LAMPONG, the Guardian Anito of Wild Animals | Philippine Folklore

In the book Philippine Demonological Beings and their Cultural Bearings, Maximo Ramos describes the LAMPONG as follows: “Among the head-taking Ilongot of Northeastern Luzon, the lampong is a dwarf said to shepherd wild deer. A hunter once saw a lampong in the shape of white deer with a single bright eye. He shot it with an arrow five times without hitting it. His sixth shot landed, and then the creature became a bright-eyed two-foot dwarf with a long white beard.”

As with most of my articles, this one was born from a simple question sent through our Facebook Page: “What is a Lampong?” I consulted our online compendium of creatures in Philippine Myth and Folklore, read our description and thought, “I can do better than that.”

Deer have significant roles in the mythology of various peoples located all over the world. The Insular Celts have stories involving supernatural deer, deer who are associated with a spiritual figure, and spirits or deities who may take the form of deer. In Hindu mythology, the Aitareya Upanishad tells us that the goddess Saraswati takes the form of a red deer called Rohit. A golden deer plays an important role in the epic Ramayana. In Hungarian mythology, Hunor and Magor, the founders of the Magyar peoples, chased a white stag in a hunt. The stag lead them into unknown land that they named Scythia. Deer are considered messengers to the gods in Shinto, especially Kasuga Shrine in Nara Prefecture where a white deer had arrived from Kashima Shrine as its divine messenger.

The colour white has long been associated with purity; and in Celtic culture, the colour also represented the otherworld. In modern society, people have acted to protect the white stag as a vestige of beauty, and the hunting of the white stag has often met with anger, because of its rare and elusive nature.

Below I’ve compiled some of the other descriptions found in various work on Philippine Mythology and Beliefs.

 

LAMPONG: Encyclopedia of Philippine Folk Beliefs & Customs by Fr. Francisco Demetrio S.J.
The Ilocano Lampong, a species of the dwarf, are supernatural beings with a bushy growth of hair and a long sparse beard who are said to be the patrons of wild deer. This is why they are tame to him.

The Ilongot also believe in an anito called Lampong, the dwarf shepherd of wild animals. Sometimes Lampong plays pranks on hunters. He assumes the guise of a white deer or other wild animals and goads the hunter to follow him. Then Lampong stops, resumes his dwarf shape and scares away the hunter.

LAMPONG: The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology by Maximo Ramos
The lampong, a dwarfish shepherd of wild animals among the Ilongot of Northeast Luzon, was seen by a hunter in the form of a white deer with a single bright eye. He fired at it five times but failed to hit it. At the sixth shot the creature was wounded and it changed itself into “a little dwarf about two feet high.” Its eyes were brilliant and its long white beard stretched down to its knee.

The lampong, a dwarf believed in by the Ilongot, is said to shepherd wild animals. It assumes the shape of one of its flock and even gets itself shot down to divert attention from its flock. Wounded, it stands “beckoning to the hunter.”

 

LAMPONG: The Creatures of Midnight by Maximo Ramos
The Ilongots and Ilokanos call him lampong. He is a short old man of the woods and fields. He has bright eyes and a long, sparse beard. He is a shepherd of wild deer.
He turns himself into a deer and stands still. Hunters shoot at him but cannot hit him.
The deer run away while the hunters try to shoot him.
Then he turns into an old man again.
He walks away from the hunters.

 

The above descriptions also inspired an entry in The Lost Journal of Alejenadro Pardo: Creatures & Beasts of Philippine Folklore, and a poignant short by Karl Gaverza over at The Spirits of the Philippine Archipelago (http://phspirits.com/lampong/).

 

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