage. And the fish and the birds and Linog, the god of earthquakes, told them that Linog himself, the earthquake, should be the one to marry them. And thus they went back to him so he might marry them, and he married them, and they were happy.“
Here we learn that Si Kibay was hesitant to marry her brother in fear of the wrath of the gods. To reassure her, Si Kibay and her sought the advice of animals representative of the sea and sky, which are the primordial planes before there was land. They sought the tunas of the sea and the doves of the sky for confirmation, yet Si Kabay was still not convinced. They then sought the assurance of one of the deities themselves, the deity of earthquake, Linog. Both the Boxer Codex and Loarca’s account mention the same deity, who told the two that it was alright and that the deity themselves would happily oversee their marriage. While the Boxer Codex translation says Linog was a male god, according to Francisco Alcina, Linog was a goddess. In his account Linog was a goddess who caused earthquakes through the movement of her breasts that were very large. Today, linog is still a term used to refer to earthquakes.
Let’s look at the next part of the creation story.
The story continues: the woman soon became pregnant and gave birth at one time to a large number of boys and girls; their parents could not feed them after they were grown because they were so lazy that they just loafed around the house, lacking any desire to seek sustenance for themselves, much less to help their parents do so. This angered their parents, who decided to throw them out of the house. And so one day the father pretended to be very angry when he came home. As he entered the house, he saw all of his children playing and loafing around. He grabbed a stick and shouted at his children, acting like he was going to kill them. And his children fled, not daring to wait for their father [to calm down], seeing that he was so angry. And fearing for their lives, they scattered into the best places they could find. Many of them left their father’s house, while others hid behind the walls. Still others fled to the kitchen and hid among the pots and stoves. and so these Visayans say that from those who entered the bedroom of the house descended their lords and chiefs who are obeyed, respected and served, like the titled lords in our Spain; they are called datus in their language. And the ones who stayed in the main room of the house became their knights and nobles, because they are free and pay no tribute; these are called timawa in their language. And they say that those who hid behind the walls of the house are their slaves, which they call olipon in their language. They say that those who went to the kitchen and hid in the chimney and among the pots are the Negritos, claiming that from them descend all the Negritos who live in the mountains of the Philippine Islands of the West. And, according to them, from the rest who left the house and never returned and were never heard from again, descend all the other peoples of the world, which they say were plentiful and went to different places. And this is what they believe concerning the creation and origin of mankind. They also believe that their ancestors are gods, whom, they believe can supply their needs and give them health or take it away. And so they call on them when they need them, believing that they will come to their aid in all things.
In this part of the story we learn what the early Bisayans believed on how the various people of the world spread and the social classes in precolonial society. The datu, a word still used today, was the head of the community. They were part of the ruling class along with their family and governed and set the rules for the community. An alternate term was rajah, which is influenced by Hinduism that was present in the islands in their own local form of it. The timawa were the free folk and olipon, or oripun were those who were slaves either through being bought as slaves from other nearby islands, through bounty from raids, or from being in debt to the a person. I will leave the discussion for the social classes for another time.
They also say that the reason the dead do not return to this world is because of one of their ancestors, when there began to be more people, who was called Pandaguan. They say he was the first to invent the art and method of fishing, and that he fashioned traps for this purpose. One day he caught a shark in one of the fish traps he had fashioned. After he brought it to shore, it died, and he performed funeral rites for it as one would for a man. This incurred the wrath of the gods against Pandaguan and they hurled a thunderbolt at him, killing him. This they did because he had performed funeral rites for the shark. After Pandaguan’s death, the gods took him to heaven and conferred with him and sent him back thirty days after his death to live and remain on the earth. And during these thirty days that Pandaguan was in heaven and out of this world, his wife, named Loboblam*, they had begun living with a man called Marancon*, believing that her husband, Pandaguan, would never return to the earth. Pandaguan had a son by his wife named Anoranor who was the first to see his father when he returned to the earth; he saw him in his house because that is where Pandaguan first went to seek his wife Loboblam. He asked his son Anoranor where his mother was, and when his son replied that she was not home, he sent to go find her and tell her he had come back to life and that the gods had sent him back to the earth, and that he was waiting for her in the house.
At the time Pandaguan’s son went to deliver this message to Loboblam, she was at the house of her friend Marancon enjoying a feast of park he had prepared for her with a pig he had stolen—which is why among the Visayans this Marancon is believed to be the originator of theft. When her son told Loboblam to return home immediately because Pandaguan had come back to life and had sent for her, Lobolam became incensed with her son Anoranor and replied to him rudely and harshly, saying that he had lied to her and that he should leave and speak no more of it, for Pandaguan was dead and would not come back to the earth. After all, the shark he had killed and performed rites for had not come back to life; much less would his father Pandaguan do so.
Anoranor returned home with this reply and told his father Pandaguan what his mother Loboblam had said, at the same time explaining everything she had done after the gods had killed him with the thunderbolt, including taking up house with Marancon. Pandaguan was deeply saddened by this news and in his anger against his wife sormed out of this house and went to hell, which in their language is called Sulad, and was never again seen to return to the earth. This is why the Visayans believe that men became mortal, because Pandaguan had performed funeral rites for a dead shark. They also believe that the reason the dead do not return to live in this world after they died is because the woman Loboblam refused to return home at the command of her husband Pandaguan. They also believe that people were immortal before all of what we have described took place, and if the gods killed someone, they would return him the earth to live as they did at first with Pandaguan, but since then everyone that died went to hell, which, as we have said, they called Sulad.
This part of the story describes several beliefs that the early Bisayans held in regards to what was the first death in the world, why people don’t revive once they die, the first theft, and of purgatory known as Sulad. It is very similar to the one Loarca mentions in his account, however with Loarca we further know the genealogy of the first ancestors starting with Si Kalak and Si Kabay. This genealogy is as follows.
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.
– Miguel de Loarca’s Relation de las Yslas Filipinas (1582)
By looking at these two accounts together we get a clearer picture of the full creation story. We learn that Pandaguan was the first person to invent the art of fishing and invented the fishing net. The Boxer Codex leaves with just that the gods were angry at him for performing the death rites on the shark. However, through Loarca we know a bit more information. He mentions that Kaptan sends the flies, who did not want to go, and then the weevil.
One can imagine just how detailed this story must have been if chanted and spoken of through oral tradition and with song. However, while the Spanish texts don’t do these epics justice, we should be thankful that they wrote them down as without them, we wouldn’t know them today.
There is more to this story following the death of Pandaguan. In the next passage in the Boxer Codex we see who was the first person to start the tradition of paganito/maganito, which was the ritual offering and sacrifices to the deities. We learn more about the beliefs in the afterlife and how the babaylans, or priestesses, performed these rituals in great detail. This will be discussed more on my next post.
Questions
1.) What are your thoughts on the creation story? Did you find it exciting? Was there anything you didn’t know before?
2.) What do you think about the 3 primordial deities? Why do you think Kaptan and Laon were switched between The Boxer Codex and Loarca’s account?
Sources:
- Relation de las Yslas Filipinas in 1582 by Miguel de Loarca
- The Boxer Codex: Transcription and Translation of an Illustrated Late Sixteenth-Century Spanish Manuscript Concerning the Geography, Ethnography, and History of the Pacific, South-East Asia and East Asia by Souza and Turley
- Barangay: Sixteenth-century Philippine Culture and Society by William Henry Scott
- The Forgotten Children of Maui: Filipino Myths, Tattoos, and Rituals of a Demigod by Lane Wilcken
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