The Marriage of the Sky and the Sea: Visayan Creation Myths
The earliest settlements in the Visayan Islands of the Philippines, to the southernmost islands of Luzon and to the northern and eastern parts of Mindanao, are dated from c. 6,000 to 30,000 BC. Therefore, the Visayans was probably the oldest, as well as the largest ethnic group in the Philippines, numbering at around 33 million as of 2010. The earliest notable written account on the creation myths of the Visayans is told by navigator Miguel de Lopez Legazpi in 1576. Francisco Ignacio Alcina, a Jesuit missionary and historian, also wrote a summary of the creation myth in his Historia de las islas e indios de Bisayas in 1668.
Although there are different versions of the Visayan creation myth, they are similar in characters, conflicts and resolutions. The way the story was narrated and its different subsequent retellings strongly portray the common experience of the people. The creation myth of the Visayans not only tells the story of how the world was created and how humanity came into existence, thus effectively describing how the Visayans view the world and their origins, it also describes the first death, war, social classes, and race.
Map of the Philippines showing the location of Visayan Islands. (SEAV/CC BY-SA 3.0)
The Land, the Sun and the Moon Battled against the Sky
North and South Gigante Islands (right and left respectively), Iloilo Province, Philippines (CC BY-SA 3.0)
In the beginning, the world was nothing but a great sea of water under the sky. The sea was ruled by the goddess Maguayan while the god Kaptan ruled the sky. As the two great gods decided to unite, the sea became the bride of the sky. From their union came three sons and a daughter: the strong and brave rock-bodied Likalibutan, the happy golden-bodied Liadlao, the timid copper-bodied Libulan, and the beautiful and gentle Lisuga with a body of pure silver. Kaptan and Maguayan took great care of them and shielded them from evil. After some time, Likalibutan, the eldest of the siblings, was resolved to gain more power and asked his brothers to join him in an attack on Kaptan.
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The three brothers rushed at the sky where Kaptan resided. However, they could not destroy the gates of steel that guarded the entrance to his home. The powerful Likalibutan then let loose the strongest blows and shattered the bars of the gate in every direction. As they came charging through the gate, the brothers were met by the angry god Kaptan. The sky, usually serene and calm, now darkened and the terrible anger of Kaptan made them run away in terror. However, the furious Kaptan sent three bolts of lightning after them. The first bolt struck the copper Libulan and melted him into a ball which fell near Kaptan’s feet, thus Libulan became a part of the sky forever as the moon.
Libulan became a part of the sky forever as the copper moon. (CC BY-ND 2.0)
