Origin of man according to the visayans

Origin of the First Man and

Woman According to the

VisayansPresenter:

Pal-ing, Jessiel C.

Sicalak and Sicavay

a story among the Pintados, who are described as fair-skinned people whose males decorate their whole body with tattoos. These lived in the islands of central Visayas (Cebu, Bohol, Leyte)

explains the origin of the islands Cebu and Samar, the origin of concubinage, and the origin of stealing

Characters:

Kaptan – a god who fell in love with Maguayan

Maguayan – the goddess wife of Kaptan Sicalac – the first man; Sicavay’s

husband Sicavay – first woman; Sicalac’s wife Sibu – son of Sicalac and Sicavay;

Samar’s brother and husband Samar – daughter of Sicalac and

Sicavay; Sibu’s sister and wife

Characters:

Pandaguan – another son of Sicalac and Sicavay; married to Lubluban

Lubluban – daughter of Sibu and Samar who married Pandaguan

Anoranor – son of Lubluban and Pandaguan

In the olden days, there lived in the heavens two gods, Kaptan and Maguayan. Kaptan fell in love with Maguayan, and they were married.

One day, Kaptan and Maguayan had a quarrel as many couples do after the honeymoon. In a fit of anger, Kaptan told his wife to go away.  With a heavy heart, Maguayan left.

When the goddess was gone, the god Kaptan felt very lonely.  He knew that he had done his wife wrong; he had made an unjustifiably hasty decision, and this thought bothered him.However, it was too late for him to ask to

be forgiven.   He scoured the heavens, but his efforts were in vain; Maguayan was nowhere to be found. She had vanished like smoke into thin air.

So, to while away his sorrows, the repentant god created the earth and planted bamboo in a garden called Kahilwayan.  He also planted other plants like rice, corn, and sugarcane. 

Beholding the splendor of his creation, the great Kaptan was filled with happiness.  "Ah," he sighed, "were Maguayan here, she would enjoy this beautiful sight amid the sighs of the breeze and the rustle of the leaves!"

Among these plants, the bamboo sprouted first.  It grew to be a beautiful tree with pliant branches and feathery leaves dancing to the rhythmic wafting of the breeze.

The bamboo continued to grow.  The garden became more beautiful each day.  Then one late afternoon, while Kaptan was watching the bamboo leaves play in the breeze, a thought came to him.

Before he realized what it was all about, he was murmuring to himself, "I will make creatures to take care of these plants for me."

No sooner had he spoken these words then the bamboo split into two halves. From one stepped out the first man.  To the man, Kaptan gave the name Sikalak, meaning "the sturdy one." And from that time on, menhave been called si lalak or lalaki for short.

From the other half stepped out a woman.  The god called her Sikabay, meaning "partner of the sturdy one."  Thenceforth, women have been called sibabaye or babaye for short.

Together, the two creatures tended the garden and took care of the plants.  Meanwhile, Kaptan left for a faraway place to look for Maguayan.  One day, when the god had left, Sicalac asked Sicabay to marry him.  The woman, however, refused.  "Don't you know that you are my brother?" she reproved the man sternly.

   "I know.  But there are no other people in this garden," Sicalac argued.  "And we need children to help us take care of this wide place for our lord and master."     The woman was unmoved.  "I know," she replied, "but you are my brother.  We were born of the same bamboo stalk, with only one node binding us."

Finally, after much argument, they sought the advice of the tuna fish of the sea and the doves of the air.  The fish and doves approved of their marriage.  Still unconvinced, Sicavay consulted the earthquake, who also approved of the marriage.   

"It is necessary," the earthquake said, "so that the earth will be populated."

So Sicalac and Sicavay were married.  Their first child was a boy whom they named Sibu (Cebu).  Then a daughter came, and they named her Samar.

Sibo and Samar also had a daughter, called Lubluban. She married Pandaguan, a son of the first pair, and had a son called Anoranor. 

Pandaguan was the first to invent a net for fishing at sea; and, the first time when he used it, he caught a shark and brought it on shore, thinking that it would not die. But the shark died when brought ashore; and Pandaguan, when he saw this, began to mourn and weep over it—complaining against the gods for having allowed the shark to die, when no one had died before that time.

It is said that the god Captan, on hearing this, sent the flies to ascertain who the dead one was; but, as the flies did not dare to go, Captan sent the weevil, who brought back the news of the shark’s death.

The god Captan was displeased at these obsequies to a fish. He and Maguayan made a thunderbolt, with which they killed Pandaguan; he remained thirty days in the infernal regions, at the end of which time the gods took pity upon him, brought him back to life, and returned him to the world. 

While Pandaguan was dead, his wife Lubluban became the concubine of a man called Maracoyrun; and these people say that at that time concubinage began in the world.

When Pandaguan returned, he did not find his wife at home, because she had been invited by her friend to feast upon a pig that he had stolen; and the natives say that this was the first theft committed in the world.

Pandaguan sent his son for Lubluban, but she refused to go home, saying that the dead do not return to the world. At this answer Pandaguan became angry, and returned to the infernal regions. The people believe that, if his wife had obeyed his summons, and he had not gone back at that time, all the dead would return to life. 

Thank you for listening