Mitolohiya: Filipino Deities and Where to Find Them

◈ Creation Myth • Ilocano

There is a bit of a mystery in Ilocano myth, especially about one specific giant named Angalo.

Who was he? Was he the son of the god of building? Was he the one who populated earth? Or was he a mere wanderer? Some Ilocanos considered him as the one who molded the earth, some represent Angalo not as a creator, nor as an Adam, but as a great fisherman.

There are many stories of this being, but all can agree that he was of formidable proportions, a cyclopean giant who's head is said to reach the heavens and who is said to make the distance between Manila and Vigan in one step. Legend also has it that the giant was so enormous, he could make the earth tremble under his footprints and his laugh be heard all throughout the small planet.

Angelo was not alone, he had Aran as a wife who was as big as he is, and later the couple had three daughters who were not as big as they were. The two lived before the creation of the skies, the lands, the seas, and of course, even before man. No one knew exactly where they come from. Some say they were from a land in the west while others say they were from the south pole inhabited by other giants.

Angelo was wondering around the earth when one day, an unknown deity who saw how plain the earth was, had commanded him responsible for the shape of the earth. He obeyed, dug a deep hole, and urinated in it. The soil he took from digging piled up to be the mountains, and the holes he had urinated in became the seas. As for man, he spat on the ground, and in his sputum formed the first humans. He placed the humans, a man and a woman, inside a bamboo tube, sealed it, and cast it into the sea. The tube was tossed from wave to wave until it reached the Ilocos shore, of where the man and woman came out and lived. Lastly, with his head reaching above, he arranged the stars after he has put up the sky, sun, and moon.

It is said in Ilocano mythology that the sea was not as salty as it was before. Legend varies, but one mentioned that as the family was sailing to Manila from a land across the sea with their load of salt. Since the journey, the sea had turned salty. Another story wherein he was said to be the son of the god of building, there was once a beautiful maiden across the sea named Sipnget, goddess of darkness. When Angalo saw her from his loftiest cave in the Ilocos Mountains, the goddess beckoned to him, and he waded towards her, his footprints becoming the present deep caverns of the ocean.

Sipnget told him that she was tire of her kingdom of darkness, and requested him to build a mansion, white as now, on the very spot where they were standing. He accepted the request, but with no knowledge of any material as white except for salt. Thus, he asked the ruler of the salt kingom, Asin, for help. Millions were then employed in the making and transporting of the salt bricks across the ocean an in the construction itself.

But as the work progressed, the ocean became more and more impatient from being disturbed that it finally sent forth big waves to demolish the construction, and the unfinished mansion crumbled and dissolved into water, hence the salty sea.

As to how the Visayas came to have a great number of islands, a tale claimed of Angalo and Aran wandering about the earth. The two came upon an enormous treasure of pearls in the Sulu Sea which they collected in their bags. Along the way when they were in the middle of what is now known as the Visayas, the couple quarreled over the pearls so terribly that it shook the earth to its foundations, breaking the land into many parts, some of which subsided beneath the sea. As the event unfolded, the Visayas came to be.

This is how the creation myth usually go about, in variations. But the story of Angalo is far from over. Even today the Ilocos can still sense his presence, strangely said to have a hint of anger. This story will continue in another chapter.