Minokawa

The minokawa is a giant bird in Bagobo stories, found among the people of the Davao area. Tellers say it is as big as an island and lives beyond the sky, at the eastern edge of the world. They describe a steel beak and claws, eyes like mirrors and feathers like sharp swords. Some say it is as large as Negros or Bohol.

The bird explains eclipses. In the tale, it tries again and again to catch the moon. The moon escapes through holes in the eastern and western horizon. If the bird ever swallowed both the sun and the moon, it would come down to eat people, and in some tellings the whole earth. During an eclipse, people shout and beat gongs. The noise makes the bird open its mouth to listen, and the moon slips out.

Laura Benedict wrote about Bagobo myth and Mabel Cook Cole recorded an eclipse story, so the idea reached print early. Other peoples, such as the Visayans, place the sky world in different ways. The minokawa also appears in modern shows and games, such as Mulawin vs. Ravena.