Ibalong

The Ibálong, also known as Handiong, or Handyong is a 60-stanza fragment of a Bikol full-length folk epic. The epic is said to have been narrated in verse form by a native poet called Kadunung. It was passed on orally until it was presumably jotted down in its complete Bikol narrative by Fray Bernardino de Melendreras de la Trinidad. The Ibalong portrays deeds in heroic proportions, centering on white men or tawong-lipod who were warrior-heroes named, among others, Baltog, Handyong, and Bantong. They came from Boltavara, settling and ruling Bikolandia and its inhabitants. The epic is set in the land of Aslon and Ibalong. The mountains Asog, Masaraga, Isarog, and Lingyon were prominent features of the area.

In its oldest known text, the folk epic does not have a title. The oldest existing account of it is written in Spanish.^[1]

A non religious festival is being celebrated annually in honor of the epic Ibalong as a celebration of the geography of Ibalon. It is unusual because Spaniards introduced saints and fiestas and all religious-related activities except Ibalong. It is also a celebration of the province’s people and their resiliency, given the string calamities that regularly befall the region given its typhoon-proned geographical location.