A news story at gulfnews.com covers an archaeological find on an inlet off the Umm Al Quwain coast in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Akab site is Neolithic and associated with shell mounds, and pottery fragments from the Ubaid culture, often described as "Proto-Sumerian," have been found at Akab.
The interesting part about the excavation from our view is the discovery of mounds made of dugong bones. The researchers suggest the arrangement of the bones may be symbolic and linked with ritual.
"Traditionally, the dugong has special status in the Indo-Pacific area. The preparation for hunting dugongs is as much the object of propitiatory rites as the transport of their carcasses to shore, their butchering and their consumption," said Dr Sophie Méry of the French Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and director of the French archaeological mission in the UAE.
Méry mentions similarity of the site with sacred totemic dugong mounds on the Australian coast of the Torres Strait across from Papua New Guinea. The researchers also make a connection with finds from around the same period in Oman but which involved the green turtle rather than the dugong:
Méry and Charpentier believe the dugong at Akab held the role attributed in the same period to the green turtle in Ra's Al Hamra in Oman, the subject of impressive deposits between 3700 and 3300 BC, where skulls were placed near the face of the dead, while the body was covered with elements of turtle carapace or pebbles in a formation imitating that of turtle eggs.
Interestingly, the same people along the Torres Strait who practice dugong hunting rituals also have a breeding ritual involving the green turtle.
Another area not mentioned in the article is Palawan in the Philippines. The Neolithic site at Duyong Cave is associated with the bones of at least 5,000 dugong, and the sea mammal is thought to have had ritual significance there. At the cave there is also a jar burial site associated with funerary offerings. Dugong bones have also been found at the 9th to 12th century site at Butuan. In the Philippines, the teeth and bones of the dugong are still thought to have magical qualities bringing good luck and fertility and driving away evil and sickness.
Nearby Duyong Cave at Tabon Cave, an ivory carved turtle has been found, and earthenware turtles were discovered at Taal in Luzon, and in Iloilo in the Bisayan region. At Sinalakan Cave, also on Palawan, a terracotta turtle vessel from the Metal Age was found that apparently was both an inkstand and a burial object.
The present-day Tagbanua of Palawan have a rice wine ritual known as Pagdiwata in which wooden turtles are floated in the mouth of rice wine jars. The ritual takes place before planting and the turtle is considered a divine vehicle.
Regards, Paul Kekai Manansala Sacramento ---
Excavation uncovers ritual site
Archaeologists find dugong bones that prove local tribesmen held fishing rites Aeons ago
By Emmanuelle Landais, Staff Reporter
Published: 00:00 November 6, 2009
The bones of dugongs, a large marine mammal, were found symbolically arranged on a mound which experts say was used for ceremonial purposes.
Image Credit: Supplied
An archaeological excavation held on an islet off the coast of Umm Al Quwain, close to the earlier fishing village of Akab, recently revealed that ancient fishing rites were conducted by tribesmen.
The bones of dugongs, a large marine mammal resembling a sea cow, were found symbolically arranged on a mound which experts believe was used for ceremonial purposes.
Fox, Robert B. The Tabon Caves; Archaeological Explorations and Excavations on Palawan Island, Philippines. Manila: [National Museum], 1970, 176.
Paz, Victor, and Wilhelm G. Solheim. Southeast Asian Archaeology: Wilhelm G. Solheim II Festschrift. Diliman, Quezon City: Univ. of the Philippines Press, 2004, 276-288.
A new study (see below) examines mtDNA in the Philippines, Sulawesi and Taiwan.
The researchers study all the haplotypes tested but focus on the frequent mtDNA haplotypes B4a1a, E1a1a and M7c3c, which they claim support the "Out of Taiwan" model of migration.
Analysis of Hypervariable Segment I sequence variation within individual mtDNA haplogroups indicates a general decrease in the diversity of the most frequent types (B4a1a, E1a1a, M7c3c) from the Taiwanese aborigines to the Philippines and Sulawesi, although calculated standard error measures overlap for these populations.
However, as noted above with each finding the standard error for the comparisons overlapped, so the conclusions are not really meaningful.
What is interesting is the findings on the B4a1a haplotype and particularly those concerning its daughter haplotype B4a1a1, known commonly as the "Polynesian motif."
B4a1a1 is closely associated with Austronesian expansions, in my view specifically with Malayo-Polynesian expansion. While the parent haplotype B4a1a is frequent in Taiwan, the Philippines and Sulawesi, neither its predecessor B4a or the Polynesian motif B4a1a1 were found in the sample of 640 women from Taiwan.
The authors suggests that the Polynesian motif may have originated in the Philippines where it is present in small quantities in Mindanao. However they also conclude that because of the higher diversity of B4a1a in Taiwan that the haplotype must have migrated from there to the Philippines where it is found at the lower diversity. However, the estimated ages of 9,500 BP �4,600 for the haplotype in Taiwan and 7,900 BP �2,400 for the Philippines show an extensive overlap in the standard error calculation.
What seems more important is the presence of the parent B4a, which is present in small quantities in the Philippines but absent from Taiwan.
The estimated ages for the frequent haplogroups that the study focuses on i.e., 7300 BP for B4a1a, 7900 BP for E1a1a, and 11,400 BP for M7c3c, all seem to early to0 correspond to the commonly given dates for an Out of Taiwan expansion of Proto-Austronesian, which is generally place more in the range of 5000 BP.
DNA Analysis Laboratory, Natural Sciences Research Institute, Miranda Hall, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.
Relatively little is known about the genetic diversity of the Philippine population, and this is an important gap in our understanding of Southeast Asian and Oceanic prehistory. Here we describe mtDNA variation in 423 Philippine samples and analyze them in the context of the genetic diversity of other Southeast Asian populations. The majority of Philippine mtDNA types are shared with Taiwanese aboriginal groups and belong to haplogroups of post-glacial and pre-Neolithic origin which have previously been identified in East Asian and Island Southeast Asian populations. Analysis of Hypervariable Segment I sequence variation within individual mtDNA haplogroups indicates a general decrease in the diversity of the most frequent types (B4a1a, E1a1a, M7c3c) from the Taiwanese aborigines to the Philippines and Sulawesi, although calculated standard error measures overlap for these populations. This finding, together with the geographical distribution of ancestral and derived haplotypes of the B4a1a sub-clade including the Polynesian Motif, is consistent with southward dispersal of these lineages "Out of Taiwan" via the Philippines to Near Oceania and Polynesia. In addition to the mtDNA components shared with Taiwanese aborigines, complete sequence analyses revealed a minority of lineages in the Philippines which share their origins - possibly dating back to the Paleolithic - with haplogroups from Indonesia and New Guinea. Other rare lineages in the Philippines have no closely related types yet identified elsewhere.
Earlier in this blog I mentioned that word tumbaga is used both in the Philippines and across the Pacific in the Americas to refer to a gold-copper alloy.
At one time it was thought that both the word and technology had crossed the seas from the Philippines to the Americas during Spanish times with the trade galleons. Tumbaga involves depletion gilding or electrochemical replacement to make the alloy appear as pure gold on the surface -- on both sides of the Pacific
However, the archaeological evidence clearly shows that tumbaga technology was known in the Americas long before Columbus sailed to America.
An abstract of a recent study (below) of the royal tombs of Sipan in Peru shows that there was evidence of tumbaga among the Moche between between 50 and 700 CE.
Dip. di Matematica e Fisica, Università di Sassari, via Vienna 2, 07100, Sassari, Italy.
On the north coast of present-day Peru flourished approximately between 50 and 700 AD, the Moche civilization. It was an advanced culture and the Moche were sophisticated metalsmiths, so that they are considered as the finest producers of jewels and artefacts of the region. The Moche metalworking ability was impressively demonstrated by the objects discovered by Walter Alva and coworkers in 1987, in the excavations of the "Tumbas Reales de Sipán". About 50 metal objects from these excavations, now at the namesake Museum, in Lambayeque, north of Peru, were analyzed with a portable equipment using energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence. This portable equipment is mainly composed of a small size X-ray tube and a thermoelectrically cooled X-ray detector. Standard samples of gold and silver alloys were employed for quantitative analysis. It was determined that the analyzed artefacts from the "Tumbas Reales de Sipán" are mainly composed of gold, silver and copper alloys, of gilded copper and of tumbaga, the last being a poor gold alloy enriched at the surface by depletion gilding, i.e. removing copper from the surface.
Here in California it is officially Filipino American History Month. The celebration is also observed by Filipino organizations throughout the United States.
One important contribution of Filipino Americans to American culture is in the area of martial arts. And there is an interesting link here that we can tie in with the subject of this blog specifically to the towns of Macabebe and Masantol in Pampanga. Both these towns were previously one town known as Macabebe.
The old chronicles of Zhao Rugua (Chao Ju-Kua) mention cotton and silk material that was imported into Sanfotsi, but does not tell us how these fabrics were used. In Ma Tuan-lin's geographical encyclopedia of the Sung Dynasty, he mentions several instances of fabrics sent to the Chinese emperor as gifts from Sanfotsi.
In 962, the king Li-si-lin-nan-ni-ji-lai sent "beautiful fabrics" along with his envoys to the emperor. In 975, hats, belts and silk garments were sent as gifts, and in 1082, the Sanfotsi king's daughter sent textile gifts to the maritime prefect who refused to receive them until he had permission from the imperial palace.
Zhao Rugua mentions mats coming from Sanfotsi, Sansu and Tanjungwulo. The mats from Sanfotsi were considered the best in quality. These mats were said to be made from a plant resembling the rattan palm.
Macabebe was a famous center for the silk and cotton weaving and for the production of mats and sugar sacks (bayones). The town held a monopoly on the production of rayadillo military uniform. The Philippines in general has long been famous for mats, and Macabebe was considered a prime source of high quality mats that were made of the fiber of the wild banana, known as abaca, of sasa palm leaves, and other materials. The sasa palm may be the rattan-like plant mentioned by Zhao Rugua. Abaca was also spun into thread for clothing and such cloth was called sinamay and was very popular with the natives but too coarse for most foreigners. Weaving in Macabebe was done with a native loom made of wood and cord.
According to Hugo H. Miller in the late 20th century, the Macabebe cloth traders, mentioned by Leo Giron in the video above, were often small landowners whose families 'tended the farm' while they were gone. Only a minority had any investments in their own business and most borrowed money at high interest rates from a few wealthy Macabebe families. Some also took loans, often unsecured, of goods from Chinese merchants.
When my father was young in Masantol, the children would help make mats from sasa leaves that my grandmother would sell to supplement the income of my grandfather, who was a Philippine Scout. So, this activity was still thriving up until World War II.
The fabrics, mats and other products were traded all over the Philippines from northern Luzon, where Giron hailed from, to Mindanao in the South. The merchants usually sold the materials to families with whom they had developed special relationships who in turn sold them to others in the area.
Giron and Filipino martial arts in America
Giron created his own style of Filipino martial arts that incorporated the two-handed Estilo Macabebe and Sinawali forms of fighting. The rods used for this martial art form in the Philippines were often made from fan palm trees. The first graduate of Giron's style was Dan Inosanto.
Inosanto was one of the few students of the fighting style of famed martial arts star Bruce Lee, which is known as Jeet Kune Do. He was the only student granted the right to teach the highest third level of Jeet Kune Do. But Inosanto is also famed as the man who taught Lee "how to wield the chuks," i.e., the Okinawan weapon known as the nunchaku. Inosanto used the nunchaku in a two-handed style known as double nunchaku.
Inosanto uses double nunchaku starting at 0:27 in the video.
Inosanto had many noteworthy students including his daughter Diane Lee Inosanto, who is also a martial arts star; the late Brandon Lee, son of Bruce Lee; Paul Vunak; and even Denzel Washington trained with Inosanto for the movie "The Book of Eli." The stick fighting organization known as The Dog Brothers was formed at the Inosanto Academy in Marina Del Rey.
Often when one sees any type of double weapon fighting in Hollywood movies there is an influence from the double sinawali or "weaving" style of Macabebe. For example, Filipino martial arts were used as models for the Star Wars franchise through the influence of Roel Robles and Jonathan Soriben. The use of two blades in Star Wars is known in the story as Jar'Kai.
Anakin Skywalker uses double light sabers briefly against Count Dooku (starting at 1:40) in Star Wars Episode II.
Regards, Paul Kekai Manansala Sacramento
References
Hamm, Margherita Arlina. Manila and the Philippines. London: F.T. Neely, 1898, 59-60.
Mendel, Bob. "The Nunchaku," Black Belt Aug. 1994, 19.
Ma, Duanlin, and Léon Hervey de Saint-Denys. Ethnographie des peuples étrangers à la Chine: ouvrage composé au XIIIe siècle de notre ère. Atsume gusa, 4. Genève: H. Georg, 1876, 559-564.
Maclennan, Marshall S. The Central Luzon plain. 1980, 78.
Miller, Hugo Herman. Economic Conditions in the Philippines. Boston: Ginn and Co, 1920, 423.
Philippines, Ignacio Villamor, and Felipe Buencamino. Census of the Philippine Islands Taken Under the Direction of the Philippine Legislature in the Year 1918. Manila: Bureau of printing, 1920, 236.
The peoples in the regions around Arayat and Pinatubo considered these mountains sacred and they had various ritual and practices concerning the mountains that are known to an extent.
Animism -- certain trees, stones, caves, streams, etc., were thought to harbor special spirits called Anito. Aduarte in 1640, for example, mentions a sacred speaking stone among the Sambals. Certain black rocks were considered to be remnants of Sinukuan's great bridge before it was demolished.
Every valley, river, rock, outcrop, or tree in Pinatubo had a significance in Aeta lore. (Elder and Wong 1996:280)
Careri states that fruit and other products of Arayat should only be eaten while on the mountain. It was taboo to carry them to the lowlands. According to Serrano, one should first ask permission before taking any fruit of the mountain:
Apo dinan mo ku pu, ke pung mangan darening tanaman mo "Lord, please grant this to me which I would like to eat from your fruit trees."
One should not commit acts of greed on the mountain like excessive logging (Dominador G. David, Pampangan Folklore Stories, 1917) or gold mining (Manuel Carreon, Pampangan Legends, 1917). One should not even have greed in one's heart in case you should come upon Sinukuan or his daughters, who often test people in this regard.
The bathing pool of Sinukuan on Arayat was considered a place of healing where the sick could come and bathe to free themselves of illness.
Both Pinatubo and Arayat, or their deities are believed to control the weather, especially when angry. Prayers are made to these mountains/deities for help during inclement weather. Hiromu Shimizu relates an incident in which Pan Bangay, a Pinatubo Ayta, made an offering to appease Apo Pinatubo. The pair had come close to the mountain and it suddenly became dark and started raining. Pan Bangay lit a straw from Shimizu's hat and uttered the following appeal:
Pakida-ep mo Apo Pinatubo, agmo kay kik oranan Apo Pinatubo, kapapa-ingalo ya kik nabaha ang! (Grandfather Pinatubo, please smell the smoke. Don't expose us to the rain, have pity for we will get wet!)
When Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991, the Ayta held a manganito seance in which they said that they were informed that Apo Namalyari was angry due to modern commercial encroachment on Pinatubo. They conducted the talbeng ritual to appease Pinatubo and to ask Apo Namalyari to bring back the forest.
Be kind to animals, insects, plants, etc., on Arayat and do not even point at them unnecessarily for fear of angering Sinukuan. (Eugenio 1993:180)
Batung Maputi, the White Rock of Arayat. Legendary location of Sinukuan's palace.
One way of reconstructing the original motifs and themes of the local legends is to ascertain which ones are found independently from at least a few sources. In practice though, it is often easy to discern when outside myths and legends are mixed into those of local origin.
Here are some of the recurring themes and motifs involving Pinatubo and Arayat:
Power of mountains/deities to control weather, earthquakes
Deities of mountains involved in creation of land formations
Excessive logging, mining angers mountain deities
Deities live inside their respective mountains. Sinukuan has a underground palace of gold or bronze.
Sinukuan's daughters, usually three in number, like to interact with humans trading gold for pig's feed (darac "rice husks")
Sinukuan was very rich with gold and generous giving away gold and magical items.
Malyari is associated with Moon and Sinukuan with Sun. Many of their children are also associated with the heavenly bodies or locations in the sky where the Sun sets, crosses the zenith, etc.
Sinukuan and Malyari are associated with a bridge to each other's mountain or to some other mountain or area.
Marital and courtship relations existed between the gods of Pinatubo and Arayat. However, they also engage in land-altering battles.
Both mountains have many taboos and restrictions against desecration. The sacred mountains are meant to remain in a natural and unspoiled state as much as possible.
Anything that originates on the mountains is sacred.
The White Rock (Batung Maputi) is the location of the entrace to Sinukuan's palace.
A future eruption from Pinatubo was expected.
There is the myth recorded by Beyer, and also a warning before the last eruption that Ayta elders gave their children that Apo Pinatubo Namalyari would awake and throw stones if they did not behave. (Rodolfo 1995:88)
Elder, John, and Hertha Dawn Wong. Family of Earth and Sky: Indigenous Tales of Nature from Around the World. The Concord library. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994.
Rodolfo, K. Pinatubo and politics of lahar. Eruption and Aftermath, 1991, University of the Philippines Press, 1995.
Shimizu, Hiromu. Pinatubo Aytas: Continuity and Change. Quezon City, Metro Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1989, 50.
The axis mundi is where sky, earth and underworld meet. That this term applied to both Pinatubo and Arayat is evident by the deities that inhabited these mountains. Malyari, the Moon on Pinatubo, and Sinukuan, the Sun on Arayat.
Sinukuan had among his children Munag Sumalâ, the Dawn, and Ugtu, the Noontime. Among Malyari's children is Sisilim, the Setting of the Sun. In one version (Eugenio 1983, 180), the daughters of Sinukuan are known as the Three Marias (Tres Marias), which is a name given to the three stars of Orion's Belt. Furthermore, Tala, the planet Venus and the Morning Star, is said to descend either from Sinukuan (Apolaqui) and the Moon (Mayari), or from the marriage of Munag Sumalâ and Manalastas, the Rooster, the son of Malyari.
Not only do these deities live on the two sacred mountains, but they are expressly said in multiple accounts to live within the mountains, i.e., in the Underworld. The golden palace of Sinukuan within Arayat, for example, is featured in many of the legends of this region. Sinukuan's palace, according to the accounts, could generally only be accessed by mortals through magical intervention.
In a myth found among the fisherfolk in Masantol, the creator deity Mangatia or Mangetchay, whose name means "net weaver," created the sky as a great net with the stars as the holes or "eyes." After finishing this cosmic net, Mangatia dropped the sewing needle to the Earth and the former became either Mt. Arayat, or Batung Maputi (White Rock). The latter is a massive white rock formation near the peak of Arayat, where many legends say the magical entrance to Sinukuan's subterranean palace is located.
I mentioned earlier in this blog, that the Kapampangans apparently had two geographical centers -- one in the North in Upper Pampanga, and one in the South in Lower Pampanga, where the trading seaports were located. The northern center was located between Pinatubo and Arayat with the latter mountain indicating the direction of the East, and the mouth of the Pampanga River, the direction of the South. From the cosmic perspective, this area between the two great luminaries -- Sun and Moon -- was the center of the world.
Battle between the Sun and Moon
The fighting between Malyari and Sinukuan is also a conflict between the Sun and Moon. The most common form of this myth takes the form of a widespread theme that extends beyond the Philippines. R. Rahmann in his work "Quarrels and Enmity between the Sun and the Moon: A Contribution to the Mythologies of the Philippines, India, and the Malay Peninsula," traces this theme from Southeast Asia to India.
The quarrel between the two orbs is usually started due to the intense heat of the Sun, often together with his progeny. After the battle, the Moon, which was once as bright or brighter than Sun, takes on a subordinate position. In many cases, this theme is combined together with the motif of a cataclysm of fire-rain or fire-water on the earth. There is also, especially in the Philippines, an accompanying land-forming theme with new formations caused by the huge boulders hurled by the combatants.
The motifs of great heat, fire, water, flying stones, and the new land formations in connection with the mountains is easy to interpret as volcanic activity -- an indication of the geographical origin of these myths.
Many of the accounts of the battle between Malyari and Sinukuan do not actually mention Pinatubo by name. Often "Mount Zambales" or a more vague reference to the Zambales mountains is mentioned instead. H. Otley Beyer recorded many of these in his unpublished Philippine Folklore, Social Customs and Beliefs Vol. IX (Pampanga),a collection of papers written by his students during the early 20th century. In many cases, the accounts are clearly mixed with other folk material. For example, the tale of Sinukuan's friends including Carguin Cargon and Supla Supling are taken from the Spanish legend of Lucifer's Ear.
Here are some of the stories of the battle between Sinukuan and his opponent from Zambales.
Sinukuan battles with the young prince, the son of Storm God of the Sambal mountains after the latter comes courting Maya, the youngest and favorite daughter of Sinukuan. (Parker 1929)
According to Alfredo Nicdao in 1916, Mt. Zambales was a great single mountain in former times inhabited by a friend of Suku (Sinukuan) who came one day to ask for the hand of one of Suku's daughter's in marriage. This angered Suku and the two engaged in a stone throwing battle that broke Zambales into a mountain range and flattened the top of Arayat. (Beyer, undated)
Dominador G. David in 1917 tells of a giant in Zambales mountain who challenged and defeated the king of Arayat. The latter was killed and his son Sinukuan took his place, and later he eventually married the daughter of the lord of Zambales. (Beyer, undated)
In 1915, Beyer recorded a myth of the Ayta living in Zambales that sounds very much like a volcanic eruption of Pinatubo, but mentions neither Malyari or Sinukuan. Instead, the battle is between Algao, which may be northern name for the Sun (related to Aldo), and Bacobaco, a great sea turtle. This Bacobaco may be related to the legend of the Baconaua, usually described as a sea serpent or whale. However, Baconaua has a sister that is a great sea turtle according to most accounts. Baconaua was not the Moon but the great serpent that was said to swallow the Moon during an eclipse.
Now, in the Ayta account Algao and Bacobaco have a great battle in which the latter eventually bores into the top of Pinatubo creating a great crater and emitting great flames, huge rocks, mud, ashes, smoke and deafening noise in the process. According to the legend, Bacobaco continued to dwell in the mountain and when he comes out "woe be to us."
The body of myths surrounding Malyari and Sinukuan clearly show their dual opposition to one another. Generally speaking, Sinukuan is depicted as male although a few accounts portray him as female. Malyari seems to be portrayed more as female, at least if all the myths of the region are taken into account, but sometimes also has a male identity. Despite their periodic enmity, Sinukuan is often said to be married to Malyari's daughter, or vice a versa, and their children also court and marry one another.
Here is a general breakdown of the dual aspects of these deities and their respective mountains.
Pinatubo/Malyari The western direction, south, female, mother, wife, daughter, hidden, gregarious, wide, sea, creation, beginning, birth, water, storm, bird
The belief in a future eruption of Mt. Pinatubo is mentioned above in the account of Algao and Bacobaco, and also in an earlier post on the myth of the battle of Aldau and Bulan. Damiana Eugenio, in her 1993 work (p. 179), relates traditions of a future return of Sinukuan:
Many barrio folks still say that some time in the future Sinukuan may come out again. Mt. Arayat used to be the home of the Colorums who waited for Sinukuan to come out of his cave and to find a new paradise on earth for them.
A colorum is a messianic group -- the name coming from a local corruption of Latin et saecula saeculorum "world without end."
(to be continued)
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
Beyer, H. Otley. Philippine Folklore, Social Customs and Beliefs Vol. IX (Pampanga), unpublished and undated. Part of thePhilippine Ethnographic Series that was destroyed during World War II. Carbon copies were preserved by the National Library of Australia, which subsequently copied the works on microfiche.
__ (compiler).Ethnography of the Negrito-Aeta Peoples, Manila, 1915.
Rahmann, Rudolf . “Quarrels and Enmity between the Sun and the Moon. A Contribution to the Mythologies of the Philippines, India, and the Malay Peninsula,” Folklore Studies, Vol. 14, 1955 (1955), pp. 202-214.
The oral traditions involving the mountains Pinatubo and Arayat are quite vast, and I want to give an outline of some of these along with a bit of analysis. However, given that many of the works that might discuss these mountains and their traditions are buried in extensive archives that are not well-indexed, this will be an on-going process.
The earliest explicit mention of name "Arayat" and its main deity "Sinukuan" that I have been able to uncover is the travel diary of Gemelli Careri in 1696:
In Pampanga, and right on the mountain called Bondo [Bondoc], or Kalaya [Alaya], being a league and a half high (which was previously under the rule of Sinoquan and Mingan) are plantains, betels, and other fruits. They say they may eat these fruits on the spot, but if anyone carries them down they either fall down dead, or become lame. Perhaps the Devil (by God's permission) causes such strange accidents, to keep those people in paganism; but the Indians themselves also play their part for they are famous sorcerers and are said often to convert themselves into crocodiles, wild boars, and other forms.
The Bondo and Kalaya come from "Bondok Alaya" or "Mount Alaya," the original name of Arayat. Sinoquan is obviously Apung Sinukuan, who is portrayed here as a ruler of Arayat along with Mingan, a name that in most traditions is that of Sinukuan's wife, but occasionally occurs also as the name of one of his daughters.
As for Sinukuan's opposite -- Apo na Malyari (Apung Mallari) and Mt. Pinatubo -- the earliest reference I have found so far comes from a manuscript titled "Relation of the Zambals" by Domingo Perez in 1680. Malyari is mentioned primarily in reference to the sacrifices made by the Bayoc, the Sambal high priest, and Pinatubo ("Pinatuba") is noted for its rock slides during the rainy season (Blair and Robertson 1903).
These accounts are rather brief and do not provide detailed information. For example, no connection is made between the god Malyari and Pinatubo.
Modern ethnography
We begin to learn more about the myths and legends of these mountains when a renaissance in learning about indigenous culture occurred among the leaders of the Propaganda Movement and the Philippine Revolution starting around the 1880s. These studies intensified after American colonization among both American and Filipino scholars.
During this time, we learn that Sinukuan was also known by other names: Aldo "Sun," and Apolaqui "Lord Male," or possibly "Lord Grandfather." The myths suggest that knowledge of Sinukuan was more widely spread than the areas of Pampanga and nearby Zambales.
For example, Apolaqui was also known throughout most of Luzon where he is variously called Apolaki, Apolake, etc., often in myths that resemble that of the battle of the Sun and Moon, or Aldo and Bulan, that is associated with Arayat and Pinatubo.
Diego Aduarte in 1640 mentions Apolaqui as a war god in Pangasinan.
The Bolinao Manuscript mentions the Sambal priestess Bolindauan in 1684 who has Apolaqui as her Anito (personal deity).
Dean Fansler in 1921 writes of a legend told to him by Leopoldo Layug of Guagua that tells of the battle between the brother Apolaqui, the Sun, and his sister, Mayari (Malyari), the Moon.
F. Landa Jocano, much later in 1969 relates a similar tale to that mentioned by Fansler among the Tagalogs involving Apolake and Mayari, who again are the personifications of the Sun and Moon.
In 1918, A. L. Kroeber records that Apolaki is considered a mountain monster in Bikol, the southernmost part of Luzon, and that the term is also used as a name for God among Christians in Pangasinan and Ilocos, the northern areas of Luzon.
From these examples, we can see that the myths of Apolaqui and Mayari were linked with the spirits of the Sun and Moon. A similar legend from Pampanga tells of the supreme deity Mangetchay (Mangatai) who is said to live in the Sun while his wife dwells in the Moon, and his daughter lived on Venus, the Morning Star (Eugenio 1993, 64).
Where these myths of the Sun and Moon are not explicitly linked with Arayat and Pinatubo respectively, we can still surmise the connection. For example, the goddess Malyari, the personification of the Moon, has a name that relates to the local Pinatubo Ayta and Sambal people. "Malyari" is also a native Kapampangan word that Bergano derives from the word yari "cosa acabada, perfeccionada ['something finished, perfected']" and gives three alternate forms: malyari, milyari and malalyari.
That Malyari is the deity of Pinatubo is agreed upon by the Ayta, Sambal and Kapampangans. The Pinatubo Ayta call this deity Apo Namalyari (Apo na Malyari) or Apo Pinatubo (Schebesta 1959).
Naturally, the Sun would be located to the east of Pinatubo in Bondoc Alaya, which literally means "Mountain of the East."
Mythology gives Arayat and the Zambales mountain range a common origin as noted by Cornélis De Witt Willcox writing in 1912:
According to the native legend, this mountain [Arayat] used to form part of the Zambales range. It became, however, by reason of its quarrelsome disposition, so objectionable to its neighbors of this range, that they finally resolved no longer to endure its cantankerousness and accordingly banished it to its present position in the plain of Central Luzon, where it would have no neighbors to annoy, and where it has stood ever since, rising solitary from the surrounding plain.
The idea of Arayat belonging at one time, before separating, to another (unnamed) mountain range is also mentioned in the story that Don Pedro Serrano heard from an octogenarian informant in 1889. It was from these and similar legends that the likely latter ideas of Arayat separating from Candaba or Tapang, Nueva Ecija. That the Zambales origin tale was the original one is too obvious from the actual geology of Arayat.
According to the leading theory, Arayat is a back arc of the same mountain range that includes the Zambales Mountains. And this fact would be fairly obvious to keen observers as a note by Richard von Drasche in 1876 demonstrates:
If one were to draw a line from Monte Pinatubo to the isolated mountain of Arayat in the plain, one would notice that all the rivers north of this line flow in a northeasterly direction, while all those south of it flow in a southeasterly direction toward Rio Grande de la Pampanga. This circumstance may be observed particularly plainly from the top of the Arayat, where I first noticed this slope of the plain in both directions, increasing toward Monte Pinatubo. East of Monte Arayat this circumstance disappears entirely.
The connection between the two mountains was alluded to in the idea of a cloud bridge mentioned in Luther Parker's Sinukuan tales published in 1929. This cloud bridge was likely the origin of other bridges that are said to have been built from Arayat to Dayat, Candaba, Makiling and elsewhere. These bridges likely arose from the perception of a ridge, alluded to above, existing between Pinatubo and Arayat -- a formation that probably also gave birth to the latter legends of a tunnel connection between Arayat, Makiling and Banahaw mountains.
(to be continued)
Sincerely, Paul Kekai Manansala Sacramento
References
Blair, Emma Helen, James Alexander Robertson, and Edward Gaylord Bourne. The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803: Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, As Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century. Cleveland, Ohio: A.H. Clark Co, 1903, 296, 302-4.
Drasche, Richard von. "The volcanic region around Manila," Proceedings of the Royal Geological Service, 1876.
Eugenio, Damiana L. Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths, University of the Philippines Press, 1993.
Careri, Gemelli Giovanni Francesco. Giro del mondo del dottor D. Gio: Francesco Gemelli Careri. T[omo] qu[a]r[t]a contenente le c[ose] più regguardevoli vedute nella Cina. In Napoli: Nella stamperia di Giuseppe Roselli, 1708, 137-8.
Another set of myths related to the raising of the sky and the end of the great heat is found among the highland peoples of Mindanao and Luzon in the Philippines. In many mythologies of the Philippines and surrounding regions, the pre-diluvian and/or pre-scorching period was either a golden age or at least a period of normalcy[i].This supports the idea that the low height of the sky is a post-creation event.There was still a memory of times when the seas were not rising and temperatures were not so warm.
In one Ifugao version in northern Luzon, the golden age is followed by drought that spurs people to dig for springs of water.They finally reach a great underwater fountain, apparently a form of the great navel of the Earth found in other regional myths. Waters gushing from the spring cause the Great Deluge[ii].
Manobo and Bagobo myths tell also of the Great Scorching that endangers all life.People cannot plant, or do not know planting yet, and cannot even reproduce properly to populate the land.After Tuglibong or Mona raises the sky by striking it with her pestle, a golden age ensues, people begin to multiply and crops are planted.Either Tuglibong or her daughter Mebuyan creates a great hole into the Underworld when her spinning rice mortar drills into the Earth.The mortar is placed at the center of the Earth when the rice is pounded, and one version places it on a mound.This imagery could suggest the cosmic mountain, in this case a volcano whose crater is seen reaching into the bowels of the Earth[iii].
The Earth opening created by the mortar, the world spring created by the Ifugao and the widespread motif of the “navel of the sea” found in the Philippines and throughout much of Insular Southeast Asia all appear related[iv].They are generally linked in some way either with the flood or with control of the flood, or with the ebbing and flowing of the tide.
The navel of the sea drains the waters of the ocean keeping the seas from rising too high.It is also widely seen as responsible for the changing tides. The opening created by Tuglibong or Mebuyan leads to the Black River of the Underworld, which can be seen as related to the underground oceanic waters originating from the cosmic drain. In Pampanga, myths of the battle between the gods of Arayat, on the one hand, and Pinatubo or Sambal gods on the other, are often seen in the light of a great deluge or storm[v].The battle between the two mountain gods could allegorically represent a volcanic eruption as the two deities hurl rocks at each other.
We also find in this region the common theme of the battle between the Sun and the Moon[vi], something that I submit can be seen as a reference to the cataclysm of fire, and water or steam, that occurs during an eruption.This set of motifs not only occurs widely in the Philippines but also can be found in many parts of Southeast Asia and reaches all the way to India. In many cases, the quarrel starts because of the intense heat caused by the Sun and his progeny.After the battle, we again see the start of a new age when things are more or less stable, and in which the Moon, once the superior or equal to the Sun, takes a subordinate position.
In Eden in the East, Dr. Oppenheimer mentions a legend of the deluge combined with a fiery cataclysm in classical Hindu texts.The theme appears to link with mythologies of various Austro-Asiatic, Tibeto-Burmese, Daic and other peoples in India and Southeast Asia often together with the motif of the Sun-Moon battle. In these myths, we often find a catastrophe of fire-rain or fire-water upon the Earth[vii], along with the motif of excessive heat from the Sun and his children.
We have then three different causes for the Great Scorching: 1) The low height of the sky and thus the Sun, 2) the multiplicity of Suns, or 3) the excess heat of the Sun usually combined together with that of his progeny. In each case, the intense heat threatens the world and is usually solved by violent action such as striking the sky to raise it higher, shooting down the superfluous Suns, or a battle between the Moon and the Sun.
When the problems related to the Sun’s heat are resolved, the other plagues of rising seas, floods, drought and fire-rain finally subside as well although the resolution is in itself usually cataclysmic. Moreover, the final event is often easily interpreted as indicating a volcanic eruption with falling ashes, embers and rocks; even the descriptions of the falling Suns can be seen as large spewed fireballs or fiery ash clouds descending to the Earth. If we study the distribution of these motifs, we find a strong circum-Pacific association.
Therefore, the ancient peoples around Sundaland, I would suggest, sought to explain global climate changes, as they experienced them regionally, through myth.Memories of a previous stable climate were preserved in ideas of an ancient golden age that preceded the great flood or great heat.
These latter events, due to rising temperatures and rising sea levels, were explained in various ways, most commonly through the idea of a low sky and Sun. It may be that Asian brown clouds, the result of more frequent and intense forest fires linked to global warming, helped in the development of the belief of the low height of the sky.
A volcanic eruption centralized along the Nusantao trade routes was, in turn, connected through both coincidental and causative events with positive changes in climate and sea levels.The fireballs of the eruption were visualized as superfluous Suns, and back-linked with the Great Scorching.These Suns, shot down and submerged in the sea, consumed the excess water flows thus controlling sea levels.In other myths, the eruption opened up or cleared the ocean’s great cosmic drain.
These explanations were created by the ancients to both explain and record events of a truly cataclysmic nature that had changed their societies.
Now, having offered my hypothesis on the nature and origin of these myths, I would like to turn to something that Prof. Odal-Devora requested of me when she invited me to this prestigious event. That is to explore the ancient flood myths in relation to the modern situation of global warming and rising sea levels.
Myth often contains moral lessons and warnings in the form of prophecy.The recording of natural calamities may have been meant as a warning for future generations. What happened before could, and probably will, happen again. You might be surprised to find out that even some modern geologists have even created a new field of research known as geomythology[viii].
Geomythologists study ancient legends for clues that might indicate potential for natural disaster that has not yet been revealed by scientific research.
Patrick Nunn from Fiji, for example, was contracted by the French government to study Pacific myths for warning clues of natural disasters.Nunn became a believer in the power of geomythology in 2002 when road construction revealed signs of a recent volcanic eruption on the island of Kadavu supporting local legend.Previously he had dismissed such traditional lore because scientific studies showed the last volcanic activity was tens of thousands of years old[ix].
Probably the best recent example of how ancient legends can instruct future generations came during the recent devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean.The Moken, nomadic sea gypsies living in Thailand, preserve myths that warn of sudden and dramatic receding tides creating ‘man-eating waves, that people should escape by heading for high ground[x].
During the 2004 tsunami, which killed 300,000 people, the Moken heeded this ancient knowledge and survived the terrible disaster.
Moken traditions may serve as one example of how ancient myths can serve a very practical purpose for future generations.We know that in the present many indigenous peoples have a deep reverence for nature.
The Agta people of Cagayan in northern Luzon know that fire could be put to great advantage when used wisely[xi].Fire could clear land for agriculture, but if the fire were allowed to get out of control, the land would produce no food. Agta use fire to attract animals during hunting, and the smoke from fire aids them on their expeditions for honey and red ant larvae and eggs.They also use smoke to repel insects and snakes, and the ashes from fire to repel parasites.Like the Hanunoo of Mindoro, the Agta realize that fire must not endanger the regeneration of fallow land.The Hanunoo watched over the trees on fallow land to make sure they were not cut down prematurely and they placed firebreaks around all swidden land to protect the fallow[xii].
When used wisely fire could help reduce the forest load actually helping to prevent forest fires.However, the slash-and-burn methods of modern commercial farmers have rejected the old ideas of natural balance.
Lowland slash-and-burn farmers quickly exhaust the land and promote topsoil loss, landslides and flooding[xiii].The excessive fire and smoke soon disturbs the ecological balance in the region resulting often in loss of both forest and agricultural land.
In the present-day, we have seen how the loss of knowledge of the natural balance may cost humanity and the rest of the world dearly through unnatural processes of global warming.Not that global warming is itself unnatural. The flooding of Sundaland was not the fault of our ancestors.
However, modern humans are causing climate change to occur before its natural cycle.We are bringing on misery at a global scale before its natural time. Like slash-and-burn farmers, modern industry is unwisely dumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at an ever-increasing rate, changing global weather patterns.
Moreover, we are beginning to feel nature’s wrath. Although we may not be able to avoid all the consequences of our past actions, we can still come to an accord again with nature, with our parents, the Earth and Sky, and in the process realize the wisdom of our ancestors.
[i] Damiana L. Eugenio. Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths, University of the Philippines Press, 1993, 103-113.
[ii] Otley Beyer. “Origin myths among the mountain peoples of the Philippines,” The Philippine journal of science April 1913. [Vol. 8, no. D], 112.
[vi] Rudolf Rahmann. “Quarrels and Enmity between the Sun and the Moon. A Contribution to the Mythologies of the Philippines, India, and the Malay Peninsula,” Folklore Studies, Vol. 14, 1955 (1955), pp. 202-214.
