Ancient Tagalog idea of god Excerpts from the Boxer Codex (1590): The Moors [i.e. the Tagalogs from Manila] of the Philippines have that the world, earth, and sky, and all other things that are in them, were created and made by only one god, whom they calls in their language
Bachtala,
napal nanca,
calgna salahat, which means "God, creator and preserver of all things", and by another name they call him
Mulayri. They said that this god of theirs was in the atmosphere before there was heaven or earth or anything else, that he was
ab eterno (from eternity) and not made or created by anybody from anything, and that he alone made and created all that we have mentioned simply by his own volition because he wanted to make something so beautiful as the heaven and earth, and that he made and created one man and one woman out of the earth, from whom have come and descended all the men and their generations that are in the world. these people feared and revered a god, maker of all things, who some call him
Bathala, others
Molaiari, others
Dioata and, although they confess this god as the maker of all things, they do not even know nor do they know when or how he did or what for, and that his dwelling place is in heaven. Every time the chiefs eat, they put a little of everything they eat or drink in small plates on the table as an offering to the anitos and the
Molayare or
Batala, creator of all things. Excerpt from Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas by Miguel de Loarca (1582): According to the religion formerly observed by these Moros, they worshiped a deity called among them
Batala, which properly means "God." They said that they adored this
Batala because he was the Lord of all, and had created human beings and villages. They said that this
Batala had many agents under him, whom he sent to this world to produce, in behalf of men, what is yielded here. These beings were called
anitos, and each
anito had a special office. Some of them were for the fields, and some for those who journey by sea; some for those who went to war, and some for diseases. Because there were many
Bornean people in
Manila when the Spaniards first arrived, the Spaniards called the people of Manila
Moro, the Spanish name for the Muslims of the
Maghreb,
Iberian Peninsula,
Sicily, and
Malta. It was something that the friars who arrived later on repudiated, as the religion of the people of Manila was so different from what they recognized as Islamic that they could not possibly identify it as Islam, all the more so as
pigs (often called "unclean animals" by Spanish chroniclers, possibly
crypto-Jews) were listed among the chief
holocausts to their deities, and, other than the
rooster (
manok na kalakyan), no other animal was listed. There was no feast without at least one pig being killed and roasted. This pig was always a holocaust, and consuming its flesh as a group was certainly regarded as a form of communion with the deity to whom it had been sacrificed. The
water buffalo (
anwang), which is the greatest holocaust among Malays, was never used as such by the Tagalogs. Despite all of this, the Spaniards continued to call the people of Manila Moros for a very long time, as it served as a reason or justification for the Spaniards to seize and enslave them. The English translation of the
Boxer Codex (1590) by Souza and Turley renders "
Bachtala, napalnanca, calgna salahat" as "
Bathala na may kapangyarihan sa lahat" which is translated into English as "God who has power over everything". The exact translation of "God, creator and preserver of all things" in Tagalog is "
Bathala na kumapal at nangangalaga sa lahat".
Bathala and the Anitos The chief deity of the Tagalas is called
Bathala mei Capal, and also
Diuata; and their principal idolatry consists in adoring those of their ancestors who signalised themselves for courage or abilities; calling them
Humalagar, i.e.
manes. :— William Marsden,
The History of Sumatra (1784) They placed their ancestors, the invocation of whom was the first thing in all their work and dangers, among these anitos. :— Francisco Colin, et al. [The Philippine Islands (1493-1898)] The function of the anitos, therefore, was similar to that of
liminal deities in
polytheistic religions who serve as intermediaries between mortals and the divine, such as
Agni (Hindu) and
Janus (Roman) who hold the access to divine realms, hence the reason why they are invoked first and are the first to receive offerings, regardless of the deity that one wants to pray to. The anitos—just like the
loa of
Haitian Vodou—are not considered gods and goddesses but merely messengers, intermediaries, and advocates (
abogado) of the people to the
Supreme Being. This is similar in concept to
Neoplatonism wherein spiritual beings called
daimones carry divine things to mortals and mortal things to the
Divine: requests and sacrifices from below and commandments and answers from above. They are the assistants, the ministers of
Batala, who sends them on earth to help men. These helpers are called:
Anitos. The nature of the
Anito is such that he comes on earth, deals with men and speaks in his behalf to
Batala. :— Miguel de Loarca (1582) Some chroniclers, such as the anonymous author of
Boxer Codex, do not call these agents of Bathala
anitos, but instead have referred to them as
dioses, rendered in translation by Quirino and Garcia as "gods". The
American-Filipino historian
William Henry Scott supports the opinion of these chroniclers (some of whom might be
Crypto-Jews) that the ancient Tagalogs worshipped the anitos as gods and goddesses (
aniteria), arguing that "in actual prayers, they were petitioned directly, not as intermediaries". Scott cites the example of a farmer's prayer to the
anito named
Lakapati, where a child would be held over a field, and the farmer would pray: "
Lakapati, pakanin mo yaring alipin mo; huwag mong gutumin [Lakapati feed this thy slave; let him not hunger]". However, Scott—who himself was an appointed lay missionary in the
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America—may be using the
Protestant definition or idea of
intercession and
worship in contrast to that of the Catholic explorers and missionaries, who described the role of the anitos as an advocate (
abogado) or intercessor. Most chronicles (and isolated descriptions by explorers and missionaries) present one supreme deity analogous to the Christian God, evoking the impression that the Tagalog religion was monotheistic. Only a few sources include the names of other deities. Also, the missionaries who described the Tagalog religion in the early modern period did emphasize (with only a few exceptions) that the Tagalogs believed in one supreme god as the creator of all things. Their intention was mainly to find an equivalent for the Christian god in order to help them explain Catholic doctrines. Mostly, the titles of their chapters on the Tagalog religion suggest that they intended to portray the religion as a "false religion" or "superstition", despite their constant wondering whether or not the "new peoples" they claimed to have discovered already had some knowledge of the
Gospel. Although Bathala can only be reached through the agency of the anitos, he is not a
distant deity too mighty to be bothered with the concerns of mortal men. The early Tagalogs believed that, on the birth of every child, the god
Bathala appointed a lesser spirit, whom they also called
Bathala, as guardian or
Bathala Catotobo (
Katutubo), identified by Father Noceda as a
guardian angel. The god Bathala also guided people through
omens and
prophetic dreams. The souls of those who perished by the sword, were devoured by crocodiles, or killed by lightning immediately
would ascend to
Kaluwálhatian (glory) by means of the rainbow (
balangaw).
Rituals and ceremonies Bathala is the subject of sacred songs such as
Diona and
Tulingdao, wherein performers invoke him to prevent flood, drought, and pests and to grant them plentiful harvest and a beautiful field. The people of
Indang and
Alfonso, Cavite conducted
Sanghiyang rituals as an offering to Bathala for a bountiful harvest, healing, a recovery from illness, or deliverance from death. The ritual is believed to have started from
Naic long before the arrival of the Spaniards and the friars led to the suppression of its observance. This ritual is always done in preparation for other rituals such as
"Sayaw sa Apoy" (Fire Dancing),
"Basang-Gilagid" (House Blessing), Ancestral Offering, or Mediumistic Healing. It is also performed before searching for a lost item, such as jewelry and other valuables. After it, the
Magsasanghiyang dialogues with the Superpower through her
Timbangan (pendulum). Some believed that the term
Sanghiyang is coined from two Tagalog words: isa (one), and hiyang (compatible), together meaning "compatible whole" (
"nagkakaisang kabuuan"). It is more likely, however, that said ritual is related to the sacred Balinese dance ceremony
Sanghyang, which is also the title for a deified spirit and means "The Revered One" or "Holiness".
Hyang, or personified as
Sang Hyang, (Kawi, Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese) is an unseen spiritual entity that has supernatural power in ancient
Nusantara mythology. This spirit can be either divine or ancestral. In modern Nusantara, this term tends to be associated with gods, which are each known as a
dewata or God. Currently, the term is widely associated with Indonesian
Dharmism which developed in ancient
Java and
Bali more than a millennium ago. However, the term actually has an older origin: it has its root in indigenous animistic and dynamistic beliefs of the
Austronesian people inhabiting the Nusantara archipelago. The
Hyang concept is indigenously developed in the archipelago and is not considered to have originated from Indian dharmic religions.
Sacred animals and omens The early Tagalogs believed that Bathala revealed his will through
omens by sending the bird
tigmamanukin (
tigmamanuquin) to which they also attributed the name Bathala. Plasencia (1589), Chirino (1604), and Colin (1663) described this bird as blue in color and as large as a thrush or turtledove.
Emma Helen Blair and
James Alexander Robertson identified this bird as the
Philippine fairy-bluebird (
Irena cyanogastra). Although the
Boxer Codex described it as "reddish blue and black",
Antonio de Morga spoke of the bird as "yellow colored", which was the color of beauty for the early Tagalogs and had religious significance to them. According to Morga, the bird
tigmamanukin—as described by Chirino and Colin—could be either inexistent or extinct, since there is no known blue bird of the same size as a thrush; however, there is a similar yellow (though not completely so) bird called
kuliawan (
golden oriole). The name Bathala was also attributed to comets and other heavenly bodies which the Tagalog people believed predicted events. Other animals that were observed for omens include the
balatiti or
balantikis,
uwak (crow/raven),
kuwago (owl),
bahaw (mountain owl),
butiki (lizard),
malimakan snail, and the
tigmamanok (white-collared kingfisher, also known as salaksak among the Ilocanos). These birds, crocodiles and lizards were so sacred to the ancient Tagalogs that killing one was considered taboo. When a crocodile died, they anointed it with sesame oil, enshrouded it in a mat and buried it. This is also reported about the
tuko (gecko), a venomous lizard. San Buenaventura questioned the Tagalogs for tolerating monitor lizards (
bayawak), saurians fond of eggs and chicken and therefore dangerous to poultry:
"Ano’t di ninyo siluin itong bayawak?" (How is it that you haven't noosed this monitor lizard?) The
while-collared kingfishers (
tigmamanok) were considered very sacred because they were permitted to pick a crocodile's teeth without harm. According to Chirino (1595–1602) and Colin (1663), the ancient Tagalogs held the crocodiles in the greatest veneration, and when they saw one in the water, they cried out in all subjection
"Nono" (
Nuno), meaning "grandfather". They asked it pleasantly and tenderly not to harm them and, for that purpose, offered it a portion of the fish they carried in their boat by throwing it into the water. Also, the river of Manila (now called Pasig River) once had a large rock (
Buayang Bato/Stone Crocodile) that served as an idol for many years. The ancient Tagalogs left offerings to it whenever they passed by until the fathers of St. Augustine broke it into small bits and set up a cross in its place. Soon, a small
shrine or chapel, with an image of St. Nicolas of Tolentino, was constructed in that location.
Creation myth From
The History of Sumatra (1784) by
William Marsden: Their notions of the creation of the world, and formation of mankind, had something ridiculously extravagant. They believed that the world at first consisted only of sky and water, and between these two, a glede; which, weary with flying about, and finding no place to rest, set the water at variance with the sky, which, in order to keep it in bounds, and that it should not get uppermost, loaded the water with a number of islands, in which the glede might settle and leave them at peace. Mankind they said, sprang out of a large cane with two joints, that, floating about in the water, was at length thrown by the waves against the feet of the glede, as it stood on shore, which opened it with its bill, and the man came out of one joint, and the woman out of the other. These were soon after married by consent of their god,
Bathala Meycapal, which caused the first trembling of the earth; and from thence are descended the different nations of the world. From
Philippine Folktales (1916) by
Mabel Cook Cole: When the world first began there was no land, but only the sea and the sky, and between them was a kite (a bird something like a hawk). One day the bird which had nowhere to light grew tired of flying about, so she stirred up the sea until it threw its waters against the sky. The sky, in order to restrain the sea, showered upon it many islands until it could no longer rise, but ran back and forth. Then the sky ordered the kite to light on one of the islands to build her nest, and to leave the sea and the sky in peace. Now at this time the land breeze and the sea breeze were married, and they had a child which was a bamboo. One day when this bamboo was floating about on the water, it struck the feet of the kite which was on the beach. The bird, angry that anything should strike it, pecked at the bamboo, and out of one section came a man and from the other a woman. Then the earthquake called on all the birds and fish to see what should be done with these two, and it was decided that they should marry. Many children were born to the couple, and from them came all the different races of people. After a while the parents grew very tired of having so many idle and useless children around, and they wished to be rid of them, but they knew of no place to send them to. Time went on and the children became so numerous that the parents enjoyed no peace. One day, in desperation, the father seized a stick and began beating them on all sides. This so frightened the children that they fled in different directions, seeking hidden rooms in the house—some concealed themselves in the walls, some ran outside, while others hid in the fireplace, and several fled to the sea. Now it happened that those who went into the hidden rooms of the house later became the chiefs of the islands; and those who concealed themselves in the walls became slaves. Those who ran outside were free men; and those who hid in the fireplace became negroes; while those who fled to the sea were gone many years, and when their children came back they were the white people. These creation myths refer to what is known by theologians as a "second creation". This conception presupposes a pre-existing matter or substratum out of which the Earth was made. In Philippine mythologies, struggle between two hostile forces is a common theme in the formation of the earth; hence, the existence of the Land Breeze. It is always subsequently followed by the creation or appearance of the first man and woman in contrast to the animals that precede them. According to Andres San Nicolas (1624), the
Sambal people, an ethnic group closely related to the Tagalogs, particularly those in
Tanay, Rizal, "did not doubt the fact of there having been in its time a creation of man, but they believed that the first one had emerged from a bamboo joint and his wife out of another, under very ridiculous and stupid circumstances." According to William Marsden (1784), the ancient Tagalogs believed that the first man and woman were produced from a bamboo pole which burst in the island of Sumatra, and they quarreled about their marriage. According to
Nick Joaquin [Alamanac for Manileño (1979)] "The man wooed the woman but the woman was shy, illusive, and stubbornly coy. Becoming impatient, God [i.e. Bathala] started violent earthquake, which flung the woman into the man’s arm. Only thus were they married and the earth populated". Francisco Colin identified the "earthquake" in the creation myth as a god. Based on the version of the creation myth provided by William Marsden (1784), the ancient Tagalogs viewed the "earthquake" as a
manifestation of
Bathala Maykapal. However,
Pedro Chirino in his writings did not speak of the "earthquake", nor did he believe that it was considered as God, as, according to the Tagalogs and the
Mandayas of
Mindanao who informed him, the "earthquake" was nothing more than the effect of the movement of a huge animal in the entrails of the earth. According to some, this animal was an
alligator; to others, a
boar which scratched his body against the trunk of the earth. This is also the belief of the mountain people of
Palawan and
Camarines. San Buenaventura (1663:76) threatened his congregation with the
manunungab na buwaya sa impierno (the devouring crocodile of hell). Some documented curses in old Tagalog include
Kainin ka nang buaya! (May a crocodile eat you!) and
Lamunin ka nang lindol! (May the earthquake swallow you up!). The low-frequency vibrations produced by male crocodiles just before bellowing, which could vibrate the ground and result in water appearing to "dance", is more likely where the ancient Tagalogs got the idea of the origin of earthquakes. In modern Tagalog mythology, earthquakes are caused by a messianic figure named
Bernardo Carpio, the King of the Tagalogs, who was trapped between the boulders in the mountains of
Montalban. In contrast to the gigantic subterranean crocodile, the ancient Tagalogs also believed in the existence of a gigantic celestial bird which made its nest in the clouds. It is not clear, however, whether this bird is associated with the primordial kite/glede that initiated the series of events which led to the creation of the world and humankind. According to Colin, the Tagalogs believed that the first man and woman sprang from a bamboo pole pecked by a bird they called
Tigmamanokin to which they applied the name of their god Bathala.
Connection to Dian Masalanta According to Father San Agustin, the Tirurays worshipped
Linog, meaning "earthquake", who, as the god of marriage, advised the first man and woman to mate and populate the earth.
Bathala Meycapal, therefore, is identified with the Tiruray's god of marriage, linking him to another Tagalog deity named
Dian Masalanta.
Dian Masalanta is an
idol who was mentioned by
Juan de Plasencia in "Relacion de las Costumbres de Los Tagalos" (1589) as the patron of lovers and procreation.
Dian Masalanta is also correlated by some scholars to an unnamed Tagalog deity, referred to by the contemporary of Plasencia as
Alpriapo. This deity is often misidentified as the goddess of childbirth by
modern writers, despite the fact that Plasencia used the masculine
patron instead of the feminine
patrona (patroness). The true anito of childbirth is actually
La Campinay (
Lakang Pinay or
Lakampinay) [Pardo inquisition report (1686–1688)], who is said to be "the first midwife in the world" [Boxer Codex (1590)]. The meaning of the name
Dian Masalanta is not provided, but according to Jean-Paul G. Potet (Ancient Beliefs and Customs of the Tagalogs, 2018), the meaning could be "the blind deity" [dian "deity", ma – "adj. prefic" + salanta "blindness"]. In the Malay language,
Dian means candle.
Dia is also the name of the supreme god of the early Visayans according to Blumentritt, which some scholars believed was derived from Sanskrit
Dyu "bright shining sky", one of the first names ever given to god, which developed into the
Dewas and
Diwatas of all the Malayan nations.
Masalanta (devastating) comes from the root word
salanta, which is listeded in the "Noceda and Sanlucar Vocabulario de la lengua Tagala (1754)" and the "San Buenaventura dictionary (1613)" as meaning "poor, needy, crippled, and blind". Generally, the words
magsalanta and
nasalanta, which mean "is destroyed/devastated", are used to refer to a calamity, such as a typhoon, flood, or earthquake. Professor of Anthropology
Fay-Cooper Cole identified the Mandayan supreme gods—the father and son
Mansilatan (The Creator) and
Batla/
Badla (The Preserver/Protector)—with the Tagalog deities
Dian Masalanta and
Bathala/
Badhala, respectively. He also noted that
Todlai, the god of marriage of the
Bagobo people, is sometimes addressed as
Maniládan. Mansilatan, the father of Batla, is the source of the omnipotent virtue called
Busao, which takes possession of the
Baylans (Priestesses) and the
Baganis (Warriors) while they are in a
trance, making them strong and valiant above other men. In other ethnolinguistic groups of the Philippines, the term
Busao refers to demons, monsters, and/or the spirit or god of calamity. In the Mandayan language, the prefix
man indicates paternity, being or dominion, while the word
silatan means 'east', the direction of the rising sun. Among the ancient Tagalogs, there existed a doctrine—which, according to Chirino (1601–1604), was sown by the Devil—that a woman who did not have a lover, whether married or single, could not be saved. They said that this man, in the other world, would hasten to offer the woman his hand at the passage of a very perilous stream which had no other bridge than a very narrow beam, which was traversed to reach the repose that they call
Kaluwálhatian i.e. Bathala's abode. Hence, virginity was not recognized or esteemed among them; rather, they considered it a misfortune and a humiliation. This doctrine explains why most religious ministers (
catalonas) among the ancient Tagalogs were women. Some minority tribes in the Philippines who still have some priestesses serving them, such as the Mandayas, offer an explanation. They assert that, as opposed to men, women are more
appealing and persuasive toward gods and evil spirits, who are mostly males. Other places in the afterlife besides
Kaluwálhatian include
Maca or "
kasanáan ng tuwa" ("a thousand joys"), where good souls temporarily stay pending
reincarnation, and "
kasanáan ng hírap" ("a thousand pains"), where bad souls go. Whether or not
Dian Masalanta is identified with
Bathala Meycapal is impossible to know, as the former has only been mentioned—and rather briefly—in "Relacion de las Costumbres de Los Tagalos" (1589) by Juan de Plasencia.
Whether or not Bathala is a solar deity Another possible name for Bathala, although unconfirmed, is
Hari, which is the old Tagalog name for the sun ('king’ in modern Tagalog), hence the Tagalog words
tanghali (noon) and
halimaw (lion or tiger, an animal associated with the sun in Vedic religion). The ancient Tagalogs believed that the rainbow (
balangaw) was either Bathala's bridge (
balaghari) or loincloth (
bahaghari). The rainbow was regarded as a divine sign, and it was considered blasphemy to point one's finger at it. The Tagalogs today still use the expression
harinawa, which means "God willing" or "may God wills it". who is actually the supreme god of the ancient Pangasinans, alternatively addressed by them as Anagaoley or Ama-Gaoley (Supreme Father). According to Jean-Paul G. Potet (Ancient Beliefs and Customs of the Tagalogs, 2018), no sun deity allegedly worshipped or venerated by the ancient Tagalogs was mentioned in Spanish chronicles. ==Christianity==