Top 10 Most Powerful Gods & Goddess of Philippine Mythology
Source: John Leaver | Agency: Dreamstime.com
by Deomar Pandan
Religion
is an inextricable part of ethnic culture, and in the Philippines there
are as many pantheons as there are ethnic groups. The worship of many
of these gods is extinct, but some have survived intact to this day,
while still others took on a different form within the mainstream
religion, Christianity. The gods are called in the native languages by
the term diwata, the soul or spirit of Nature’s elements. Here we list the most powerful of Nature’s forces for the ethnic Filipinos.
1 Bathala, Ruler of the Sky
Also known as Maykapal, he is the supreme god of the Tagalog.
Bathala defeated the Ocean by pelting rocks on her, rocks which became
the Philippine islands. Vastly powerful and formidable, he strikes his
enemies dead with lightning and thunderbolt. Bathala was absorbed into
Christianity as the Philippine name for Yahweh, and is indeed a
near-perfect counterpart for a God who comes in a cloud of fire, from
which come flashes of lightning and peals of thunder.
Source: wallconvert.com
2 & 3 Kaptan and Magwayen: the Heaven and the Abyss
The supreme god and goddess of the Bisaya.
Visayan mythology is an older version of the Tagalog, except that the
Sky did not overpower the Ocean: the Heaven and the Abyss are coequal.
In the beginning there were only the heaven and the abyss; whereas in
the Christian story a god in man’s image and likeness came in to create
the earth, no such thing happened in Visayan mythology. The heaven and
the abyss themselves were alive. They accidentally created the
Philippines when, quarrelling with each other, the Heaven hurled islands
over the face of Abyss.
Source: panoramio.com
4 Kabunian, God in the Sky
He used to be the god of the Ilocano,
and still lives among the tribes of the Cordillera mountains and the
Cagayan Valley beneath. His abode is the sky, but Kabunian had to come
down to earth to make humans. He molded clay figures in his image and
likeness, and placed them in his oven. Alas, they got overcooked and
burnt, which became the black people. Kabunian gave it another shot and
made a new batch. He was so anxious that his recipe might burn again; so
he took them out of the oven too early. Alas, they were half-baked. So
became the white people. At last, Kabunian’s third attempt was perfect!
The humans were neither burnt nor underdone, neither black nor white,
just the right skin tone — brown. Forgive us the vanity, but that would
be us, the Filipinos.
Source: news.bbc.co.uk
5 Gugurang, Old Guardian of Fire
He lives inside the beautiful Mount Mayon, and is the guardian of its fire. The Bikol
people are exhorted to be good and keep out of mischief, lest Gugurang
be enraged and his volcano spew fire and lava. The worship of Gugurang,
as well as the lesser deities, still lives among the Negritos (little
black people) in the Bicol Region.
Source: malapascua.de
6 Sinukwan, Victorious Giant
The god of the ancient Kapampangan,
he is a giant so strong he uproots an entire mountain and carries it
halfway across the rich Pampanga basin, while the crater from which he
scooped Mount Arayat became the Candaba Swamp. Under Sinukwan’s
patronage the Kapampangan were victorious against the onslaught of their
Tagalog neighbor, and the god continues to be a symbol and inspiration
for the Kapampangan, as well as the source of their ethnocentrism,
especially in this day and age when the greater part of Kapampangan
territory has gone over to the dominant Tagalog.
Source: photoshoptextures.com
7 Tungkung Langit, Pillar of Heaven
The
god of northern Panay, Tungkung Langit had a capricious and jealous
wife named Alunsina. Their marriage went well until, exasperated with
her wife’s sending the sea breeze to spy on him, the god sent the lady
away. Poor Alunsina vanished. Neither did the god feel alright
thereafter. He felt lonely. He pined for his wife. In his sadness, he
created the sea and the earth, the trees and the flowers, the stars, the
moon and the sun — hoping that if his lover sees them, she’d come back
home. Alas, she didnt. And Tungkung Langit remains lonesome in his
palace in heaven, so lonely that at times he cries, causing the sky to
rain.
Source: media.photobucket.com
8 Ama Kaoley, Supreme Father
He
is a human supreme god, very rare even among Philippine ethnic
religions. The pre-Hispanic Filipinos generally worship the souls of
their ancestors, known as anitos (manaogs in my ethnic
group), the same way the Chinese do; but in status these anitos usually
play beneath the diwatas, the spirits of Nature themselves. On this
account, the Pangasinan
seems to be the Philippine people who believes the most in human
nature, having set a human being, their grandest grandfather — the soul
of him and not just a human figure representing a higher force — to be
the most powerful in the universe.
Source: members.virtualtourist.com
9 Kan-Laon, Ruler of Time
His abode is Mount Kanlaon in Negros Island. He was worshipped by the Hiligaynon
who lived close to the towering mountain, which was both a respected
and feared sight. In some mythology the deity is thought to be female,
and is referred to by the name Lalahon.
Source: wilsonetrata
The Scale of Worship of the Philippine Gods
- Rubber Plantation vs. Coconut Agribusiness: Which is more profitable?Agribusiness can earn BIG money. Between rubber plantation and coconut plantation, which business is more profitable? Should you plant rubber or plant coconut? Let's analyze. - 9 months ago
- The 6 Banknotes of Philippine Money: The Philippines’ Peso BillsThe Philippine currency is called Philippine peso (piso in Filipino). Here is a list of the new Philippine peso bills, complete with pictures and description of details on the Philippine money. - 4 months ago
- Top 10 Signs of the Philippines' Economic GrowthOnce Asia’s biggest economy besides Japan, the Philippines is once again showing its promise. Let’s see 10 best reasons why the Philippines is becoming a better place. - 6 months ago
10 Magbabaya, Governor of the World
Literally meaning “Governor”, Magbabaya is the native God of my ethnic group, Kamayo,
as well as of the eastern half of Mindanao, particularly the Mandaya
people. I’m disposed to call him God (with capital G), because he’s the
only god in the religion. He is still a diwata, but the diwata of the
entire universe, the soul of, not just the heaven or abyss or the
mountains, but of everything, spread throughout the immensity of all
that there is in existence: the soul of the world, so to speak. An
infinite God, Magbabaya governs the universe, and is the source of its
pattern, its harmony and beauty. He is in this sense comparable to
Brahman of the Hindu, the Tao of the Chinese and Logos of the Ancient
Greeks.
The State of Ethnic Religions
In
the Philippines, animists are looked down on. The discrimination has
rubbed off from Spanish and American colonizers, and mainstream
Filipinos also regard the pagan folk as some sort of barbarians, who
need civilizing and Christianizing. That, conversion to be explicit, the
Christian missionaries do every so often, as do the Muslim Filipinos.
Tales of the clergy baptizing infants without the animist parents fully
realizing what the missionaries were doing are rife. However, with
deeply entrenched corruption as common in Catholic countries, war
between Christians and Muslims, and mingled overpopulation and poverty
as a result of tough Christian opposition to artificial family planning,
among other issues, is the Philippines better off Christianized or
Islamized? Or are they better off the old ways?
No comments:
Post a Comment