Lam-ang

Lam-ang is the marvel-born hero of Biag ni Lam-ang, the great Ilocano folk-epic and the best-attested figure of the tradition. He speaks at the moment of his birth, names himself, and sets out while still a boy to avenge his father Don Juan, who had been slain by highland headhunters; single-handed he destroys the enemy band. Returning, he bathes in the Amburayan river with the help of the townswomen, then journeys to Kalanutian to court the beautiful Ines Kannoyan, overcoming the rival Sumarang and spurning the temptress Saridandan along the way, and winning her with the aid of his charmed rooster, hen and dog. His diving for the rarang shellfish demanded as a marriage rite proves fatal when the monstrous fish berkakan devours him; his bones are gathered and, at his rooster's crowing, he is raised to life again. First committed to writing in the late nineteenth century, the epic is regarded as the earliest recorded Philippine folk-epic.

Parentage

• parent: Don JuanSon of Don Juan Panganiban.Gerardo Blanco & Isabelo de los Reyes, 'Vida de Lam-ang,' in El Folk-Lore Filipino (1889) (primary)
• parent: NamonganSon of Namongan.Gerardo Blanco & Isabelo de los Reyes, 'Vida de Lam-ang,' in El Folk-Lore Filipino (1889) (primary)

Domains

• heroism
• war

Powers

• speaks and reasons from the moment of birth
• single-handedly destroys the enemy headhunters
• is restored to life from scattered bones

Epithets

• ti ubing a nagsao iti pannakayanakna — the child who spoke at his birthGerardo Blanco & Isabelo de los Reyes, 'Vida de Lam-ang,' in El Folk-Lore Filipino (1889) (primary)

Relations

• parent: Don JuanSon of Don Juan Panganiban.Gerardo Blanco & Isabelo de los Reyes, 'Vida de Lam-ang,' in El Folk-Lore Filipino (1889) (primary)
• parent: NamonganSon of Namongan.Gerardo Blanco & Isabelo de los Reyes, 'Vida de Lam-ang,' in El Folk-Lore Filipino (1889) (primary)
• spouse: Ines KannoyanWins and marries Ines Kannoyan of Kalanutian.Leopoldo Y. Yabes, The Ilocano Epic (Manila, 1935) (secondary)
• enemy: SumarangSlays the rival warrior Sumarang on the road to Kalanutian.Leopoldo Y. Yabes, The Ilocano Epic (Manila, 1935) (secondary)
• lover: SaridandanEncounters and rebuffs the temptress Saridandan, a former sweetheart, en route to his courtship.Damiana L. Eugenio (ed.), Philippine Folk Literature: The Epics (Quezon City, 2004) (secondary)

Sources

• Lam-ang is the hero of the Ilocano folk-epic Biag ni Lam-ang, born speaking, avenger of his father, wooer of Ines Kannoyan, and restored to life after being devoured by a great fish.: Gerardo Blanco & Isabelo de los Reyes, 'Vida de Lam-ang,' in El Folk-Lore Filipino (Manila, 1889) (primary); Leopoldo Y. Yabes, The Ilocano Epic: A Critical Study of the 'Life of Lam-ang' (Manila, 1935) (secondary)