Angalo
Ilocano · numen · Ilocano traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Angalo is the colossal giant of Ilocano origin lore, a landscape-shaping being whose body and labours account for the features of the Ilocos country. In the etiological tales gathered from the nineteenth century onward, his footprints scoop out valleys and lakes, the earth he piles becomes the mountain ranges, and the great furrows he digs fill to become the rivers; some tellings derive the sea itself from his exertions. He is regularly paired with the giantess Aran, and from the two the Ilocano people are said to descend. A number of accounts make him the agent or offspring of the creator, so that the abstract making of Namarsua is worked out concretely in the giant's world-shaping deeds.
Domains
- earth
- landforms
Powers
- shapes mountains, valleys and coastlines
- lifts and moves colossal masses of earth and water
Epithets
- Angalo a Higante — Angalo the GiantMabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1916) (secondary)
Relations
- spouse: AranAngalo and the giantess Aran are paired as the giant couple and progenitors of the Ilocano people.Damiana L. Eugenio (ed.), Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths (Quezon City, 1993) (secondary)
Sources
- Angalo is the primordial giant of Ilocano etiological folklore, credited with shaping the mountains, rivers and coasts of the homeland.: Isabelo de los Reyes, El Folk-Lore Filipino (Manila: Imprenta de Chofré y C., 1889) (primary); Damiana L. Eugenio (ed.), Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1993) (secondary)