Angalo
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Angalo is a legendary creation giant from Ilocano mythology with pre-Hispanic origins in the Ilocos region of the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. Angalo was the first man, and son of the god of building. Angalo's head touched the sky and he could easily walk from the
Ilocos Region The Ilocos Region (; ; ), designated as Region I, is an Region of the Philippines, administrative region of the Philippines. Located in the northwestern section of Luzon, it is bordered by the Cordillera Administrative Region to the east, the Ca ...
to
Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...
in one step. Through Angalo's actions, he shaped the hills and mountains of
Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...
, formed the oceans, and put up the
sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...
,
sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
,
moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
and
stars A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by self-gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night; their immense distances from Earth make them appear as fixed points of ...
. Pre-Hispanic Ilocano people attributed the sound of
thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...
as Angalo's voice,
earthquakes An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they c ...
as his movements, and rainbows his hanging G-string. Angalo was not alone, he had a giant wife named Aran and together they had three daughters whom the Ilocano,
Aeta Aeta (Ayta ), Agta and Dumagat, are collective terms for several indigenous peoples who live in various parts of Luzon islands in the Philippines. They are included in the wider Negrito grouping of the Philippines and the rest of Southeast A ...
, and
Igorot The indigenous peoples of the Cordillera in northern Luzon, Philippines, often referred to by the exonym Igorot people, or more recently, as the Cordilleran peoples, are an ethnic group composed of nine main ethnolinguistic groups whose domains ...
people are descendants.


Landscape Mythology of Angalo

Throughout the
Ilocos Region The Ilocos Region (; ; ), designated as Region I, is an Region of the Philippines, administrative region of the Philippines. Located in the northwestern section of Luzon, it is bordered by the Cordillera Administrative Region to the east, the Ca ...
, Abra, and
Benguet Benguet (), officially the Province of Benguet ('';'' ; ; ; ), is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the southern tip of the Cordillera Administrative Region in the island of Luzon. Its capital cit ...
, many geological formations are attributed to Angalo and his family. Small valleys and gulches in the
Cordillera Central Central Cordillera refers to the New Guinea Highlands. Cordillera Central, meaning ''central range'' in Spanish, may refer to the following mountain ranges: * Cordillera Central, Andes (disambiguation), several mountain ranges in South America ** ...
mountain range are often noted as the giant footprints of Angalo such as found in Sudipen, La Union and San Quintin, Abra. In addition, large caves in the Ilocos Region and Abra are often described as being former shelters for Angalo's wife and his daughters. In Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur, the large depressions and pools around Pinsal Falls are said to be created when Angalo knelt and drank from the falls. In Santa, Ilocos Sur, the Banaoang Gap, a
water gap A water gap is a gap that flowing water has carved through a mountain range or mountain ridge and that still carries water today. Such gaps that no longer carry water currents are called wind gaps. Water gaps and wind gaps often offer a pract ...
where the
Abra River The Abra River, also called Lagben River, is the seventh largest river system in the Philippines in terms of watershed size. It has an estimated drainage area of and a length of from its source near Mount Data in Benguet province. History I ...
breaks the Ilocos mountain range, is said to be created by Angalo. Long ago, the Abra region east of the Ilocos mountain range was once a lake. One night, Angalo slept on the shore of the lake, and as he slept, he kicked the Ilocos range hard and in doing so, unleashed the lake and created the Banaoang Gap.


Anecdotes of Angalo


Salt in the Sea

One day, Angalo asked his family to take bags with blocks of
salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...
he harvested from distant lands to
Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...
. As they walked through the seas, which at the time were not salty, his daughters stumbled and their giant blocks of salt fell into the sea. The blocks of salt melted as they hit the water and created the saltiness of the sea.


Shallow Sea

On a very hot day, Angalo's daughters decided to swim in what is now the
South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...
. The sea was deep at this time, and his daughters did not know how to swim well. When one of his daughters began to drown, Angalo dipped the flap of his baag or
loincloth A loincloth is a one-piece garment, either wrapped around itself or kept in place by a belt. It covers the genitals and sometimes the buttocks. Loincloths which are held up by belts or strings are specifically known as breechcloth or breechclo ...
into the sea and it absorbed so much water that his daughter was able to touch the sea floor again.


Hill of Suso Beach

One day, Angalo and his wife Aran were at the what is today called Suso Beach in Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur. While on the beach, Angalo piled up stones, land, shrubs, and sand to form a hill. When asked about his creation, he told his wife that he made the hill to resemble and honor her breasts. To this day, the hill on the southern side of Suso beach is said to be that hill.


References

{{authority control Ilocos Region Philippine mythology Fictional giants