Tag Archives: filipino myth

Malakas and Maganda – Filipino Creation Story

Age: 19
  1. Text: Filipino Creation Story – Malakas and Maganda

Context: “The creation story that I was told is pretty long and in-depth, but I’ll give you a general summary of it. I have been taught this same creation story since before I can remember. Although I was sent to a Catholic school where we learned about Adam and Eve, my parents engrained this version in my mind, because it is what is believed in Filipino culture.

Basically, to summarize, our god, Bathala, watched over the world, before there was any life. One day, Bathala sent a bird to fly over the water. The bird wanted to find somewhere to land, but everything around it was sea. The bird was angry, so it started to flap its wings, which caused waves to crash. In response, lightning was formed which crashed at the sea, and that’s what caused the first island to be created, the Philippines. Then, Bathala grew a bamboo stalk on the new island. The bird pecked at it and when it opened, a man and woman emerged, Malakas and Maganda. They were the first Tagalog people, created from nature, and our ancestors came from them. They started our world, and we are all the children of them. We express this as, “anak nina Malakas at Maganda” (a child of the first man and woman).

After I heard this story, I started to say “anak nina Malakas at Maganda” and realized how my friends whose parents were also born in the Philippines said this too. I remember that this connection made me feel a strong attachment to my culture. Even if I didn’t remember every detail of the story, I knew the importance of my origins. I always resonated with the bamboo stalk after this, as I thought it was inspiring how life could be created from something as simple as bamboo. To this day, it is a symbol that represents strength and flexibility.”

Analysis: The creation story of Malakas and Maganda is an example of a myth. It explains the beginning of the world and humanity. It also has a sacred value to it; it has a non-literary truth. Myths are fundamental to cultures and they address big questions. Science doesn’t have a clear answer for how our world began, but creation stories can offer one. This Filipino creation story has ties to nature mythology and solar mythology, as theorized by Max Muller. It shows how nature, specifically the sea and sky, as well as the Sun, produces the land, and how life also emerges from nature, specifically bamboos.

This myth has very deep cultural values. Malakas, the male counterpart of the bamboo stalk, represents strength and Maganda, the female counterpart, represents beauty. This reflects the balance of power and grace, which are often associated with male and female genders, respectively. These principles work together to balance the earth. As a result, this story functions as a foundational narrative: it sets up cultural expectations about gender, society, and origin. This can influence how people think about things like marriage, gender roles, and morality.

The bamboo stalk itself is a sacred object. This connects to the idea of naturalizing culture, where the environment becomes sacred and fundamental to who people are. As the interviewee mentioned, to be “anak nina Malakas at Maganda” is not just a poetic phrase but rather a folk phrase of identity.

Her version of the story also expresses the idea of oral tradition. She says that the full story is long and in-depth meaning there are many versions. Myths like this don’t change rapidly, but are adapted in small ways to meet the values of each generation. This reflects how folklore is not canonized, and instead, slight adaptations can be made over time. There are also different oicotypes and variations of this story that exist in different cultures. For example, Adam and Eve are the male and female versions in Christianity. The idea of a man and woman emerging together shows the universal value of balance in creation stories.

This story also has a very strong folk concept of identity. People believe in this myth because it ties people’s identities to their ancestry, land, and place in the world. This shows how ethnonationalist ideas form, as these narratives give people a sense of ethnic identity.

The Pineapple Story

Text: The Pineapple Story (Filipino Myth)

Context: My informant told me that the story is of a mother and daughter living together. The daughter Pina was very lazy. One day, the mom was busy doing work outside their house. She asked Pina to cook lunch for both of them. When Pina went to do so, she had to ask her mother where things were. every time she needed something, she didn’t know where it was in their own kitchen. After that, the mother became annoyed and wished her daughter had a lot of eyes like a pineapple. That way, her daughter would at least know where everything is. The next day, the mother noticed a pineapple had grown outside their house. She also noticed her daughter was missing. Then she remembered what she said and realized the pineapple was her daughter.

She interprets this story as a lesson to be more hardworking, and to be less lazy because it is important to contribute to helping your family. This story is something that she’s told to her own children and has heard it from her own family. 

Analysis: 

This Filipino folklore is a tale and myth. As it is a story that does not really get questioned, because a girl did not really turn into a pineapple. But it is also a myth because it gives an easier reason to understand that children should respect their parents and their elders. 

It is a family story with a lesson and a punishment. With the context provided by my informant, it does not seem to be something to believe that pineapples really come from a mother wishing that her daughter would become a fruit. But rather as a tale to respect your elders and to work harder. The daughter was very lazy and disrespectful to her mother. And as a result she was cursed, or in other words it was her punishment. Filipino culture and Asian cultures in general tend to have a heavy focus on respecting their elders. There are a lot of customs and polite actions and mannerisms in place for the young to pay respects to the previous generations.

Hiwit

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 45
Occupation: Government Employee
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: March 2021
Primary Language: Tagalog
Language: Ilonggo, English

Context:
The interlocutor (JP) is the mother of the interviewer (INT). She and her family grew up in Bacolod, Philippines, and lived there up until she moved in her 20s. Since then, she’s lived in Los Angeles.

Description: (told in person)
(JP): “Apparently ginger was a thing to ward off the spirits, especially for babies. So my family actually got something tailored to fit my body because that would be something that would make me be quiet because babies cry! So, they attract the attention of the spirits, so they would put a…I don’t know, a hex, or what we call hiwit in our language.

And then, it takes, like a, how do you call, like a, like some kind of shaman that has to take the baby or whoever is sick so that they can do whatever… spells? To ward off the spirits.”

(INT): “Because of the noise?”

(JP): “No. Because you-it catches the spirit’s attention! So like when you’re screaming and crying and you’re in the mountainous area or the farmlands, everyone’s gonna be like ‘be quiet!’ because you’re gonna catch their attention. And usually what happens is when someone says that, the person will either have a fever. start throwing up… that’s what they say. Becaus you caught the attention of the bad spirits.”

Interlocutor’s Opinion:
(JP): “I guess it’s true? I haven’t been subject to it, but your uncle has, when he was a kid. He had a fever, and stomach issues… he got really sick and we had to take him to the shaman and then he got better.”

Final Thoughts:
We had discussed how there was a whole genre of stories that were created for the purpose of scaring kids into behaving well. I think Hiwit is unique because it is centered around the idea of scaring kids into good behavior, but also shows that anyone around the hiwit-attractor can be affected. I think it’s interesting how stories such as this one are used to explain unexpected phenomena such as sudden illness, and how deep superstition and folk belief run in communities to try and define the uncertain.

Philippino Folklore: Pagtatawas, Mantanda sa Punso and Engkantos

Nationality: Filipino American
Age: 29
Residence: California
Performance Date: 5/1/2019
Primary Language: English

Context:

The informant is a Filipino American woman in her late twenties. I asked her if she knew any stories or folklore from either friends or possibly any folklore from her family and her culture. She mentioned her mother knew many stories about spirits and creatures in the Philippines. The main piece is told in her own words:

Main Piece:

My mom said there was a point in her life when she always used to be sick with a fever, after she was newly married. Her aunt said she should go back to her hometown to have a Pagtatawas done. Which is a divination ritual in Filipino Psychology. You would allow heated alum or melted candle wax to drip into a bowl of water to make shapes. Those shapes are interpreted and used to diagnose the affliction or disorder. They thought she stepped on a Matanda sa Punso (they’re like little dwarves or gnomes) or something and was sort of being cursed by one. They called someone who performed these kinds of rituals to figure out what was causing her to get sick, and they started describing a place where my mom started getting sick, but not why. Later, she was at her aunt’s place, who sees a lot of these different creatures. She called my mom over and said she’s being followed by an Engkanto and it followed her there. My mom was told if she wanted it to go away to ask it to leave and stop scaring her. Apparently the Engkanto talked to her aunt and described the place where it started following my mom and it was the place the other person described before. It said it was entertained with my mom. Supposedly they’re male versions of what are fairies in the Philippines and are meant to be malevolent and attractive. Apparently, her aunt would sometimes appear to be randomly talking to seemingly no one. That same day my mom says her aunt was talking to someone and was surprised by what she was being told. She said something to the effect of, “Wow! Is that really true???” She said someone was pregnant, and my mom thought she was talking about her. But she was talking to another aunt who was had already gone through menopause. It turns out, that aunt really was pregnant. She had just thought she was putting on weight.

Background:

While visiting with some relatives in the Philippines, the informant was in the kitchen at the dinner table with her mother and cousins and the conversation about someone her cousin knew, experiencing fevers. The informant’s mother, then shared her story about having experienced fevers as well.

Notes:

According to A Handbook on Filipino Folklore by Mellie Leandicho Lopez, Matanda sa Punso are earth spirits. Parents use them as a way to quiet their crying or whining child claiming that the spirits will be angry because they won’t be able to sleep due to the crying. This is similar to other cultures having some form of spirit that will come for the child if they don’t stop crying or misbehaving. It is interesting how in many cultures, parents will use these spirits to instill fear in their children to get them to behave. Engkantos are much like the Matanda sa Punso in that they are environmental spirits however, they take on a human form. They cause ailments in humans like depression or confusion. They are said to be rather attractive but usually have a flaw, for example, a handsome man but with pointy ears or unusual legs.

Aswang

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 21
Occupation: Civil Engineer
Residence: Hawaii/Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 26, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Tagalog

The 21-year-old informant was born in the Philippines, but moved to the U.S. at the age of 9. As ghosts and other mythical creatures play a large role in Filipino culture, the informant recounts personal stories and myths that she encountered during her time in the Philippines.

Informant: “I remember hearing about this when I was little… It’s one of the most common Filipino monsters. They’re shape-shifters who are human by day, and then at night, turn into a bat.

Collector: “What’s it called?”

I: “Aswang. A-s-w-a-n-g. Uhm, what I’ve heard about them is they like to go to pregnant womens’ homes, like right on top of where their room is, and just like, eat their child from there.”

C: “Do they turn into a bat when they do it?”

I: “Yeah they turn into a bat. It’s like half-woman, half-bat, and they go after babies.”