The Filipino Myth on Creation

How did everything on Earth start? This Filipino myth tells us why.

In the beginning, this myth claims, there was nothing on earth—no things, no people. Lumawig, the Great Spirit, came down from the sky and cut many reeds. The myth says he divided these into pairs and placed in various parts of the world. “You must speak”, said Lumawig to the reeds. Instantly, the reeds became humans, men and women who could talk. Their languages differed from each other, the myth adds.

Lumawig, thereafter, commanded each couple to marry. The myth says, they did. As a result, there were many children, all speaking the same language as their parents. The myth says these, in turn, married and had many children. Then, gradually, the earth was filled with people.

Now, says the myth, Lumawig saw that there were several things people on the earth needed. So he set to work to create supplies for such needs. For instance, the myth says, he created salt and told the inhabitants of one place to boil it and make a business out of it. But these people could not understand the Great Spirit. When Lumawig visited them, he found that salt was yet unexploited, the myth adds.

Lumawig took the salt away from them and gave it to another people called Mayinit. The myth says, the Mayinits did as they were told. Being good stewards of salt, he told them that they would always be the owners of salt, and that the other people must buy it from them, the myth says.

After some time, Lumawaig went to the highlands, to the people of Bontoc. The myth says he told them to exploit their rich clay and make pots and trade them with people of the low lands. They took no interest in clay molding, much less, the art of pottery, the myth says. Lumawaig’s lessons on pottery were ignored. The myth says the jars they made were not well-shaped. Consequently, Lumawig told them to forget about pottery and jsut focus on their other skills.

The myth says that, consequently, Lumawig thought it best to just entrust pot making to another people group. Eventually, he found a worthy people of pot making. They did just as he said, and their jars were all of excellent quality, the myth says. The Great Spirit told them they would monopolize the jar industry.

The myth shows examples of how Lumawig taught people and brought them everything they needed.