Why the Sun is brighter than the Moon

In the Philippines, Bathala is the known creator of the world. He had a son and daughter named Apolaki and Mayari. All the creatures had loved his children because they were able to see from their bright eyes. Bathala was also fond of his children. He often watched them as they wandered across the meadow of heaven. Apolaki and Mayari's eyees shone continuously resulting to having always day in earth.

One day, Bathala unfortunately died. The siblings had a fight and no one was there to meddle. They quarelled because they both wanted to rule the world. Apolaki claimed that he was the son so he had to inherit his father's throne. "I am going to rule the world, whether you like it or not," he said to Mayari.

Mayari got very angry and her eyes flashed with anger. "I am also my father's child. I will succeed his throne," she said.

Their fight became intense until words were not able to express their furious rage. They both picked up wooden clubs and fell upon each other with fierce blows. The fight lasted until Apolaki struck Mayari in her face and then became blind in one eye.

Apolaki took pity on his sister. He decided to stop their fight and share their father's kingdom equally. He suggested to be friends and rule the world. 

Mayari agreed with his brother's idea. Starting from that moment, Apolaki has ruled the world half the time as he was known to be Sun. During his turn, the world is flooded with warm light because the light beams from his two bright eyes. On the other hand, Mayari had her shift and was known to be the Moon. The world is bathed with cool and gentle light as she was blind in one eye.

This is the story why there is Sun and Moon according to Philippine myth.

How people are created

In a far away land in Southern Mindanao, the Bagobos claimed there was neither a single man nor woman in the world. However, they believed that two great beings were created that time. The two mighty beings were known as Tuglay and Tuglibon.

One day, they felt sad and thought it would be better if there were other creatures besides them. Tuglay said, “Wife, it would be better if there were people in the world”.  Tuglibon agreed with her husband. “There should be people who will enjoy the beautiful new world we have made”, she said. She suggested to create a man and a woman who will love the blue sky, wide sea, flowers in the valleys and clouds in the mountains.

Tuglay immediately acted on his wife’s gesture and took some corn meal in his hands. He moistened and shaped it into human figures. He covered the figures with scales and gave them life. The people Tuglay made were not able to stood up and looked very wooden because he forgot to make joints in their bones.  Their arms and legs were very stiff making them stumble to the ground as they walked. Their eyes were very small, ears were half hidden and nose could be hardly seen. Aside from those, the creatures cannot hold anything with their hands because of their stiff fingers. Their body seemed like reptile because Tuglay covered them with scales.

Tuglibon revealed her dislike on the creatures. She said that she was not pleased with the people made by Tuglay and suggested to try to make again. However, Tuglay seemed satisfied with what he did. Tuglibon continued to persuade her husband to create better creatures by saying “How will the world look when it’s full of ugly creatures? People should move gracefully and not covered with scales as if they were serpents.”

Unfortunately, Tuglibon did not convince her husband. She believed that creatures should look better than what her husband did. She opted to throw a handful of corn meal into her husband’s eyes. She was determined to make a better one since her husband was not able to see what she’s doing.

She immediately moistened the corn meal that was left and shaped into human figures. She made joints in bones, bright eyes for seeing, well-shaped ears for hearing, larger nose for smelling, and pretty mouths for eating and speaking. She also added smooth skins for feeling and put scales at the tips of toes and fingers. Lastly, she gave them big heart and put life into them. She made them stood.

After creating the people, she washed Tuglay’s eyes. He was very angry though but when he saw the creatures he agreed that they were far better than what he had made. He appreciated her wife’s creation and said “They and their children will be the rulers of the world. They will love only the beautiful and shun the ugly.”

“They will enjoy the songs of the birds and they will wash their bodies in the cool springs and rivers. They will love each other. Watch the sun and moon at day and night. Finally, they will love us who created them.”

After it, they smiled at the creatures who became the ancestors of the people living on earth. As for the scaly creatures, nothing was heard from them.






Photo courtesy of http://www.elverhoj.org/BRANDT-ERICHSEN/creationofeve.html