Lumawig

Lumawig is the great spirit of the Bontoc Igorot, as Mabel Cook Cole recorded in her 1916 book. Her book is still under copyright in the Philippines. People describe him as a being who lives in the sky and who made their people. In the stories, he once lived on earth with them. Villagers ask him for health and good crops, and they say he controls wind and rain.

The tales show him as a hero who teaches and sets order. In one, he cuts reeds and turns them into pairs of people who speak different languages. He then hands out useful goods, such as salt and pottery. In a flood tale, his sons flood the world to make mountains for hunting. Only a brother and sister survive. He brings them fire, and they become the first parents.

In another tale, Lumawig marries a woman and shows his powers with food and animals. He turns his quarrelsome brother-in-law into a spring. The tellers are Igorot communities, and each village may tell it differently.