Tagalog Deities in Philippine Mythology
FIRST GENERATION DEITIES
Supreme god and creator deity, also known as Bathala Maykapal, Lumilikha, and Abba; an enormous being with control over thunder, lightning, flood, fire, thunder, and earthquakes; presides over lesser deities and uses spirits to intercede between divinities and mortals; referred by Muslims as Anatala;the tigmamanuquin (tigmamanukan) is attributed to Bathala.
Originally this god was worshipped as the god of Hunters. In more modern stories he has become associated as the ill-tempered god of the sea, replacing Aman Sinaya among of the first generation gods (aside from Bathala), he was never married after his love was spurned by a beautiful mortal maiden, Maganda. In frustration, he swore vengeance against the humans by sending turbulent waves and horrible tempests in order to wreck boats and to drown men.
Idiyanale
The goddess of labor and good deeds. Natives used to call for her guidance in order to make their works successful. She married Dimangan and had two offspring.
Dimangan The god of good harvest. He was married to Idiyanale and had two offspring.
Ikapati
(Jocano’s Tagalog Pantheon)
The goddess of cultivated land. She was the most understanding and kind among the deities of Bathala. Her gift to man was agriculture. As the benevolent giver of food and prosperity, she was respected and loved by the people. From her came fertility of fields and health of flocks and herds. Ikapati was said to have married Mapulon, god of seasons. They had a daughter named Anagolay, who became the goddess of lost things. When Anagolay attained maidenhood, she married Dumakulem, son of Idianale and Dumangan, by whom she had two children, Apolake, who became god of the sun and patron of warriors, and Dian Masalanta, who became goddess of lovers.
Often combined with Ikapati from Jocano’s Tagalog pantheon, Lakapati was a major fertility deity. During sacrifices made in a new field, the farmer would hold up a child and say, “Lakapati, pakanin mo yaring alipin mo; huwag mong gutumin [Lakapati, feed this thy slave; let him not hunger]” (San Buenaventura 1613, 361). Prominent among deities who received full-blown sacrifices were fertility gods. Lakapati, fittingly represented by a hermaphrodite image with both male and female parts, was worshiped in the fields at planting time.
Mapulon
The god of seasons and husband of Ikapati of whom they had a daughter.
Top God: Bathala is the supreme creator god in Tagalog mythology. He’s the primordial male deity which made the whole universe. A fuller name for him is Bathalang Maykapal, meaning “Lord Creator”. “Bathala” itself is from Sanskrit bhattara “lord”, so some scholars have proposed that the actual native Tagalog name or rather title was “ang Maykapal”, the Creator. Even today the Christian God may be addressed as Panginoong Maykapal (often shortened to Poong Maykapal), also meaning Lord Creator, in addition to Diyos (from Spanish Dios… distantly but directly related to Sanskrit Deva, because they’re both in the Indo-European language family.)
SECOND GENERATION DEITIES
The goddess of the moon and one of the three daughters of Bathala by a mortal woman. She was the most charming of all the goddesses. She had two sisters, Tala and Hanan.
The goddess of the stars; sister of Mayari and Hanan and one of the three daughters of Bathala by a mortal woman.
The goddess of morning; sister of Mayari and Tala and one of the three daughters of Bathala by a mortal woman.
Dumakulem
The strong, agile guardian of mountains and the son of Idiyanale and Dimangan. His sister was Anitun Tabu. He later married Anagolay.
Anitun Tabu
The fickle-minded goddess of wind and rain. She was the daughter of Idiyanale and Dimangan and the sister of Dumakulem.
Anagolay
The goddess of lost things and the only offspring of Ikapati and Mapulon. She was married to Dumakulem.
THIRD GENERATION DEITIES
Apolaki
(Jocano’s Tagalog Pantheon)
The god of sun and the chief patron of warriors. He was the son of Anagolay and Dumakulem.
Diyan Masalanta
The goddess of love, conception and childbirth and the protector of lovers. She was the daughter of Anagolay and Dumakulem and youngest of all the deities.
Other Tagalog Deities
Deity of the ocean and protector of fishermen.
Saik
Tthe god of the sea who protects travelers from tempests and storms.
Lakambakod
The protector of the growing crops.
Lakambini
He is known as the “pure maiden” for his incomparable beauty, ironic that he is a male diwata. He was originally known as the god of “kapurihan”(purity) and is also the god of food, festivity and anti-gluttony. worshiped mainly by men: they pray to Lakambini to let them find a beautiful maiden to wed. An obscure deity called “abogado dela garganta” (throat advocate) by the Spaniards and was turned into the god of gluttony.
Lingga
Deity invoked by the sick.
The Philippines features quite the Rogues Gallery of strange and almost always homicidal mythological beasties. The most famous is probably the Manananggal, a vampiric creature that Eats Babies and can fly by separating its torso from its legs. Additionally, there’s the Tiyanak (a vampiric baby that died before it could be baptized), the Kapre (a Sasquatch-like figure that guards people but also likes to play tricks on them), the Alans (mischievous bird-humanoids that like to take care of lost or abandoned children and have backward-facing hands and feet), the Bungisngis (cheerful but dimwitted cyclops-like giants), the Pugot (headless ogres that like to steal women’s underwear from clotheslines) and the Aswang (a frightening, shapeshifting predator).
The manananggal is an old mythical creature in the Philippines that separates from their lower part of body and their fangs and wings give it a vampire-like appearance. The manananggal is described as scary, often hideous, usually depicted as female, and always capable of severing its upper torso and sprouting huge bat-like wings to fly into the night in search of its victims. The word manananggal comes from the Tagalog word tanggal, which means “to remove” or “to separate”, which literally translates as “remover” or “separator”. In this case, “one who separates itself”. The name also originates from an expression used for a severed torso.
Ancient Visayan Deities of Philippine Mythology
Unlike the Tagalogs, ancient Visayans didn’t have a creator god like Bathala who appeared out of nowhere and decided to create humanity. But what they lacked in “creator god” they made up for in plenty of origin myths. These stories explain how death, class and race differences, concubinage, war, and theft were introduced to the world. They worshiped and offered prayers to a variety of invisible beings. These could either be a diwata (i.e. gods and goddesses) or the spirits of their ancestors called umalagad. It is believed that the word diwata was derived from the Sanskrit devata which suggests Hindu influences to our pre-Spanish culture.
Ancient Mindanao Deities of Philippine Mythology
The way our Mindanaoan ancestors worshiped the spirits in the pre-colonial era combined both their old beliefs and those of the foreigners they came in contact with. The colorful and fascinating Mindanao mythology would have probably died with our ancestors were it not for the few dedicated people who took the risk to study them. The Mindanao mythology is as colorful as the many tribes that lived in the island. They include the Bagobo, Manobo, Bukidnon, Subanon, and Tiruray, among others. Let’s jump right in and explore the magical world of the ancient Mindanao.
What Exactly Is Philippine Mythology?
Philippine mythology is a collection of stories and superstitions about magical beings a.k.a. deities whom our ancestors believed controlled everything. It’s part of the folklore, which covers all kinds of traditional knowledge embedded in our society: arts, folk literature, customs, beliefs, and games, among others. You’ll see the folk literature branching out into three groups: folk speech (which includes the bugtong or riddles and salawikain or proverbs), folk songs, and the folk narratives. Other indigenous groups in Luzon also believed in a creator god, but they didn’t call him Bathala. For instance, the Bontoks and Kankanays of the Central Cordillera considered Lumawig the “creator of all things and the preserver of life.” This deity later sired two pretty daughters–Bugan, the goddess of romance; and Obban, the goddess of reproduction.
8 Philippine mythological creatures reimagined
Haliya
Bakunawa
Kapre
Dalikamata
Manananggal
Tikbalang
Lakapati
Berbalang
The nature of human society is such that it requires continuous motivation of human behavior in a culturally constituted behavioral environment, in which traditional meanings of values play a vital role in the organization of needs and goals and in the redirection of immediate experiences. Thus we always find myths and legends identified with the convictions of the group. It is through the elaboration of these folk narratives that ethical and religious views of life assume definite form and character among the people. In like manner, it is from these stories that interpretations of natural phenomena germinate and give rise, unconsciously under the tender care of those who conceived them, to the luxuriant foliage of arts and letters.
The Batibat (or also Bangungot in Tagalog folklore), are mythological creatures from Philippine folklore. More specifically, from the myths of the Ilocano people. These monsters are depicted as obese, extraordinarily fat humanoid creatures. They are a kind of tree spirits, and they are always female. The Batibat make their homes in trees, and cause trouble when their trees are cut down (which is understandable). If the logs from their tree are used in the construction of a house, the Batibat will start to inhabit and haunt that building and it forbids humans from sleeping near the wood that used to be its tree. They accomplish this by entering the victim’s dreams, causing nightmares and sleep paralysis. Should you find your home haunted by a Batibat, and the monster is in your dreams, then try to wiggle your toes or bite your thumb. These actions may cause you to escape the dream and wake up.
![The Batibat [Filippino mythology, Ilocano mythology]
The Batibat (or also Bangungot in Tagalog folklore), are mythological creatures from Philippine folklore. More specifically, from the myths of the Ilocano people. These monsters are depicted as...](https://64.media.tumblr.com/ecb88539a9bb6cc4647f96cfd006b671/a33a264eb48da1f7-54/s1280x1920/ea2e8eeca99b5f584f77da9bad3743f070fcfe2f.jpg)
PHILIPPINES INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
http://www.indigenouspeople.net/ShowPhilippines/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Philippines
The Philippines consist of a large number of upland ethnic groups living in the country. The highland tribes have co-existed with the lowland Austronesian tribes for thousands of years in the Philippine archipelago. The primary difference is that they were not absorbed by centuries of Spanish and United States colonization of the Philippines, and in the process have retained their customs and traditions. This is mainly due to the rugged inaccessibility of the mountains, which discouraged Spanish and American colonizers from coming into contact with the highlanders.
These groups ranged from various Igorot tribes, a group that includes the Bontoc, Ibaloi, Ifugao, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankana-ey and Tinguian, who built the Rice Terraces. They also covered a wide spectrum in terms of their integration and acculturation with lowland Christian and Muslim Filipinos. Native groups such as the Bukidnon in Mindanao, had intermarried with lowlanders for almost a century. Other groups such as the Kalinga in Luzon have remained isolated from lowland influence.
There were several upland groups living in the Cordillera Central of Luzon in 1990. At one time it was employed by lowland Filipinos in a pejorative sense, but in recent years it came to be used with pride by native groups in the mountain region as a positive expression of their ethnic identity. The Ifugaos of Ifugao province, the Bontocs, Kalinga, Tinguian, the Kankana-ey and Ibaloi were all farmers who constructed the rice terraces for many centuries.
Other mountain peoples of Luzon are the Isnags of the province of Apayao, the Gaddangs of the border between Kalinga, and Isabela provinces and the Ilongots of Nueva Vizcaya province and Caraballo Mountains all developed hunting and gathering, farming cultivation and headhunting. Other groups such as the Negritos formerly dominated the highlands throughout the islands for thousands of years, but have been reduced to a small population, living in widely scattered locations, primarily along the eastern ranges of the mountains.
In the southern Philippines, upland and lowland tribal groups were concentrated on Mindanao and western Visayas, although there are several upland groups such as the Mangyan living in Mindoro. Among the most important groups found on Mindanao are collectively called the Lumad, and includes the Manobo which is a bigger ethnographic group such as the Ata-Manobo and the Matigsalug found in Davao City, Davao del Norte and Bukidnon Province; the Langilan-Manobo in Davao del Norte; the Agusan-Manobo in Agusan del Sur and southern parts of Agusan del Norte; the Pulanguiyon-Manobo of Bukidnon Province; the Ubo-Manobo in southwestern parts of Davao City, and northern parts of North Cotabato Province that is also to include the Arumanen-Manobo of Carmen (N. Cotabato); the Dulangan-Manobo in the Province of Sultan Kudarat; the Talaandig, Higaonon and Bukidnon of Bukidnon province, Bagobo, Mandaya, Mansaka, Tagakaulo in Davao region who inhabited the mountains bordering the Davao Gulf; the Kalagan lives particularly in lowland areas and seashores of Davao del Norte, Compostella Valley, Davao Oriental and some seashores in Davao Del Sur, the Subanon of upland areas in Zamboanga; the Mamanua in the Agusan-Surigao border region; the B’laan, Teduray and Tboli in the region of the Cotabato province, and the Samal. Samal is synonymous with Luwa’an. Yakan is the indigenous tribe in the hinterlands of Basilan Province. In the lowland lives the Sama Banguingui tribe while in coastal areas there leave the nomadic Luwa’an. Sulu lowland areas are also home of the Sama Banguingui. The Sama or the Sinama and the Jama Mapun are the indigenous tribes in the province of Tawi-Tawi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeta_people
Currently in Mindanao, so the Philippines, the home of the Lumad, the 18 indigenous tribes, we’re facing intense militarisation and displacement, and environmental plunder. That’s through the ancestral domains of our Lumad communities and also our community-based schools. At the same time there’s been great resistance to this militarisation through the continuing education of our schools, through the defence of ancestral domains by our people.
Since Duterte has been president, there have been 127 extrajudicial killings of activists. Many people may know about the “war on the drugs” and the alleged 20,000 extrajudicial killings of the last years, but might not know about the activists being killed. In the Philippines, 39 indigenous activists have been extrajudicially killed under Duterte—37 of them were based in Mindanao.
Indigenous languages: Knowledge and hope
The state of indigenous languages today mirrors the situation of indigenous peoples. In many parts of the world, they are on the verge of disappearance. The biggest factor contributing to their loss is state policy. Some governments have embarked on campaigns to extinguish indigenous languages by criminalizing their use – as was the case in the Americas, in the early days of colonialism. Some countries continue to deny the existence of indigenous peoples in their territories – indigenous languages are referred to as dialects, and accorded less importance than national languages, contributing to their eventual loss.
But today, the major influence on the sorry state of their languages is the fact that indigenous peoples are threatened themselves.
Indigenous peoples in the Philippines have always been considered marginal members of society. The Philippines has been colonized by several different nations, and indigenous peoples have been the ones to resist the imposition of a different religion or culture on their own cultural norms. During the 14th century, Islam was introduced to the Philippines, and those who resisted and refused to adopt Islamic beliefs retreated further and further upland to maintain their cultural traditions and practices, and when Spain arrived in the 16th century, indigenous peoples continued to move further upland to resist Catholicism and Spanish cultural practices. Indigenous people in the Philippines are deeply tied to the land. The Binongan community in Abra province describe having a responsibility to nature through a web of values, and mining interferes with these values because it represents a symbol of the Western culture of consumption. Indigenous elders also act as protectors of resources, but local government officials will often appoint their own officials that align with interests of mining companies and interfere with indigenous socio-political organizations.
Mining on Indigenous Territories in the Philippines
Philippine Indigenous Peoples Call to Uphold Traditional Governance in Protected Areas
In the two-day forum, indigenous leaders discussed the implications of the law on their traditions and the ways they can collaborate with the Protected Areas authorities. The forum produced an “Indigenous Peoples’ Declaration on the Recognition and Respect of Indigenous Governance in Ancestral Domains Affected by Protected Areas”, which calls for the recognition of native titles and traditional governance to have primacy over government programs and plans. They specified the ancestral domains affected by protected areas to the Protected Area Management Boards and the kind of technical assistance they will need from the DENR-BMB.
Indigenous Peoples Literature 