Chapter 2: Creation Myths

Cosmogonic Myths of the Philippines

Summary of Philippines' cosmogonic myths from 
Philippine folk literature: The myths of Damianan Eugenio 

kung mapapansin mo halos lahat ng creation myths na ito from Northern Luzon to Mindanao deals with the creation of Earth as a buffer between the Upperworld and the Underworld. in fact ang prototype creation myth is the one documented by Miguel de Loarca as the creation myths of the mountain-dwelling Visayans of Panay (which he called "Tinguianes"). ito yung tungkol sa Langit at Dagat at kung panong ginawan ng paraan ng ibon na mag-away sila para may mapagpahingahan siya--at ang resulta ay nagkaroon ng Lupa. this is a very popular pre-hispanic myth especially in the Central Philippines. at kahit hanggang ngayon eto yata ang pinakakilalang creation myth sa Pilipinas, and this is probably because it is very simple yet symbolic. this underlies our basic worldview of the known cosmos being divided into the three layers of Upperworld, Earthworld and Underworld, a view that Dr. Zeus Salazar believes is rooted in our common Austronesian heritage. as in many other versions of this Visayan myth, the Sea represents the Underworld while the Sky of course stands for the Upperworld. later when humans were created in the Earth, the Sky and the Sea were also personified as Makaptan and Magwayen respectively.

Tagalog: Primordial sea and sky, and kite between them, who stirred up the sea to throw waters to the sky whereupon the sky threw rocks in retaliation, which became the earth whereby the kite alighted. Marriage of sea breeze and land breeze begot a floating bamboo which the kite, angry after it struck her feet, pecked to reveal man and woman who married after a deliberation by birds and fishes presided by the earthquake. Enraged at his idle children, the bamboo man began beating them whereupon they hid in and out of the house: hidden rooms—chiefs; walls—slaves; fireplace—negroes; outside—freemen; sea—white men.

Pampango: Gods each living on their own planets, including Venus the daughter of the sun (supreme god Mangetchay) and the moon, whose beauty caused a dispute among the other gods, which Mangetchay tried to settle through a battle that dragged on until stopped by the death of Venus and incidentally creating the earth from the stones used in the fight.

Bikol: Primordial sea (Tubigan) and sky (Languit) whose children, Paros (wind) and Dagat, respectively, married to produce four elemental children Daga (rock), Aldao (sun--gold), Bulan (moon--copper), and Bitoon (star--silver), who all, except Bitoon, rebelled against their grandparents after their parents’ death, at the instigation of the ambitious Daga, but was quelled by Languit, whose lightning struck them all, whereupon they became luminous heavenly bodies, including the innocent Bitoon and excepting Daga, whose punishment was more severe in that his body fell to the sea as earth and without luminosity. 

Tubigan planted a bamboo into Daga, whence came the first woman and man Maisog, who was soon punished by the gods in his defiance at worshipping the whale he caught. Blackened by lightning, Maisog became the ancestor of negroes while his elder children were scattered to the cardinal directions to become the ancestors of the brown (South), white (North) and clay-eating yellow (East).

Primordial brothers Adlao and Bulan had a fight, resulting in the removal of the latter’s one arm and eye and the earth resulted from his fallen arm, the primeval couple from a hair in it, and the rivers and seas from his tears.

Igorot: God created sky, water, flat earth and heavenly bodies, with sun and moon soon on a dispute because sun tried to give light to the earth on account of his interest in the latter but the moon shielded him out of envy, resulting in darkness, and the sun’s intense heat causing moon’s spots, which in turn caused it to be less luminous. Lumawig settled the dispute by making them take turns in lighting the earth (night and day) and using his bolo and spear, he then landscaped the earth with landforms, plants, and animals.
Lumawig then struck his spear into a rock, causing the first spring, and in clearing the spring, cut a banana tree from whose stumps emerged the first couple Alelayo and Aremaya.

Nabaloi: Primordial Skyworld and Underworld whose peoples engaged in mutual warfare, causing the sun to be hit by an arrow from the Underworld, thus prompting him to create the earth as a buffer between them. 
The earth became a hunting ground for people from both regions and soon another war arose from when the Skyworld people were angered by the Underworld people’s killing of a deer they were following, and from a Skyworld man and Underworld woman left for dead by their companions came all the world’s people.

Mangyan: The earth first came from the feces of a worm that fell from a tree held by god Mahal Makaako, and then from the other worms that subsequently grew out of it. At the god’s behest, it was shaped by two brothers Dalidali, who made the mountains and later raised the sky with his hurried rice-pounding, and Malway, who made the rich flat lands and later bore the first children in his calf, which was soon burdened by his sister Daga by letting the children pass into her stomach. 

Visayan: Primordial bird caused dispute between primordial sea and sky resulting in the earth made from the stones thrown by the latter. Later, annoyed at a floating bamboo continuing to hit his feet while he alighted at the shore, the bird pecked it until its two nodes split to reveal the first couple Calaque and Cabaye.

Kaptan, god of the sky, and Maguayan, god of the sea both claimed superiority and decided to settle their dispute by war, which raged on until, after the failure of the emissaries Kanaway and Amihan, the great bird Manaul himself stopped it with rocks from an overlooking mountain, thus making the earth whereby he alighted near a clump of bamboo from the inside of which came a voice imploring him to open, which he did with his beak to release the first couple Si-Kalao and Si-Kalay.

King Manaul of the air wanted to rest and stirred up a war between the earth and sky and in his fury at its length, he blew hard that it raised huge waves and to stop them he had to claw big rocks from the depths of the ocean, which became the islands of Iraya including Bugto (Negros).
Because of the absence of trees, Manaul sought the help of his general Maguayan who went far and long before returning with a spiny bamboo, his namesake (kauayan), which he threw on water, was carried to the island, grew and whence came a voice one day so that Manaul opened it with his beak and out came the first couple Sikalak and Sikabay.

Breaking his chains and seeking to retaliate to his enemy King Tubluck Laui who imprisoned him, King Manaul flew around but finding no place to alight, declared himself enemy of the earth (sea) who then sent out waves at him, and of the sky who sent out rain and asked the air gods Canauay and Amihan for assistance with winds, all of which Manaul evaded so that the war became drawn-out until they called for a truce.

Manaul asked for fireflies and counselors, which were given as birds whose chicks he voraciously devoured and who devoured his fireflies in kind, after which he gave the owls wide eyes to guard the fireflies. The king of the air, angered that his counselors were eaten, sought the help of King Captan of the Higuesines who sent stones to crush Manaul, which instead became the earth.

Sulod: In the primordial sky and sea (linaw) appeared two giants Laki and Bayi, the latter having caught one day an earthworm (lagu-lagu) whose feces grew to become the earth whereby they settled, eventually producing the game animals from Bayi’s fingertips, the marine animals from her toes, the domestic animals from her calf, the wild bird from her thighs, and three boys, Hukum, Hikap and Sit from her genitalia. 

Laki tested them by sleeping with his scrotum out, made them choose from among three gifts, and tested them out again by pointing to a golden fish. Hukum laughed and was blackened and later cursed by Laki to beg because he went out greedily for the fish (negroes); Hikap smiled and became brown, later cursed to till the mountain with his carved bolo gift because he followed Hukom but then returned to his seat (the Sulod); Sit covered the scrotum, became white, and later blessed with effortless prosperity for not following his brothers but instead sat on Hukom’s gift of golden chair (foreigners).

Panayan: Industrious Tungkung Langit and lazy Alunsina came out of the void and married. Tungkung Langit was angered when Alunsina sent the sea breeze to spy at him when he went away, causing her to depart whereupon in his loneliness, he made futile efforts such as creating the sea to see her image, going down to make land with plants when the sea irritated him, and making the stars, moon and sun from her necklace, comb, and crown, respectively to attract her back. His tears are said to be the rain and his sobs the thunder.

Blaan: Primordial giant Melu was wont to cleaning and his scurf accumulated that it annoyed him, making the earth to be rid of his annoyance, and from the remnants made man, finishing it except the nose which Tau Dalom Tana, after much argument with Melu, made but upside down. After Melu retired above the clouds and Tau Dalom Tana below the earth, Melu corrected it after realizing that rainwater running into their noses nearly killed them, then instructed the men to collect their scurf and fallen hair to make more men.
A pair of men and women left by their villagers gazed at each other and afterwards came with child, which angered Melu in his returned that he caused a drought and never again visited his people on earth. At last people went away in pairs of man and woman.

Bukidnon: In the primordial circular space (banting) surrounded by a rainbow lived one-headed Magbabaya, ten-headed Manawbanaw and winged Agtayu-ban in their abode Bulbulusan Balugtu. Magbabaya made the earth from the soil scooped by Agtayuban on the ground that Manabanaw sat as the latter permitted, the rain that caused the rivers, sea and eventually the plants (Laguerta ta Kanaan) from Manawbanaw’s saliva, and the first men from the earth with water as blood, rattan as blood vessels, andalugong wood as bones, and Manawbanaw’s bloody saliva to mold it. 
When Magbabaya left them to think of their perfection, Manawbanaw worked with the six of them as he desired, causing a disagreement between them, which they settled with a long duel (including going around the world, kalibutan, seven times), which only stopped when Magbabaya let Manawanaw finished his work, resulting in the creation of incantus (spirit custodians), talabugta (soil custodian), ibabasuk (plant custodian), bulalakaw (water custodian), mamemelig (honey and bee custodian) and mamamhandi (wealth custodian). The bits cut from between the fingers became the fishes, from the armpits the birds, from the back the game animals, from between the legs the riding animals. From Adan’s ribs Magbabaya made woman and among their descendants are the manobo and talaandig, who first needed to obtain permission and pay respect to the six creatures before taking anything anything from nature, including the rituals pamuhat (offering and thanksgiving) and panamagtawag (first harvest and first slice of meat).

In the cool atmosphere that the eight talabons (herons) created by flying over his head, Magbabaya thought of creating eight elements, tumbaga (bronze), bulawan, salapi, bato, gabon (clouds), ulan, puthaw (iron) and tubig, then created earth with mixture of gold, silver, iron and bronze to stabilize its flooring, the round sky with a bronze axle to make it rotate and cause light and darkness, and man from a loose lump of soil which the sky spirit Miyawbiyaw enlivened with air of sininwalo (mixture of air, gold and silver) from the clouds and which a devil made mortal by replacing the crumbled earth substrate with a decayed piece of wood while Magbabaya was away to ponder how to mold it.

Manobo: Makalindung, the first great Manobo set up the world on posts with a central post around which is a python that causes earthquake when displeased, sometimes said to be accompanied by woman Dagau who dislikes sight of human blood, which when spilled upon the earth causes the python to writhe.

Bagobo: Diwata created sea and earth, sun, moon and stars, planted trees, and made first couple (Mona), Tuglay and Tuglibung from spat lumps of earth, as well as the great eel (kasili) that wounds the world and the great crab (kayumang) that bites it, producing earthquake. White clouds are smoke from fire of the gods, rain from water thrown out of the sky, shower from Diwata’s spittle, and rainbow from the yellow clouds made by the sun.

Manuvu: Manama, whose original name Sigalungan as revealed through the diwatas meant far-seeing and all-knowing, lived in Linggawayan in the primordial void and first created his assistants the diwatas Pammaong na Diwata and Paong na Katusan, Panayangan, and Tumanud and Anitu whom he gave katusan (fore-knowledge and power), with nail-like bodies and learned to chew betel, then from his nail scrapings framed by criss-crossing steel bars he made the world, which rocky at first that only katungawtungaw trees grew on it

Mansaka: Taganlang sat on a rock and ordered his bird Oribig to get some soil in the farthest corner of the universe, which he kneaded and placed on a rock to become the earth, and after the plants, animals, mountains, rivers and seas emerged, he made man from kasili wood and woman from bangoy wood, covered them with leaves, and taught the name of things after removing them.

T’boli: On the highest of the sky’s seven levels lived Kadaw La Sambad and Buyon La Mogoaw who begot 14 intermarrying children: Cumucul and Bo’i Kafil; S’fedat and Bong Libun; D’wata and Sedek We and Hyu We; Blotik and S’lel; Mule and B’lomi; Loos Klangan and La Fun; and bachelor Datu B’noling. Eldest Cumucul was entrusted the fire, sword and shield, and when D’wata asked for a share was refused and went to earth with Hyu We who afterwards begot L’tik, B’langa, Temo Lus, T’dolok, Ginton, M’ngay and Fun Bulol, and Sedek We who begot Kayung, Slew, S’mbleng, Nagwaang, Nga Hule and S’ntan.
Having no children, S’fedat asked Bong Libun to kill him and his body became the land with all its vegetation, which Bong Libun promised to D’wata as a place for alighting on condition that she marry one of his sons.

Subanon: Being asked for a place to live, Diwata gave his son Demowata a piece of heaven, and helped by his trustee Balag, he went down with them to where they placed the piece of heaven, called it Banwa (earth), installed the sun to light it, and divided it into filled land (called Langkonoyan) within a drawn circle and sea without, before ascending back to heaven leaving Diwata and Balag. At request of Demowata, Diwata then made the stars from a thousand torches and the moon from a big torch, afterwards sending Diwata through Balag a golden jar of small stones that became giants and big stones that became dwarfs and elves to be his friends.
Envious Balag convinced the jar creatures to go against Demowata, stealing the golden sword alis from the golden trunk in heaven to kill him, but went short after being struck by a ball of fire from heaven that changed him into an eel, whereupon the creatures were driven to hiding: the giants in the big trees and rocks, the elves and dwarfs in the big leaves.
Demowata requested for one last companion, thereby Diwata created the first couple Le and Lebon from clay and asked Diwata to forbid them from approaching the river with the golden-fruited bonga as a reminder. Balag’s temptation caused them to disobey, with the river’s waters giving them a full measure of their femininity and masculinity, and afterwards hid them from in his stomach from Diwata’s rage, for which a cosmic battle ensued, whereby the land disintegrated into islands and the garden disappeared, leaving only the bonga tree with its leaves and as the first meal of Le and Lebon in their new abode, which Demowata left them with to bargain his presence in heaven with the mitigation of their punishment.

Anthropogenic

Sulu: Boat made into island (Tapul) by accumulating dirt from surrounding waters, whereby a large bird alighted and laid the egg from which the first man appeared. The dewas stole the daughter of a Chinese raja that stopped by Tapul and hid her into a stalk of bamboo, which the first man cut after being led there by the mother bird, with a bolo that the bird gave him. Their daughter is Paramisuli, grandmother of the chiefs of Sulu.

Maranaw: Kesanol Besari, son of Egyptian ruler Malikol Misra was carried by a huge bird to Derol Din (Skyworld Land of Dins or genii), whose princess Sitanasri was given to him by her father Malikol Jian and they bore Potri Sogra who was blown away from Malikol Jian’s magic coat she was riding with her family and fell into Sulu where Tangba-a-Rugung was hunting. They were married and bore Lawanan sa Solog who became the wife of Tominansa-Rugung, bearing him seven children including Bantugan and Inarang, from whose incestuous relationship sprang the race of Bembaran or Maranaws, thus:
During an eclipse a violent wind tossed Inalang in her lamin to Derol Din where Malikol Jian traced their relationship. Meanwhile Bantugan’s bravery brought him to fighting stone warriors in Derol Din where he met and married Inalang who, with their son Baratamay later went down on Bantugan’s magic shield to earth, where they realized their incest.

Manuvu: Manama ordered Diwata Panayangan to fill the rocky earth he created and in turn created bees and wasps to do the job, which they did by taking soil from the world of Oggasi. Manama afterwards planted on his earth and created sea, rivers, hills and mountains.
Manama then molded man from earth but they soon died because their noses were inverted from Oggasi’s interference, who later thwarted Manama’s plan of eternal life for his perfected man through a knotted abaca fiber.

Subanon: God created seven brothers and seven sisters who intermarried to produce many people, including the first woman Bailendang and those who became invisible and hid in balete tree to whom food or chicken offerings were made to help men in their kaingin. He also gave celestial warning signs like rainbow for a datu’s death, red sun for the witch Balbal’s presence, and the eclipse (tigabak), by sending a big beard to signal his displeasure, which would be appeased by shoutings and pagdiwata ritual. He also sends out strong winds by uncoiling a rattan inside a hollow tree, thunder by rolling big stones, which causes lightning when they meet each other, as well as Manalagna or prophets.

T’boli: D’wata with his sons’ help built the house on posts while fashioning people from soil mounds were his wives Hyu We and clumsy Sedek We had the noses inverted and the genitals on the knees, later corrected when Hyu We slapped Sedek We’s figures in exasperation for her foolishness. In their argument Sedek We hit the sky in pounding rice, which angered the latter and decided to go further up. In placing the clay figures Hyu We wanted them on the moon so they would remain as children but Sedek We favored the stones to harden their bodies and while Hyu We was away she placed them on a banana plant, which explained their fertility (like banana) and mortality (from S’fedat’s body, the earth), while D’wata blew life on them.
Fleeing from his aunt-bride Bong Libun, L’mugot M’ngay was searched in turns by D’wata’s sons T’dolok, who left his bows, arrows and dog to become the god of death; B’langa, the god of stones; Teme Lus who became god of wild beasts; Ginton (maker of singkil brass anklets, blonso brass bracelets, hilot chain-mail girdles and t’sing ring) who settled on Hulon volcano to work on his metals; Fun Bulol the god of mountains; and L’tik the god of thunder. Abandoned by his sons, D’wata returned to the sky.

Tiruray: Minaden made man from mud and an earth as large as winnowing tray and furnished with light, and both grew until big while Mekefetu (the Unapproachable) or Tulus corrected their reproductive incapacities by striking the clay between a woman’s legs with a bolo whose handle flew off and stuck to the male form. The plants came from the buried corpse of the first couple’s baby: umbilical cord—rice; intestines—camote; head—taro; hands—bananas; nails—areca nut; teeth—corn; brains—lime; bones—cassava; ears—betel leaf; mother’s milk—sugarcane. Clothes and beads were furnished by the magic bird Biaku, whose fame caused the Magindanao to raid the Tiruray, their wealth explained by their victory in a battle. The low sky was shamed away when hit by a woman pounding rice, and Minaden dispersed the races with a flood and gave them different dialects.

Primordial god Sualla or Tullus and his sister Sinonggol who lived in Bonggo the kingdom of the dead, with 8 khenentaos (statues) made from a hard wood’s pith and standing against the walls of heaven in the palace of the rising sun. Sualla touched one of the central figures to make the omat or man-creation, from whose ribs he made the woman who bore its son Mentalalan whose sickness caused the omat to ask Sualla for medicine, which Sinonggol thwarted by sending a demon that switched the medicine in the omat’s hands, causing the child’s death.
Sualla ordered his 4 cardinal brothers Mentail, Micael, Mintlafis and Osman Ali to bring soil to bury Mentalalan with, which they got from Navi Mohammad’s place and later planted by Sualla in Colina, the center of the world, whence it grew and spread to the rest of the world and sprouted plants from Mentalalan’s body: teeth—corn; navel—rice; hands—banana. Sinonggol also thwarted this with the pig created from her comb and rats from her betel.

Mandaya: The talking bird limokon laid two eggs in the Mayo river: one at the headwaters that hatched to the woman Mag and one at the estuary that hatched to the man Begenday, who later learned of the former’s whereabouts by her hair that floated against his legs. In some versions a snake was hatched, which later blew up at the estuary to let a man emerge from its carcass.

Bukidnon: [Harita mga] Magbabaya lived in the seventh heaven while his brother Mangilala (‘tempter’) lived in the seventh Underworld. Mangilala later thwarted Magbabaya’s clayman by breathing life into it, to which Magbabaya only added nails but just allowed them as such. Evil exists because man’s life is from Mangilala.

After Magbabaya made Adam and Eve they successively killed their two sons, whose bones the angry god later gathered and revived so that the first became the ‘holder of small pox’ after going far away and the second became the water spirit Bulalakan who causes drowning, after he declined to stay with his parents

Bilaan: Four divine siblings male Melu and Fiuweigh and females Swata and Saweigh lived in a salnaon hat-sized island (or M. and S. below and D. and F. in the sky) and one bird Baswit who was ordered across the waters to secure some soil, ratten fruit and trees from which the vegetated earth came. Melu made man from wax first then dirt and later corrected Fiuweigh’s mistake of making inverted nose but pressed his fingers in haste. The first couple Adnato and Andawi begot Tapi and Lakarol whose decendants were males Sinudalo, Moay, Sinnamoway, Kamansa, Gomayau, Salau and Latara, and females Limbay, Madinda, Gilay, Slayen and Baen.
In another versions, Melu and Dwata created Fiuweigh and Saweigh who made from whipped clay Otis and Lakbang who bore among others Mastafi and Lakarol the ancestors of the Bilaan, who sent Baswit on a journey, returning with a piece of earth and pandag tree fruit whose fallen leaves became earth.

Bagobo: The first children-couple of first couple Toglai and Toglibon left and became the ancestors of white men while the rest remained at Cibokan on Mt. Apo until their death, which was followed a draught that finally made them leave pair by pair, engendering people named after the things they carried, e.g., Magindanau from stones and Bilaan from baraan basket. The two who remained and found a sugarcane that brought forth enough waters until the rain came became the ancestors of the Bagobo.

Aklanon: Makakagahum cast his staff on the ground where it grew and originated the plants. From its seeds came the other creatures, depending on where they were cast: trees—birds and monkeys; ground cracks—fairies and evil spirits; lowlands—human beings; two stones on a deep whole on earth—huge and hairy white ape that causes the earthquakes.
Tagbanua: Created man Adan slept and when he slept god created Iba, who bore her three sons whose descendants depended on their reactions to Adan’s exposed scrotum when he slept: eldest who laughed—Tagbanua; middle son who also laughed—Moro; youngest who covered it with blanket—Spaniards.

Kinaray-a: Tagna-an, son of God Hugna-an and born on the bubbles of the sea was the first man on earth along with Huminahon, born between the water and sky. From the sand covered with black handkerchief by Tagna-an came the mountains and springs and from the same thing done by Huminahon, who later became the Holy Spirit, came the plants and animals. Covering an earth toy with the black handkerchief, Huminahon made Adan and was about to do the same with Adan’s rib when a dog-devil turned the handkerchief and from its tail which he hit with the rib came Eve.
When the first couple succumbed to the temptation of the venomous snake or malala to eat the tree of death’s fruit as forbidden by Hugna-an, their sexual features were accentuated, causing them to cover their lower bodies with tabong leaves and ngagdong bark.

Negros: From the idyllic lover’s place of Captan and Maguayen grew a spiny bamboo who contained Sicalac and Sicauay and to which King Manaul alighted, opening the bamboo only when he accidentally pecked it after a lizard evaded him, revealing thus the first couple who considered themselves siblings only married upon the advice of Macalinog, genius of earthquake.

Yligueynes (coastal people): Land breeze and sea breeze produced reed, planted by Captan and produced the first man and woman Sicalac and Sicauay who married only after the advice of the sea tunnies, air doves and earthquake, producing the couple-siblings Sibo and Samar, begetting Lupluban who married the son of the first pair, Pandaguan, who invented the net for fishing and later mourned for the shark he caught that died on the seashore, angering Captan by such obsequies that he and Maguayen killed him with a thunderbolt. Out of mercy, Captan revived him after 30 days in the infernal regions but was enraged at the news of her son Anoranor that his wife scoffed his return to life, being now concubine of Maracovrun and was then away at a friend’s feast with a stolen pig. Thus Pandaguan returned to hell and death was permanent since.

Igneines and Negritos: Captan breaths storms when in bad humor and wild flowers when in good, which was the occasion that attracted pearl-clad Maguayen to the seashore where Captan showed her his subjects the wind and lighting but feeling insulted, she moved waves that would have dragged him if he weren’t so agile. Captan apologized and thenceforth they were united at sea.
Bisayan: The Skyworld hunter Ukinurut shot a bird with arrow, which landed upright on the ground, whereby the hole created allowed him to view and be attracted by the earth. He went down with his people through a rope of the bird’s feathers, leaving only a woman who then lit the heaven (stars, the moon being the hole) to remind people of their origins.
The first couple Sikalake and Sikabay came from the a spiny bamboo nodule but there lived at the same time a wizard, Sibu Inoptan, who had the form of a crocodile (venerated by ancient Visayans, the penalty for killing being death in the Code of Kalantiao) who struck them with a wag of his tail when they were about to cross a river and brought them in a cave underwater to revive them by magic. He also changed stones into plants.
The different races and class came corresponded to the different hiding places of the first couple’s children when they fled their father’s wrath for their laziness: lankapos (bamboo bench)—olipons; kitchen—atas; trees—timauas (destitute); mountains—Igneinas (land-workers); seashore—Jiguesinas (fishers)

Ilongot: God Cain created man and woman, made them live mountain huts that they erected and produce children that also married and so on.

Tinguian: The primordial kite set the sky against the earth, thus originating the custom of mavaris or avenging an insult, as well as the earth. The first couple emerged from a reed and their children engendered different class and races on the occasion of hiding at different parts of the house when their father got angry

Bontoc: The earth and water, both created by Lumawig, fought: the water rose up, originating the first storm that changed the earth’s shape, while the earth through rocks and trembled, causing the first earthquake. Lumawig pacified them by bringing forth the sun to cause the first day, and darkness with moon and stars to cause the first night, then created plants and animals and finally man (Gatan) from inspired clay, who became the custodian of creatures. Lumawig made woman (Bangan) from his rib when he was asleep.

Bontoc: Standing on a Cordillera mountain summit, Lumawig viewed the Balasan river valley and he struck a spear to the earth, producing man, who went to the valley and successively cut a bamboo, revealing in turns a woman, rice, pig, rooster, cat and dog. These creatures left them, angering Lumawig who filled the earth with water. The man clung to a drum and rescued the animals one by one, eventually finding the woman, produced the first fire using bamboo, flint and rock. They propagated when the flood subsided next morning

Apayao: The stone and banana were both gravid but only the banana gave birth, producing the first human, while the stone failed and is seen up to the present in a place called Macaltog.

Ifugao: Kabigat saw the lush earth Kai-ang from where he thrust his spear at a fountain at the foot of a tree in skyworld Hudog and upon eating his game asked his father Wigan to allow him to live there, and later he was followed by his sister Bugan who was asked by Wigan to look after him. Taking cues from the behavior of related chicken, Kabigat impregnated Wigan one night while she was sleeping, the discovery of which caused her distress, eased only when they successively consulted Ngilin Mangongol, his elder brother Ambumab-bakal, and their father Muntalog.

Igorot: After Kabunian created the first woman and made her live on Mt. Pulog furnished with wild pigs for food, he made man to help her catch pigs, who later instructed her to search for a woman for instructions when her craving for pig became insatiate. This woman, Bogan, whom she met at the foot of a mountain, told her that Kabunian bid her from her home in the sun to tell her when to eat pork: after she makes a tapuy from a plant (crushed with powder, mixed with cooked rice, let stand for 3 days and placed in jar with water for 8 days), which would be passed around in a sacrificial feast to Kabunian (canyao), followed by a ceremonial killing of pigs by thrusting their hearts with sharpened sticks.

Kankanay: Gods made people from earth and enlivened them by making them laugh through plucking feathers from a chicken.

Tagalog: Giant Bathala of the earth, giant serpent Ulilangkalulua of the clouds and wanderer winged-head Galangkalulua were unaware of each other until from a hill, Ulilangkalulua saw Bathala sitting on a rock below, a meeting that turned hostile with Ulilangkalulua slain and burned after a 3-hour fight. The eventual meeting of Bathala nd Galangkalulua was friendlier but when the latter died he asked to be buried in Ulilangkalulua’s grave from which would grew a tree of life. Bathala obliged and soon saw the tree with an inner fruit akin to human face. He then created man with the tree supplying his provisions. 

Taking advise from Diwata the supreme god of the universe, Bathala the supreme god of Tagalogs sent an angel to plant seeds on earth after feeling envious of the Visayan god Laon’s multitude of subjects. Bathala then created Adam and Eve but forbade them to eat from a certain plant, which they did and were poisoned and made ill as punishment. The couple asked the pardon of Diwata who then ordered Bathala to forgive them. They called the plant lason which was soon corrupted into lanzon.

Pampango: Bathala created first the earth and sea for amusement and then plants to ornament earth’s desolation and later animal’s to break its monotony. He then made a man, Lalaki, patterned from himself from Candaba clay, and when he went away, he resolved man’s loneliness by first giving him a dog and later, a woman, Babai from the dog’s tail. 

Diluvial

Tinggian: Aponitolau went to the lowlands, built a rattan raft and sailed to the ends of the sea where it meets the sky and where Tau-mari-u, lord of the sea lived in a towering rock guarded by the nine daughters of the seaweeds who laughed at him and lured him inside when he inquired of the place. Angered, he caught the youngest, Humitau with his magic hook and abducted her towards the shore while Tau-mari-u ordered him chased by his tunas and giant waves till he reached the highest peak of Cordillera at the assistance of his mother Lang-an of Kadalayapan, mistress of wind and rain. This occasion made Tau-mari-u flood the earth but to no avail especially since Humitau tasted a mountain food Aponitolau gave her, which made her lose her sea powers. The waters receded at Tau-mari-u’s mercy for his daughter but exacted revenge by sinking boats and drowning men.

Bontok: The two sons of Lumawig flooded the earth in order to catch their games, drowning all people except a brother and sister in Pokis, whom Lumawig provided with fire first with the assistance of his dog and deer and after the fire continued to burnt out while they swam, he did so himself. The siblings married and repopulated the earth after the flood receded.

A woman in the small valley of Cholya ordered her to sons for game and they returned only at night relating that they caught none because all the animals fled since the world was flat. They instead ate the meal the woman prepared and later asked Lumawig for help, who appeared to them in a dream telling the sons to dam a certain estuary with stones, which would result in the changing of the earth. This they did the following whole day, resulting in a flood that wiped out all people except a man and woman in Mt. Pokis who later encountered each other and descended to the valley when the flood receded.

The Talubin people grew lax in their sacrifices to Lumawig, this including two parents whom a man with flashing eyes and a boa ordered, through the agency of their son and daughter he met bathing at a river, to perform canao in his honor. The siblings, afraid of the man’s warning that he would otherwise inundate the mountains by making the boa stopper a hole where the river empties, fled to Mt. Kalawitan, the highest in the world, bringing their dog and cat. The warning materialized, and soon they ordered their pets to get a fire they saw at Mt. Amuyao through a hollow log. On the afternoon of the third day the same man appeared and told them he’d recede the floods by making a crab remove the obstructions to the hole in the north, and then told the siblings to marry, to which they consented only after he gave the boy a rattan ring and the girl a cigar.

Ifugao: A great flood was caused both by the sudden rain and by the surging of the water from a spring dug for three days after months of drought. Two siblings escaped the universal inundation by escaping to two mountains: Wigan on Mt. Amuyao and Bugan on Mt. Kalauitan, who discovered each other through the fires they made, after which they dwelt on a house in the valley when the flood receded, with Wigan in the lower part and Bugan on the upper. Bugan soon realized she was pregnant and her protestations only ceased at the advise of the old man Maknongan whom she saw on a rock after fleeing to the East. She and Wigan, who followed her there, were then married and begot children, the four sibling-pairs being the ancestors of the world’s people and the youngest Igon remaining unmarried.

Igorot: A man and a woman survived the flood on Mt. Mugao, and when seen by Kabunian through the fire they made, was asked to marry, to which they refused and agreed only after Kabunian gave them tobacco, which they sorely wanted. Their children, still living around Mugao, kept sacred eel in spring-fed pools of Mugao, killing which would make fire and brimstone destroy the earth

Lumawig flooded the earth after being annoyed by the people who shouted at each other to communicate since they always got lost in a flat earth with no landmarks. From among them he picked two lifeless bodies and placed one, Gatan on Mt. Polis and his sister Bangan on Mt. Calawitan. Gatan, whose prediluvial memory was erased, saw a fire on the other mountain and went there through a raft that chanced upon his mountain, guided by the dog and rooster that it contained. Lumawig ordered his water overseer, the giant crab Gaki to unplug the water hole, which he earlier plugged and caused the flood. From the receding water appeared a landcaped earth, which Lumawig replanted from a knot of his beard.

A man Tiwantiwan scolded the unconfined water for carrying everything away since the earth was flat, the same cause for his animals dog, chickens and pig to run away and always get lost. The angered water caused the flood and his sister escaped in a wooden tub to Mt. Caningan, while the dog, cat and pig floated towards the man who took them when he went to the direction of the fire he spotted at Mt. Caningan after the waters receded by being ordered so Kabunyan. Tiwantiwan at first refused to marry his sister but in the morning they were together by Kabunyan’s power. Their sibling-pair children went to the four directions but the men of the west and north took the heads of the men of the south and east, respectively and brought to their father who was sickened by it but was cured a week after performing canao.

Cabunyan saw that there was no increase in people and was answered that it was because people always lose their way outdoors, so he sent eyo (eel) to block the water outlet, causing the earth to be flooded. One man who stayed in Kalawitan saw fire in Sisipitan and went there through a piece of awsaney he used as raft, finding there his sister. Seeing this, Cabunyan sent a crab to pinch the eyo, causing thus the flood to recede, and later told the man and his sister to marry and when they refused he touched the man’s navel, producing beautiful women which he instead married.

Southern Kalinga: Two groups of people survived the flood: one to Binolawan who forgot to take flint and metal and another to Manting-oy who were able to make fire and seeing no fire at Binolawan, sent it there through a dog who swam. They all descended after the flood receded and those from Binolawan and went west are the people Balatoc, those who went east are the people of Sumadel and Dananao, while those from Manting-oy are the people of Tinglayan, Lubo and Dacalan.

Bukidnon: One month before a big crab crowded the sea so that its waters flooded the earth, a wise man told the people to make a raft of wood in three layers, fastened by a long rattan cord to a big pole on earth so that when the flood receded, the people and animals on board were near their old home.
Another version tells that it is Mapolumpun, a poor but virtuous man, and his wife who was visited and saved by an old man, variously identified as Magbabaya himself or the spirit of the wartrior Salamiawan.


Punishing mankind with flood, Magbabaya ordered Nabis ha Panggulu and three of his four sons, Nabis ha Andadamen, Nabis ha Upak and Nabis ha Lumbu Bulawan to ascend to heaven and his fourth son Nabis ha Agbibilin to climb Mt. Dulang-dulang (Mt. Kitanglad). When the flood receded, Magbabaya told Agbibilin to go and meet Ginamayun who also survived by riding on a kalatung percussion instrument towards the mountain later called Kalatungan. They married and bore four boys and four girls whom Magbabaya made to marry in intervals to prevent the curse of sumbang (sin of incest) and taught the pamalas cleansing sacrifice. When Agbibilin became old and weak he sent fror his children and taught them the medicinal use of leaves and root, as well as the panawal ritual, which involves blowing and mock-spitting accompanied with whispered spells, and finally gave them blessings, renaming his eldest Saulana, Talaandig (‘worth imitating’). Saulana’s sons were Aplidu and Ampidu whose descendants remained and built tulugans at Bulan-bulan area. From the other children are thus descended: the Maranao in the east from Alawiya; the Maguindanao in the south from Saguntuan; and the Manobo in the southeast from Sabuntung. Bulan-bulan was a hallowed ground that was spared in the ensuing wars in Central Mindanao, and its rivers were stopped by the warriors of the other areas for the customs of respect (they would sheath their spears, comb and knot their hairs): the Maranao in the rivers Pininga and Linundong; the Maguindanao in Manupali river; the Manobo in Babahagon river.

Bagobo: Manama was displeased at the people failing their sacrifices and caused a flood, sparing none but three pairs of people whom he later visited in a dream, telling them to work the soil in the morning, work on their house in the afternoon, and give each other comfort and pleasure (rest) in the evening. From the first pair who was idle and refused came the slaves; from the second who wanted the afternoon for rest came the serfs; and from the third who obliged came the nobles.

T’boli: Four persons who forgot to bring their book in their hurry and by hiding inside a bamboo they later split out, they were saved from the floodwaters released by Mt. Bulon; later they invented the musical instruments islodoy, hagalong and kumbing, imitating the sounds of the souls who died at that mountain. La Lomi married La Bebe and Tamfeles married La Kagef, begetting ten sons and ten daughters who either remained single (Adam became a judge), intermarried and became ancestors (Eva and Dodom—Tau Seguil of Kiamba; Sudot Henok and Nayong—Tau Mogul san Allah; La Bila and Moong—Blaans of Tupi; Bow and Umen—Tau Sebu of Lake Sebu and Sinulon; Dugo and Sewen—Manobos; Kamanay and Sodi—Muslims; Honon-song and Oben—Obons) or had no children (Adson, Ngadom, Sewe, Nay).

Mansaka: The sole survivor of a deluge was a pregnant woman living on Mt. Kandaraga, who later married her son and begot three sibling-pairs: one went to the sea, another to Maragusan and the third to a place not known. The flood was caused by the clogging of driftwood on a passage to the sea in the bird Manaul’s absence and attempting to unclogged it he broke his leg but was later saved by Mother Manaul who unclogged it herself.

Bisayan: Despite the warnings of their chief priest Bangut-Banwa, the children of Sikalak neglected their sacrifices, causing the gods of Kahilyawan in Kaptan’s absence to hold a council against them presided by the lord of plains and valleys Maklium-sa-t’wan, whereupon it was suggested by lord of rivers Kasaraysarayan-sa-silagan to flood the earth after the lord of sea Maklium-sa-tubig objected to the lord of fire Maklium-sa-bagdad’s suggestion of world fire on grounds of it killing the fishes. Listening behind the sawali that separated the chamber for ladies-in-waiting (darapulan) from the councilroom, the guardian of happy homes Suklang-Malayon instructed the chief of Muropuro Datu Paubari to go a highest mountain, build a raft and tie himself there with his wife. Meanwhile Maklium-sa-silgan closed the river mouths as Maklium-sa-tubig opened the sea gates and Magdan-durunuon, mistress of hidden lakes and Saragan-sa-bagtiw, god of storm, helped. When the flood subsided, the survivor couple burned their raft in sacrifice to the Kahilyawan gods.