The Legends of Mt. Mayon
Like all Philippine legends, there’s more than one story that attempt to capture the essence of the majesty that is Mount Mayon. Mayon is derived from “Magayon”, which means beautiful in Bicolano.
There’s the story of two lovers not unlike Romeo and Juliet, as told by Laura Agpay, a native of Bicol:
Once there was a princess named Daragang Magayon (Daraga means lady, Magayon is beautiful) who lived in Bicol. She’s so beautiful. She came from the family that reigns over the entire Bicol.
Because of her beauty and influence, warriors, princes and datus from different parts of the country desired to have her as their wife. But Magayon fell in love with a warrior named Handiong, a prince who came from a tribe that was, unfortunately, the rival of Magayon’s tribe. The two suffered so much from their respective family’s attempts to separate them that they finally decided to flee. Unfortunately their families found out and fought a bloody tribal war. This caused the young couple so much pain they decided together to commit suicide.
The tribes buried the lovers separately. Months passed when Magayon’s tribe saw a volcano growing in the place where Magayon was buried. They named it for Daragang Magayon. “Bulkang Magayon” describing its perfect shape like their beautiful Daraga.
And then there’s the story of an uncle Magayon*, whose anger depicts how violent the mountain can become.
It seems that there once lived a very beautiful native princess who had an uncle named Magayon. He was so possessive of his niece that no man dared to challenge his wrath by courting the favors of the young maiden. One day, however, a brave and virile warrior was so smitten by the princess that he threw all cares to the wind, clambered up through the window of the royal chamber and enticed the girl to elope with him.
With Magayon at their heels, the couple prayed to the gods for assistance. Suddenly from out of nowhere, a landslide buried the raging uncle alive. Local folks now claim that it is Magayon’s anger bursting forth in the form of eruptions.
(* now I don’t know about you, but having a male name that means beautiful would definitely evoke such anger in me. *joke, joke, joke*) :-)
I heard still another story that tells of Daragang Magayon’s lover being killed by her family that she fled from them in anger. The next day, a beautiful but angry mountain grew where Magayon was last seen.
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July 27th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
We Filipinos are such incurable romantics, aren’t we? It just strikes me as kind of typical for a Filipino legend to have the love story element in it.
August 31st, 2006 at 12:02 pm
[...] Namasdan mo na ba (Have you seen - Ang mga vinta ng Zamboanga (the vinta of Zamboanga) Bulkang Taal, Bulkang Mayon (Taal Volcano, Mayon Volcano) Beach ng Boracay at La Union? (Boracay and La Union Beaches?) [...]
June 6th, 2007 at 4:23 am
beautiful story uh..:D
June 18th, 2007 at 6:29 am
anu ngah ba ssbhin koh ay oo nga pala ang galing ng mt.mayon noh 40 beses na ito sumabog sa 400taon wow at ito’y may perpektong hugis ng apa wow amazing
June 27th, 2007 at 3:39 am
the legends of oure are sooo fictitious..xaxa
nakakatulong naman sa research!
June 30th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
ganda ng story^_^ ibang klase tlga ang mayon noh?hehe magandang babae pla xa,sna maging tao ulit para mkta ko face nya hehe
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:46 pm
for me its a story of the weakness of women…they are over powered by man.
July 18th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
[...] Mount Mayon in Albay. Nearly a perfect cone, even while the volcano erupts every few years, this mountain has held us [...]
July 21st, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Uhmm.. is there a tribe near mount mayon… and whats the name of the tribe?? :)
August 1st, 2007 at 3:20 am
i love it!!
August 7th, 2007 at 3:32 am
WOW1! grabe talaga ung story ng mt. mayon no frend ilang year na sumabog yon eh perfect cone parin di kagaya ng mt fuji sa china pagkatapos sumabog di na sya nasa shape di ba.feel nyo
August 29th, 2007 at 6:45 am
grabe talaga ang mt. mayon,talagang hanga ako sa tatag niya. Akalain niyo kahit paulit-ulit na pumutok maganda parin siya noh. Ang ganda pa rin niya.
September 6th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
I dont believe in such legends i believe in science…
And it is the oceanic and continental crust which formed Mt mayon…-_-”
October 12th, 2007 at 6:07 am
Beautiful story thats helps me for my report next week XD
October 12th, 2007 at 6:08 am
beautiful story thats help me for my report i repeat my project no report hehehe
October 21st, 2007 at 6:51 am
I really like this story…this will be my assignment…it’s so beautiful…….
December 6th, 2007 at 5:17 am
it is so very nice story
January 8th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
wow! its very beautiful!!! perfect cone! ilang beses ng sumabog yan! februry 1, 1914 ayun ang pinakamalakas na pag sabog nyan!!!!!!!!! pati yung simbahan nadamay!!!!!!!!!!!
January 28th, 2008 at 12:13 am
i will see the mayon volcano
January 28th, 2008 at 12:17 am
the mayon volayno is hard
January 28th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
this will help my project very well :D!!!! very nice story
March 10th, 2008 at 3:41 am
thanks!!! my project will be OK…..
thank you very very much for this Legend…
the story is excellent… =)
pero kahit ganun d pa rin ako maniniwala sa Legends
Science pa rin ang paniniwalaan ko hehe… =D
Infairness Cone Shape pa rin siya ha…
Ano nga ba yung pinaka-mataas na Bundok… =(
Mt.Everest pala hehehehehehehehehe… =D
March 19th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
It is nice that there are people who actually care about the Philippino history. i was born and raised in US, but i am still very interested in the Philippines since i’ve only been there once in my whole life
March 26th, 2008 at 7:40 am
i think it’s different from the stories i read about
mt.mayon
April 25th, 2008 at 12:50 am
it would be better to uor perfect cone is clean it i wish that theres no people living near in mt. mayon because its very dangerous when it will erupted…..