Tala, based on Hindu goddess Tara, is the name of the goddess of the morning and evening star in Tagalog mythology. Her origins are varied depending on the region.

Golden Tara __NOTOC__ The Agusan image (commonly referred to in the Philippines as the Golden Tara in allusion to its supposed, but disputed, identity as an image of a Buddhist Tara) is a , 21-karat gold statuette, found in 1917 on the banks of the Wawa Ri ...

, the Majapahit-era gold statue of Hindu deity Tara or Tagalog adoption Tala was found in 1918 in Agusan.H. Otley Beyer, "Outline Review of Philippine Archaeology by Islands and Provinces," Philippine Journal of Science, Vol.77,Nos.34 (July–August 1947),pp. 205-374 The legend of Tala has very close parallels to legends among non-Filipino cultures such as the India tribes of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

, Savara and Bhuiya, as well as the Indianized

Semang The Semang are an ethnic-minority group of the Malay Peninsula. They live in mountainous and isolated forest regions of Perak, Pahang, Kelantan and Kedah of Malaysia and the southern provinces of Thailand. The Semang are among the different eth ...

(Malay tribe). The most popular myth of Tala is that she is one of the three daughters of

Bathala In the indigenous religion of the ancient Tagalogs, Bathala Maykapal was the transcendent Supreme Being, the originator and ruler of the universe. He is commonly known and referred to in the modern era as Bathala, a term or title which, in ea ...

to a mortal woman. Her sisters include

Mayari In Kapampangan mythology, Mayari is the goddess of the moon and ruler of the world during nighttime. In Tagalog mythology According to Hiligaynon anthropologist F. Landa Jocano—in "Notes on Philippine Divinities" (1968)—the ancient Tagalo ...

, the goddess of the moon, and Hanan, the goddess of morning. She is known to have supported the creation of the Tagalog traditional constellations. Tala used light spheres or orbs to ferry men to safety at night. The natives' interpretation of these orbs shifted to being perceived as deadly beings that kill men or get humans to lose their way, by the influence of the Spanish-brought tradition of the

santelmo St. Elmo's fire — also called Witchfire or Witch's Fire — is a weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a corona discharge from a rod-like object such as a mast, spire, chimney, or animal hornHeidorn, K., Weather Elemen ...

s. In another, more modern story, sun god Arao (probably Apolaki) and the

moon goddess A lunar deity or moon deity is a deity who represents the Moon, or an aspect of it. These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related. Lunar deities and Moon worship can be found ...

Buan (probably Mayari) both had large families of stars, but Buan believed her stars could not survive the heat of Arao. They both agreed to destroy their stars. While Arao devoured his, Buan hid hers in the clouds, where they would occasionally emerge. Upon seeing this, Arao was filled with rage and is eternally in pursuit of Buan, trying to destroy her. Eclipses are explained by Arao getting close enough to bite her. At dawn, Buan hides the stars and brings them forth only when her eldest daughter, Tala (the evening and morning star) says the sun is too far away to pursue them. Derived from this myth are the Tagalog words ''tala'', which means "bright star", '' araw'' (sun) and '' buwan'' (moon). In Kapampangan mythology, a deity named Tálâ is also present. For the Kapampangans, Tálâ is the bright star and the one who introduced wet-rice culture in

Pampanga Pampanga, officially the Province of Pampanga ( pam, Lalawigan ning Pampanga; tl, Lalawigan ng Pampanga ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac ...

. Felipe Pardo (Archbishop of Manila 1686-1688), in his letter, mentioned an anito, which the Tagalogs from Laguna still remembered, named ''Bulactala''. The meaning of the name is "Flower of Tala" which suggest that this ''anito'' is not a personification of ''Tala'' i.e. the planet

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

.POTET, Jean-Paul G. (2018). Ancient Beliefs and Customs of the Tagalogs. Lulu.com, 2018. ISBN 0244348731, 9780244348731. Page 166.

References

Tagalog goddesses Stellar goddesses {{Asia-myth-stub