The Visayan Creation Myth

Greetings. I am Le Fou. I travel far and wide around the world, collecting stories, legends, folk tales, and myths to entertain people with. Storytelling has always been a passion for me. Every person has a story to tell. The question is, can they tell it well enough to gain and maintain the attention of everyone else?

Well, if they don’t, the Traveling Fool will do make it interesting for them. Let us start with one of the creation myths that should be familiar to those living in the southern region of the Philippines. I myself after all, was born and raised in the lovely little island of Cebu. Sa ni-adtong panahon*…

There was no land,no sun, nor moon, nor stars and the world was only a great sea of water, above which stretched the vast and empty sky. There were no humans yet and the gods were so blissful and happy that the idea of making them never crossed their minds. The water was the kingdom of the god Maguayan and the sky was ruled by his brother Kaptan, the great sky god.

Maguayan had a daughter he named Lidagat, for she was born of the sea, and Kaptan, who had a son who loved to ride the wind, who he named Lihangin. On a very fine and beautiful day—for, during that time the gods never created a day other than so—Lihangin, as usual on his steed, on one of his little adventures chanced upon the lovely Lidagat, and both fell in love. The gods agreed to the marriage of their children,and so the sea became the bride of the wind.

In due time, a daughter and three sons were born to Lidagat and Lihangin. The sons were called Likalibutan (whose name means the whole of the world), Liadlao (the day) and Libulan (the calm and serene moon); the daughter received the name of Lisuga (the light).



Likalibutan had a body of rock and was strong and brave; Libulan was made of copper and was weak and timid; Liadlao was formed of gold and was always happy; and the beautiful Lisuga had a body of pure silver and was sweet and gentle. Their parents were very fond of them and nothing was wanting to make them happy.

After a time Lihangin died and left the control of the winds to his eldest son Likalibutan. The faithful wife Lidagat, forlorn and lonely and missing her husband, soon followed him, and the children, now grown up, were left without father or mother. However, their grandfathers, Kaptan and Maguayan, were as equally fond of them as them as their parents were, and so took care of the four children and guarded them from all evil.

After some time, Likalibutan, proud of his power over the winds and forgetting that his grandfather loved him with all his heart and sheltered him from harm, resolved to gain more power, and asked his brothers to join him in an attack on Kaptan in the sky above. They refused at first, but when Likalibutan, whose temper he inherited from the very god he was plotting against, became angry with them, the amiable Liadlao, not wishing to offend his brother, agreed to help. Then together they induced the timid Libulan to join in the plan.

When all was ready, the three brothers rushed at the sky, but they could not beat down the gates of steel that guarded the entrance. Likalibutan, a confident and proud grin on his face, turned to his brothers and slashed his arms harshly towards the gates in a great show of power; by doing so he let loose the strongest winds and blew the bars in every direction. The brothers rushed into the opening, but were met by their grandfather, the angry god Kaptan. So terrible did he look that they turned and ran in terror. Both Likalibutan’s power and temperament paled greatly against the elder deity.Kaptan, furious at the destruction of his gates, sent three bolts of lightning after them.

The first bolt hit the copper Libulan and melted him into a ball. The second struck the golden Liadlao and he too was melted, and turned into a sphere of gold. The third bolt struck Likalibutan, and his rocky body broke into many pieces and fell into the sea. So huge was he that parts of his body stuck out above the water and became what is known as land.

In the meantime the gentle Lisuga had missed her brothers and started to look for them. They had loved her just as dearly, and agreed that their sister must not be brought into their plan, as it would have been too dangerous for her. And so unknowing of the chaos above she went toward the sky, and as she approached the broken gates, Kaptan, blind with anger, struck her too with lightning, and her silver body broke into thousands of pieces. Thus Lisuga died at the hands of her grandfather, because of her brothers, and without ever knowing why. In the otherworld, Lihangin and Lidagat wept at the ignominious end of their beloved children.

Kaptan then came down from the sky and tore the sea apart, calling on Maguayan to come to him and accusing him of ordering the attack on the sky. Soon Maguayan appeared and answered that he knew nothing of the plot as he had been asleep deep in the sea. After some time, he succeeded in calming his very angry brother. Together they wept at the loss of their grandchildren, especially the gentle and beautiful Lisuga, but even with their powers, they could not restore the dead back to life. However, they gave to each body a beautiful light that will shine forever.

And so it was the golden Liadlao who became the sun and the copper Libulan, the moon, while Lisuga's pieces of silver were turned into the stars of heaven. To wicked Likalibutan, the gods gave no light, but resolved to make his body support a new race of people. So Kaptan gave Maguayan a seed and he planted it on one of the islands.

Soon a bamboo grew, and from the hollow of one of its branches, a man and a woman came out. The man's name was Sikalak and the woman was called Sikabay. They were the parents of the human race. Over time we have come to call the men of the world lalake and the women babaye, in honor of our ancestors.Their first child was a son whom they called Libo, and soon afterwards they had a daughter who was known as Saman. The beautiful islands of Cebu and Samar in the Visayas were named after them.

*Once upon a time

 

 

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Le Fou is a nom de plume used by a literature enthusiast who was born in the Philippines. Le Fou never actually went to any other place other than her home country, the USA, and Canada (for all of two days), so in actuality all the stories this wannabe nomad gets is from the Internet and books. She dreams of one day visiting Europe (Ireland, mostly; but other interesting places are fine too), Japan, China, and Egypt, all the places where magic, mystery and stories were seemingly born in.