BAKUNAWA: The Moon Eater

BAKUNAWA: The Moon Eater

Legends of Bakunawa

THE SEVENTH MOON

     Tales about the Bakunawa say that it is the cause of eclipses. During ancient times, Filipinos believe that there are seven moons created by Bathala to light up the sky. The Bakunawa, amazed by their beauty, would rise from the ocean and swallow the whole moon angering Bathala and causing them to be mortal enemies.

       To keep the moons from completely being swallowed by the Bakunawa, ancient Filipinos would go out of their homes with pans and pots and would make noise in order to scare the Bakunawa into spitting out the moon back into the sky. Some of the people in the villages would play soothing sounds with their musical instruments, in hopes that the dragon would fall into a deep sleep. Thus, the brave men of the village hoped that while the dragon was hypnotized by the musical sounds they could somehow slay the dragon. Although the dragon was known as a “moon eater” it was also known as a “man-eater”.

THE DRAGON & THE TURTLE

       Other tales tell that the Bakunawa has a sister in the form of a sea turtle. The sea turtle would visit a certain island in the Philippines in order to lay its eggs. However, locals soon discovered that every time the sea turtle went to shore, the water seemed to follow her, thus reducing the island’s size. Worried that their island would eventually disappear, the locals killed the sea turtle.

      When the Bakunawa found out about this, it arose from the sea and ate the moon. The people were afraid so they prayed to Bathala to punish the creature. Bathala refused but instead told them to bang some pots and pans in order to disturb the serpent. The moon is then regurgitated while the Bakunawa disappeared, never to be seen again.

      The island where the sea turtle lays its eggs is said to exist today. Some sources say that the island might just be one of the Turtle Islands.

BAKUNAWA’S REVENGE

      Others tell how the Bakunawa fell in love with a human girl in one of the native tribes. The head of the tribe found out about their affair and had their house burned to ashes. The Bakunawa, finding out about this, became immersed in anger and tried to take revenge by eating all the 7 moons. When the Bakunawa was about to eat the last one, Bathala took action and punished the Bakunawa by banishing it from its home away from the sea. It also tells that the reason of the eclipses is how the Bakunawa is trying to come back to its home and deceased family.

Ancient Ilongo Calendar

    It is suspected that the ancient Ilongos believed there were 7 moons created by Maka-ako (Creator)  to light the night sky.  One hypothesis for the 7 moons in the story of Bakunawa is that they represented the 7 months for planting and harvesting in their 12-month lunar calendar. The practice of starting a month at the first sighting of a new moon was observed by many ancient societies – including the Romans, Celts, and Germans in Europe and by Babylonians and Hebrews in the Lavant.  All of these peoples, like the Ilongos,  began their month when a young crescent was first seen in the sky.  In  “Relation of the Filipinas Islands”, Miguel de Loarca states about the Ilongos of Panay Island:

 “Years and months. They divide the year into twelve months, although only seven of these have names; they are lunar months because they are reckoned by moons. The first month is that in which the Pleiades appear, which they call Ulalen. The second is called Dagancahuy, the time when the trees are felled in order to sow the land. Another month is called Daganenan bulan; it comes when the wood of those trees is collected from the fields. The other is called Elquilin, and is the time when they burn over the fields. Another month they call Ynabuyan, which comes when the bonanças blow. Another they call Cavay; it is when they weed their fields. AThe other month is called  Yrarapun; it is the time when they begin to harvest the rice. The last one is Manalulsul, in which the harvesting is completed. As for the remaining months, they pay little attention to them, because in those months there is no work in the fields.” 

Belief in Bakunawa

       We can assume, with certainty,  that the ancient Visayans did practice the custom of banging drums during a lunar eclipse to force Bakunawa to release the moon.  We base this on the fact that most of the surrounding countries have similar beliefs.  We can couple this with the first documentation about Bakunawa in 1628 by Fr. Alonso de Mentrida, who was an Augustinian missionary in Ogtong ( Oton), Xaro ( Jaro), Baong ( Dingle)  and Pasig ( Passi). In his “Diccionario de la lengua Bisaya Hiligueina y Haraya“ (Dictionary of the Bisayan Language Hiligaynon and Haraya) he states on Page 38:

Bacunaua “Entendieron que era sierpe que se iba tragando la luna la sumbra de la tiera que la cubre en los eclipses” 

They believe it was a serpent (Dragon) swallowing the moon from the earth that presents in eclipses.

” binacunauahan ang bulan.”  (Hiligaynon) - the moon has been swallowed   

“Sinuban ang bulan sang bacunaua”( Hiligaynon) - The moon is swallowed by bacunaua

Reference: Clark, J. (2011). BAKUNAWA: The Moon Eating Dragon of the Philippine                          Mythology. 

                    Retrieved from: https://www.aswangproject.com/bakunawa/ 

                    Date of Retrieval: May 13, 2018