Visayan Pantheon

The pantheon of Visayan mythology includes a variety of gods and goddesses, each governing different aspects of life and nature.

Tungkung Langit and Alunsina

Tungkung Langit was a loving, hard-working God. He wanted to impose order over the confused world. Alunsina was the goddess of the Eastern Skies. In the western Visayas the Sulod of Central Panay thought that the universe was split into three regions: Ibabawnun (upper world), Pagtung-an (middle world), and Idadalmunun (underworld). 

Ibabawnun was also divided into two – the male diwata and the women diwata ruled and occupied the other location. The male portion was deified as the supreme god or deity of highest rank, the deity called Tungkung Langit. In the meantime Alunsina was the greatest diwata of women and the goddess of the eastern skies.

Kaptan and Magwayen

Kaptan is a Supreme God who dwells in the sky. And of the supreme deities in Visayas, he is the most worshiped by the natives. Magwayen is the Goddess of the Sea and the Death. The universe was divided into three regions by certain parts of ancient Visaya: Kahilwayan or the skyworld; Kamariitan or the Earth; and Kasachite or the underworld. Such early Visayans were Kaptan's supreme deity. 

He still stayed in Kachilwayan and every time he came to earth, he went through the Madyaas mountain of Panay. Kaptan also had several minor deities under his supervision. The prehistoric people of Panay knew Magwayen as the boatman who delivered the soul to the afterlife. Upon its arrival, the soul could either be accepted or rejected depending on whether he was decorated with sufficient gold jewelry. 

Those rejected would remain in Sulad or the ancient counterpart of Inferno unless his relatives offered enough sacrifices to save him.  In the 1904 book, Philippine Folklore Stories by John Maurice Miller, Kaptan is said to be the father of Lihangin, the god of the wind, while Magwayen sired the goddess of the sea, Lidagat.

Lihangin and Lidagat

Lidagat and Lihangin wedded and raised four children: the sturdy Licalibutan who had a body made of rock; the always-happy Liadlaw (god of sun) who was enclosed with gold; the shy and weak Libulan (god of moon) who was made of copper; and the only daughter, Lisuga (god of stars), whose silver body always fizzled. 

One day he had planned a surprise assault on heaven to eventually take over from his grandfather, the supreme god Kaptan. Liadlaw and Libulan were with him, too scared to even think of backing out. Together, they went to heaven and opened the kingdom’s gates.

Varangao, Ynaguinid, and Macanduk

Varangao,  the God of Rainbow and Symbol of Hope. Yna Guinid, the Goddess of  War and Poison. Macanduc, the God of the War and Plunder. The rainbow, in reality, is the blood of these warriors that fall to earth, in a Panay epic Labaw Donggon. 

Such warriors even become gods as soon as they enter the skyworld, Kaptan's realm, and direct any relatives who can prevent their deaths.  The deity named Varangao was regarded as the most powerful among these Warrior-turned rainbows. 

He was the rainbow god and the tribal people prayed to him before they went to war or plundered.

Dalikmata and Bulalakaw

Another is the many-eyed goddess Dalikmata, whom our ancestors offered their prayers and sacrifices to whenever someone suffered an eye illness. They believed that once Dalikmata was pleased, the eye ailment would soon disappear. 

The god Bulalakaw is the exact opposite. Unlike other healing deities, this supernatural being was said to be the giver of illnesses. Many people of Panay worship it as their "bathala" who lived on the peak of Mt. Madyaas are different from this God's origin and its essence. 

Some think Bulalakaw was a mythical bird with a fiery head, and the only way to save his life was to satisfy the ritual / offering of the bird Deity, another version that says that the fire is on his tail, which could magically cause illness.

Deities of the Epic of Hinilawod

Hinilawod is an epic song of the people of Sulod from Panay. The first one, with 2325 lines, is about the adventures of Labaw Donggon, one of the most famous epics of the world, and has two parts. The second cycle, meanwhile, focuses on Labaw Donggon‘s brother, Humadapnon, and has 53,000 lines. 

The son of the Easterly Goddess Alunsina and her husband, Buyung Paubari, was Labaw Donggon. Because he was half-god, Labaw Donggon was born and grew up quickly with extraordinary strength. He then fell in love and married some woman named Anggoy Ginbitinan, two lovely ladies who lived in the mouth of the river Halawod, and Anggoy Doronoon of the underworld.

Lalahon

Contrary to popular belief, the ancient Visayan deity Lalahon was NOT the goddess of volcanoes. The name Lalahon (also called Laon, Lalon, or Lauon) first appeared in Miguel de Loarca’s Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas in 1582, where she was described as the goddess invoked by the natives for good harvest. The truth, though, is that the natives revered her as the goddess of the good harvest. They believed that when irked, Lalahon could send locusts to rescind their harvests.

Makaptan

Makaptan, the God of Hunger and Poverty. He is the Supreme God who dwells in the sky and the one who killed the first man with a thunderbolt and visited disease and death to his descendants.