Tagbanua (Tagbanuwa) Cosmology: Multi-Layered Universe, Deities, Diwatas and Creation Myths

The name Tagbanua comes from tiga banua, meaning “people of the village.” There is evidence of early influence from Hinduized Brunei. In more recent times, Muslim traders and aristocrats, chiefly Tausug from Sulu, dominated Palawan. Although Magellan’s expedition made a landfall on Palawan, and its chronicler Pigafetta recorded an impression of the natives, intense Spanish contact did not begin until the 1872 founding of the town of Puerta Princesa at the northern edge of Tagbanua territory. American contact with the Tagbanua only commenced with the 1904 founding of the Iwahig penal colony. Catholic and Protestant missionaries have had only limited success in converting the Tagbanua. They inhabit both the eastern and western coasts of the central portion of Palawan Island, which lies between Mindoro and Borneo.

The following descriptions of the Tagbanuwa’s cosmology is from Religion and Society Among the Tagbanuas of Palawan Island, Philippines and was obtained largely from three individuals: Dunglad, a hereditary leader, a medicine-man, and the moglambay of Baraki. Abala, katungkulun, also of Baraki; and Rinson, a babablyan of kabigaan.

 

The Tagbanuwa’s conception of the sacred world is largely in terms of particular directions and specific regions. These are found throughout the universe of man and the supernatural. There is no clear dualism in nature of a mundane secular world, the shade of man, and a “heavenly” super-structure of the deities. Sacred places inhabited by supernatural surround the Tagbanuwa.

Langit, the “sky”, is conceived vaguely as an infinitely high canopy which encloses the celestial phenomenon. Beyond langit there is a void about which nothing is known. It is related that tungkuyanin sits on the edge of this sky-cover with his feet dangling into the universe. He also sits looking down at the earth. For if he were to raise his head and look up, he would fall into the “nothingness.” The rains fall through a hole in the sky, a gift of the highest ranking deity. The sky is supported by two immense tree trunks – one stands where the sun rises amd the other where the sun sets.

Dibuwat is, broadly speaking, the sky-world below langit but it is also thought of as simply the cloud regions. The term dibuwat means “high” and this “high region” is inhabited by many deities and one class of the ancestral dead; Magrakad is found at exactly noontime on the other side of the sun. He gives the warmth which sustains life and, when the people are ill, carries away sickness. The bangkay are found in dibuwat. These are the spirits of the Tagbanuwa who have been killed by violence, or “poisoned”, and woman who died in child birth. Just beneath the cloud regions live the bulalakaw or diwata kat dibuwat. They travel, literally “fly”, throughout the cloud regions ever ready to help the Tagbanuwa.

The most sacred are of the universe is not, however, the high regions (the “heavens” as commonly conceived) but awan awan. This is the region directly beyond the effulgence of the sunset, the langut, but still between the langit (sky-cover) and the earth. Here dwells the highest ranking deity, mangindusa, and his entourage – bugawasin, his wife, and the dibuwatanin, his “messengers”, and others.

Sidpan is the cardinal direction “west” but it is also the specific place where the sun sets. Their term is used in the latter sense when it is spoken as a sacred place. It is, of course, the heart of the region formed by the resplendent glow of the setting sun, the region called langit. There are many deities at sidpan including a major deity by the same name, diwata kat sidpan, who controls the rains. Babatan, the “east,” is the opposite side of the universe and a deity lives there, diwata kat libatan, who also controls the rains. At these two sacred places, as we have seen, there stand huge trees which support the sky. It is the task of the tumangkuyun to wash and keep clean the trunks of these two trees by using the blood from the bodies of Tagbanuwa who have died in epidemics. That is why the “sky” appears red when the sun rises and sets.

 

In other contexts, sidean and langut are sort of “middle region.” The highest ranking deity never descends from awan awan. He is pictured as sitting and swinging back and forth in a bintayawan (or barbarangan). This is a swing like that used in the diwata ceremonies by the babalyan. The many deities who attend the ceremonies carry the tanks or pasalamat of the Tagbanuwa, their prayers, and their offerings of rice, tobacco, betel, quids, and wax to the “middle region.” Then the dibuwatanin or “messengers” relay all of these to Mangindusa. The minor deities do not enter awan awan. The dibuwatanin may also attend, however, the actual rites of the Tagbanuwa.

Kiyabusan looms significantly in the Tagbanuwa’s definition of the cosmos. It is the “place where there is no wind (kabus, “lacking”) or in other contexts, as “the end of the world,” a void. It is also designated, however, as the place from which the northeast winds come. These are the hot, dry winds called amyan which enable the Tagbanuwa to burn their clearings. The diwata katamyan is invoked when the wet period lasts too long and these winds are needed. With the latter meaning, kiyabusan is also the realm of the epidemic-dead. For the northwest winds bring the feared salakap, the spirits of epidemic sickness, to earth.

The highest ranking deity, Mangindusa, is traditionally described as the “punisher of crime” (dusa, “crime”) rather than as the “creator”. The single public delict (a “crime” in the usual meaning) is incest. The highest ranking deity holds the society and not the individual responsible for incest. He punishes the whole community by, for example, withholding the rains. In the past the incestuous couple were placed in a weighted fish and drowned in the sea; now a huge fine is demanded. The public action against the sumbang (those who commit incest) is not sufficient, however. A special lambay ceremony must be given Mangindusa to restore the ritual euphoria of the community.

The creation of man is attributed vaguely to the activities of the diwata or “deities,” in the plural sense of the term, as seen in this myth related by Dunglad of Baraki.

CREATION MYTH: First the deities made stone but the stone could not speak. Then they made earth and the earth could speak. The earth became a man, the Tagbanuwa. Finally the deities gave man the elements of fire, the flint-like stones, iron, and tinder, as well as rice and rice-wine. Now that the people had rice-wine (tabad), they could call the deities and the spirits of their dead.

The specific mention of rice wine in this brief creation myth alludes to a very significant Tagbanuwa percept. Briefly, for the subject will be discussed below, rice wine is found only on earth among the living, although it is as greatly desired by the deities and the spirits of the dead as by the living. Thus the supernaturals are easily invoked and tractable when the rice wine is ritually offered.

 

 

An interesting blend of traditional and Christian belief was found in another creation myth as told by Masikampu Clemente.

CREATION MYTH: The creator made the first man, Adan. But he was like a stone for he could not speak. Then the creator made earth and the man could speak. The creator felt a deep pity for Adan, as he had no companion. One day Adan went to sleep and when he awoke, he had a companion, Iba.

Now, the couple had three children. One afternoon Adan went to sleep. As he was only wearing a loincloth, his scrotum and penis were exposed. The first child laughed very hard at this sight and was exceedingly impolite. He became the father of the Tagbanuwa. The second child also laughed but not so hard. He became father of the Moros. The third child took a blanket and carefully covered his father’s exposed parts. He became the father of the Spaniards. This was the origin of the Tagbanuwa.

After Masikampu had told his myth, he remarked: “Isn’t this true! Look at the different people. The Tagbanuwa are very poor. They have nothing. The Moros have more. The Americans and Spaniards have most of all. They cover their bodies.” In this myth, Clemente identified Mangindusa as the “creator.” Dunglad said that this myth was not true. It is very likely that Christian influence has caused some Tagbanuwa to ascribe more embracive functions to Mangindusa.

DEITIES

Mangindusa or Nagabacaban* – the highest-ranking deity who lives in Awan-awan, the region beyond the Langit; the god of the heavens; the punisher of crime;

Polo* – the benevolent god of the sea; whose help is invoked during the time of illness

Sedumunadoc* – the god of the earth, whose favor is sought in order to have a good harvest

Tabiacoud* – the god of the underworld in the deep bowels of the earth

MINOR DEITIES

Taliyakad – the watcher who guards the vine bridge called Balugu

Anggugru – the “keeper of the fires” who welcomes the soul to the underworld and gives it fire

DIWATAS

The diwatas control the rain, and they are believed to be the creator of the world and of human beings. They live where the tree trunks hold up Langit (“an infinitely high canopy”), which is the visible celestial region.

Diwata Kat Sidpan** – a deity who lives in Sidpan (West)

Diwata Kat Libatan** – a deity who lives in Babatan (East)

CELESTIAL BEINGS

Bugawasin – the wife of Mangindusa

Tungkuyanin – sits on the edge of Langit, with his feet dangling in the vastness of the cosmos and his eyes always cast down toward the earth

Tumangkuyun – washes the trunks of the trees that hold up the Langit with blood of Tagbanwa who died in epidemics

Bulalakaw or Diwata Kat Dibuwat – flying deities who roam the region of the clouds, ready to come to the aid of any Tagbanwa needing their help

 

SOURCES:
FOX, ROBERT B. Religion and Society Among the Tagbanuas of Palawan Island, Philippines. Monograph No. 9, National Museum: Manila, 1982.
* CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art: Peoples of the Philippines, Kalinga to Yakan, Cultural Center of the Philippines, 1994
**Filipino Heritage: The metal age in the Philippines, Lahing Pilipino Pub. ; [Manila], 1977

 

ALSO READ: SALAKEP, the spirits of epidemic sickness: Tagbanua (Tagbanuwa) Beliefs