Origin Myths among the Mountain Peoples of the Philippines

by H. Otley Beyer

The Bontoks have hundreds of myths and stories about Lumáwig, who corresponds to the Ifugao Líddum, who is the good god who gave men fire, animals, plants, and all the useful and necessary articles of daily life. These myths are of great value, and it is to be hoped that a full collection of them will some day be made.

The Bontok religion is, on the whole, somewhat less developed than that of the Igorots and Ifugaos. The same general beliefs are held, however, and the ceremonial life is similar. Priests are the rule, rather than priestesses; and the same sacred animals are used, as in the other areas. In the social organization, the clan system is in a more perfect state of development than among any other people in the Philippines.

I shall now take up the last religion to be discussed, and the one which is at the same time the most highly developed:

The Religion and Mythology of the Ifugao People of Northern Luzon[28]

The subject of the Ifugao religion is an extensive one, and I have no intention of discussing it in detail here. I shall merely give a few general facts, and a few of the more interesting myths. In addition to some minor papers by the Dominican fathers Malumbres and Campa, most of our information concerning the Ifugao religion is contained in three extensive manuscript monographs.[29] The myths that I shall give here are selected from the first and third of these manuscripts, and the general facts are taken from all three.

Beliefs and Myths of the Kián͠gan Ifugaos

The Ifugao conception of the universe differs considerably in the different religious districts.[30] The Western Ifugao and Central Ifugao beliefs are closely associated, but stand quite apart from those of Kián͠gan Ifugao. The people of the latter area think of the universe as being composed of a large number of horizontal layers which are very similar one to the other. The upper face of each of these layers is of earth, while the lower face of each of them is of a smooth blue stone called múlin͠g.[31] The layer on which we live is called the Earth World (Lúta). The four layers above us constitute the Sky World (Dáya), and are called, in order from the top down, Húdog, Luktág, Hubulán, and Kabúnian. The last is the layer immediately above the Earth World, and it is the blue-stone underfacing of this layer that we call the “sky.” The Under World (Dálom) consists of an unknown number of layers beneath the one on which we live. All of the layers meet in the farthest horizon,[32] where lie the mythical regions of the East (Lágud) and other places.

Some of the Kián͠gan priests seem to have developed the further idea that this Dáwi, or farthest horizon, is in the form of a great celestial globe that surrounds the universe, forming its boundary, the inside face of which can be distinguished in the hazy distance where the deep blue of the sky fades into a very light blue or whitish color.[33] The Earth World, or layer on which we live, lies approximately at the center of the universe. It is therefore the largest layer, and the layers of the Sky World and Under World grow successively smaller as they approach the zenith and nadir of the celestial globe, the boundary of the universe.[34]