This is the Tale of the Bakunawa Dragon-
It is said that it is the cause of Eclipses. Also during the ancient times Filipino's would believe that the Bathala created the seven
moons to light up the skies, but then the Bakunawa dragon was so amazed by the beauty of these seven moons that would rise from the oceans, that he swallowed the moons whole, angering Bathala and causing them to be mortal enemies.
To keep the Bakunawa moons from be completely being swallowed up, the ancient Filipinos would go out of their homes with pans and pots and would make noise in order to scare the Bakunawa into spitting out the moon back into the sky. Some of the people in the villages would play soothing sounds with their musical instruments, in hopes that the dragon would fall into a deep sleep.
There were other tales of the Bakunawa who was a sister in the form of a sea turtle. The sea turtle would visit a certain island in the
Philippines in order to lay her eggs. However, locals of the islands in the Philippines - In ancient times soon discovered that every time the sea turtle went to shore, the water seemed to follow her [the Sea Turtle sister of the Bakunawa Dragon ], thus reducing the island's size each time she came to lay her eggs. This worried the people of the island very much. They worried that their island would eventually disappear, if the Sister turtle kept coming to their island to lay her eggs. So the locals of the Island had a plan to kill the Sea Turtle.
But the people of the island had no idea, what would come of their actions, because when the Bakunawa dragon found out of their plans for his Sister Sea Turtle, well one could only image as one protects one's sister as being a brother for a Big Brother.
Bakunawa arose from the sea and he ate the moon. So it was pitch black when the sun would set everyday. This made the people of the Philippines Islands very afraid, specially at night since now there was no moon to give light on the tiny island.The people decided pray to the Bathala to punish the creature, but Bathala refused. Instead the Bathala told the people of the tiny island, to bang some pots and pans in order to disturb the Serpent dragon.
The moon was then regurgitated up while the Bakunawa disappeared, never to be seen again.
The people of the tiny island, where the Sister Turtle laid her eggs is said to still exist even today. Some sources say that the island might just be one of the Turtle islands. This is of course just one of many tales of the Moon Dragon in the Philippines culture. I hope that you Enjoyed this tale of the Moon Dragon and his Sister the Sea Turtle of the Philippine culture.
I hope to find many more legends on many more Different Dragons
For my Love of the Dragon!
Much love to you all my dears!
Wendy.-ooooo)
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