Kantada ng Babaing Mandirigma Daragang Magayon: Reinventing an Epic

In a way or two we have drawn the volcano, or the volcano have drawn us. I

cannot remember how many times I tried to capture the beauty of this mountain in my

paper with pens and crayons. As a kid I am always puzzled or maybe in awe by the

ever-changing color of the volcano. As Merlinda Bobis observed it “…(the) mountain is

blue-grey-green in the morning and lilac at the end of the day. Later, it is black than the

night; even the darkness cannot disguise its shape.”

In Merlinda Bobis’ epic poem, she redefined the image of Daragang Magayon, a

princess whose fate in both life and death was determined by men around him. We are

very much acquainted with the story of this princess and actually loved it a lot that even

our provincial festival was inspired by this tale; and yet in this story Daragang Magayon

(Beautiful Maiden”) is portrayed as disempowered, helpless, a-princess-in-distress

character disempowered by her name, sex, and beauty that imaged her as an object of

desire. We take pleasure, rejoicing the frailty of a woman by sugar-coating it with a

Romantic Romeo-and-Juliet like love story. Thus, leading to a tragic sacrifice of her life

for her father and tribe.

Bobis refuse to accept this story, for she believes that there is more to be heard,

more to be seen, and more to be sung if we only examine more closely the wounds of

this almost-perfect cone we admire so dearly. The volcano changes its appearance

from moment to moment and so she refuse to ascribe to one name alone.
I. Background

Naming, Un-naming, and Namelessness : Feminism and Post-

Colonialism

The book is approximately 20,000 word epic poem in two versions:

English and Filipino entitled Cantata of the Warrior Woman Daragang Magayon/

Kantada ng Babaing Mandirigma. It was first published by the Institute of

Women’s Studies, St. Scholastica’s College in 1993 under its Babaylan Women’s

Publishing Collective (BWPC) program. Then followed by its second edition in

1997.

Merlinda Bobis was born from the foot of an active volcano in Albay

Philippines. She is an award winning writer and published many of her works

locally and internationally. Her style in writing is very reflective of the culture of

the land where she sprung and at the same time blending it with the issues of our

age. Fusing the traditions of the past with the issues of the present is very

evident in her novel Banana Heart Summer. In this tale she brought so much

nostalgia about the past while creating a banquet for all the senses by treating us

with different Bikolano dishes that plays a significant part in the development of

the plot. Reading it reminded me of Laura Esquivel’s Como Agua Para

Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) a book filled with recipes and undeniably

Magical Realism prevalent in the literature of South America. Despite the

parallelism I saw, Bobis make it a point to give us a tasteful hindsight of the

sensibilities of our people that was reflected by the characters in the novel. In her

poem “A Mother’s Break” she explores the different roles a woman performs in
her life. From the most mundane things like washing the dishes to pleasing men

in their lives we have seen how gender affects the role we perform. Looking at

how women were portrayed, the text somehow reinforces the gender roles set

upon by societal expectations.

Inspired by the tradition of the epic chanting tradition, her desire to tell and

correct the inconsistency of the characteristic of the powerful volcano from the

image portrayed by the damsel in distress Daragang Magayon and her personal

passage into self-realization as a woman writer advocating women

empowerment she started to dream and conceptualize the tale of the Warrior

Woman. In 1987, she started to write her own version of the myth, merging

current issues with past traditions. She breaks the stablished control of male

authority as seen in the quest of Daragang Magayon in finding her real identity as

pointed out by Merlinda Bobis as the process of Naming, Un-naming, and

Namelessness. In the story, as a child Daragang Magayon was first called such

name because of her beauty. In a ritual performed by the elders to determine the

name of the child they call the names of the departed ancestors to choose

amongst these names. Once the wailing of the newborn stops, the name that

stills her shall be chosen as her name.

Daragang Magayon: How easy then to succumb

to the cosy little room
that makes a given name;
the space is cleared and cut
for you. You can grow
without wondering how far.
Ay, only to that other end,
that final letter
crouched against the wall.
 In this soliloquy by the Daragang Magayon, uses the metaphor of a room

made for you even before you came. A pre-determined life you do not have to

worry about the future because it was planned. She was destined to be a

princess of the Datu, his father. After the naming ritual another ritual was

performed by the elders to suit their standard for beauty. The newbord, using a

heavy piece of wood must undergo the flattening of the skull. This is being

performed by the elderly to shape the head by pressing the wood on top of the

forehead and another at the back. This way the feature of the princess will be

different from the slaves, as discussed by one of the women for “…(there is) no

need to sculpt the features of a slave… There is only one face for us.”

Later, as the pressure attached to her as the princess pressed on,

Daragang Magayon must assume her father’s responsibility in ruling and

defending the tribe. But Daragang Magayon was looked down by the tribesmen

because she is a woman, not capable of ruling. Magayon must prove herself and

gain the confidence of the people. She must display another characteristic aside

from being a princess, she must assume a new name: Sadit ni Makusog (Child of

Makusog) Despite doing her best to uphold the ideals of her people, she was still

doubted. And as the circumstances called for it she became a Babaing

Mandirigma (“Warrior Woman”) to defend her land and self from her oppressors.

Though name provides order and meaning, it can also be a way of

defining and conveying characteristics thus delimiting and restricting us. Most of

the time names are not ‘ours’ it is usually provided to us by someone who defines
us. Magayon then realized that ascribing to one name also means attributing

oneself to the expectations attached to these names, thus she became

nameless. This feminist vision of a self-determining woman, who continuously

explores the multitude of selves inspired Bobis. The fiery and seemingly

amorphous nature of the volcano is a representation of women, wearing different

face at every angle from which you view it and as the circumstance may be.

Mount Mayon radiated with so much grace and beauty, yet it is ‘wounded’ from

many eruptions.

This feministic idea, though partly a product of western schooling and

ideology was foremost prompted by colonization. In the Philippines, we can trace

back in the pre-colonial era how powerful women are. Prior to the colonization,

we have the Binukots, Catalonas and Babaylans in our midst; powerful women of

forebears the wisdom of the civilization. But with the coming of the Spanish

colonizers to our shores bringing the patriarchy to our islands much has been

change or worst lost. The uncertainty we are in is in a way caused by the

destruction of our identity as a people in the process of colonization.

Religion was the most potent weapon in this psychological war. When the

women of our lands were baptized there goes with it the ideology of the western

world instilled to our minds. She became an embodiment of the Mater Dolorosa,

‘Be like Christ crucified, or with her Mother with a heart impaled by seven

daggers,’ she fell in love with the pain. She was told to be obedient to the

authority of men, silently suffering eventually losing her voice. Anything loud,

natural, and instinctive was seen evil, that even the Babaylans were forced to
move out of their settlements and transfer away from the pueblos. These women

were demonized and were labeled wicked, Mangbabarang and Aswang.

Stripping away her self-worth and dignity, then she lost her confidence in her

body. Bobis as a feminist writer take us on a quest on her personal passage into

self-realization portrayin women empowerment. Honoré de Balzac a French

novelist once said: ‘All fiction is symbolic autobiography.’ She chronicles her

story, a story told by a woman for every woman throughout generations.

II. Presentation

Daragang Magayon: Re-inventing the Self Beyond Definitions

As discussed in the first part of this paper this epic poem is inspired by the

myth of Daragang Magayon. Mount Mayon, as the legend goes, rose from the

tomb of Daragang Magayon a princess and daughter of the chieftain of Rawis

named Datu Makusog (‘Strong’.) Dawani (‘Rainbow’) Magayon’s mother died

upon giving birth to her and so the father was left with the responsibility of raising

the child. Magayon as her name suggests grew up to be a beautiful maiden that

many of the men in the land of Kabikolan and even neighboring lands fall in line

to court and ask for the hand of the beautiful maiden. But Magayon is not

interested with these men, although there is this rich Datu of another tribe looking

for another young wife to bear another child is so persistent to get the princess.

He is named Pagtuga (‘Eruption’) he would shower Magayon with expensive

things such as jewelry, gold, fancy woven textiles and other riches. Again, the

princess is not interested for she is in-love with a man from the Katagalugan

named Ulap (‘Clouds’.) Pagtuga learned about this and kidnapped the
Datu and asked Magayon to marry him in exchange for his father’s freedom.

Magayon, left with no other choice decided to marry Pagtuga. On the day of the

wedding a group of men from Ulap’s tribe march to Kabikolan to save the

princess. Eventually Ulap killed Pagtuga and the lovers reunited. But one of the

men of Pagtuga avenge his death by throwing an arrow to the lovers. Ulap and

Magayon, with one single arrow died. Their bodies were buried and the people

mourned for the death of their Beautiful Maiden. As time pass, a volcano

emerged from the tomb. The people believed it was Magayon, later on the

volcano was named Mayon.

In this folk story, Daragang Magayon becomes an item of war booty

traded by men and whose life was later sacrificed. The epic Cantata of the

Warrior Woman Daragang Magayon on the other hand re-names and transforms

the disempowered Beautiful Maiden into a Warrior Woman, who rejects the

determination of her fate by male authority and instead, takes up arms in defense

of her self and tribe. In the first tale the passive characteristic of Daragang

Magayon is inconsistent with the nature of the volcano that is forceful and

equivocal. As Merlinda Bobis wrote in her dissertation “As a feminist poet and a

storyteller, I decided to correct this inconsistency in another story. I told my own

version of the myth about this mountain, breaking the stablished control of male

authority.”page 4

III. Analysis

Epic Tradition: Form and Content

 Epic is defined as a narrative about heroic exploits or adventures and

valiant deeds of a hero or a semi-legendary being. The epic was written in two

languages, Bikol and English. The book is divided into eight parts including

prologue, chapters I – VI and the epilogue. Each chapter has its title, starting with

chapter one: Bakunawa, two: Magayon, three: Pagtuga, four: Sirangan, five:

Ulap, six: Warang Pangaran. The epic is in free-verse and used artificial

language, lofty and formal language. It is also filled with figures of speech that

adds flair to the language of the epic poem. One significant example was in

Chapter One, when Bakunawa was used as a metaphor for Pagtuga and his

thirst for young blood just like the Bakunawa’s lust for the moon. The epic was

narrated by Daragang Magayon herself. It opened with the invocation to the

muse, To The Mountain

Daragang Magayon, Daragang Magayon,

tinutuliro mo ako in this half-light, you stun me.
sa unang liwanag. You repeat a crestpeak
Iginuguhit mo ang tutok ng alon breaking against the sky;
sa kanyang paghampas sa langit; a once-upheaval caught
suso kang nakaukit sa ulap, at its height – against the clouds,
bumuntonghiningang dibdib, a breast heaved and held
pasikdu-sikdo ang hangin, with no letting go of breath,
parang sigwang kinikimkim. That swell of fury from all ages.

-Prologue, Kantada ng Babaing

Mandirigma

Here in the Prologue, an unnamed character is reciting the invocation to the

mountain. The persona, is expressing one’s admiration to the grandeur and splendor of

the mountain as Bobis wrote “Is this how to choke/ in too much beauty/ that splinters

the eye?” But as the eye moves upward climbing and shift its point of view from below
to the bird’s eye view the persona noticed the change of scenery from “firmest breast” to

a confusion upon reaching the summit “But is this the peak/ this strangest crest, this

hideous breast?” Ending the prologue with comparison of how beautiful the mountain

was seeing from below than seeing it from its summit showing the “deep ravines that

gash,/ with cliffs that bruise/ and roughest grooves.” The persona speaking is confused

if this was still the mountain he or she admired:

Where is the slope that heaved

and nipple to the sun,
that perfect wave which knew
no flaw, no lack?
Something vicious
about a wounded mountain,
a breast that suckled monster teeth.
Your name unclasps from memory.
I do not know you
ravaged to the foot.

I can not love you

with no name.
-Prologue: To The Mountain, Cantata of the Warrior
Woman Daragang Magayon

To this the Mountain replied, “Lovers are better nameless./ It is enough to suckle

shy/ and wing the eye./ My lover has to see/ beyond a breast or crest./ He has to know

my deepest grooves./ I have to wound his eye/ beyond desire.”

The epic contains repetitions or refrains, one example was sung by the Mountain

in the Prologue as a reply: “Flight is song on four winds./ earth and sea/ and air and sky

blow and teem/ and rush and hum/ into the dreaming/ of a single weave.” This was

repeated in the Epilogue: Cantata of the Mountain “Flight is song/ on four winds/ From
the east,/ a voice is red-/rimmed with fire./ From the west,/ it gusts grey/ with ashes.”

Then in Coda of the Mountain that closed the epic “Flight is song/ on four winds./ the

fifth wind/ does not sing.”

The epic was set in distant past and is a reflection of a rich culture of a

civilization. As Bobis explains: “I wrote my epic with the hope of giving my native region

another epic, one that would not be a bone of contention in debates on authenticity (the

pressing issue on the authenticity of Ibalong as authentic epic of Bikol…) I had to

research on Bikol prehistory and folklore, in order to write my epic: I want a tale which is

unquestionably Bikol’s. This need to be ‘authentic’… I need to legitimize my claim on

the genre.”page 61-62

Reverent idealization of the past and remembering the heroism of Daragang

Magayon the Warrior Woman is the main theme of the literary epic; which leads to

further discussion on the tenets of feminism and self-actualization defying expectations

of the society based on gender.

Most of the characters of the epic are of noble-birth and are common people

inter-acting in their settlement called Rawis. As stated above, it was narrated by

Daragang Magayon (‘Beautiful Maiden’) the protagonist and hero in the epic. She is the

central character in the story as the title of the literary epic suggest, the whole story is

her quest to defy the ascribed definitions in her name first as the Beautiful Maiden, a

princess, the daughter of Datu Makusog (Sadit ni Makusog,) a Warrior Woman, then the

Nameless – the owner of all names. Daragang Magayon, at first needs to learn the

traditions and norms of the society she belonged. She grew up without her mother, who

died upon giving birth to her. It was her father and Sirangan her nursemaid who raised
her, but it was the later who taught her to think independently and gave her freedom to

be who she really is.

Datu Makusog, the chieftain of Rawis and the father of Daragang Magayon is in

a predicament upholding and maintaining his kingdom, now that he’s aging and

deliberately losing his strength in wars defending his tribe. In the story he started to

impregnate different women in his desire to have a boy as an heir to his throne, but all

his children died strangely upon birth. The elders believe that there’s a curse upon

them. Datu Makusog is also tormented by the pressure pressed to him by his people,

with the constant raid of pirates and other tribes.

Sirangan, the second-mother of Daragang Magayon whose wisdom helped her

discover her potential as a woman. After the death of Dawani, (Magayon’s mother)

Sirangan taught Magayon everything, from the basics of life to the most essential

lessons the young woman must learn. She was later on killed by saving the life of

Daragang Magayon.

Pagtuga, an old chieftain of a neighboring tribe whose prime target is to plant his

seed onto young women. When he was first encountered the young Daragang

Magayon, he was on a hunt for an amid, later on he pursued the princess in the forest

and eventually captured her. But the young princess managed to escape the arms of

the lustful Pagtuga and hasted home. Pagtuga was compared to the Bakunawa, a giant

serpent residing in the ocean that rise up during full moon to eat the moon. The people

need to perform the ritual ‘Halia’ a ritual of noise-making and merriment to scare-off the

giant serpent. Pagtuga wanted to make Daragang Magayon one of her many wives that
Magayon strongly rejects. He killed Sirangan the second-mother of Magayon, on one

occasion in the tribe when he forcefully snatched the young princess to rape of her.

Ulap, a young man from Katagalogan who first saw Daragang Magayon on the

bay performing a ritual. He then was mesmerized by her beauty and the young man,

tired of his journey felt sick and passed on. Magayon rescued the young man and

brought her home, to this the conservative elders of the tribe did not approve for they

hold dear the purity of a woman before marriage.

Magindara, a sea-goddess who commenced Magayon’s journey to self-discovery

and to being “nameless”. In Bikol mythology, Magindara is a sea-nymp usually enticing

fishermen, but in the literary epic she would change appearance from a mermaid to

Tambaluslus, to Oryol, Tawong-lipod, Luwok are, among others.

Just like most epics, the tale begins in medias res when the people of Rawis

were performing a ritual Halia to scare-off the evil Bakunawa. The readers were then

transported into a forest while the lustful Pagtuga is hunting the princess mistaken for

an amid. This was the first encounter of the two. Magayon rushed away and managed

to escape the spear of Pagtuga. Later he captured the maiden but eventually the

maiden once again avoided him by creating a wound on his legs. The juxtaposition of

Bakunawa and Pagtuga serve as a premonition to the upcoming danger brought by the

licentious old man, Pagtuga.

Reinventing the Myth: Daragang Magayon’s Journey from Naming, to Un-naming,

and to Namelessness
 The literary epic is divided into six parts, excluding the Prologue and Epilogue

discussed earlier. To be able to understand the plot we shall discuss briefly the contents

of each part until we finally complete the story.

I. Bakunawa

This is Rawis, our kingdom.

No moon,
but unscarce in light.
It is a thousand pairs of moon,
the white of staring eyes.
It is a thousand crowd of fires,
the mind alive.
Do not sleep tonight;
to sleep is to die.
-Daragang Magayon, Bakunawa Part I.12

As discussed earlier the literary epic opened in medias res, where the people of

Rawis are performing the Halia ritual. As the narration of Daragang Magayon continues,

we suddenly hear the comparison of Bakunawa to nother character Pagtuga:

“Remember, tomorrow is the battle/ with the spurned Pagtuga,/ that other Bakonawa

who prowls/ not the sky but the earth./ He comes to feed on me/ and on the flesh of our

tribe./ I can hear him heave;/ The enemy is near.” The conflict of the story is now slowly

being presented to the readers, eventually Daragang Magayon blossomed into

womanhood. She must undergo and learn different rituals, she danced with the slaves

and gracefully sings with them the anthem of the rituals. “How delicious is the rhythm/

when a turn is the turn of the mind/ that answers the drums in the breast.” This words

from Daragang Magayon shows how she loved to be with her people and to be free

from the worries that her name entails. Even the slaves were confused when the

princess danced with them in the ritual, but as Sirangan calmed the women they

continued with the ritual. In the middle of the ritual, the princess suddenly got worried of
the blood stain between her legs, a sign of her womanhood. Sirangan once again

calmed the princess and explained to her that this is the “first blood from the womb” and

this is part of the cleansing ritual. The night ended in Tirigsikan, a popular poetry clash,

a toast amongst Bikolanos.

“I toast to all humanity.

“Small and big, the same woth.
Big and small, the same use.”
This was their tigsik before.
This is still our toast today.
Pagtuga, our measure
is not in strength,
and our right is not in gold,
pearls, or heads of the hunt
which you heaped at my feet
to bind them to your will.”

II. Magayon : Naming

In this chapter the readers were brought to ancient Bikol by understanding the

traditions and culture of its people. The scene opened in Daragang Magayon’s birth.

A ritual was performed by the elders to determine the name of the child. They call

the names of the departed ancestors to choose amongst these names. Once the

wailing of the newborn stops, the name that stills her shall be chosen as her name.

Shakespeare in his tragedy Romeo and Juliet asked “What’s in a name?” Bobis

explore the ideas linked to the name Daragang Magayon while exhibiting the power

of the persona to think for herself and never listened to the predetermined route she

must take. Here, she also make sure to present the position of women in the

society’s standard “My father remember well/ my mother who ruled with him./ But

ancient voices/ plagued his ears/ in wisdom’s name.” We see here that it is a
stablished idea that though women are powerful, they are and will always be seen

inferior to men.

Daragang Magayon: How easy then to succumb

to the cosy little room
that makes a given name;
the space is cleared and cut
for you. You can grow
without wondering how far.
Ay, only to that other end,
that final letter
crouched against the wall.

In this soliloquy by the Daragang Magayon, uses the metaphor of a room made

for you even before you came. A pre-determined life you do not have to worry about

the future because it was planned. She was destined to be a princess of the Datu,

his father. After the naming ritual another ritual was performed by the elders to suit

their standard for beauty. The newbord, using a heavy piece of wood must undergo

the flattening of the skull. This is being performed by the elderly to shape the head

by pressing the wood on top of the forehead and another at the back. This is a

common practice among the ancient Bicolanos to distinguish the royalty among the

common people, for them the more dominant forehead is a sign of high position in

the society.

When Daragang Magayon was four years old, the people made a verdict that she

cannot rule their tribe. Datu Makusog was pressured and told the people of great

women in neighboring kingdoms who are successful in their own leadership. “We

hear of Urduja, of Sima,/ women leading tribes/ and even Dawani ruled with me.” But

this wont pacify the hunger of the people for an heir that is a boy, so the chieftain
 promised to find concubines and “willed their wombs to swell./ worshiping the

lingam,/ that rigid man-thing carved/ in stone, they rubbed/ breasts, bellies and

groins/ against such coldness./ How they wailed for sons.” To this Daragang

Magayon contemplated how other woman before her and who will be beyond her

time will suffer the same fate, “So I thought of Dawani once,/ so I thought about all

those mothers/ and their lust for sons./ Those mothers and unborn heirs,/ they too,

were named.”

Sirangan: “The womb has two faces.

Grace and curse,
Life and death.
So its every enfolding throb
Must also promise the sea,
A wave pushing away
The leap of desire
To gather the world
On our lap.
For who shall gather us
When we drown?
When our generous thighs
Become too crowded?
We have to do our gathering.
We have to hold us on our lap.”
-Sirangan, Daragang Magayon II.32

III. Pagtuga

When Pagtuga came to the tribe after following the princess in his hunt found the

settlement in need of a strong man willing and able to defend its people. The elders

have decided to look for a man to marry the beautiful princess and later on rule their

land, and to them Pagtuga is to be considered. In one of the raids of the pirates to the

settlement in Rawis, Pagtuga came to aid the tribe. The contrast of the two chapters

showed the difference in the society’s view towards leadership and power ascribed to
sexes. That women must be ‘beautiful’ while men are ‘strong’, names are the prime

determiner of your quality.

Pagtuga, (‘Eruption’) as the name suggest is viewed as a warrior thirsty for blood

and victory. Saving the tribe opened them to accept him as a friend not seeing the

motive Pagtuga has for their young princess. Later the two leader had a blood compact

and with this an agreement that when the right time comes, Magayon will be wedded to

him.

Here’s to Datu Makusog,

The Strong One.
To Datu Pagtuga,
our bloodbrother.

We toast to these brothers.

They will never run away;
they lust like bull.
- Warriors,Pagtuga III.56

IV. Sirangan : Un-naming

There is always another war

After every war.
-Daragang Magayon, Sirangan IV.57

After winning the war waged against the pirates, the people of Rawis celebrated.

There were tigsikan, rice-wine and merriment for the men but the women are longing for

their fathers, sons, daughters and family members who died because of the war.

They say we have won.

But I am looking for my son.
 They say we have won.
But my boy has not come home.
They say we have won.
But I dig a tomb for him.
They say we have won.
How can a graveyard hear?
- Women, Sirangan IV.57

Magayon together with Siranagn and many women went to the shore and

performed another ritual for healing. They listen and speak of their memories “In these

waters, we listen/ to our memories.” In that ritual by the sea they invoked the names of

the creatures of Magindara and of the waterworld. But invoked them as their own as

well. For they believe that they too can be the Bito’on, Sirangan, coral, anemone, stone,

fish even the water. “How we speak/ many names/ beyond old names./ We touch skin/

and shed skin./ We remember self/ and find another.”

With this Daragang Magayon reflected the many names that were called her:

Beautiful Maiden, from her ancestors, The Young of Makusog from her father, The

Betrothed of Pagtuga from the hunter who vowed to be her groom, but these many

names attributed to her and none were really hers.

“Woman. Hunter. Warrior.

Names only of the moment
As other words rang
More possibilities. Lover.
Mother. Earth. Bird. Fish.”
-Daragang Magayon, Sirangan IV. 65

Suddenly the readers were transported back to the celebration of the men, were

most of them have already drunk too much specially Pagtuga. Pagtuga with his

obsession to the young Princess, spoke to her: “Only four moons to go/ before you lie
on my bed, yet you never sit at my table/ or even smile at me. My own amid,/ wildcat of

my hunt, how sleek/ you have grown. And how proudly you thrust those breast and hips

at me./ Come let me toast to you./ You have kept me too thirsty.