MYTH

Sicalac and Sicavay

(Visayan Creation Myth)

(1) In the beginning there were two gods, Captan and Maguayan. They created the earth and all
living things. Once Captan planted a bamboo in a garden. The plant grew into a tall tree that
swayed gracefully in the breeze. Then, one day it broke into two sections, and out stepped a
man and a woman. To the man, the gods gave the name Sicalac, and that is why men have been
called lalaki. The woman they called Sicavay, and thenceforth women have been called babae.

(2) After some time, the man asked the woman to marry him for there were no people in the
world. Sicavay was reluctant in accepting his proposal, however, saying that they were brother
and sister born of the same reed. Eventually, they agreed to seek the advice of the tunas of the
sea and doves of the air. They also consulted the earthquake, who told them that it was
necessary for them to fill the earth with people. And so they became husband and wife.

(3) Soon after, they had a son whom they called Sibu. A daughter who was born to them next
was named Samar. Sibu and Samar married and had a daughter, Luplupan . She married
Pandaguan, the second son of the first couple, Sicalac and Sicavay. They had a son whom they
named Anoranor.

(4) Pandaguan was first to invent the fishing net. The first time he used it, he caught a shark and
brought it ashore, thinking that it would not die, but the shark did not survive for long out of
water. Great was Pandaguan 's grief. He cried out loudly to the gods , blaming them for letting
his plaything die when no one had ever died before. It is said the god Captan, weary after his
day's work, sent the flies to find out why Pandaguan was making such a loud lamentation. But
the flies refused to obey him, saying that they were busy storing honey. For this disobedience,
they were condemned to scavenge among fifty and rotten things from then on.

(5) Captan then sent the weevil, who brought the news of the shark's death. Pandaguan's
behavior greatly displeased Captan. He and Maguayan made a thunderbolt with which they
struck Pandaguan dead. The young man stayed in the infernal regions for thirty days, at the end
of which time the gods took pity on him, brought him back to life, and returned him to the
world.
(6) While Pandaguan was away, his wife Luplupan became the concubine of Maracoyrun.
People say that the practice of concubinage then started with Luplupan.

(7) When Pandaguan returned home, he did not find his wife there. She had been invited by
Maracoyrun to feast upon a pig which he had stolen. People say that this was the first theft
committed in the world.

(8) Pandaguan then sent Anoranor to fetch his mother, but she only laughed at her son and
refused to go home, saying that the dead never returns to the world. At this answer,
Pandaguan became angry and went back to the infernal regions, vowing never to return to the
world. The old folks say that had Luplupan obeyed Psndaguan's summons, and had he not gone
back to the infernal regions, all the dead would have come back to life.