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Culture & Groups [Solved] Bathala, Filipino/Tagalog God (Mythology) Tribute

 
Philippian Isles of Austronesians (Las Isles Filipinas)
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ashkenaz
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 ashkenaz
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Apr 09, 2019 3:29 pm
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According to the indigenous religious beliefs of the Tagalog people, Bathala (sometimes spelled Batala) is the all-mighty deity who created the universe.[1][2] A descriptive honorific is often attached to his name, describing him as the Bathalang Maylicha (Bathala the Creator; lit. "Actor of Creation") and as the Bathalang Maycapal (Bathala the Almighty; lit. "Actor of Power").[3][4]

It was after the arrival of the Spanish missionaries on the Philippines in the 16th century that Bathala came to be identified as the Christian God, thus its synonymy with Diyos (God) or Dibino (Divine, e.g. Mabathalang Awa), according to J.V. Panganiban (Diksyunaryo-Tesauro Pilipino-Ingles); in some Visayan languages, Bathala also means God.

In early Philippine history, Bathala was strongly associated with the Tigmamanukan omen bird - so much so that early chronicler Antonio de Morga thought the Tagalogs saw the bird as their ultimate deity. The anonymous author of the Boxer Codex (1590 b, 379) also nearly made this mistake, but was advised by the Tagalogs not to equate the two, because the Tigmamanukan was not the creator god "but only his messenger."[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathala  (Quote from Wikipedia)

I made this as a tribute/illustration thread to the Ancient Filipino God, Bathala. Since Philippine Mythology gets barely any love, (seriously, Filipinos are more interested in researching of Greek and Japanese mythology than their own) I decided to make this thread to post illustrations and myths about Bathala I can find.

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ashkenaz
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 ashkenaz
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Apr 09, 2019 3:31 pm
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Originally Posted by PimpMasterPro23 View Post
i'm tagalog.. 

our word for God is Dios/diyos ( same word as spanish). 

but yes i love this thread, you have to give me time researching about this... i'm very interested..

That's currently.

Before the Spanish era, Tagalogs were (as I understand) generally Animists. Some of them Muslims and some of them Hindu.

Bathala was the Supreme God in the Pre-Catholoc Indigenous religions of Tagalogs, as the Supreme Being who created the Universe, but he was however, seen as a distant god who could not be worshiped as he had no time and was way too up high to be bothered for mortal affairs. Bathala wasn't really worshiped for this reason, but he was venerated as the Supreme Creator.

Basically, the Anito (ancestor spirits, nature spirits, lesser gods) were seen as the intermediaries between Bathala and Humanity.

 
Quote
Bathala according indigenous Tagalog religious beliefs[edit]
See also: Indigenous religious beliefs of the Tagalog people
An excerpt from the Boxer Codex (1590b, 367) about Bathala according to the "heathen" Tagalogs:

"They said that this god of theirs was in the air before there was heaven or earth or anything else, that he was ab eterno (from eternity) and not made or created by anybody from anything, and that he alone made and created all that we have mentioned simply by his own volition because he wanted to make something so beautiful as the heaven and earth, and that he made and created one man and one woman out of the earth, from whom have come and descended all the men and their generations that are in the world."

Anitería was the term coined by Spanish missionaries to denote the Tagalog religion as they observed that despite the people's belief and respect to the omnipotent Bathala, they offered prayers and sacrifices to ancestral spirits called anito. Miguel de Loarca (Relación de las Yslas Filipinas, 1582) asked them why the sacrifices were offered to the anitos, and not to Batala, they answered that Batala was a great lord, and no one could speak to him directly because he lives in heaven (Kaluwálhatian), so he sent down the anitos to provide for them. Thus, the soul (káluluwa) of a person becomes an anito (ghost or ethereal being) after death to serve Bathala and intercede on behalf of the living, similar to concepts in Folk Catholicism or Spiritualism.

Bathala is a native god indigenous to Tagalog mythology, but has a small Hindu influence, namely that his name is likely traceable to the Sanskrit word "Batara" which means lord. IIRC, Jose Rizal believed that "Diwata" was the native name for Bathala or it was probably Meygawa.

There are at least, three versions of the Tagalog Creation Myth, I'll be posting them soon. One of them involved Bathala indirectly creating the First Man and First Woman.

Apparently, the Spanish Friars in the 16th century saw so many parallels between the Judeo-Christian God and Bathala (both created the first man and woman, dwelled in the sky, predated the universe, is omnipotent) that the Spanish identified Bathala with the Christian God and used a blend of native Bathala-ism paralleling to the Christian God to make conversion much easier.

 
Quote Quote
It was after the arrival of the Spanish missionaries on the Philippines in the 16th century that Bathala came to be identified as the Christian God, thus its synonymy with Diyos (God) or Dibino (Divine, e.g. Mabathalang Awa), according to J.V. Panganiban (Diksyunaryo-Tesauro Pilipino-Ingles); in some Visayan languages, Bathala also means God.
Bathala still embeds in current Filipino culture. The phrase and saying "Bahala Na" which I basically understand as meaning "Let whatever happen" leaving it to fate, was probably derived from a pre-Spanish expression of leaving fate in the hands of God/Bathala.
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josh avatar
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 ZeXsY(PMP23)
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Apr 09, 2019 3:32 pm
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i type whats bathala and this is what i saw..

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Rene B. Sarabia Jr
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 Rene B. Sarabia Jr
Apr 09, 2019 3:33 pm
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We also have a Tantric Goddess, that survived Islamization and had somehow transformed into the Virgin Mary in the Spanish era. 

She's called "Our Lady of Guidance"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuestra_Señora_de_Guía

She is housed in a church built by Mexican hermits.

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Rene B. Sarabia Jr
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 Rene B. Sarabia Jr
Apr 09, 2019 3:34 pm
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Originally Posted by ashkenaz View Post
Didn't know about that, thanks for the data. 

Apparently early Filipino catholicism had a lot of Animist religious syncretisms to Judeo-Catholicism and arguably even to this day, but I don't know how to compare the degree.

[QUOTE=ashkenaz;427205]Didn't know about that, thanks for the data.

Apparently early Filipino catholicism had a lot of Animist religious syncretisms to Judeo-Catholicism and arguably even to this day, but I don't know how to compare the degree.At least the Filipino "Our Lady of Guidance" is a benevolent Tantric Goddess for sailors and travelers, turned into a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

It's not as weird and scary as the Mexican cult of "Santa Muerte". Saint Death...

[url] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Muerte [/url]

Her origins are suspected to be some sort of Aztec Goddess of death who became some sort of Folk-Catholic saint.

However. I don't think us Filipinos are free of Aztec influence though since the highly venerated local image of the "Black Nazarene" was sculpted in Mexico.

[url] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Nazarene [/url]

And I shudder to think what sort of Aztec diety was the Black Nazarene of, before the Recollect Order imported him from Mexico, Acapulco to the Manila, Philippines.

I find it funny how Filipinos are so devoted to Christ yet they don't care that he mostly would look like some kind of Tan Skinned Semitic Middle Easterner and instead worship a Black Skinned version of him that's most probably is an Aztec God Syncretized into a core Christian identity. Lels.

[IMG] [/IMG]

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