The Mythology Book

226

YOUR RICE OF

THE SKYWORLD

IS GOOD

FIRE AND RICE

T

he story of Wigan and

his brother Kabigat is

a founding myth of the

Ifaguo, a tribe originating in the

highlands of the Philippines. It

explores the symbiotic relationship

between humanity’s Earthworld

and the Skyworld of the gods,

and how they negotiated their

mutual sustenance.

In Kayang, Wigan and Kabigat

wanted to go hunting. To see if

their hunt would prove successful,

Wigan chose his fattest chicken

and sacrificed it to several lesser

gods, such as the Tired-Ones, who

lived in the Upstream region and

the Downstream region, and the

Alabat gods, who lived in the

moutains and owned the game.

The omen was good, so Wigan and

Kabigat took their spears and dogs

into the hills in search of a wild pig.

To the heavens

The brothers entered the forest

and, sighting a pig, sent their dogs

running, yelling encouragement.

They drove their quarry ever

upward until it eventually climbed

up into the Skyworld. Wigan and

Kabigat followed the pig all the way

up to the Skyworld. They found it

by the house of the gods Lidum and

Hinumbían, and Wigan speared it.

When Hinumbían rebuked

Wigan for killing one of the pigs of

the Skyworld, Wigan replied, “This

is no pig of yours. We followed it all

the way from Kayang.” Then Wigan

and Kabigat carried the dead pig to

Lidum and Hinumbían's granary

and, cutting it up, shared it with

the gods. Both gods took small

A seated Bulul (rice god) holds

a basket used for harvesting. This

15th-century wooden carving, made for

an Ifugao home or granary, comes from

the island of Luzon, in the Philippines.

IN BRIEF

THEME

The origins of agriculture

SOURCES

The Religion of the Ifugaos,

Roy Franklin Barton, 1946; The

Mythology of the Ifugaos, Roy

Franklin Barton, 1955.

SETTING

Kayang, in Luzon, the

Philippines.

KEY FIGURES

Wigan Ifugao hunter; brother

of Kabigat.

Kabigat Ifugao hunter; brother

of Wigan.

Bugan Wigan’s wife.

Lidum “The Giver”; a male

god of the Skyworld.

Hinumbían A male god of

the Skyworld; shared a home

with Lidum.

Dinipaan The blacksmith

god of the Upstream Region.

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227

The Ifugao rice terraces in

the mountains of Luzon were built

2,000 years ago. Watered by intricate

irrigation systems, they were handed

down from one generation to another.

See also: Prometheus helps mankind 36–39 ■ Nanga Baiga 212–13 ■ The killing of Luma-Luma 308–09

ASIA

pieces of the flesh, mixed them

with blood and rice, and ate them

raw. They asked Wigan and Kabigat

why they were not eating, and

Wigan told them that they would

not eat raw meat.

Mutual gifts

Wigan and Kabigat took their

share down to the Earthworld,

where they made fire with a

bamboo drill, and cooked both

meat and rice. They summoned

the spirits of the place, children

of either Lidum or Hinumbían,

and gave them food to eat. These

spirits took the food back to the

Skyworld to share with their

fathers. Delighted with the tasty

offerings, Lidum and Hinumbían

summoned Wigan and Kabigat

and asked them for the precious

gift of fire. In exchange, they

offered jewels, but Wigan held

out for the Skyworld rice, which was

so much better than the bearded

rice that grew in the Earthworld.

The gods opened up their

granary, and gave Wigan two

bundles of seed rice. In return,

Wigan made them a fire. The gods

excitedly carried the fire into the

house, but set the house ablaze.

They called for Wigan to come

and take back the fire—instead, he

quenched it with water, then built

the gods a fireplace to contain the

flames. In return, the grateful gods

told Wigan and Kabigat exactly

how to cultivate and store the rice,

and how to make the rice fields.

Feeding humanity

Back in Kayang, Wigan told his

wife, Bugan, that in order to create

the rice fields, she must wrap

herself in a blanket and remain

absolutely still while he stabbed

the earth repeatedly with a digging

stick. After he had created eight

fields, Bugan moved; from then on,

when Wigan stabbed the ground,

he turned over just a small amount

of soil. Wigan reprimanded her, but

Bugan said, “We have enough. Our

children can increase the fields.”

Appeased by this, Wigan stabbed

his stick into the bank above the

fields, causing water to gush out

and irrigate the fields. With this,

Wigan knew that he would soon

become the first human to harvest

the rice of the gods.

When the rice was ripe, the

blacksmith god made knives for

the harvest and exchanged them

for Wigan’s chickens. Wigan stored

the rice in the granary with rituals

and sacrifices to the gods of the

Skyworld, the Underworld, and the

Upstream region, and to the Bulul

granary gods. Wigan invoked the

gods again, so that in Kayang the

rice should always increase and

flourish and, in doing so, would

mirror the seasonal cycle of birth,

death, and renewal. ■

Thou, Rice, here!

Multiply like sands ...

The Religion

of the Ifugaos

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