"Please don't let my knees buckle," the young boy pleaded, his voice strained as he continued to run.
There was no other sound around him, except for the pounding of his feet on the ground which echoed the beating of his heart that he felt would g...
*This story (while based on mythology that has since been diluted after being told and retold from pre-colonial Philippines) is purely fictional and has made liberal use of the deities and the characters to tell the story in a more contemporary setting. I do not claim that this is the real tale since there are differences in the stories of these deities based on geographical location, but, this is my take on an age-old reflection of a cultural aspect of the Philippine mythology, where a certain parallelism to the gods and goddesses of the Greeks and the Romans just shows that we are all connected in a world that has since gone astray.
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Among the 3 male children of Lihangin and Lidagat, Libulan was the soft-spoken, well-mannered, of them all, and the most eccentric of the 3...having a body covered in copper and unlike his brothers, Likabutan or Liadlaw, who were depicted as musclebound or large deities, he was depicted as more slender and soft and graceful, and was much closer to their sisters. Libulan is seen as timid and shy and doesn't like to display his full glory for long periods of time and he is also moody, and that is how the ancestors depicted the phases of the moon, and some say he sometimes hides because he doesn't want to be eaten by the monster Bakunawa. Libulan was also the last of the 3 brothers to be shattered by Makaptan's Lightning bolts, even though he pleaded for his life and told the deity that it was his brother's idea to storm the heavens ---www.vizayanmyths.blogspot.com
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*According to other stories, Sidapa (God of Death) was attracted to the beauty of the moon. He courted him without thinking that they belong to them. It is said that until now they are still together and happy living in Madjaas in Panay.(Filipino Mythology) -- https://thephilippinestoday.com/libulan-god-of-the-moon-patron-god-of-homosexuality/
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This urban fantasy retelling is not intended to demean the cultural significance of the original myths. This is just a retelling that is meant to honor the mythologies and the deities (though these deities defer from region to region) and share even just a sliver of our stories in a way that may be more attractive to the new generation. Much like how the Percy Jackson books have revived the love for the Greek and Roman mythologies to the younger readers.
ENJOY and do give me some feedback.... <3
ReferencesFernando A. Buyser, Mga Sugilanong Karaan (Sugbo, 1913), pp. 13-14.Fernando A. Buyser, Mga Sugilanong Pilinhon, Philippine Church Printing (1926)Damiana Eugenio, Philippine Folk Literature: The Legends, UP Press (2001)Bakunawa articles from the Aswang Project website.
