PHILIPPINE Mythology

Mythology
• From the Greek mythos for story-of-the-people, and logos
for word or speech, so the spoken story of a people
• Is the study and interpretation of often sacred tales or fables
of a culture known as myths or the collection of such stories
which deal with various aspects of the human condition: good
and evil
Mythology
• The meaning of suffering; human origins; the origin of place-
names, animals, cultural values, and traditions; the meaning of
life and death; the afterlife; and celestial stories of the gods or
a god.
The late anthropologist H. Otley Beyer shared his own observation:
“Among the Christianized peoples of the plains the myths are
preserved chiefly as folktales, but in the mountains their recitation
and preservation is a real and living part of the daily religious life
of the people. Very few of these myths are written; the great
majority of them are preserved by oral tradition only.”
According to the late Damiana L. Eugenio, the Mother of
Philippine Folklore,
myths is an “account for the origin of the world, of mankind, of
death, or for characteristics of birds, animals, geographical
features, and the phenomena of nature.”
Damiana L. Eugenio, the Mother of Philippine Folklore, made distinction
between two forms of myths.
Pure Blank
Myths Myths Mythological
tales and
legends
Are part of some
from
Are the ones ethnolinguistic ethnolinguistic
which codify groups’ in their communities in
group’s beliefs. everyday religious the Christianized
life. lowland
 Folk literature is divided into three groups.
includes the bugtong (riddle) and the salawikain
Folk speech (proverbs)

can be sub-classified into those that tell a story (folk

Folk songs ballads)
can either be in prose - the alamat (folklore), the legend,
Folk narratives and the kuwentong bayan (folktale) - or in verse, as in the
case of the folk narrative.
What do we mean when we say
it's a myth?
Truth of Myths
Myth answers the questions in a certain way:
•Who am I?
•How do I fit into the human and natural
world?
•How should I live?
Truth of Myths
üit describes the acts of superhuman beings and the
manifestation of heroes’ sacred powers

üit becomes the exemplary model for all significant

human activities (morality)

ühelp us to understand people who are different from

ourselves in cultural, traditional and social terms.
The Four Functions of Myth and
How They Apply To Personal
Branding
Joseph Campbell, the premiere mythologist
of our time, and for the purposes of these
materials, our guru and teacher, believed that
for early man, mythology served four
purposes.
Mystical Function
• Myth helped people to express what it felt like to live in awe of the universe — what it meant to be
human in the midst of so many unknowns.
• They don’t proclaim, “It’s a small world!” They shout, “It’s a big world and I am at home in it!

Cosmological Function
• Myth gave early humans a way to make sense of their world.
• A fully mythologized man or woman brings order to the world.

Sociological Function
• Mythology served the important role of establishing society’s rules and norms.
• Becoming mythic means becoming a role model for others.

Pedagogical Function
• True for the act of mythologizing yourself is when you live a life that has a ready and apparent
meaning, it inspires others to do the same.
When you mythologize yourself you by telling your story, you:

Become Larger than Life (By do the things others won’t)

Bring order to chaos (By using your gifts)
Become a role model (People see you as a role model)
Create meaning (By living your meaning)
 Rituals of Myth
Rituals are ceremonies in which a
god and goddess, or a concept of
the sacred are honored; a
milestone is celebrated, or energy
is focused towards a specific
goal.
The following are some of the rituals and practices
performed by early Filipinos which shows us how simple activities
like farming and fishing were intertwined with the oldest beliefs of
our ancestor and and continue to flow from the consciousness of one
generation to the next.
Calling The Aid of the Land

Before tilling and cultivating land for their crops, Cebuanos

were known to perform the ritual of Tamblan.
Consisting of meat from a
white chicken or white
pork along with wine or
Buyo, these offerings
would be set on a table in
the open field as gifts for
the unseen owner or spirit
of the land.
Certain taboos were also avoided depending on the crop
that would be planted. For rice, one must kill an insect
called taga-taga which was believed to possess the soul of
the palay.
When planting corn, the
first three rows should be
done at sundown. An
individual with broken teeth
can not go and plant corn
for it was believed to bear
low quality grains.
Coconut seedlings were placed
on the open ground during a full
moon and planted at noontime
when sun is directly overhead.

Ube, a root crop that some

ethnic groups considered to be
sacred, must be kissed when
dropped to avoid angering a
spirit called Gaba.
The Isneg tribe were watchful
for a small whirlwind
called alipugpug which was an
indication that their harvest
would be good. They also tied
an uprooted species of fern
called takkag to the stalk of
their palay which acted as an
amulet for their crops.
The Kankanaey group of western Mountain Province also
practiced a ritual sacrifice called Legleg to appease spirits
that may otherwise hinder the growth of their plants.
A chicken would be killed as an offering to
all surrounding spirits that might cause the
deterioration or stunted growth of their
plants – especially their Bonabon seedling.
Four or five long feathers of the sacrificial
chicken would be planted in the site where
the Bonabon seed is located. The ritual was
repeated if the growth still remained poor.
Tagalogs called upon their gods
such Lakan-bakod,who they worship
for an abundant harvest of their fruit
bearing plants and trees. Their rituals
were often celebratory in nature
where they held a feast in the fields
under a canopy.
They would build an altar and
wooden statue of Lakan-Bakod
wherein its genital was gilded and
sized to represent the desired rice
stalk height. They would give these
statues food offerings and wine for
assurance of a bountiful harvest
season. Lakambakod by binibinieyebagsToTZ via DeviantArt
Gaining the Favor of the Wind
Most of us have heard of cultural ‘rainmaking’ rituals (rain dance) to call forth rain to
the land, but the ethnic group of Subanon, from the mountainous areas of Zamboanga
del Sur and Misamis Occidental, Mindanao, performed rituals that were meant to stop
heavy downpours or storms, halt drought that destroy their plants, and call upon more
favorable winds.
The Magbinukid is a ritual performed in a river by
the Baylan (shaman), where they set a stalk of
bamboo and place at the top a saucer where an egg
sprinkled with apog (powdered limestone), rice,
and a portion of chicken meat. Those who
attended the ritual would also bring egg, rice and
chicken while the Baylan danced to the sounds of a
gong.
Kanobiton is another ceremony
which is meant for ceasing a dry
spell or drought. This can be done
anywhere in the community but
must be attended by everyone. The
Baylan offers a pig or chicken to the
spirits of nature to help them ease
the drought.
A more elaborate ritual called Lapiraw is done using a windmill
made of Bamboo to call on the winds. Once more, animal
sacrifice is a major part of the ritual wherein a pig or chicken is
offered.
Some would also catch
a Kasili (swamp or rice eel) which
was connected to the belief that
there is a huge eel living
underneath the earth that causes
landslides when it tries to come
out of the ground to swim in the
sea.
Sailing With Blessings

Tagalog tribes conducted

a Kibang ritual (meaning
the rocking motion of boat
when traversing waves)
wherein the movement of
the boat was a message
delivered by spirits which
tells whether their sea raid
or fishing activity would be
successful.
The Visayans had their Guibang ritual where they chanted the following
before they went fishing or raiding on the sea: “Guibang, guibang cun
magtoto cami” (Sway, sway if we should proceed).
When their boat swayed after
reciting it, it meant their plans will
be blessed with good fortune. The
greater the swaying motion of the
boat, the better. Intoning the name
of a deity, or one of their ancestor’s
names, would give them an answer
as to who is the one swaying their
boat.
There was a ritual in Caraga, Mindanao known as Bacalag, which
came from the word ‘calag’ (soul). According to documentation
in Historia de las islas de Mindanao, etc., by Francisco Combés, S.J.,
in order for the boats to obtain good fortune, a person (usually a
slave) is given to the boat as a sacrifice.
“In Caraga, there was a
barbarous custom to make
their ships lucky, namely, to
vow to them the first time
upon some name, which was
generally the name of one of
their captives.”
In Masbate, blood sacrifice was also made for their boats, although in
a lesser and more ‘acceptable’ manner. The prows of their boat would
be painted with the blood of chicken before it would be used for
sailing.

This ritual was also believed to

bring good luck to the boat.
Fishermen from Batanes
offered a pig where it was
believed all the bad fortune
from the boat would be
transferred.
ASSIGNMENT
Map Organizer 1: With your exposures to various mythology pieces in the past, and the present,
define Philippine Mythology. List in the circles some of the definition of the word.

Philippine Mythology