Origin Myths among the Mountain Peoples of the Philippines

by H. Otley Beyer

It would seem that a religion of this same general type was also common among the lowland peoples of the Philippines before they were Christianized by the Spaniards. Pigafetta, the first European to write of the Philippines, describes a ceremony, which he saw performed in Cebu in the year 1520, as follows:[21]

In order that your most illustrious Lordship may know the ceremonies that those people use in consecrating the swine, they first sound those large gongs. Then three large dishes are brought in; two with roses and with cakes of rice and millet, baked and wrapped in leaves, and roast fish; the other with cloth of Cambaia and two standards made of palm-tree cloth. One bit of cloth of Cambaia is spread on the ground. Then two very old women come, each of whom has a bamboo trumpet in her hand. When they have stepped upon the cloth they make obeisance to the sun. Then they wrap the cloths about themselves. One of them puts a kerchief with two horns on her forehead, and takes another kerchief in her hands, and dancing and blowing upon her trumpet, she thereby calls out to the sun. The other takes one of the standards and dances and blows on her trumpet. They dance and call out thus for a little space, saying many things between themselves to the sun. She with the kerchief takes the other standard, and lets the kerchief drop, and both blowing on their trumpets for a long time, dance about the bound hog. She with the horns always speaks covertly to the sun, and the other answers her. A cup of wine is presented to her of the horns, and she dancing and repeating certain words, while the other answers her, and making pretense four or five times of drinking the wine, sprinkles it upon the heart of the hog. Then she immediately begins to dance again. A lance is given to the same woman. She shaking it and repeating certain words, while both of them continue to dance, and making motions four or five times of thrusting the lance through the heart of the hog, with a sudden and quick stroke, thrusts it through from one side to the other. The wound is quickly stopped with grass. The one who has killed the hog, taking in her mouth a lighted torch, which has been lighted throughout that ceremony, extinguishes it. The other one dipping the end of her trumpet in the blood of the hog, goes around marking with blood with her finger first the foreheads of their husbands, and then the others; but they never came to us. Then they divest themselves and go to eat the contents of those dishes, and they invite only women (to eat with them). The hair is removed from the hog by means of fire. Thus no one but old women consecrate the flesh of the hog, and they do not eat it unless it is killed in this way.

This ceremony, almost the same as described by Pigafetta, is in use among the Ifugaos to-day, although it is performed by men instead of by women and differs in a few minor details.

I shall next discuss the religion and mythology of the Igorots, Bontoks, and Ifugaos, treated separately and in more detail.

The Igorots

These people occupy the subprovinces of Benguet, Lepanto, and Amburayan in the Mountain Province. The region of their purest culture is in northern Benguet and eastern Lepanto. Of the religion of this region, we have considerable information from the writings of Fr. Angel Perez, an Augustinian missionary; Sr. Sinforoso Bondad of Cervantes, Lepanto; and a number of personal observations made by myself.

The sun gods, and the deities of the sky world in general, occupy the most important place in the Igorot religion. Place-spirits and animal deities are likewise highly developed. At a place called Kágubátan,[22] at the foot of the sacred mountain Múgao in eastern Lepanto, is a small lake full of sacred eels which the people guard with great care. They believe that if these eels were killed the springs would all dry up and they would have no water for their terraced rice fields. The eels are fed every day with rice and sweet potatoes by the children of the village, who, as they approach the lakelet, sing a peculiarly sweet and mournful song, upon hearing which the eels all rise to the surface of the water and approach the shore to receive their food.

The Igorots have both priests and priestesses, and they perform many public and private ceremonies, both for the benefit of the great deities and for the countless minor spirits which inhabit the sacred mountains, cliffs, groves, trees, and bushes that are scattered throughout the Igorot country. Sacrifices of pigs or chickens are made at every ceremony. The ceremonies of the common people are more or less of a private nature, but those of the aristocracy and of wealthy men are nearly always public and general. The greatest ceremonies are those connected with war and marriage and the great public festival which proves a man’s right to the title of nobility.

The Igorots have a high code of morals which is closely associated with their religious belief. They also have a scientific calendar and a considerable knowledge of astronomy which has effected many modifications in their religion. Their mythology is extensive, and they have a rich unwritten literature of epic poems, hero-stories, and historical legends. Most of the myths are too long to be given here, but for purposes of comparison I give the following short one which was collected by the Dominican, Fr. Mariano Rodriguez: