The earliest settlements in the Visayan Islands of the Philippines, to the southernmost islands of Luzon and to the northern and eastern parts of Mindanao, are dated from c. 6,000 to 30,000 BC. Therefore, the Visayans was probably the oldest, as well as the largest ethnic group in the Philippines, numbering at around 33 million as of 2010. The earliest notable written account on the creation myths of the Visayans is told by navigator Miguel de Lopez Legazpi in 1576. Francisco Ignacio Alcina, a Jesuit missionary and historian, also wrote a summary of the creation myth in his Historia de las islas e indios de Bisayas in 1668.
Although there are different versions of the Visayan creation myth, they are similar in characters, conflicts and resolutions. The way the story was narrated and its different subsequent retellings strongly portray the common experience of the people. The creation myth of the Visayans not only tells the story of how the world was created and how humanity came into existence, thus effectively describing how the Visayans view the world and their origins, it also describes the first death, war, social classes, and race.
The Land, the Sun and the Moon against the Sky
In the beginning, the world was nothing but a great sea of water under the sky. The sea was ruled by the goddess Maguayan while the god Kaptan ruled the sky. As the two great gods decided to unite, the sea became the bride of the sky. From their union came three sons and a daughter: the strong and brave rock-bodied Likalibutan, the happy golden-bodied Liadlao, the timid copper-bodied Libulan, and the beautiful and gentle Lisuga with a body of pure silver. Kaptan and Maguayan took great care of them and shielded them from evil. After some time, Likalibutan, the eldest of the siblings, was resolved to gain more power and asked his brothers to join him in an attack on Kaptan.
The three brothers rushed at the sky where Kaptan resided. However, they could not destroy the gates of steel that guarded the entrance to his home. The powerful Likalibutan then let loose the strongest blows and shattered the bars of the gate in every direction. As they came charging through the gate, the brothers were met by the angry god Kaptan. The sky, usually serene and calm, now darkened and the terrible anger of Kaptan made them run away in terror. However, the furious Kaptan sent three bolts of lightning after them. The first bolt struck the copper Libulan and melted him into a ball which fell near Kaptan’s feet, thus Libulan became a part of the sky forever as the moon.
The second bolt struck the golden Liadlao and he too was melted into a ball before he could escape from the sky, making him a part of the sky as the sun. The third bolt struck Likalibutan, who led the escape, breaking his rocky body into many pieces before falling into the sea. Parts of his body stuck out above the water and became what is known as lands. Gentle Lisuga, devastated by the tragedy that befell her brothers, was later placed by Kaptan in the sky as the stars so she could be near her two brothers, the sun and the moon, and share her beautiful silvery light with her eldest brother, the land, in dark nights.
The People of the Coast
The Yligueynes, the people of the coast, believe that the world began when Kaptan, the lord of the sky, fell in love with Maguayan, the lady of the sea. However, in love as they were, the two primordial deities were in frequent conflict. One day, Kaptan’s anger became so unbearable that Maguayan’s feelings were hurt and she moved herself further away from Kaptan’s reach. Kaptan, realizing that he had done something wrong, tried to make amends. In his loneliness, Kaptan created the earth as a peace offering for the angry Maguayan.
Kaptan planted bamboo trees in the garden which he called Kahilwayan, a Hiligaynon word which means “Freedom” or “Liberty”. The bamboo tree played a significant role in the lives of the Filipinos and in many other Asian cultures. Bamboo is commonly used as part of many creation stories in Asian as it is widely used and highly valuable in the lives of the people. Bamboos are used to build payag – a hut or small houses, making utensils for cooking, weapons and other materials for everyday life, as well as a source of food. Apart from the bamboo, Kaptan also planted rice, corn and sugarcane – crops that are the staple food of the Visayan region. It is also significant that the garden is called freedom, as it connotes how the people see the earth, which is that as long as they live on earth, a person is meant to be free.
As Kaptan was watching the bamboo leaves play in the breeze, a thought came to him and he murmured, Magmugna ako ug makaalima niining mga tanum, (“I will make creatures to take care of these plants”). Mugna literally means “to create” or “to bring into existence” and alima is “to look after” or “to administer”. This signifies how the people are meant to view the earth and creation. From here, one can also see the significance of the bamboo in the story as it was from the bamboo that man and woman came into existence. Kaptan split the bamboo into two halves from where a man and a woman came. Therefore, the image of the bamboo in the creation of man and woman suggests the unity of humanity with nature.
Kaptan named the man Sikalak – binuhat nga malig-on, which means “the sturdy creature”, and from then on, all men are called silalak or lalaki. The woman was named Sikabay – gabay sa binuhat nga malig-on, which means “a support or a person on whom the sturdy one can lean on”, and from then on, all women are called sibabaye or babaye. Gabay in both Hiligaynon and Sinugboanon (the Cebuano dialect) means “support or to hold on to”. The names and the roles suggests that men and women as complementary being, and neither one of them is superior from the other. The two of them are described as working together by tending the garden of Kahilwayan (freedom). This is interpreted as: men and women are gifted with freedom, and free will, which they need to tend to together.
Sikalak initiated the idea of having offspring who would help them in tending the vast garden entrusted to them by Kaptan. Sikalak pursued Sikabay’s agreement to have children with him. However, Sikabay did not agree as they were managsoon (siblings) since they came from one bamboo. Sikalak, setting a precedent for other men after him for the next millions of years, did not give up in pursuing Sikabay to agree. Worn down by his insistence, Sikabay sought the advice of the tuna fish, the doves and the earthquake before she finally agreed to Sikalak’s proposal. As Sikalak was, literally, the only man on earth, Sikabay had no choice but to marry him to populate the earth. Out of their marriage, a son named Cebu and a daughter named Samar were born, which suggests the emergence of the island of Cebu and Samar.
Cebu and Samar also married and had a daughter, called Lupluban. Lupluban married Pandaguan, a son of Sikalak and Sikabay who was born later, and they had a son called Anoranor. Pandaguan became the first man to invent a net for fishing at sea. When he used the net for the first time, Pandaguan caught a shark and brought it to the shore thinking that it would not die, as the concept of “death” was unknown to the first humans at this stage. The shark, as all fish do hereafter, died when brought ashore; and Pandaguan began to mourn when he saw this. He complained against the gods for allowing the shark to die, when no one had died before that time. On hearing this, the god Kaptan sent the flies to ascertain who the dead creature was who had incited this violent grief. As the flies were too afraid to go, Kaptan sent the weevil. The weevil brought back the news of the shark’s death. On hearing this, Kaptan was displeased at these excessive tears and sadness for a mere fish. He made a thunderbolt, with which he killed Pandaguan. Pandaguan remained in the infernal regions for thirty days before Kaptan took pity upon him, brought him back to life, and returned him to the world.
However, when Pandaguan returned, he did not find his wife at home. Pandaguan sent his son to ask Lupluban to come home. However, Lupluban refused to go home, saying to her son that the dead should not return to the world. This answer angered Pandaguan and he returned to the infernal regions. To this day, the people believe that if Lupluban had obeyed his summons, and Pandaguan had not gone back to the infernal regions, all the dead would have returned to life henceforth.
The People of the Mountains
The Visayans who lived in the mountains, the Tinguianes also believed that the sea and the sky were the only elements in the world at the beginning of time. One day a frustrated kite bird, having no place to land, determined to set the sea against the sky.
By the kite’s manipulation, the sea declared war against the sky and threw her waters upward. The sky made a treaty of peace with the sea. However, to avenge himself upon her afterwards, he dropped all the islands currently on the archipelago upon the sea to subdue her. He continued to put big trees and other plants upon the islands to add to the weight. The weight of the islands stopped the sea from ever being able to rise again. This event marked the beginning of the custom of mavaris (taking vengeance for an insult or an injury received).
The kite, which now had a place to land, pecked a bamboo and out came a man and a woman. When the woman gave birth, she brought forth a great number of offspring at once. One day the man came home angrily and threatened the children. The frightened children fled. Some went into the most hidden rooms of the house, some hid near the outside door, some hid themselves within the walls, some hid in the fireplace; and some fled to the sea through the same door by which the father had entered.
It is said that those who fled to the most hidden rooms became the chiefs of the islands. Those who remained nearer to the outside became the timaguas (the warriors). Those who hid themselves within the walls became the slaves. The skin of those who hid in the fireplace, as well as those of their descendants, became darker than the others, and those who fled out to the sea through the open door are today known as the Spaniards, who promised that they will return to the island, and their brothers and sisters, some day.
Martini Fisher 