Thursday, February 7, 2008

Luzon gods

Anitun Tabu is the Tagalog goddess of the wind and rain.

Apo Laki is the Tagalog god of the sun and lord of war. He is the son of Bathala and brother of Mayari, but in the other myth his sister is Dian Masalanta and his parents were Anagolay and Dumakulem. He is identified to the Pangasinense god Ama-Kaoley.

Batala is a kingfisher considered sacred by early Kapampangans, the visit of which either hints of bad omen or good fortune.

Bathala, also known formally as Bathalang Maykapal or Maykapal is the Tagalogs chief god that is the creator of the universe and humanity. To the Cebuano people, he is known as Abba.

Dian Masalanta is the ancient Tagalogs goddess of love, pregnancy, childbirth.

Idianalé is the ancient Tagalogs goddess of animal hunsbandry.

Kimat is the lightning dog, owned by Tadaklan. When Kimat attacks, he comes down from heaven and bites whatever it is aimed at.

Lakan Bakod is the ancient Tagalog god of gardens who protect and watchover plants and sometimes the crops.

Lakan Pati (Ikapati) is the ancient Tagalogs deity of cultivated fields, a hermaphrodite. Her/his title is "The giver of food" and her/his worshippers pray to her/him to protect them from starvation. During the early period of Spanish Colonialization, Lakan Pati was used by evangelists as a native equivalent for the Holy Spirit.

Makiling in Kapampangan mythology does not have a consistent character. Some accounts say he is a deity dwelling in the Tagalog region, whose three sons courted the daughters of Suku in Mount Arayat. Some accounts say she is wife of Suku, who fetched her at Mount Makiling and back to Mount Arayat for them to live together as couples. The trail caused by the godly chariots became the Pampanga River. In a much older account, Makiling is the deity who brought the spirits out of the navel of the giant crocodile Dapu/Laut, the Sea, into the surface of the earth, using a bamboo raft (makiling is a type of bamboo). Thus, in this version, Makiling is responsible for bringing the first man and woman on earth, which in Kapampangan mythology are named Manalaksan (woodcutter) and Mangkukuran (potmaker).