Story of My Life: Abril 2016

MYTHS:

The Creation { Igorot}

In the beginning there were no people on the earth.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Origin

Bagobo (Mindanao)

In the beginning there lived one man and one woman, Toglai and Toglibon. Their first children were a boy and a girl. When they were old enough, the boy and the girl went far away across the waters seeking a good place to live in. Nothing more was heard of them until their children, the Spaniards and Americans, came back. After the first boy and girl left, other children were born to the couple; but they all remained at Cibolan on Mount Apo with their parents, until Toglai and Toglibon died and became spirits. Soon after that there came a great drought which lasted for three years. All the waters dried up, so that there were no rivers, and no plants could live.
"Surely," said the people, "Manama is punishing us, and we must go elsewhere to find food and a place to dwell in."
So they started out. Two went in the direction of the sunset, carrying with them stones from Cibolan River. After a long journey they reached a place where were broad fields of cogon grass and an abundance of water, and there they made their home. Their children still live in that place and are called Magindanau, because of the stones which the couple carried when they left Cibolan.
Two children of Toglai and Toglibon went to the south, seeking a home, and they carried with them women's baskets (baraan). When they found a good spot, they settled down. Their descendants, still dwelling at that place, are called Baraan or Bilaan, because of the women's baskets.
So two by two the children of the first couple left the land of their birth. In the place where each settled a new people developed, and thus it came about that all the tribes in the world received their names from things that the people carried out of Cibolan, or from the places where they settled.

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

LEGEND:

The Legend of Mangoes

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Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Ben who had a wonderful heart. He is the son of Maria and Juan. Ben’s a kind and helpful young lad who was nurtured well by his parents who have good hearts as well.

One day, Ben saw a very old beggar and he took pity on him. So, Ben decided to invite the old beggar into their humble home and he cooked food and fed the old beggar until he could not eat anymore. Ben was not a rich boy but that did not stop him from helping this old beggar by serving him with the type of food that Ben’s family could only afford. After a sumptuous meal, the beggar thanked the young lad and bade him farewell.

On another day, while Ben was looking for fire woods, he passed by an old man who was also very hungry. Ben took pity on him once more and without a doubt in his mind, he invited the old man back to their home and gave him food and some clothes that his father does not use anymore. Ben’s parents were happy that they have a son who has a heart of gold like Ben.

Unfortunately, the time came that Ben suddenly got very ill. His parents were troubled and didn’t know what to do. But despite that, they persisted to have their son treated but to no avail, Ben died. His parents mourned over the loss of their only son. The next day, after Ben’s death, a beautiful fairy came to Ben’s wake and talked to his parents. She asked them to give her Ben’s heart. They agreed and gave it to her. The fairy then flew away and in a mountain, she dug and buried Ben’s dead heart. It then turned into a fruit-bearing tree whose fruits were in the shape of a heart and whose taste was so sweet. People were amazed upon discovering this new type of fruit and when they tasted it they were happy as it’s the sweetest fruit they have ever tasted.

From then till now, people enjoy the benefits of this wonderful fruit.

The Legend of Mount Kanlaon

There once lived on the island of Negros a princess named Anina who lived a very sheltered life.

One day, Anina overheard her father talking to the kingdom’s chief priestess. The priestess was frantic about a report that they could not find a single maiden who was unblemished.

Later, Anina asked her father what it was all about, and the king finally broke down. There had long been a seven-headed dragon threatening the kingdom, and the monster could only be appeased if an unblemished maiden was sacrificed to it.

In fear, all the women in the kingdom had cut themselves to disqualify themselves from the sacrifice. Parents cut their own baby girls so as to spare the infants from the sacrifice. But the king and the queen couldn’t bring themselves to mar their daughter’s beauty, and so Anina was the only remaining unscarred female in the kingdom.

Anina did not weep. Instead, she willingly offered herself for the sacrifice. Fortuitously, on the day she was to be brought to the mountain where the dragon lived, a man calling himself Khan Laon appeared. (Khan in his language meant a noble lord.) He said he came from a kingdom far away in order to slay the dragon and spare Anina’s life.

No one believed the dragon could be killed, but Khan Laon insisted that his ability to talk to animals would help him. He asked the help of the ants, the bees and the eagles.

The ants swarmed over the dragon’s body and crept under its scales to bite its soft, unprotected flesh, while the bees stung the fourteen eyes of the dragon till it was blind. The largest eagle carried Khan Laon to the mountain where he was able to easily chop off the seven heads of the writhing beast.

In gratitude, the king gave Khan Laon his daughter Anina to be his bride, and the people named the mountain after the noble lord.

And that is how, according to the story, Mount Kanlaon got its name. That it is a volcano is because of the spirt of the dead dragon.