It is said that in the olden time the Sun and the Moon were
married. They led a peaceful, harmonious life. Two children
were the issue of their wedlock. One day the Moon had to attend
to one of the household duties that fall to the lot of a woman,
some say to get water, others say to get the daily supply of food
from the fields. Before departing, she crooned the children to
sleep and told her husband to watch them but not to approach lest
by the heat that radiated from his body he might harm them. She
then started upon her errand. The Sun, who never before had been
allowed to touch his bairns, arose and approached their sleeping
place. He gazed upon them fondly, and, bending down, kissed them,
but the intense heat that issued from his countenance melted them
like wax. Upon perceiving this he wept and quietly betook himself
to the adjoining forest in great fear of his wife.
The Moon returned duly, and after depositing her burden in the
house turned to where the children slept but found only their
dried, inanimate forms. She broke out into a loud wail, and in
the wildness of her grief called upon her husband. But he gave no
answer. Finally softened by the loud long plaints, he returned
to his house. At the sight of him the wild cries of grief and
of despair and of rebuke redoubled themselves until finally the
husband, unable to soothe the wife, became angry and called her
his chattel. At first she feared his anger and quieted her sobs,
but, finally breaking out into one long wail, she seized the
burnt forms of her babes, and in the depth of her anguish and
her rage threw them to the ground in different directions. Then
the husband became angry again, and, seizing some taro leaves
that his wife had brought from the fields, cast them in her face
and went his way. Upon his return he could not find his wife,
and so it is to this day that the Sun follows the Moon in an
eternal cycle of night and day. And so it is, too, that stars
stand scattered in the sable firmament, for they, too, accompany
her in her hasty flight. Ever and anon a shooting star breaks
across her path, but that is only a messenger from her husband
to call her back. She, however, heeds it not, but speeds on her
way in never-ending flight with the marks of the taro leaves [18]
still upon her face and her starry train accompanying her to the
dawn and on to the sunset in one eternal flight.
On myths such as these the religions of the pagan tribes of Mindanao
are built up. These religions are by no means primitive, but are
accompanied by sacrifices, sometimes human, and the ceremonies are
performed by a well-developed priest class. [19]
Let us now turn to the highest type of Philippine beliefs: