Creation Story from Luzon

When the world first began there was no land, but only the sea and the sky, and between
them was a kite (a bird something like a hawk). One day the bird which had nowhere to light
grew tired of flying about, so she stirred up the sea until it threw its waters against the sky.
The sky, in order to restrain the sea, showered upon it many islands until it could no longer
rise, but ran back and forth. Then the sky ordered the kite to light on one of the islands to
build her nest, and to leave the sea and the sky in peace. Now at this time the land breeze
and the sea breeze were married, and they had a child which was a bamboo. One day when
this bamboo was floating about on the water, it struck the feet of the kite which was on the
beach. The bird, angry that anything should strike it, pecked at the bamboo, and out of one
section came a man and from the other a woman. Then the earthquake called on all the
birds and fish to see what should be done with these two, and it was decided that they
should marry. Many children were born to the couple, and from them came all the different
races of people. After a while the parents grew very tired of having so many idle and useless
children around, and they wished to be rid of them, but they knew of no place to send them
to. Time went on and the children became so numerous that the parents enjoyed no peace.
One day, in desperation, the father seized a stick and began beating them on all sides. This
so frightened the children that they flee in different directions, seeking hidden rooms in the
house -- some concealed themselves in the walls, some ran outside, while others hid in the
fire place, and several fled to the sea. Now it happened that those who went into the hidden
rooms of the house later became the chiefs of the islands; and those who concealed
themselves in the walls became slaves. Those who ran outside were free men; and those
who hid in the fireplace became Negroes; while those who fled to the sea were gone many
years, and when their children came back they were the white people.

Visayan Creation Myth

The Visayan creation myth says that many years ago, at the beginning of time, there was no
stars, sun, land or moon, and the world was only water and the sky above it. Maguayan was
the ruler of the water, and the sky was Kaptan's.
Both Gods had children, Lidagat, the sea, was Maguayan's daughter, Kaptan's son was the
wind, Lihangin. Both Gods agreed for their children to get married.
From this marriage, four kids were born, three boys and one girl:
Likalibuta: He had body of rock, also was the strongest and bravest of all.
Liadlao: He was always happy, he was made of gold.
Libulan: His body was made of copper, his personality was timid and weak.
Lisuga: She was beautiful and her body was pure silver, also she was gentle and sweet.
Sadly, Lihangin died, leaving the control of the wings to Likalibutan, a few days later died as
well. However, the kids were not left alone, because their grandparents Maguayan and
Kaptan took care of them.
The Visayan creation myth says that the kids grew and became beautiful adults, Likalibutan
grew so proud of his powers, that he decided he needed more power, so he decided to
attack Kaptan in the sky realm to earn it, and so, he asked his brothers for help. At first

Liadlao did not want to help, but scared of the anger of his brother, he join him along with
Libulan.
As soon as they got to the sky, they found it closed by some gates made of steel. Using the
winds, Likalibutan blew them away and headed into the sky. But then, the brothers faced
something worst, the angry Kaptan, who sent three bolts of lightning to the brothers while
they were trying to run away.
When Libulan was struck with the bolt, he melted into a ball of copper, also the golden
Liadlao was melted when he was struck by the lightning. Likalibutan body was broke into
pieces for the hit, and many of these pieces felt into the sea creating land.
While this was happening on the sky, Lisuga was worried about her siblings, and went to the
sky to ask for help to find them, but as she was walking to the broken doors, Kaptan, still
blinded with anger, sent another bolt towards her, breaking her beautiful silver body into
pieces.
The Visayan creation myth continues saying that after this was done, Kaptan went down and
called Maguayan, accusing him of planning the attack. Maguayan told him he knew nothing
and calmed the angry Kaptan. Both Gods then cried the death of their grandchildren and
even with all of their power, they could not bring them back to life. But they gave to each
body a light that will shine forever.
Thanks to this light, Liadlao became the sun, Libulan the moon, while the silver pieces from
the body of Lisuga turned into the stars. To Likalibutan's body was no light, but his body was
the support of a new race: humans. Maguayan then took a seed that was given by Kaptan
and planted it on one of the islands.
From that seed, the Visayan creation myth continues, a bamboo grew and from the hollow of
its branches the first man Sikalak and woman, Sikabay were born, and they became the
parents of human race. Their first child was a boy and they called him Libo, after some time
they also had a daughter named Saman.
Finally they had another soon called Pandaguan, who was very clever and was the first one
to know how to catch fish. The first thing he caught was a shark, it was so great and fierce,
that he thought was a God and told his people to worship it as one. When his people started
to do it, the Gods came down and ordered to Pandagua to throw back the shark and worship
them.
Pandagua, who was not afraid, thought that if he was able to take down a shark as big as the
Gods, he could take them down as well. When Kaptan knew of this, he sent a weak bolt to
Pandagua, to teach him a lesson. And as a punishment to his people, they were scattered all
over the earth.
Pandaguan did not die, after thirty days of lying on the ground, he regained his strength, but
his body was black from the hit of the bolt and his descendants became the tribe known as
Negritos (dark-skinned people).
And this is the Visayan Creation Myth.

Mayon Volcano
The legend of the Mayon volcano says that a long time ago, there used to live a beautiful girl
called Darang Magayon, who had many guys after her from various tribes, one of them was

Pagtuga, the tribal chief from Iriga, who was also a great hunter. But Darang Magayon was
not interested on him.
One day, Darang Magayon was bathing in the Yaw river, and she slipped on the rocks. She
did not knew how to swim, but then Panganoron, son of Rajah Karilaya, from the Tagalogs,
saved her while he was walking by the river.
After saving her life, Panganoron started to court her, and after some days she finally
accepted his proposal, and so Panganoron decided to ask Darang Magayon's father, Rajah
Makusong for her hand in matrimony. The father accepted him.
The legend says that when Pagtuga heard of the news he got very angry, so he decided to
kidnap Rajah Makusong and took him to the mountains, then he told everyone that he would
release him if Darang Magamon would marry him. Afraid that Pagtuga would hurt her father,
she accepted to be his wife.
When Panganon knew about the situation, he asked to his warriors to follow him to the
mountains to fight against Panganoron. The battle was fierce. Panganoron killed Pagtuga,
but later he was killed by an arrow thrown by one of Pagtuga's warriors. Sadly another arrow
pierced Darang Magayon when she was running to the arms of his love, killing her.
After the battle was over, Rajah Makusong dug a grave and laid the bodies of both lovers in
it. As days passed by, people who went to the grave to pay respect, saw that the grave was
rising, turning into a land form and they started to call it Mayon (short for Mayon).
While some says that the eruptions on the Mayon volcano, are the sings of the love between
the lovers. Other says that the spirit of Darang Magayon lives on the volcano, and the spirit
of Panganoron lives on the clouds above, and all year long disperse rain to keep the flowers
and plants fresh, so it stays beautiful.

Mariang Makiling
Long ago, in Mount Makiling, there lived a beautiful goddess name Mariang Makiling. She is
beautiful, kindhearted and loving. She had a long shiny black hair and she often wear black
pearls and gold jewelry. She often shows off herself to people living at the foot of the
mountain as a human. Many times, people would climb up to the mountain and pick some
fruits but when they came down, fruits changed into gold. People thanked her for it.
But one day, some people robbed her jewelry. Some hunters climb up the mountain and
hunted for wild animals, cut down trees and left the forest at the top of the mountain
denuded. At that time, one of those hunters is a mortal which Mariang Makiling fell in love
with. She discovered that that hunter already have a mortal as his wife. After those things
happened, Mariang Makiling was very angry that it thundered and rained hard that night and
her voice was heard by all people leaving at the foot of the mountain saying "I have
provided you food, treasures and shelter but it wasn't enough for you! I have given you
everything you want but still you aren't contented. I loved you more than myself but still you
searched for mortal love. Now, feel my anger! And wait for my revenge! From now on, you
shall stand on your own feet and you will never see me again. I swear!" And she laughed so
hard that it brought an earthquake.

After her large voice was heard, she never showed herself again to those mortals who
abused her kindness. Today, it is still believed that MAriang Makiling is still living there.