Ibaloi Creation Myth

Retold by I.V. Mallari

Kabunian was the chief god of the Ibaloi people. His home was the sun, but once in a
while he came down to earth. While on earth, he lived on top of Mount Pulag.
Kabunian saw that the earth was a lonesome place, because there were no people on it.
And so he made a woman. He told her that she and her children, and her children’s children
must always live in the mountains.
To make the woman contended, Kabunian gave her wild pigs for food. But soon she
found out that it was hard to catch a pig, just when she was hungry and she needed one.
For this reason, Kabunian made a man to help her. The man was larger and stronger
the woman. He could also run fast, so that it was easy for him to catch pigs.
The man built a house for the woman. He also built a pen, so that the woman might
have a place for the pigs that he caught. In this way, the woman could always kill a pig
whenever she wanted to.
That woman and that man were the first people on earth, The mountain people of this
day are their children.

Aran, the First Woman

Retold by I.V. Mallari

The Nabaloi people believe that, in the beginning, the sky was low. But as the trees
grew, they kept pushing it up. And now it is very high.
It rained almost all the time. And once it rained so hard, and the water rose so high,
that even the mountains were covered-that is, except Mount Chantog.
Of course, all the animals and all the people were drowned-thatis, except a woman
called Aran. She was the only one who was able to climb to the very top of Mount Chantog.
For some time after the great flood, Aran had to live alone. Then one of the bones on
her right side became a man, and he became her husband.
Soon they had a baby. This baby grew up to become the ancestor of the Nabaloi people.
Later, Aran went from palce to place; and every year she had another baby. This went
on for thirty years.
Because they were born and brought up in different places, these babies were different
from one another. And so, when they grew up, they became the ancestors of different tribes –
the Kabkana-ey, the Ifugao, the Bontoc, the Kalinga, the Tinguian, the Ilocano, the Tagalog,
the Visayan, and so on.