Laon
The Bisayan Goddess of Agriculture, Harvests, & Mt. Kanlaon
Today I’m going to talk about one of the major deities I work with and honor on a daily basis and that is the Bisayan Goddess, Laon. She is one of the deities that was worshiped by the ancient Bisayans prior to the arrival of Catholicism. Known by many other names from the various Bisayan ethnic groups, such as Kanlaon, Malaon, Lalahon, Raom, Laon Sina, & Alunsina, she was identified as the Supreme deity among many of the Bisayan groups and had carved images usually made of wood of her as mentioned in a passage in a Jesuit letter from 1609 of one found in Bohol. From the early dictionaries to writings from Miguel de Loarca to Francisco Alcina, it is clearly stated in every primary source that mentions her that Laon was a female, which unlike other writings of deities, was one of the few that actually was stated what gender she was.
In Miguel de Loarca’s passage from his Relación de las Yslas Filipinas in 1582 of Laon he describes her as such.
“El dios lalahon diçen que reside en un volcan que esta en la ysla de negros que heçha fuego y que esta el volcan frontero de la villa de Arevalo, como cinco leguas. A este Lalahon ynvocan para sus sementeras y quando no quieren darselas buenas hechales la langosta que se las hecha a perder y se las come. Esta Lahon es muger. “
In the passage it says that the deity Lalahon was a deity who lived in the island of Negros (that was originally called Buglas) and who was invoked for a good harvest in the fields. Lalahon would sometimes send locusts to eat the crops if the people upset and or angered her.
However in a translation of the passage in the Blair and Robertsons English translation in The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 5) , published from 1903 to 1909 there are parts from the original Spanish passage by Loarca that have been mistranslated. One major mistranslation is of the phrase, “que hecha fuego” meaning “which hurls fire”. This part of the passage does not refer to Laon herself as being a fire breathing Goddess, but to Mt. Kanlaon, an active volcano that is her home and still bears her name until this very day. From this mistranslation in the English version it has caused many to believe she is a also a Goddess of fire and breathes fire or throws them when in reality she is neither.
Her name is also an agricultural term among the Bisayan languages meaning aged crops or grain from the previous years harvest and is still a term used today.
According to Pedro Chirino in his writings in 1604, he mentions that Laon was the Bisayan counterpart of the Tagalogs Bathala Maykapal as being their Surpeme deity.
In Francisco Alcina’s works from 1668, who is widely known as the major contributor of information on pre-colonial Bisayans, he mentions Laon as being called Malaon and says that she was the creator of all things. She was also known as “one who disposes everything and renders everything equal” based on another name she was called by some groups such as the Bisayans of Ibabao, known as Makapatag. From this she was equated to the equality of the divine justice.
Today among the people of Sulod in the mountains of Panay, who have kept their indigenous beliefs and practices after years of colonization, they have a Goddess known as Laon Sina who is also mentioned in their long epics of which have been recorded by the likes of Jocano and others by talking to the remaining epic chanters. Laon Sina to the Sulod of Panay is an all powerful Goddes of the Upperworld known as Ibabawnon. In the epics collectively known as Hinilawod that is made up of different episodes following several epic heroes and heroines she is the mother of the 3 demigods, Labaw Dongon, Humadapnon, and Dumalapdap with a mortal, Datu Paubari of Halawod. She is also the mother of Amarotha from an unamed father, who died in childbirth and was brought back to life by Laon Sina to live with her. The epics also mention that sh is the sister of the Goddess Suklang Malayon, the Goddess and guardian of happy homes who warned Laon Sina and Datu Paubari of the plot by Maklium-sa-t’wan, the God of the plains, who was jealous and angered of the love between Laon Sina and Datu Paubari, to destroy their home Halawod by a flood. In the epics she is known for her magic when she comes to the rescue of her sons or when fighting occurs among relatives. In the episode of Labaw Donggon, she assists his sons Asu Mangga and Baranugon in trying to obtain a potion needed to defeat Saragnayan, the God of Darkness, who was their fathers enemey.
Among the Bisayans prior to the Spaniards, “Sina”, actually meant “foreigner”. For the Sulod Laon Sina, who is also known as Alunsina, the Eastern Goddess of the Sky, most likely is a deity that was brought to them by their Bisayan neighbors by the coasts, however based on creation myths among the Sulod it is suggested that they once lived down below near the sea based on their epics involving long distances on rivers and open seas. One can probably guess that those who moved up the mountains when the Spaniards arrived and attacked villages as mentioned in several primary sources, that they intermarried with those already living in the mountains (as even during pre-colonial times and the time of the early Spaniards there was already two subroups of Bisayans, those who lived in the mountains and those who lived by the coasts.) and brought some of their beliefs with them. Whether this is true or not however hasn’t been proven to date but is just a theory.
Out of all the Bisayan deities, in fact Filipin@ deities in general, Laon is the most well known and recorded and until this very day is known among the Sulod of Panay. Other deities we have fragments of information on, some just what they were worshiped for but never revealing their physical descriptions of gender. What interests me about Laon is that in every primary source talking about the religious beliefs of the Bisayans Laon is always mentioned in detail with every passage the writer specifically stating that their Supreme deity was a female. To me as a modern interpretation of her she is like a mother. Though she wasn’t one of the original deities as in the Bisayan creation myth mentioned by those of Alcina and others, she isn’t mentioned, instead it is of Kaptan and Magwayen. Even though she didn’t create the first people based on the creation myth, she is still a creator deity in her own right by providing life and support among those who worshiped her by protecting the crops the fed the communities.
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