Category Archives: Mythology

Balladeer’s Blog concludes its examination of this epic myth of the Bukidnon people of the Philippines.

PART EIGHT

Alisngaran, the favorite disciple of Baybayan, stood beside the woman he loved and continued wielding his kampilan sword against the trio of attacking giants. Whenever his kampilan – so heavy no other mortal man could lift it – sliced off the head or one of the limbs of the giants the other two would intensify their attack until the head or limb of the third could grow back. 

Meanwhile, on board the flying ship the Salimbal the demigod Baybayan, whose divine senses could see what was transpiring back on the Earth, again caused a mental image of himself to appear to Alisngaran and his beloved. (The names of many of the women in Philippine myths are unknown because their “holy men” considered the names too sacred to share with outsiders.) 

Baybayan pleaded with his favorite follower to abandon his battle with the giants and join the rest of his hundreds of surviving disciples on the trip to Skyland, the home of the gods. Alisngaran complied, grabbing his woman with one arm as Baybayan tried levitating the couple upward toward the faraway Salimbal. The weight of Alisngaran’s mighty kampilan prevented the pair from rising very far, however. Continue reading →

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this epic myth of the Bukidnon people of the Philippines.

PART SEVEN

With the menace of the giants and the dragons now behind them, Baybayan and his hundreds of surviving followers continued their journey toward Skyland, the home of the gods. The ship transporting them was the Salimbal, the divine craft sent down by the supreme deity Magbabaya.

The demigod Baybayan was looking back at the faraway Earth by way of his godly senses. He noticed the granary that his industrious disciples had filled with rice and did not want the precious food to go to waste.

Selecting a pair of the saliyao bells that lined the Salimbal, Baybayan threw them back to the Earth, transforming them into the very first male and female Maya bird. These birds and their young would feed on the rice in the granary. Since that day Maya birds have fed on rice from Philippine rice fields. (Until 1995 Maya birds were even the National Bird of the Philippines.) Suddenly danger reared its head.   Continue reading →

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this epic myth of the Bukidnon people of the Philippines.

PART FOUR

The demigod Baybayan led his hundreds of followers up the mountain atop which would land the Salimbal – the divine craft sent down from Skyland by the supreme deity Magbabaya. The Earthly realm, in its fundamental evil, made a concentrated effort to lure Baybayan’s followers away from their quest. The impure world sought to prevent as many of the demigod’s followers as possible from reaching the land of the gods.

First all the rocks then the very ground itself turned to gold, to tempt the followers into staying behind to collect the gold and live the comfortable and pleasant life of the wealthy. Some of Baybayan’s disciples yielded to this temptation and stayed behind to accumulate wealth. Vile nature intensified its attack as even the leaves on the trees and the grass turned to gold in order to tempt away a few more of the disciples. Continue reading →