A long time ago, a gigantic serpent-like creature once lived under the sea in the Visayan Region of the Philippines. It is believed to cause earthquakes, wind, rains, and eclipses. It is called "Bakunawa," a compound word meaning "bent snake." It used to be known as a goddess mesmerized by the light.

It all started when Bathala created seven moons, one for each night of the week. Once every century, the Bakunawa would eat one of the seven moons that Bathala created. This made Bathala furious. Thus, the two were long-time enemies.   

After six centuries, there was only one moon left. The Bakunawa felt so tempted to eat it. The ancient Filipinos knew that they had to do something to stop this from happening. If the Bakunawa were to eat the last moon, earthquakes would be strong enough to shake the world, and eclipses would make it hard to see during cold nights.

The ancient Filipinos believed that if they were to create noise, they would be able to scare the Bakunawa from eating the last moon, so they prepared materials such as pots, pans, and drums. They immediately ran to the sea, and as they saw the Bakunawa rising from the sea, it opened its mouth to eat the last moon. When the Bakunawa's teeth grabbed the moon, they started to yell and created noise with everything they had.

The Bakunawa felt terrified of the noise, causing it to spit out the moon before it could even swallow it. The Bakunawa then returned to the bottom of the sea, disappointed. The Filipinos cheered and celebrated, knowing they had saved the whole world. Bathala looked over them proudly because they had defeated His enemy.

Because of that incident, the Filipinos would create noise near the sea to scare the Bakunawa from attempting to eat the last moon again every century.