Chapter I: Front Matter

ORIGIN MYTHS AMONG THE
MOUNTAIN PEOPLES OF THE PHILIPPINES [1]

By H. Otley Beyer

(From the Division of Ethnology, Bureau of Science, Manila, P. I.)

Four plates

Beliefs as to the origin of the earth, and of the men, animals, plants, and various topographical features found in it, seem to survive with greater persistence than any other trait of primitive culture. These beliefs lie at the base of nearly all religions, and the myths in which the beliefs are preserved are the foundation of literature. The preservation and study of origin myths is, therefore, of much importance in the reconstruction of the history of mankind which is the chief aim of anthropology.

The peoples of the Philippines have a rich and varied mythology as yet but little explored, but which will one day command much attention. Among the Christianized peoples of the plains the myths are preserved chiefly as folk tales, 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.

Until recent years, it has been believed that all ancient records written in the syllabic alphabets which the Filipinos possessed at the time of the Spanish conquest had been lost. It is now known, however, that two of these alphabets are still in use, to a limited extent, by the wild peoples of Palawan and Mindoro; and ancient manuscripts written in the old Bisaya alphabet have been lately discovered in a cave in the Island of Negros. Many of these Negros manuscripts are written myths, and translations of them are shortly to be published. The Bisaya peoples, in general, have preserved their old pagan beliefs to a greater extent than have the other Christian Filipinos, and it is to be hoped that the discovery of these manuscripts will stimulate further investigations.

Among the pagan mountain peoples, with which this paper will chiefly deal, there are no written myths except those which have been recorded by Europeans in modern times. Some of the myths are sung or chanted only, while others are repeated in the form of stories. In nearly every case, the repeating of the myths forms an important part of the religious ceremonies of the people. Many different grades of culture are represented among these mountain peoples, and we find a correspondingly unequal development of their mythologies. All classes are represented: primitive, such as the beliefs of the Mangyans of Mindoro, the Tagbanwas of Palawan, and the Ilongots of northern Luzon; mediocre, as the beliefs of the pagan tribes of Mindanao; and highly developed, such as the elaborate polytheisms of the Ifugaos, Igorots, Kalingas, and the other peoples of the Mountain Province in Luzon.

Most of the myths and legends recorded here were collected by men well acquainted with the dialect of the people from whom the myth or legend was obtained; they are, therefore, of much greater value than if they had been secured through interpreters.

I shall next discuss a few myths from each of the classes just mentioned.

PRIMITIVE BELIEFS

Our knowledge of the more primitive tribes of the Philippines is very limited and is chiefly confined to the material culture, together with a few of the more obvious social traits. Nothing like a complete study of any one of these tribes has ever been made. Of the Ilongots, most of our knowledge [2] is contained in the records of the early Spanish missionaries of the first part of the 18th century, at which time an extensive exploration of the Ilongot country was made. [3] There are two modern sources of information: a paper by Worcester, [4] which deals chiefly with the material culture, and the notes of Dr. William Jones, who was killed while studying the ethnology of this people. Dr. Jones' notes are now in the possession of the Field Museum, Chicago, and have not yet been published. Relating to the Mangyans, there are three important papers by Worcester, [5] Gardner, [6] and Miller, [7] but these likewise deal chiefly with the material and general social culture, and give only fragmentary notes regarding the religious beliefs. Two papers, one by Worcester [8] and one by Venturello, [9] relate to the Tagbanwas. The religion of these people is interesting, although primitive. The general character of their beliefs may be seen by the following quotation from Worcester: [10]

I was especially interested in their views as to a future
life. They scouted the idea of a home in the skies, urging that
it would be inaccessible. Their notion was that when a Tagbanua
died he entered a cave, from which a road led down into the
bowels of the earth. After passing along this road for some time,
he came suddenly into the presence of one Taliákood, a man of
gigantic stature, who tended a fire which burned forever between
two tree-trunks without consuming them. Taliákood inquired of
the new arrival whether he had led a good or a bad life in the
world above. The answer came, not from the individual himself,
but from a louse on his body.

I asked what would happen should the man not chance to possess
any of these interesting arthropoda, and was informed that such
an occurrence was unprecedented! The louse was the witness,
and would always be found, even on the body of a little dead child.

According to the answer of this singular arbiter, the fate of the
deceased person was decided. If he was adjudged to have been a bad
man, Taliákood pitched him into the fire, where he was promptly
and completely burned up. If the verdict was in his favour, he
was allowed to pass on, and soon found himself in a happy place,
where the crops were always abundant and the hunting was good. A
house awaited him. If he had died before his wife, he married
again, selecting a partner from among the wives who had preceded
their husbands; but if husband and wife chanced to die at the same
time, they remarried in the world below. Every one was well off
in this happy underground abode, but those who had been wealthy
on earth were less comfortable than those who had been poor. In
the course of time sickness and death again overtook one. In fact,
one died seven times in all, going ever deeper into the earth and
improving his surroundings with each successive inward migration,
without running a second risk of getting into Taliákood's fire.

I could not persuade the Tagbanuas to advance any theories as
to the nature or origin of the sun, moon, and stars. Clouds they
called "the breath of the wind."

They accounted for the tide by saying that in a far-distant sea
there lived a gigantic crab: when he went into his hole the water
was forced out, and the tide rose; when he came out the water
rushed in, and the tide fell. The thing was simplicity itself.

I asked them why the monkey looked so much like a man. They said
because he was once a man, who was very lazy when he should have
been planting rice. Vexed at his indolence, a companion threw
a stick at him which stuck into him; whereupon he assumed his
present form, the stick forming his tail.

From the foregoing, it is evident that the Tagbanwa beliefs are not highly developed. However, several items are of interest for comparison with the beliefs of the more cultured tribes to be later described. Of these items, those most to be kept in mind are the idea of a seven-storied underworld, and the name of the chief deity of that underworld, Taliákud. This name comes from the stem tákud, túkud, or tókod, which is common to many Philippine dialects and means "post" or "support." It is generally applied to the four legs or posts of the common Philippine house. Now, the belief in an Atlas, or god who supports the earth world, is widespread in the Philippines, and the name applied to this god is nearly always derived from this same stem túkud. The Ifugao Atlas is Tinúkud of the underworld, and I suspect that the Tagbanwa Taliákud of the underworld is a deity of the same character.

BELIEFS OF THE PAGAN TRIBES OF MINDANAO

The interior of Mindanao is occupied by some ten pagan tribes, the most important being the Manóbos, Mandayas, Atás, Bagóbos, Biláns, Tirurais, and Subánuns. These tribes are all remarkably alike in culture; much more so, in fact, than any other similar group of peoples in the Philippines; and this culture shows a close resemblance to that of the tribes in the interior of Borneo. In the development of their myths and of their religious beliefs, these peoples occupy a middle position between the more primitive and the highest developed types of the Philippines. John M. Garvan has recently completed a very extensive study of the Manóbo peoples of the Agusan Valley, in eastern Mindanao, and the following beliefs and myths are quoted from his unpublished notes.

ORIGIN OF THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS

The story of the creation of the world is variable throughout the
whole Agúsan Valley. In the district surrounding Talakógon, the
creation is attributed to Makalídung, the first great Manóbo. The
details of his great work are very meager. He set it up on posts
(some say iron posts) with one in the center. At the central
post he has his abode, in company with a python, according to
the version of some, and whenever he feels displeasure toward
men, he shakes the post, thereby producing an earthquake, and at
the same time intimating to man his anger. It is believed that,
should the trembling continue, the world would be destroyed.

In the same district it is believed that the sky is round and that
its extremities are at the limits of the sea. Somewhat near these
limits is an enormous hole called the navel of the sea through
which the waters descend.

It is said that in the early days of creation the sky was low,
but that one day a woman, while pounding rice, hit it with her
pestle and it ascended to its present position.

Another version of the creation, prevalent among the Manóbos of
the Argauan and Híbung Rivers, gives the control of the world to
Dágau, who lives at the four fundamental pillars in the company of
a python. Being a woman, Dágau dislikes the sight of human blood,
and when it is spilled upon the face of the earth she incites the
huge serpent to wreathe itself around the pillars and shake the
world to its foundations. Should she become exceedingly angry,
she diminishes the supply of rice either by removing it from the
granary or by making the soil unproductive.

Another variation of the story to be heard on the Upper Agúsan,
Simulau, and Umayan Rivers, has it that the world is like a
huge mushroom and that it is supported upon an iron pillar in
the center. This pillar is controlled by the higher and more
powerful order of diuwáta, who on becoming angered at the actions
of men manifest their feelings by shaking the pillar and thereby
reminding men of their duties.

Three points in the beliefs just mentioned should be kept in mind. First, the recurrence of the idea that the earth world is supported by a post created by the chief deity and near which he dwells. Second, the belief in the púsod nang dágat, or "navel of the sea," which is common to all of the pagan tribes of Mindanao and was also known by the ancient Bisáyas, Tagálogs, and other peoples now Christianized. It is extremely probable that this belief originated from some great whirlpool, known to the ancestors of the Philippine peoples or passed by them on their voyages. [11] Third, the belief that the sky was once very near the earth, and was raised to its present position by some deity. This belief is also common in northern Luzon.

The idea of the origin of curious-shaped rocks, hills, or mountains by petrifaction of some living animal or plant is common in the Philippines. Garvan gives the two following Manóbo legends of this character:

THE PETRIFIED CRAFT AND CREW OF KÁGBUBÁTANG

In the old, old days a boat was passing the rocky promontory
of Kágbubátang. [12] The occupants espied a monkey and a cat
fighting upon the summit of the cliff. The incongruity of the
thing suggested itself to them, and they began to give vent to
derisive remarks, addressing themselves to the brute combatants,
when, lo and behold! they and their craft were turned into rock. To
this day the petrified craft and crew may be seen placed upon the
promontory, and all who pass must make an offering, [13] howsoever
small it be, to their vexed souls. To pass the point without making
an offering might arouse the anger of its petrified inhabitants,
and render the traveler liable to bad weather and rough seas. [14]

The imitation of frogs is especially forbidden, for it might be
followed not merely by thunderbolts but also by petrifaction of
the offender, and in proof of this is adduced the legend of Angó
of Bináoi. [15]

THE LEGEND OF ANGÓ, THE PETRIFIED MANÓBO

Angó lived many years ago on a lofty peak with his wife and
family. One day he hied him to the forest with his dogs in quest
of game. Fortune granted him a fine big boar, but he broke his
spear in dealing the mortal blow. Upon arriving at a stream, he
sat down upon a stone and set himself to straightening out his
spear. The croaking of the nearby frogs attracted his attention,
and, imitating their shrill gamut, he boldly told them that
it would be better to cease their cries and help him mend his
spear. He continued his course up the rocky torrent, but noticed
that a multitude of little stones began to follow behind in his
path. Surprised at such a happening, he hastened his steps. Looking
back he saw bigger stones join in the pursuit. He then seized his
dog, and in fear began to run, but the stones kept in hot pursuit,
bigger and bigger ones joining the party. Upon arriving at his
sweet-potato patch, he was exhausted and had to slacken his pace,
whereupon the stones overtook him and one became attached to his
finger. He could not go on. He called upon his wife. She with
the young ones sought the magic lime [16] and set it around
her husband, but all to no avail for his feet began to turn
to stone. His wife and children, too, fell under the wrath of
Anítan. The following morning they were stone up to the knees,
and during the following three days the petrifying continued
from the knees to the hips, then to the breast, and then to the
head. Thus it is that to this day there may be seen on Bináoi
peak the petrified forms of Angó and his family. [17]

The sun, moon, and stars are great deities, or the dwelling place of such deities, in nearly all Philippine religions. The following Manóbo myth is interesting because of its resemblance to others from northern Luzon.

THE ORIGIN OF THE STARS AND THE EXPLANATION OF SUNSET AND SUNRISE

It is said that in the olden time the Sun and the Moon were
married. They led a peaceful, harmonious life. Two children
were the issue of their wedlock. One day the Moon had to attend
to one of the household duties that fall to the lot of a woman,
some say to get water, others say to get the daily supply of food
from the fields. Before departing, she crooned the children to
sleep and told her husband to watch them but not to approach lest
by the heat that radiated from his body he might harm them. She
then started upon her errand. The Sun, who never before had been
allowed to touch his bairns, arose and approached their sleeping
place. He gazed upon them fondly, and, bending down, kissed them,
but the intense heat that issued from his countenance melted them
like wax. Upon perceiving this he wept and quietly betook himself
to the adjoining forest in great fear of his wife.

The Moon returned duly, and after depositing her burden in the
house turned to where the children slept but found only their
dried, inanimate forms. She broke out into a loud wail, and in
the wildness of her grief called upon her husband. But he gave no
answer. Finally softened by the loud long plaints, he returned
to his house. At the sight of him the wild cries of grief and
of despair and of rebuke redoubled themselves until finally the
husband, unable to soothe the wife, became angry and called her
his chattel. At first she feared his anger and quieted her sobs,
but, finally breaking out into one long wail, she seized the
burnt forms of her babes, and in the depth of her anguish and
her rage threw them to the ground in different directions. Then
the husband became angry again, and, seizing some taro leaves
that his wife had brought from the fields, cast them in her face
and went his way. Upon his return he could not find his wife,
and so it is to this day that the Sun follows the Moon in an
eternal cycle of night and day. And so it is, too, that stars
stand scattered in the sable firmament, for they, too, accompany
her in her hasty flight. Ever and anon a shooting star breaks
across her path, but that is only a messenger from her husband
to call her back. She, however, heeds it not, but speeds on her
way in never-ending flight with the marks of the taro leaves [18]
still upon her face and her starry train accompanying her to the
dawn and on to the sunset in one eternal flight.

On myths such as these the religions of the pagan tribes of Mindanao are built up. These religions are by no means primitive, but are accompanied by sacrifices, sometimes human, and the ceremonies are performed by a well-developed priest class. [19]

Let us now turn to the highest type of Philippine beliefs:

THE WELL-DEVELOPED POLYTHEISTIC RELIGIONS OF NORTHERN LUZON

I shall mention chiefly the Igorot, Bontok, and Ifugao peoples, as these three, in addition to holding the highest order of beliefs, are the best developed in general material and social culture of any of the Philippine mountain tribes. The Tinggián, Kalinga, and other tribes in that region also have religions of high type, but our information concerning them is more limited. [20]

The literature relating to the Igorot-Bontok-Ifugao group is very considerable in extent, and I shall refer only to a few of the more important papers dealing particularly with religion and mythology.

Before taking up the mythology proper, we should have some idea of the religion as a whole. These peoples believe that the regions of the sky world, earth world, and underworld are peopled by an almost incalculable number of deities of varying character and powers. Some of these deities are the great beings who inspire the phenomena of nature, while others are guardian spirits, messenger spirits, or mischievous tricksters. The great nature deities are mostly of malevolent character, and are much feared. Ancestral souls and the souls of sacred animals are looked upon as mediators between gods and men. Pigs and chickens are sacrificed to the deities, and other articles of food and drink are provided for them. Many elaborate religious feasts and ceremonies are held at which priests officiate. The priests form a well-defined class, and in some districts there are also priestesses. A religious ceremony is required for every important act of life, and the priests and priestesses are usually busy people.

It would seem that a religion of this same general type was also common among the lowland peoples of the Philippines before they were Christianized by the Spaniards. Pigafetta, the first European to write of the Philippines, describes a ceremony, which he saw performed in Cebu in the year 1520, as follows: [21]

In order that your most illustrious Lordship may know the
ceremonies that those people use in consecrating the swine, they
first sound those large gongs. Then three large dishes are brought
in; two with roses and with cakes of rice and millet, baked and
wrapped in leaves, and roast fish; the other with cloth of Cambaia
and two standards made of palm-tree cloth. One bit of cloth of
Cambaia is spread on the ground. Then two very old women come,
each of whom has a bamboo trumpet in her hand. When they have
stepped upon the cloth they make obeisance to the sun. Then they
wrap the cloths about themselves. One of them puts a kerchief with
two horns on her forehead, and takes another kerchief in her hands,
and dancing and blowing upon her trumpet, she thereby calls out to
the sun. The other takes one of the standards and dances and blows
on her trumpet. They dance and call out thus for a little space,
saying many things between themselves to the sun. She with the
kerchief takes the other standard, and lets the kerchief drop,
and both blowing on their trumpets for a long time, dance about
the bound hog. She with the horns always speaks covertly to the
sun, and the other answers her. A cup of wine is presented to
her of the horns, and she dancing and repeating certain words,
while the other answers her, and making pretense four or five
times of drinking the wine, sprinkles it upon the heart of the
hog. Then she immediately begins to dance again. A lance is given
to the same woman. She shaking it and repeating certain words,
while both of them continue to dance, and making motions four or
five times of thrusting the lance through the heart of the hog,
with a sudden and quick stroke, thrusts it through from one side
to the other. The wound is quickly stopped with grass. The one
who has killed the hog, taking in her mouth a lighted torch,
which has been lighted throughout that ceremony, extinguishes
it. The other one dipping the end of her trumpet in the blood
of the hog, goes around marking with blood with her finger
first the foreheads of their husbands, and then the others;
but they never came to us. Then they divest themselves and go
to eat the contents of those dishes, and they invite only women
(to eat with them). The hair is removed from the hog by means of
fire. Thus no one but old women consecrate the flesh of the hog,
and they do not eat it unless it is killed in this way.

This ceremony, almost the same as described by Pigafetta, is in use among the Ifugaos to-day, although it is performed by men instead of by women and differs in a few minor details.

I shall next discuss the religion and mythology of the Igorots, Bontoks, and Ifugaos, treated separately and in more detail.

THE IGOROTS

These people occupy the subprovinces of Benguet, Lepanto, and Amburayan in the Mountain Province. The region of their purest culture is in northern Benguet and eastern Lepanto. Of the religion of this region, we have considerable information from the writings of Fr. Angel Perez, an Augustinian missionary; Sr. Sinforoso Bondad of Cervantes, Lepanto; and a number of personal observations made by myself.

The sun gods, and the deities of the sky world in general, occupy the most important place in the Igorot religion. Place-spirits and animal deities are likewise highly developed. At a place called Kágubátan, [22] at the foot of the sacred mountain Múgao in eastern Lepanto, is a small lake full of sacred eels which the people guard with great care. They believe that if these eels were killed the springs would all dry up and they would have no water for their terraced rice fields. The eels are fed every day with rice and sweet potatoes by the children of the village, who, as they approach the lakelet, sing a peculiarly sweet and mournful song, upon hearing which the eels all rise to the surface of the water and approach the shore to receive their food.

The Igorots have both priests and priestesses, and they perform many public and private ceremonies, both for the benefit of the great deities and for the countless minor spirits which inhabit the sacred mountains, cliffs, groves, trees, and bushes that are scattered throughout the Igorot country. Sacrifices of pigs or chickens are made at every ceremony. The ceremonies of the common people are more or less of a private nature, but those of the aristocracy and of wealthy men are nearly always public and general. The greatest ceremonies are those connected with war and marriage and the great public festival which proves a man's right to the title of nobility.

The Igorots have a high code of morals which is closely associated with their religious belief. They also have a scientific calendar and a considerable knowledge of astronomy which has effected many modifications in their religion. Their mythology is extensive, and they have a rich unwritten literature of epic poems, hero-stories, and historical legends. Most of the myths are too long to be given here, but for purposes of comparison I give the following short one which was collected by the Dominican, Fr. Mariano Rodriguez:

It has been mentioned above that among their tales and stories
they preserve a tradition relating to their origin and beginning,
after a great and dreadful flood which, a very long time ago, as
their old people relate, covered the earth. All the inhabitants
except a brother and sister were drowned. The brother and sister,
though separated from each other, were saved, the woman on the
summit of the highest mountain in the District of Lepanto, called
Kalauítan, and the man in a cave of the same mountain. After the
water had subsided, the man of the cave came out from his hiding
place one clear and calm moonlight night, and as he glanced around
that immense solitude, his eyes were struck by the brightness of a
big bonfire burning there on the summit of the mountain. Surprised
and terrified, he did not venture to go up on the summit where the
fire was, but returned to his cave. At the dawn of day he quickly
climbed toward the place where he had seen the brightness the
preceding night, and there he found huddled up on the highest peak
his sister, who received him with open arms. They say that from
this brother and sister so providentially saved, all the Igorots
that are scattered through the mountains originated. They are
absolutely ignorant of the names of those privileged beings, but
the memory of them lives freshly among the Igorots, and in their
feasts, or whenever they celebrate their marriages, the aged people
repeat to the younger ones this wonderful history, so that they
can tell it to their sons, and in that way pass from generation
to generation the memory of their first progenitors. [23]

This myth of the great flood, and of the brother and sister who survived it, is common throughout northern Luzon. It is most highly developed by the Ifugaos, as we shall later see.

THE BONTOKS

The Bontoks are sometimes wrongly called Igorots, but have no more right to that name than have the Ifugaos. They are a distinct people, occupying a part of the subprovince of Bontok. They are in some respects unique, and possess certain social institutions and traits which have not been found elsewhere in the Philippines. Most of our information concerning them is contained in the monograph by Jenks; [24] in the bulky volume on the language by Seidenadel; [25] and in my own observations on the general culture and ethnology of the Bontoks. Jenks' monograph is excellent as an economic paper, but the few myths given are mostly children's stories. Seidenadel [26] gives several myths in the form of texts, and some of these I have freely translated as follows:

STORIES ABOUT LUMÁWIG

The sons of Lumáwig went hunting. In all the world there were
no mountains, for the world was flat, and it was impossible to
catch the wild pigs and the deer. Then said the elder brother:
"Let us flood the world so that mountains may rise up." Then they
went to inundate at Mabúd-bodóbud. Then the world was flooded. Then
said the elder brother: "Let us go and set a trap." They used as
a trap the head-basket at Mabúd-bodóbud. Then they raised the
head-basket and there was much booty: wild pigs and deer and
people--for all the people had perished. There were alive only
a brother and sister on Mt. Pókis. Then Lumáwig looked down on
Pókis and saw that it was the only place not reached by the water,
and that it was the abode of the solitary brother and sister. Then
Lumáwig descended and said: "Oh, you are here!" And the man said:
"We are here, and here we freeze!" Then Lumáwig sent his dog and
his deer to Kalauwítan to get fire. They swam to Kalauwítan,
the dog and the deer, and they got the fire. Lumáwig awaited
them. He said: "How long they are coming!" Then he went to
Kalauwítan and said to his dog and the deer: "Why do you delay
in bringing the fire? Get ready! Take the fire to Pókis; let me
watch you!" Then they went into the middle of the flood, and the
fire which they had brought from Kalauwítan was put out! Then
said Lumáwig: "Why do you delay the taking? Again you must bring
fire; let me watch you!" Then they brought fire again, and he
observed that that which the deer was carrying was extinguished,
and he said: "That which the dog has yonder will surely also be
extinguished." Then Lumáwig swam and arrived and quickly took the
fire which his dog had brought. He took it back to Pókis and he
built a fire and warmed the brother and sister. Then said Lumáwig:
"You must marry, you brother and sister!" Then said the woman:
"That is possible; but it is abominable, because we are brother
and sister!" Then Lumáwig united them, and the woman became
pregnant. They had many children * * * and Lumáwig continued
marrying them. Two went to Maligkong and had offspring there;
two went to Gináang and had offspring there; and the people
kept multiplying, and they are the inhabitants of the earth *
* *. Moreover, there are the Mayinit-men, the Baliwang-men, the
Tukúkan-men, the Kaniú-men, the Barlig-men, etc. Thus the world is
distributed among the people, and the people are very many! * * *

Another story runs as follows:

The brother-in-law of Lumáwig said to him: "Create water, because
the sun is very hot, and all the people are thirsty!" Then said
Lumáwig: "Why do you ask so much for water? Let us go on," he
continued, "I shall soon create water." Then they went on, and at
last his brother-in-law said again: "Well, why do you not create
water? It should be easy, if you are really Lumáwig!" Then said
Lumáwig: "Why do you shame me in public?" And then they quarreled,
the brothers-in-law. Then they climbed on up the mountain, and
at last the brother-in-law said again: "Why do you care nothing
because the people are thirsty, and you do not create water?" Then
said Lumáwig: "Let us sit down, people, and rest." Then he struck
the rock with his spear, and water sprang out. Then he said to
the people: "Come and drink!" And his brother-in-law stepped
forth to drink, but Lumáwig restrained him, saying: "Do not
drink! Let the people drink first, so that we shall be the last
to drink." And when the people had finished drinking, Lumáwig
drank. Then he said to his brother-in-law: "Come and drink." Then
the brother-in-law stooped to drink, and Lumáwig pushed him into
the rock. Water gushed out from his body. Then said Lumáwig:
"Stay thou here because of thy annoying me!" Then they named that
spot ad Isik. [27] Then the people went home; and the sister
of Lumáwig said to him: "Why did you push your brother-in-law
into the rock?" Then said Lumáwig: "Surely, because he angered
me!" Then the people prayed and performed sacrifices. * * *

In the above stories we see the recurrence of the flood myth and the origin of fire, or rather the manner in which men received it. The story of bringing water out of a rock is interesting, and occurs again in Ifugao mythology in a slightly different form. It is possible, of course, that this is a biblical story which was brought in by some wandering Christians several generations past; but the flood legend is certainly native, and I see no good reason why the story of the miraculous drawing of water from a rock should not also be a native development in spite of its similarity to the Hebrew myth.

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

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

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

THE RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE IFUGAO PEOPLE OF NORTHERN LUZON [28]

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

BELIEFS AND MYTHS OF THE KIÁNGAN IFUGAOS

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

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

The inhabitants of the universe consist chiefly of an incalculable number of greater and lesser deities and spirits. [35] In addition to these, there are the souls of men, animals, and plants. They have always existed in the various regions of the universe, and were brought to the Earth World by the gods. Men are descended from the gods of the Sky World, as we shall see in the myths.

The mythology of the Kiángan Ifugaos is rich and varied. As an introduction to it, I have selected the following:

ORIGIN OF THE IFUGAOS [36]