Laho

AI illustration

Laho

From Tagalog

Laho is a serpent said to swallow the moon at an eclipse. One source links it to Tagalog belief and to the Bakunawa of the Visayas. Written sources on Laho are few.

Folklore is retold; versions differ.

Sources: Wikipedia: Laho (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikidata (CC0) · Wikipedia: Bakunawa

The story

Laho is a serpent that people say swallows the moon. In Philippine folk belief, an eclipse happens when a great snake or dragon eats the moon or the sun. The name Laho is linked to the Indian figure Rahu, who also causes eclipses in old Asian stories. One source links Laho to the Tagalog people and relates it to the Bakunawa of the Visayas.

The tale has a common response. During an eclipse, people make noise with pots, pans and other tools. This is meant to scare the creature, so it spits the moon out. In some tellings, people play music to lull it to sleep. In the Cebuano version of the Bakunawa, the supreme god Bathala made seven moons, and the serpent swallowed them one by one. In a West Visayan version, only one moon remained.

A friar's report from 1731 says that people thought a dragon, tiger or crocodile ate the moon in an eclipse. Local details for Laho are not known.