Makawalang

Makawalang (also written Makalawang) is the earthquake-being of Minahasan tradition, an underworld dweller associated with Mount Lokon above Tomohon. In the legend of Mount Lokon and Mount Klabat he first lives prosperously on the mountain, but having grown idle and extravagant he is driven from its heights and withdraws into the deepest cavern at the mountain's base. There he builds his dwelling, driving great pillars into the ground so that the earth will not fall in upon him, and keeps herds of wild boars. Whenever the boars root in the ground and rub against the pillars the land of Minahasa trembles: the small beasts cause tremors scarcely felt, the great ones terrible shocks. To still an earthquake, the people of the villages above beat gongs, bamboo and whatever lies to hand, shouting to mock and startle Makawalang's boars into quiet, a custom long remembered in the region. The name also belongs to a Tombulu ancestral figure whose wife Taretinimbang is placed in the valley of Mount Masarang in genealogical tradition, and it survives as a Minahasan family name; the official ethnography of North Sulawesi lists Makawalang among the spirit-beings of the Minahasan belief system.

Domains

• underworld and earthquakes

Powers

• to make the earth of Minahasa tremble through the boars he keeps beneath the mountain
• to prop up the earth above his underground dwelling with great pillars

Relations

• subordinate to: Empung Wailan Wangko

Sources

• Pangkerego, Aneke Sumarauw (1999). Cerita Rakyat dari Minahasa. Jakarta: Grasindo.
• Sorey, Oldrie (2016). Gunung Lokon dan Gunung Kalabat: Cerita Rakyat dari Sulawesi Utara. Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan.
• Proyek Penelitian dan Pencatatan Kebudayaan Daerah (1978). Adat Istiadat Daerah Sulawesi Utara. Jakarta: Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Pusat Penelitian Sejarah dan Budaya.