Bakunawa: A Philippine Mythology

According to Buyser (1913), the Bakunawa was a serpent that once aimed to devour all seven moons. He fell in love with the Seven Moons which illuminated the world during the night. With his love comes greed and so he devoured each one of them, causing the eclipses.

Stills taken from Bulan MV by Felip

The people, upon seeing the loss of the "Seven Sisters" took up arms to fight the ancient serpent. They rallied with so much noise whenever the Bakunawa would try to devour Haliya. She is the Earth's final moon (in some versions, she is the guardian of the moon).

Because of their determination to protect their diety, the Bakunawa did not succeed. Thus, it retreated into the ocean, forever longing to complete the "Seven Sisters". And every now and then, he would attempt to eat Earth's final moon. Yet, the screams and shouts of the hearts of the people still prevent it to this day. Hence, our celestial bodies come back after an eclipse.

This scene reminded me of Felip's Bulan lyric where the song goes:

"𝙊𝙝 𝙃𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙮𝙖, 𝙞𝙗𝙪𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙖,

𝙇𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙣 𝙠𝙖 𝙣𝙖 𝙣𝙞𝙮𝙖..

‘𝙒𝙖𝙜 𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙥𝙖-𝙖𝙥𝙞 𝙨𝙖 𝘽𝙖𝙠𝙪𝙣𝙖𝙬𝙖." which roughly translates to

"𝙊𝙝, 𝙃𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙮𝙖! 𝙊𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨,

𝙊𝙧 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪

𝘿𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙖𝙠𝙪𝙣𝙖𝙬𝙖."

It just goes to show that despite the existence of a god that overseers, aka Bathala, the power of the people are enough to drive even the foulest of creatures back into the depths of the sea. Speaking of which, there will be a partial solar eclipse today. I just wish I can be awake to see Bakunawa's yet another attempt to steal our light. 

Fun fact

A partial Solar Eclipse means the Moon crosses between the Sun and the Earth without alignment, hence, casting a partial shadow.

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References

• Paciente, D. R. (2023, October 19). Bakunawa: The tale of a dragon and seven moons - owlcation. Owlcation. https://owlcation.com/humanities/bakunawa-and-the-seven-moons