Huwebes, Mayo 9, 2019

Society of the Maharlika


SOCIETY OF THE MAHARLIKA
Tagalog: "Lipunan ng mga Maharlika”
Motto: To be noble is to be humble. To be free is to be a maharlika.

Society of the Maharlika (or simply The Society) is a secret organization located in the Philippines where young hinirang are taken for safety and training. It was founded by Juan Balderama-Reyes Jr. in 1808, initially situated in Mt. Arayat, Pampanga. The entrance of the organization is through a cave called the Balaghan Cave. 

Inside is divided into two different places: The Barangay and the Field, where encampments take place. The Barangay is headed by a mortal named Prof. Joacquin Capili, a 58-year old former professor in University of the Philippines, who has been a hinirang and so, dedicating his life in studying about the ancient Philippine’s history. The Field is headed by the society’s immortal guardian, Maria Sinukuan, along with the protector god of mountains, Dumakulem.

Barangay
Once a person enters the Balaghan Cave, he will appear in a parallel forest, and if he walks straight ahead, a tall building stands out. The building is called the Punong Gusali because it is the main building of the Society of the Maharlika. Surrounding it are other smaller buildings that makes the entire premise look like a small town. Inside the Punong Gusali is where the hinirang live. It is a four-story building; the first floor has its wide lobby and few bedrooms along the hallways, while the second floor is all bedrooms, filled with hallways as well. The third floor is where the cafeteria is found and some training rooms, and the fourth floor is for offices. The purpose of the Punong Gusali is to serve as the home for half-blood hinirang. It is also where the studies take place. The buildings around the Punong Gusali are library, museum, harangue, shops and other facilities.


Field
Far across the forest is the Field. It is a wide ground with nearby nipa huts for battle and game purposes. It is used for encampments (duration of three weeks for normal camps). Normal camps are held only three times a year: April, August and December. Whereas, a special event always happen every August called Banwang Battle, a battle game consisting of four groups who fights to earn tattoos. The nipa huts (locally called kubo) are currently twenty in total for twenty gods, divided into four groups. The huts keep on increasing depending on the availability or necessity. There’s also a campfire, sepak takraw court and other minor structures beside the field.
The following are the hut groups:
Group 1: Bathala, Lakapati, Amanikable, Idiyanale, Dimangan
Group 2: Mayari, Mapulon, Tala, Apolaki, Hanan
Group 3: Agwe, Anitun Tabu, Agui, Pasipo, Dian Masalanta,
Group 4: Anagolay, Dumakulem, Dal’lang, Sitan, Hidit


Other Facilities
Barn, green house, hospital, library, museum, study room, cafeteria/ canteen/ food court, meeting hall, and harangue.


(Map of the Society by Jeremiah Cordial)


Personnel
Maria Sinukuan and Prof. Joacquin Capili are of the highest managing body inside the Society. They are both heads of the Field and the Barangay, respectively. Meanwhile, Dumakulem is considered as the co-head of the Field, along with Maria Sinukuan. 

There is a board of the rajah, in which their main duty is to plan for improvement and organize the Society through creating policies and rules. The known member of this board is Isagani. There are also the council, which are composed of the councilors of each hut. Their main responsibility is to manage other hinirang especially during encampments. Known members are Tim, Kristela, Carl, Amira, Miguel and Gabriel, Isagani and Mark. 

The other personnel are catalonan, maharlika soldiers, canteen cooks, vendors, aliping saguiguulid and aliping namamahay.


Traditions
Hinirang kids who are involve in many activities in the society often receive tattoos to mark their success, especially for completing immersions, winning battles and winning contests. This is to signify that they are aiming to become true maharlika or warriors. The design depends on their accomplishment and can be placed in any part of the body a hinirang wishes.

There is also a tradition of welcoming newcomers during ceremonies by going in front of the crowd and wait for the gift of their sibling (usually the councilors for their hut). It can only be done when the Sort Board automatically put the newcomer’s name under his or her respective group by godly parents.


Sort Board
A hinirang usually cannot participate well during immersions because of their identification. A hinirang must first be sorted in the Sort Board, a magical board with approximately 20 papers posted on it that automatically prints a newcomer’s name in a paper where they belong. It changes and erases the name of the hinirang every week as a batch. When it’s not yet secured who their godly parent is, a hinirang’s name is placed at the fourth paper, belonging to Idiyanale, the goddess of labor and good deeds. The moment a god moves a hinirang’s name in his or her paper, that would mean that the hinirang is sorted and acknowledged. This will allow him or her to have more opportunities inside the Society and continue working on earning the title as a maharlika.


Immersions
Immersions are like missions that a hinirang can participate, which eventually became a basis for becoming a true maharlika. When a hinirang wishes to join an immersion, once accomplishing it, he will be given a tattoo as a maharlika. In order to join such endeavor, it is the duty of the heads of the Society to give them a place or task to be finished. Sometimes, a hinirang may ask for an assistance with the kapre or catalonan. The required number of participants depends on the need, but the team must have a leader to guide the entire team.

It was temporarily banned few years before Chris Garcia came due to an accident, which angered Bathala and forced the Society to stop doing immersions and instead, stick with the encampments where they can earn their tattoos.


Background of the Society of the Maharlika
The society took its name from the lower rank in the ancient class of the Filipinos: the maharlika. Maharlika, although the lower class, are also known as the warriors that serves the higher ranks. It was established during the 1808 under the name "Kanlungan ng mga Bayani" and started with a small group of mortals until they search for potential hinirang. The only time it admitted a half-blood hinirang first came around eight years after the society was established. 

In 1810, Kanlungan ng mga Bayani suffered in a 33-year civil war between the hinirang and mortals. To keep away from the war, Kanlungan ng mga Bayani relocated to Mt. Makiling in Laguna and with the help of Maria Makiling, her mountain became the temporary home to the maharlika. In 1844, the sanctuary moved back to Mt. Arayat. Dumakulem was sent by Bathala to guard the sanctuary and put them in another realm. The Balaghan Cave was restored to keep the mortals out and prevent wars. 

(to see timeline of events of the Society's history, click here.)


History
PRE-HISTORIC (1520s)
The clan of a rajah named Rajah Mangubat was one of the few maginoo clans who are long favored by the gods. Rajah Mangubat rules a small barangay somewhere in Selurong (present day Manila). But Mangubat fell for the goddess Lakapati and came their first half-immortal daughter, Anina. Those times, the gods can still appear to people even in their immortal form, but the offspring of mortals and gods are as rare as it is today.  Gods consider these children special, thus granting them limited abilities that normal humans cannot do. However, for the mortals, these children are forbidden as they violate their common law. That is the reason why these children are only few in numbers throughout the country and are not widely known due to their hiding. Group of killers are the one who eliminates them in order to make them as sacrifice, believing that taking back the life of these children would please the gods. In fact, mortals fear them. 

Mangubat became afraid that once Anina grow old, people would find out and kill her. He decided to seek help for Lakapati, who told him to go to Mt. Arayat where a diwata can protect her. Before he decided to leave, he formed a secret group that can accompany them, mostly consisting of the maharlika. They were his family who found out Anina was an offspring of Lakapati. One member, who is a rival of Mangubat to their father's throne and inheritances, told the secret of Anina to the public, and eventually caused the whole family to flee from their barangay after the townspeople attacked the rajah’s family. When Mangubat and his family successfully escaped and reached the Arayat, they were unfortunately attacked by natives. Magubat died during their battle with the invaders, while it is still unsure whether Anina survived or not.

SPANISH COLONIZATION (1800s)
While still healing himself after his daughter died giving birth to Dominador, historian and poet Juan Balderama-Reyes Jr. lost his four-year-old grandson after being brutally killed by an aswang in his lonesome home. Learning few years later that Dominador was a child of an ancient Tagalog god, and that he had sworn to his daughter that he will protect his grandson, he started blaming himself for failing. Few years later, a strange kid barged into his house, saying that he is being chased by an aswang. The child is homeless and has no family, and Reyes was still grieving for his loss, but it came to him that the child needs him and soon, adopted him.

Reyes studied Philippine mythology and tried to seek for the existence of the gods, aswang, and other seemingly absurd concepts that will supposedly give him answers for his grandson's death. He learned about the Legend of Anina and the tragedy of Rajah Mangubat, as well as the secret of Mt. Arayat. One day, while he and his adopted grandson went out to a plaza, they were attacked by an engkanto and threatened to kill the child. This forced Reyes to go to Mt. Arayat with the child to seek for Maria Sinukuan. Reyes established Kanlunagn ng mga Bayani (Haven of Heroes), which was inspired by the story of Rajah Mangubat and his maharlika that journeyed to Arayat to save their families.

Terms
Hinirang- refers to a person who possesses the ability to see beyond an eye can see. The scholars of the society call it a “vision”. Hinirang can be a mortal or a half-blood. The number of hinirang declined in the modern times due to the low number of people who still believes the existence of the ancient deities. Despite of their belief in the mythical gods, they still believe in one supreme God who first created the mankind and the gods. 
Balaghan Cave- It is the hidden entrance to the secret society group.
Punong Gusali- Tagalog for main building, as Punong Gusali is the head and controller of the whole society.


Trivia
  • Society is inspired from a school theater club.
  • The term maharlika refers to a lower class in the ancient Philippine society.
  • The logo of the Society is a kalasag (shield) with two crossing spears.
  • The reason why immersions are banned from the Society can be found at The Hinirang Journals: Bloodine, Part Two-The Survivor, narrated by Isagani Reyes, the son of Anitun Tabu.
  • The Pre-Colonization History of the Society can be found at The Hinirang Journals: Bloodline, Part One-The Warrior, narrated by Rajah Mangubat.
  • According to the author, the barangay inside the Society cannot be acknowledged as a registered barangay because they are hidden from the public, but technically they are considerable since they have more than 1,000 inhabitants.
  • The first settlers of the Society are not half-blood hinirang, but rather mortals.
  • Balaghan Cave comes from the word kababalaghan, which means mystery. 

Huwebes, Enero 17, 2019

Lakapati and Mapulon


The story of the goddess Lakapati and her husband Mapulon might be different from all the other stories you’ve heard in Philippine Mythology.
Lakapati is the Tagalog goddess of fertility, who is considered as the kindest amongst all other deities. She is the giver of food, prosperity, agriculture that’s why many Filipinos respected her for her kindness. She suffices the needs of anyone who asks help for her. She aids anyone who needs food. She helps a poor family prosper in their daily living. And most importantly, she doesn’t choose who to help. This caught the attention of Mapulon, the god of seasons and good health.
Not only they both are kind to the mortals, but they are both respected by Filipinos for their kindness.
Lakapati was never interested with Mapulon when he started to show his feelings for her. Maybe he is just too popular for her, or she just doesn’t like someone to stick around with her because she’s beautiful. But in truth, Mapulon did not fell for her physical appearance, or her hair, or her body shape. In fact, it was never mentioned if Lakapati is truly beautiful. But as implied, she can be different from other beautiful goddesses because she lives among humanity unlike other goddesses.
Mapulon fell for her kindness. He fell for her distinctiveness and sympathy. He fell for her understanding for humanity because they need help, and nobody would help them immediately except for her. That despite the imperfection of humanity, Lakapati will not think twice but to help if it’s desperately needed. And that is something that she has that the other goddesses don’t have.
That gave Mapulon the reason to court her for years because he is determined to wait for her. Although it didn’t say how in detail, Mapulon never gave up on her. Eventually, Lakapati fell in love with Mapulon because of his tirelessness and his eagerness to show her his love. (They had a child named Anagolay, who is the goddess of lost things, and because of the kindness of her parents, Anagolay also became a helper to mankind so that when they need help in finding their lost things, she will come for help.)
Their story reflects how pre-colonial Filipino men will do everything to court the person they love, even if it takes thousands of years. They never give up if the person they love most doesn’t like them at first, because most women are impressed with a man’s determination. Being rejected isn’t an option to give up on her. Having a rival doesn’t give you a way to stop courting. Being disqualified in a matter that you are not allowed to be together for some reasons shouldn’t hinder you. If you love that person, then be consistent with your feelings. Otherwise, you’ll never know it if you are truly worthy for that person.
Besides, when feelings have chances to prosper, then it can only be tested if tried.
Does this still reflect in the modern day, somehow?

Miyerkules, Disyembre 19, 2018

The Hinirang Journals



The Hinirang Journals: Bloodline is an unpublished companion book of The Seventh Moon available through PDF and EPUB. It contains four short stories: The Warrior, The Survivor, The Seeker, and The Founder, all with different narrators, settings and stories. It is written to expound the vague parts mentioned in the original The Seventh Moon book through different points of view, as well as to give more life and background to the minor characters. Consequently, the contents of The Hinirang Journals is connected to some of the events in The Seventh Moon such as the legend of the first recorded hinirang in history, the first few days of Isagani Reyes in the Society, the background of how a young mortal hinirang boy named Pedro in Chapter 27 was kidnapped by the monsters, and the history of how Society of the Maharlika was established.


BRIEF INFORMATION (Warning: may contain spoilers)
Hinirang refers to a person who has the ability to see beyond what a normal person can see, which is locally known in the Philippines as having a third eye. They are called so because the word hinirang in Filipino means "chosen." Thus, they are chosen by the god Bathala as their fate to become a hinirang. It will be their choice to train their ability or to remain passive. There are two kinds of hinirang, which are the mortal hinirang and the half-blood hinirang. Mortal Hinirang are those who are born naturally and normally human. But they can experience, feel and see supernatural occurrences not known to men. People call them gifted because they see things invisible to a normal human eye. Meanwhile, Half-blood Hinirang are those who are born from a human parent and a god/goddess. They are automatically hinirang because of being born from an immortal parent.

Tawbanar is a term used by the hinirang to call a regular normal person. They don't have the ability to see supernatural things, that's why they don't believe in such. There are also tawbanar who believe in supernatural things, but since they are not capable of seeing them, they cannot prove it through their eye.

The Society of the Maharlika is a name of a secret society group situated in Mt. Arayat, Pampanga. It is guarded by the protector god of mountains Dumakulem, headed by Maria Sinukuan and co-headed by a mortal hinirang named Professor Joacquin Capili. It is founded by Juan Balderama-Reyes Jr. but his idea was first inspired by the story of Rajah Mangubat who formed an alliance with a maharlika clan during the Pre-Colonian Era, in order to protect his half-blood hinirang daughter (will be explained further in The Warrior). The purpose of the Society is to train hinirang to become warriors and earn tattoos that will symbolize their bravery in battles through joining a mission they call "immersion". It was technically banned in The Seventh Moon due to some accident issues until it was allowed again at the end of the book.

To know more about The Seventh Moon, read the book. If you're planning to read The Hinirang Journals: Bloodline, I suggest you also read the book first. You may not understand some of the situations happening in the stories because they are actually relevant to The Seventh Moon to fill in some gaps left in the story. But anyhow, here's The Hinirang Journal: Bloodline if you're interested to read:

[PDF] https://drive.google.com/open?id=15g7skEOjHXBkPjnWoUk0EleG18JzqYsY
[EPUB] https://drive.google.com/open?id=15p-EldXoErzxIIRwzs4qn5jKWIQSllCT


SYNOPSIS:
THE WARRIOR
The first known hinirang in history is born between a mortal and an immortal parent. Rajah Mangubat, the ruler of Selurong, is forced to face the consequences of breaking his ancestors’ law– falling in love with a goddess. Infuriating the townsfolk, he has placed his whole clan and his daughter’s fate in danger, leading him to a decision that will either bring security or greater peril to his family.

THE SURVIVOR
Ten-year-old Isagani Reyes runs away from his home after appallingly beaten by his father. He was sent to Society of the Maharlika for the first time and continually strives to adjust in a strange environment where everybody calls him a hinirang and a son of the rain goddess. Meeting the reputable son of Bathala, Don Bernardo Delos Reyes, he is given one very important task to fulfill– to protect his friends.

THE SEEKER
Pedro is a normal boy from Lucena whose only wish is to play with his friends at night without his parents scolding him. However, urban legends spook him to even try sneaking out at night. One day, his friends finalize their plan and agreed to make it official– they will meet at 9 PM to play hide-and-seek. The only problem with their rebellious game is that, Pedro is the seeker.

THE FOUNDER
Long before Society of the Maharlika was established, historian and poet Juan Balderama-Reyes Jr. lost his grandson after being attacked by an aswang in his lonesome home, yet nobody believed in him. Drowned with grudges of failing to save him, a strange young boy barged into his house one night and tell him an aswang is chasing him. However, Reyes’s life turns into an endless maze after realizing that the boy is his second chance to fulfill his abandoned promise, and that the future of the hinirang children lie at his hand.




Martes, Mayo 30, 2017

The Seventh Moon: a novel based on Philippine Mythology

(Cover of The Seventh Moon by Jeremiah Cordial)

The Seventh Moon is my first novel based on Philippine Mythology. The story was all about a young boy named Chris Garcia, a son of the Tagalog goddess of wind and rain, Anitun Tabu. He was raised by his father in Orlando, Florida, and on his fourteenth birthday, his life changed when a group of undead vampiric creatures attacked him. After the incident, Chris woke up in a secret society group called the Society of the Maharlika, and people explained to him that he is a hinirang, a term used to refer to mortals who have the vision to see through the reality. In his case, he is both a hinirang and a half-blood. There, he met new friends, but an impending threat came. Bacunawa, an evil serpent god, will rise on August 28 and will eat the seventh and the last moon in the sky. He must decide whether to save the moon or risk their lives for the sake of his friends.

The novel was originally created as a fan-fiction inspired of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. But as I continued writing, I realized making my own original story, characters and etc. might potentially become a good book. I grew to love Philippine Mythology since I was in high school, but many teenagers of my age were not really fond of reading or learning about them. As a kid, my mother used to tell me a lot of scary stories about the aswang, engkanto, santelmo, duwende, manananggal and other Philippine mythical creatures. Although I never experienced those horrifying creatures in my entire childhood, or at least none that I know of, I became curious about them a lot. Things like this get weird when talked about, so sometimes I get it why many kids don't like to study or know about them.

The book was written and inspired by the demigod stories because I like to expand that concept, and thinking that even in Philippine mythology, there exists characters in stories that are born from an immortal deity and a mortal woman, such as Mayari and her sisters who are born from Bathala, Labaw Donggon and his brothers from the epic Hinilawod, and others. The Seventh Moon is also inspired by The Seven Wonders series by Peter Lerangis, but still, nothing was actually taken from any other media but purely inspiration, imagination, and research.

One of the most interesting concepts I formed is by using the epics in Luzon, and I chose the Epic of Ibalong. It was about three legendary heroes of Bicol, who was then called Ibalong, a land of fertility and lush. The whole book will center on the epic, as the creatures will come alive and impede the journey of the main characters.

The Seventh Moon was written in almost two years. Considering I was a high school student while writing it, it became hard for me to finish it immediately. In fact, the novel was revised more than five times before I finally came up with the last one. I wanted to share how much had changed in this novel, but I don’t mean any spoilers if there’s any reader here or those who are just planning to read it, so, maybe not yet for now.

The Seventh Moon was officially released on October 2018 and can be found in all Nation Bookstores and Power Bookstores nationwide.

I decided to dedicate The Seventh Moon for young readers that have the same interests with me in Philippine Mythology. Take the novel as a guide for you and an introduction to the world of mythology in our own country. There are a lot of other stuff you should know besides the mythical creatures. Philippine Mythology is wider that you know, and if you aren’t sure you know any god or goddess other than Bathala, or if you still don’t know other creatures in other parts of the Philippines, then you have to start knowing about them. Through this book, things will get clearer to you, and who knows how interested this could be aside from learning the Western myths? As a Filipino, I think we all need to understand the stories about it. And if you happen to have a copy of the book, I hope you’d enjoy it. Stay tuned if you wanted to learn more about the book.

Baybayin Writing System

                                                                                                        Photo taken from panaynews.net

INTRODUCTION

Before the Spanish and other colonizing countries came and settle in the country, Philippines already has its own writing system and is used by many Filipinos in communicating, recording, writing poetries or noting things that they see or hear. The writing system is called the baybayin. Alright, most of you guys think that my term is wrong and it should be called alibata, instead. The truth behind all this is that, when the Spanish came, a Spanish priest coined the word alibata to refer to the alphabet the native Filipinos used before. That means, alibata is not really the actual term to call the baybayin, because it was made by a non-Filipino. Whereas, the word baybayin was used by the early Filipinos to call this system. Baybayin is derived from the Filipino word "baybay", which means is to pronounce or speak. With the suffix "-in", it makes the word a verb and a command.

You might be asking what the connection of this forgotten writing system to the Philippine Mythology I just posted a day ago is. Well, like I said, the mythology is a collection of stories and tales. Baybayin is not part of the myth, but I wanted to share some information and my opinion on why baybayin is important and needs to play a role in our life as Filipinos. People in this generation don't know how to write using this old system and no one understands it anymore because it is no longer used; replaced by the English alphabet. The good news is, there are some of things that we see every day that might have marks of the use of baybayin in there.

One is the use of the characters as symbols of our heritage. These characters are used in logos or banners, and the most popular symbol is the “Ka”, which also appears in the flag of Katipunan. Baybayin inscriptions appeared also in bills, such that the word “Pilipino” was written in these bills. Baybayin was also used by the National Museum of the Philippines as a logo using the “Ma” character. The emblem of the National Library of the Philippines also shows these baybayin, which translates “Karunungan” placed under logo. I don’t know much about this, but most of the famous college and university graduating students also use baybayin to call their batch a name in their “sablay” or garb.


WHAT IS BAYBAYIN

Baybayin was mostly used by the Tagalogs during the prehistoric times and is one of the many ancient scripts known in Philippines. Baybayin uses an abugida system, which means that each character is a combination of a consonant and a vowel (e.g. Ba, Ka, Da, Ga).

Modern baybayin introduces a new way of writing, such as the use of virama or sabat. In 1620s, a Spanish named Francisco López introduced this sabat that cancels the implicit “a” sound in form of a "+" sign in reference to Christianity (“Tagalog script”, 2008).


RULE


There is only one rule in baybayin. "Kung ano ang bigkas, siya rin ang baybay." In English, “we write as how we pronounce it.”

Meaning, you cannot write a word in baybayin "letter by letter." This is a very common mistake. Always remember the rule, especially if you're planning to have baybayin tattoo. Because many people fall into traps and they will only realize the mistake once they already have their tattoos. 


CHARACTERISTICS

Each consonant letter, or glyph, in the baybayin writing system is pronounced with the vowel ‘a’ in it. According to various sources, this is called abugida. It means that the characters are combinations of vowels and consonants. There are separate glyphs for vowels because there are also Filipino words that start in vowels. But since the each consonant are pronounced with the vowel ‘a’, you have to use marks in order to make the character sound e, i, o and u. These marks are called kudlit. If you use a kudlit above the glyph, it will produce the e and i sound. Meanwhile, if you use kudlit below the glyph, it will produce the o and u sound. There is also another kudlit, which is usually represented by a + sign, which is used to identify that the character is a consonant alone, and it has no vowels with it. Baybayin has no punctuations, but rather, some historians found the use of the symbol || to separate lines.  

(The complete guide in baybayin writing. Photo taken from Google.)


HOW TO WRITE IN BAYBAYIN

To help you further in writing, you may download my basic guide in baybayin on the link below. Have fun!



Why should we acknowledge baybayin, the lost Filipino script used in the pre-colonial times? Baybayin is a pure reflection that even before the Spanish came to colonize the country, Filipinos already have their own way to write. It reflects our culture and history because even though it is already lost, there is always a way to revive this and be used to keep it alive somehow. Baybayin makes a unique mark for us Filipinos and give us a distinction with the other countries’ culture. Although, it is found that some baybayin script is derived from Malay, or Indian and other Asian countries, Filipino made a unique way to have our own system.

Thanks for reading, hope you got a little information.

Lunes, Mayo 29, 2017

The Ancient Tagalog Deities

Learning Philippine's ancient deities is not easy and fast. See, there are hundreds of them and it's like you're trying to memorize the names of every dinosaur existed. We'll then just break them down into parts by region; this time we'll start with the most known: the ancient Tagalog deities. There are several of these gods who are already known by some, especially Bathala, but despite that, we barely knew who they really are. Of course, there are stories in which they are involve. Like the creation myth, where Bathala rules the sky along with his wife, that sort of story. I can't tackle much of their background because that would mean I have to dig more into different sources (and I apologize for that). But, anyway, here's the Tagalog deities and their descriptions:

Original artwork by trixdraws via DeviantArt. The Tagalog deities

1. Bathala- the supreme god of being, sky and creations. Some people believe he has a mortal wife, and then they bore three kids: Mayari, the goddess of the moon; Tala, the goddess of the stars; and Hanan, the goddess of morning. He dwells in Kaluwalhatian, the sky palace where gods live.

2. Amanikable- is the ill-tempered god of the seas. He was once worshiped as a god of hunters, but he replaced Aman Sinaya after being associated with the sea.

3. Idiyanale- the goddess of labor and good deeds. Idiyanale is also the wife of Dimangan.

4. Dimangan- the god of good harvest. He is also the husband of Idiyanale, and both of them have two children.

5. Lakapati- the goddess of fertility. She was a hermaphrodite, meaning, she has both male and female aspects. Lakapati married Mapulon and had one daughter.

6. Mapulon- the god of season, good health and medicine. According to stories, he fell in love with Lakapati because of her kindness to people. Together they had one daughter.

7. Mayari- the goddess of the moon, war, revolution, and beauty. She is the most beautiful daughter of Bathala.

8. Tala- the goddess of stars and also the daughter of Bathala.

9. Hanan- the goddess of morning and also the daughter of Bathala.

10. Dumakulem- the protector god of mountains and hunting. He is the son of Idiyanale and Dimangan and also the brother of Anitun Tabu. He was married to Anagolay.

11. Anitun Tabu- the goddess of wind and rain. She is Dumakulem's sister.

12. Anagolay- the goddess of lost things and memory. She was the daughter of Lakapati and Mapulon and she married Dumakulem.

13. Apolaki- the god of sun, war, wisdom, and strategy. He also became the chief patron of warriors, and he is the son of Anagolay and Dumakulem.

14. Diyan Masalanta- the goddess of love, conception and childbirth. She was the brother of Apolaki.

15. Aman Sinaya- the former goddess of the sea after Amanikable replaced her. She was one of the original deities along with Bathala and a bird called Amihan.

16. Galang Kaluluwa- the winged god of travelling and a close friend of Bathala.

17. Haik- god of the sea

18. Ulilang Kaluluwa- the evil serpent god who was killed by Bathala because of rivalries.

19. Sitan- the god of the afterlife, souls and the deads. He is the guardian of Kasamaan, the underworld.


NOTE: Some of the descriptions came and are based from various sources.


Introduction to Philippine Mythology Guide

When people hear the words “Philippine Mythology”, there are a lot of things that comes into their mind. Usually, they were just bunch non complimentary words such as scary, infamous, horrors, polytheistic rituals and others. That’s probably because what they knew is all about aswangs, Bathala, superstitions and some childhood stories that your mother tells you to scare you and stop you from not sleeping early at night. Well, Philippine Mythology is actually more than that. There are wonderful stories in this mythology, which were collected and created myths. So basically, Philippine Mythology is a collection of stories from different places. Things like ancient Philippine deities, creatures and other significant tales that I think you need to know, I think I have to tackle that here.

Nowadays, as what I mentioned, people don’t recognize much of these myths anymore, especially the youths. Technically because our country is Christianized already and many people don’t believe in many false gods anymore. My purpose of writing this guide blog is not for people to believe in these ancient gods or whatever. Instead, I want people to appreciate our own mythology. These stories we have that our forefather gave us is a gift, and so we must learn to give them gratitude through keeping the Philippine Mythology alive even in the modern world. Just like when we read stories, we don’t really see the plot for real, but rather we use them for us to understand and reflect on it; similar with recognizing our mythology.

Philippine Mythology is an art itself, and arts deserve to be known.

Back to the country’s mythology, according to various sources, the Philippine Mythology attempts to explain the nature of the world through the live actions of the gods, goddesses, heroes and mythological creatures. That’s literally the most common definition, even for other mythologies. Fair enough to say that Philippines have its own. It's not just the other countries out there have those gods and heroes and monsters, but also us. And that makes our mythology more interesting to know.

Besides that, almost everyone knows the Greek Mythology too well, as well as the Roman and Norse. Thing is, shouldn’t we be curious of what our country also ave? Our mythology is kept, buried deep, waiting to be dug and be opened for us. And that’s what we’re going to do, someway somehow. I apologize for my lack of competency in choosing the right words. I assure you though, you’ll get something.

I also wanted to quote this line from another blogger named Luzviminda Philippines: 
As proud Filipino, I could definitely say that the stories we are presenting to you are samples of the little pearls of wisdom and tradition that lies in our humble and culturally diverse country, the Philippines.
For you, dear bloggers, I wish you keep on track with this blog. I’d love to share as much as I can, especially for Philippine Mythology.