Minokawa is a giant,

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted a ...

-like bird in

Philippine mythology Philippine mythology is the body of stories and epics originating from, and part of, the indigenous Philippine folk religions, which include various ethnic faiths distinct from one another. Philippine mythology is incorporated from various ...

. Early people believed this creature is so big that it can swallow (or cover) the sun to explain the occurrence of eclipses. It is even described as a giant bird named ''Minokawa'' that lives in outer space which can devour the sun and the moon, and would try to do the same with the earth. In a

Bagobo The Lumad are a group of Austronesian indigenous people in the southern Philippines. It is a Cebuano term meaning "native" or "indigenous". The term is short for Katawhang Lumad (Literally: "indigenous people"), the autonym officially adopte ...

tale, the ''Minokawa'' is a bird as large as an island. Its feathers are those of sharp swords, the eyes reflect like mirrors, its beak and legs are like steel. It lives "outside the sky, at the eastern horizon". While the Baua lived "above the sky" because the

Visayans Visayans ( Visayan: ''mga Bisaya''; ) or Visayan people are a Philippine ethnolinguistic group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, the southernmost islands of Luzon and a significant portion of Mindanao. When taken as a single ethnic group ...

believe that there is a cave called "calulundan" above the sky, the entrance covered by blue smoke.

Basic Legend

Before time began, very long ago, a great bird called ''Minokawa'' swallowed the moon. Seized with fear, all the people began to scream and made great noises. Then the bird peeped down to see what the matter was, and opened his mouth. But as soon as he opened his mouth, the moon sprang out and ran away. The ''Minokawa''-bird is as large as the Island of

Negros Negros is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . Negros is one of the many islands of the Visayas, in the central part of the country. The predominant inhabitants of the island region a ...

Bohol Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Bohol; tl, Lalawigan ng Bohol), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. ...

. It has a beak of steel, and his claws too are of steel. His eyes are mirrors, and each single feather is a sharp sword. He lives outside the sky, at the eastern horizon, ready to seize the moon and after the unsuccessful attempt of swallowing the satellite, it journeys and haunts again lurking under the earth. The moon makes eight holes in the eastern horizon to come out of, and eight holes in the western horizon to go into, because every day the big bird tries to catch her, and she is afraid. The exact moment he tries to swallow her is just when she is about to come in through one of the holes in the east to shine on us again. If the ''Minokawa'' should swallow the moon, and the sun too, he would then come down to earth and gulp down men also. But when the moon is in the belly of the big bird, and the sky is dark, then all the Bagobo people will scream and cry, and beat gongs, because they fear they will all be eaten. Soon this racket makes the ''Minokawa''-bird look down and "open his mouth to hear the sound." Then the moon jumps out of the bird's mouth and runs away.

Popular culture

In the

Bagani (TV series) ''Bagani'', (sometimes stylized as '' BAGANI''; ), is a 2018 Philippine television drama fantasy series, starring Enrique Gil, Liza Soberano, Matteo Guidicelli, Makisig Morales, and Zaijian Jaranilla. The series originally aired on ABS-CBN's ''P ...

, Minokawa is one of Apo's creatures. Later, it was under Lakas' control, which it merged with his sword. He uses the bird for flight or fighting.

References

{{authority control Visayan mythology Philippine legendary creatures Legendary birds Austronesian spirituality