The Visayas, or the Visayan Islands, are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the archipelago, it consists of several islands, primarily surrounding the Visayan Sea, although the Visayas are also considered the northeast extremity of the entire Sulu Sea. Its inhabitants are predominantly the Visayan peoples.
Capiz, officially the Province of Capiz, is a province in the Philippines located in the central section of Western Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Roxas, which is the most populous. It is located at the northeastern portion of Panay Island, bordering Aklan to the north, Antique to the west, and Iloilo to the south. Capiz faces the Sibuyan Sea to the north.
Visayans or Visayan people are a Philippine ethnolinguistic family group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, the southernmost islands of Luzon and a significant portion of Mindanao. They are composed of numerous distinct ethnic groups, many unrelated to each other. When taken as a single group, they number around 33.5 million. The Visayans, like the Luzon Lowlanders were originally predominantly animist-polytheists and broadly share a maritime culture until the 16th century when the Spanish empire enforced Catholicism as the state religion. In more inland or otherwise secluded areas, ancient animistic-polytheistic beliefs and traditions either were reinterpreted within a Roman Catholic framework or syncretized with the new religion. Visayans are generally speakers of one or more of the distinct Bisayan languages, the most widely spoken being Cebuano, followed by Hiligaynon (Ilonggo) and Waray-Waray.
Philippine mythology is rooted in the many indigenous Philippine folk religions. Philippine mythology exhibits influence from Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, and Christian traditions.
Tapaz, officially the Municipality of Tapaz, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Capiz, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 54,423 people.
Laon, is a pre-colonial female supreme creator deity in the animist anito beliefs of the Visayan peoples in the Philippines. She is associated with creation, agriculture, the sky, and divine justice. Her domain is usually identified with the volcano Kanlaon of the island of Negros, the highest peak in the Visayas Islands. She is present in the pre-colonial beliefs of the Aklanon, Capiznon, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Karay-a, Suludnon, and Waray people, among others. Her name is variously rendered as Lahon, Lalaon, Malaon, Raom, and Laonsina among the different Visayan groups.
Biag ni Lam-ang is an epic story of the Ilocano people from the Ilocos region of the Philippines. It is notable for being the first Philippine folk epic to be recorded in written form, and was one of only two folk epics documented during the Philippines' Spanish Colonial period, along with the Bicolano epic of Handiong. It is also noted for being a folk epic from a "Christianized" lowland people group, with elements incorporated into the storytelling.
The Philippines is inhabited by more than 182 ethnolinguistic groups, many of which are classified as "Indigenous Peoples" under the country's Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997. Traditionally-Muslim peoples from the southernmost island group of Mindanao are usually categorized together as Moro peoples, whether they are classified as Indigenous peoples or not. About 142 are classified as non-Muslim Indigenous people groups, and about 19 ethnolinguistic groups are classified as neither Indigenous nor Moro. Various migrant groups have also had a significant presence throughout the country's history.
The Hiligaynon people, often referred to as Ilonggo people or Panayan people, are the second largest subgroup of the larger Visayan ethnic group, whose primary language is Hiligaynon, an Austronesian language of the Visayan branch native to Panay, Guimaras, and Negros. They originated in the province of Iloilo, on the island of Panay, in the region of Western Visayas. Over the years, inter-migrations and intra-migrations have contributed to the diaspora of the Hiligaynon to different parts of the Philippines. Today, the Hiligaynon, apart from the province of Iloilo, also form the majority in the provinces of Guimaras, Negros Occidental, Capiz, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Cotabato Province. Hiligaynon is also spoken in some parts of Sarangani Province particulary in the Municipality of Malungon.
The Karay-a are a Visayan ethnic group native to the islands of Panay and Palawan in the Philippines. They speak the Karay-a language.
Hinilawod is an epic poem orally transmitted from early inhabitants of a place called Sulod in central Panay, Philippines. The term "Hinilawod" generally translates to "Tales From The Mouth of The Halawod River". The epic must have been commonly known to the Visayans of Panay before the conquest, since its main protagonists, like Labaw Donggon, were noted in the accounts of the Islanders' beliefs and recorded by early Spanish colonizers. One of these Westerners' accounts says that the adventures of this ancient hero of Panay were recalled during weddings and in songs. It was noted that there were still native Mundos of Dingle, Iloilo who worshipped Labaw Donggon even until the last years of the Spanish rule in the Philippines. These worshippers would stealthily enter a certain cave in Dingle in the evening of a certain day of the year, in order to render homage and to offer poultry, doves, rice, bananas, and pigs to the ancient Visayan god.
The Aklanon people are the ethnolinguistic group who lived in the province of Aklan. They are part of the wider Bisaya ethnolinguistic group, who constitute the largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group.
The Maragtas is a work by Pedro Alcantara Monteclaro titled History of Panay from the first inhabitants and the Bornean immigrants, from which they descended, to the arrival of the Spaniards. The work is in mixed Hiligaynon and Kinaray-a languages in Iloilo in 1907. It is an original work based on written and oral sources available to the author.
The Suludnon, also known as the Panay-Bukidnon, Pan-ayanon, or Tumandok, are a Visayan group of people who reside in the Capiz-Antique-Iloilo mountainous area of Panay in the Visayan islands of the Philippines. They are one of the two only mostly non-Christianized group of Visayan language-speakers in the Western Visayas, along with the Halawodnon of Lambunao and Calinog, Iloilo and Iraynon-Bukidnon of Antique. Also, they are part of the wider Visayan ethnolinguistic group, who constitute the largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group.
Alicia P. Magos is an anthropologist and a professor emerita of University of the Philippines Visayas. She had extensive and published works on the culture of Western Visayas especially on the Panay Bukidnon. She was a UNESCO International Literary Research Awardee and 1999 Metrobank Ten Outstanding Teacher.
The Confederation of Madja-as was a legendary pre-colonial supra-baranganic polity on the island of Panay in the Philippines. It was mentioned in Pedro Monteclaro's book titled Maragtas. It was supposedly created by Datu Sumakwel to exercise his authority over all the other datus of Panay. Like the Maragtas and the Code of Kalantiaw, the historical authenticity of the confederation is disputed, as no other documentation for Madja-as exists outside of Monteclaro's book. However, the notion that the Maragtas is an original work of fiction by Monteclaro is disputed by a 2019 Thesis, named "Mga Maragtas ng Panay: Comparative Analysis of Documents about the Bornean Settlement Tradition" by Talaguit Christian Jeo N. of the De La Salle University who stated that, "Contrary to popular belief, the Monteclaro Maragtas is not a primary source of the legend but is rather more accurately a secondary source at best" as the story of the Maragtas also appeared in the Augustinian Friar, Rev. Fr. Tomas Santaren’s Bisayan Accounts of Early Bornean Settlements. Additionally, the characters and places mentioned in the Maragtas book, like Rajah Makatunaw and Madj-as can be found in Ming Dynasty Annals and Arabic Manuscripts. However, the written dates go earlier since Rajah Makatunaw was recorded to have been from 1082 AD and was a descendant of Seri Maharajah while the Code of Maragtas, a separate work from the Maragtas book, placed him at the 1200s.
Federico Caballero was a Filipino chanter of Philippine epic poetry. Caballero was a recipient of the National Living Treasures Award.
Bali-og, also spelled baliog, are traditional layered necklaces of various ethnic groups in the islands of Visayas and Mindanao in the Philippines. They consist of chokers and necklaces with a fringe of beads and other ornaments. More than one is usually worn, layered over each other. Their elements usually consist of metal or glass beads, hollowed seeds, seashells, mother-of-pearl, and copper or brass ornaments.
Batok, batek, patik, batik, or buri, among other names, are general terms for indigenous tattoos of the Philippines. Tattooing on both sexes was practiced by almost all ethnic groups of the Philippine Islands during the pre-colonial era. Like other Austronesian groups, these tattoos were made traditionally with hafted tools tapped with a length of wood. Each ethnic group had specific terms and designs for tattoos, which are also often the same designs used in other art forms and decorations such as pottery and weaving. Tattoos range from being restricted only to certain parts of the body to covering the entire body. Tattoos were symbols of tribal identity and kinship, as well as bravery, beauty, and social or wealth status.
