AI illustration
Tigmamanukan
Early Tagalog people looked to the tigmamanukan, a bird, for omens. They said Bathala sent it to tell people if a plan would go well. The bird was watched with other birds and lizards.
Folklore is retold; versions differ.
Sources: Wikipedia: Tigmamanukan (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikidata (CC0)
The story
The tigmamanukan was a bird that early Tagalog people read for omens. They said Bathala, the creator, sent it to show whether a plan would go well. People also read other birds and some lizards. The tigmamanukan got special attention. A bird that flew to the right at the start of a journey meant success. One that flew to the left meant the travelers would not come home. A 1613 Tagalog dictionary by San Buenaventura records this rule.
Spanish writers spelled the name in many ways. Plasencia wrote it as tigmamanuguin in 1589. Most accounts say the bird was blue. Researchers think it may be a fairy bluebird (genus Irena). Other omen birds included kingfishers and a dove called the limokon. Killing these birds was taboo.
Some creation tales say the bird pecked open the bamboo that held the first man and woman. Some name the bird Manaul. Others say it was Amihan in bird form. Writers sometimes confuse it with the sarimanok of Mindanao, but that is a different bird. The name is not in everyday use today.