Daragang Magayon & Mayon Volcano

About the legend

Being

Bicolano Volcano-Origin Legend

Cultural meaning

In Bicolano tradition, Mayon is remembered as the grave of Daragang Magayon and Panganoron, which rose into a mountain. When clouds gather around the summit, people in Albay say it is Panganoron embracing Magayon. The legend turns the mountain into a place of love and remembering.

Fun fact

In Albay, people say the mountain's name, Mayon, comes from Magayon, the young woman in this legend. In the Bikol language, magayon means beautiful.

Cultural notes

Rawis is a village that is now part of Legazpi City in Albay, in the Bicol Region. In Merito B. Espinas's telling, the names have meanings in Bikol: Makusog means strong, and Pagtuga means the eruption of a volcano. Espinas also names Magayon's mother Dawani, the rainbow, and an old Bikol dictionary describes Dawani as a great weaver of long ago whose cloth is the rainbow. That dictionary, compiled by the Franciscan friar Marcos de Lisboa and first printed in 1754, already calls the volcano Mayong, without any story. The legend itself is known from print: Anastacio C. Canciller's "The Legend of Mount Mayon" (Sunday Times Magazine, 1947) and Espinas's "The Legend of Daragang Magayon" (Unitas, 1968). Geologists explain the mountain differently: Mayon is a composite volcano, built up from layer upon layer of lava and lahar flows, and it is counted as the most active volcano in the Philippines. Every year, Albay holds the Magayon Festival, a month-long celebration of the volcano's beauty and the fertile land around it.

About this retelling

Composite retelling of a Bicolano legend The Bicolano legend of Daragang Magayon and the origin of Mayon Volcano, known from printed tellings since the 1940s, retold for children.

The printed tellings give this story its frame: Rawis, Datu Makusog, the rescue from the Yawa River, Pagtuga of Iriga and his gifts, the capture of Makusog, and the shared grave that rises into Mayon. Espinas calls the hero Ulap; the name Panganoron comes from Canciller. In both tellings, Magayon agrees to marry Pagtuga to save her father, fighting breaks out at the wedding, and she and her beloved are killed. We changed this for children. Magayon never says yes to Pagtuga, because a yes given in fear is no yes. There is no fighting, and the loss is told briefly and followed by comfort. The blame lies with Pagtuga, who would not accept her no. He is not killed: he understands too late what he has done, frees Makusog and leaves. Magayon's mother, the many suitors and talk of Magayon's beauty are left out. The rescue details, the wedding preparations, the evening on the hill and all the words the characters speak were written for Filipino Tales.

Sources

• Merito B. Espinas, "The Legend of Daragang Magayon" (Unitas, 1968), reprinted in "What You've Always Wanted to Know About Mayon Volcano" (1977) (Open Library)
• Anastacio C. Canciller, "The Legend of Mount Mayon" (1947), as published by the Province of Albay (Province of Albay (archived))
• Damiana L. Eugenio (ed.), "Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths" (University of the Philippines Press, 1993) (Open Library)
• "Bulkang Mayon", Sagisag Kultura / CulturEd, National Commission for Culture and the Arts (CulturEd)

Themes

• Respect
• Courage
• Loyalty

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