Lesson Plan

Literature 9: Philippine and Asian Literature

Topic: Biag ni Lam-ang

I. Objectives:
After the discussion and given activities, the students should be able to:
 Recall stock knowledge on folk epics and pre-colonial literature
(Knowledge)
 trace the significant events in Biag ni Lam-ang. (Understanding)
 examine significant characteristics of Pre-Colonial Literature in “Biag ni Lam-ang”
(Process)
 identify the specific parts of the epic hero cycle in Biag ni Lam-ang (Performance)
compare and contrast non-Philippine Pre-Colonial literature to Philippine Pre-Colonial
literature (Performance)
II. Motivation, Presentation and Evaluation:
The teacher will ask the students on their previous discussions on pre-colonial literature and
folk epics, and have them define in their own words as to what an epic is.
The teacher will then discuss epic poetry specifically, its definition and its characteristics.
The teacher will also discuss the characteristics of the epic hero and the epic hero cycle.
 After that, there will be a pre-test on the assigned chapters of Biag ni Lam-ang and its
discussion will follow afterwards.

PRE-QUIZ on BIAG NI LAM-ANG

1. Where did Lam-ang live? What was the name of his town?
2. What special gift was Lam-ang born with?
3-5. What were Lam-ang’s three pets?
6. What was the complete name of the woman Lam-ang wanted to marry?
7. Where did Lam-ang’s wife live? What was the name of her town?
8. What kind of monster fish swallowed Lam-ang?
9. What was the name of the diver who collected all of Lam-ang’s bones?
10. True or False. Lam-ang was dead for 21 days?
Answer Key: PRE-QUIZ on BIAG NI LAM-ANG
1. Nalbuan
2. Gift of speech
3-5. Dog, rooster, hen
6. Dona Ines Kannoyan
7. Kalanutian
8. Berkakan
9. Marcos
10. false

A popular Philippine epic is the Ilocano Lam-ang. The hero Lam-ang dreams that his father is
being killed by the Igorot, the traditional enemies of the Ilocano, and awakes to slaughter a group
of Igorot. He returns to his hometown, where the women bathe him. The dirt from his hair pollutes
the river and kills all the fish. Lam-ang’s prowess is demonstrated anew when he slays a fearful
crocodile. He then courts and marries Ines Kannoyan, besting his rivals with his magical powers.
When Lam-ang hunts the rarang, a giant clam, a fish swallows him. Lam-ang’s pet rooster,
however, restores him after his bones are recovered. Biag ni Lam-ang (English: "The Life of Lam-
ang") is an epic poem of the Ilocano people from the Ilocos region of the Philippines influenced
from the Indian Hinduepics Ramayana and Mahabharta. Recited and written in the
original Ilocano, the poem is believed to be a composite work of various poets who passed it on
through the generations, and was first transcribed around 1640 by a blind
Ilocano bard named Pedro Bucaneg.

Initial plot

Lam-ang is an extraordinary being, manifesting when he begins to speak in his early years, thus
enabling him to choose his own name. His adventures begin when his father, Don Juan, set out for
a battle but never returned. At barely nine months, Lam-ang goes to search for Don Juan in the
highlands where the latter was said to have gone. Aware that her child was a blessed, exceptional
creature, his mother Namongan allows him to go. Lam-ang then goes off in search of his father,
leaving his grieving mother behind.
He saw his father,beheaded and the head on a spike,while the headhunters are celebrating.In his
anger,he challenged all of them in a duel.The headhunters threw spears at him,but he just catches
it and throws it back to them.He defeated the headhunters,killed them all and took his father's head
down to the plains.

Literary structure

• Prologue: The Birth of Lam-ang (lines 5-108)

• Quest for Father (lines 109-370)

• Preparation (lines 109-192)

• Obstacle: Burican (lines 193-261)

• Triumph (lines 262-315)

• Return to Home (lines 315-370)

• Quest for Wife (lines 455-1300)

• Preparation (lines 455-586)

• Obstacles: Sumarang and Saridandan (lines 587-724)

• Wedding Banquet (lines 725-1286)

• Return to Home (lines 725-1286)

• Epilogue: The Death and Restoration of the Hero (lines 1301-1477)

Biag ni Lam-ang, though dominated by action and tragedy, nonetheless contained some comedic
points. An example is the scene in which Lam-ang was on his way home. He passes by a river
(identified by some[who?] as the Amburayan River, the biggest river in Ilocos) and decides to
have a dip. The dirt and blood that came off from his body causes the death of the river's fish,
crabs, and shrimp. As he is bathing, some of the maidens who were present at the river gladly
attend to him.

Marriage

Upon arriving home, Lam-ang decides to court his love interest, Ines Kannoyan who lives in
Calanutian (Kanluit). Despite his mother’s disapproval, he follows his heart and set off again on
another journey to his love. He faces one of Ines’ suitors and various monsters, but again is able
to vanquish them with ease. Aiding him are his magical pets, a cat (in other versions,no cat),a dog,
and a rooster. The bird flaps its wings and a house toppled over. This feat amazes everyone present,
especially Ines. Then, Lam-ang’s dog barks and the house rose up. Invited to lunch with the family
of Ines, Lam-ang impresses her parents with his wealth and upon returning, he gives the family
two golden ships. Their nuptials are celebrated with a lot of feasting.

Death and subsequent rebirth

After his death due to being eaten by a huge fish, Lam-ang's bones are recovered and he is
resurrected with the help of his magical pets. Ines is ordered by the rooster to wrap the bones with
her tapis while the hen flapped its wings and the dog growled. In an instant, Lam-ang is happily
reunited with his wife.

The theme of the epic revolves around the bravery and courage of the main character portrayed by
Lam-ang, who was gifted with speech as early as his day of birth, who embarked on a series of
adventures which culminated in his heroic death and subsequent resurrection.

This series of adventures started with his search for his lost father who was murdered by the head-
hunting Igorots in the Igorot country. While on his way, he met a certain Sumarang, whose name
connotes obstruction, who tried to dissuade him from proceeding and who taunted him into a fight.
The fight that ensued proved fatal to Sumarang as he was blown “three kingdoms” away with a
spear pierced through his stomach. This encounter led to another when he met a nine-headed
serpent who, like Sumarang earlier tried to dissuade him from going any further. The serpent
having been ignored challenged him into a fight which cost the serpent its heads.

Lam-ang went on until he found it necessary to rest and take a short nap. While asleep, he dreamed
of his father’s head being an object of festivities among the Igorots. He immediately arose and
continued his journey until he found the Igorots indeed feasting over his father’s head.

He asked the Igorots why they killed his father, but the Igorots instead advised him to go home if
he did not want to suffer the same fate which his father suffered. This was accompanied by a
challenge to a fight, despite their obvious numerical superiority. But Lam-ang, armed with
supernatural powers, handily defeated them, giving the last surviving Igorot a slow painful death
by cutting his hands and his ears and finally carving out his eyes to show his anger for what they
had done to his father.
Satisfied with his revenge, he went home. At home, he thought of taking a swim in the Cordan
River with the company of Cannoyan and her lady-friends. So he proceeded to Cannoyan’s place
in the town of Calanutian, disregarding her mother’s advice to the contrary. On his way, he met a
woman and named Saridandan, whose name suggests that she was a woman of ill repute. He
resisted her blandishments, for his feeling for Cannoyan was far greater for anyone to take.

When he reached Cannoyan’s house, he found a multitude of suitors futilely vying for her hand.
With the help of his pets - the cock and the dog - he was able to catch Cannoyan’s attention. He
asked her to go with him to the river along with her lady-friends. She acceded. While washing
himself in the river, the river swelled, and the shrimps, fishes and other creatures in the river were
agitated for the dirt washed from his body was too much. As they were about to leave the river,
Lam-ang noticed a giant crocodile. He dove back into the water and engaged with the creature in
a fierce fight until the creature was subdued. He brought it ashore and instructed the ladies to pull
its teeth to serve as amulets against danger during journeys.

Back at Cannoyan’s house, he was confronted by her parents with an inquiry as to what his real
intention was. He had to set aside his alibi that he went there to ask Cannoyan and her friends to
accompany him to the river, and told them, through his spokesman - the cock - that he came to ask
for Cannoyan’s hand in marriage. He was told that if he desired to marry Cannoyan, he must first
be able to match their wealth, for which he willingly complied. Having satisfied her parents, he
went home to his mother and enjoined her and his townspeople to attend his wedding which was
to take place in Cannoyan’s town.

The wedding was elaborate, an event that involved practically everyone in town. There were
fireworks, musical band, and display of attractive items like the glasses, the mirror, the slippers,
clothes and nice food. After the wedding, Lam-ang’s party plus his wife and her town mates went
back to their town of Nalbuan, where festivities were resumed. The guests expressed a desire to
taste a delicacy made of rarang fish.

Lam-ang was obliged to go to the sea and catch the fish. Before going, however, his rooster warned
that something unpleasant was bound to happen. This warning proved true, as Lam-ang was
swallowed by a big bercacan, or shark-like fish. Cannoyan mourned and for a while she thought
there was no way to retrieve her lost husband. But the rooster indicated that if only all the bones
could be gathered back, Lam-ang could be brought to life again.
She then enlisted the aid of a certain diver named Marcus, who was ready to come to her aid to
look for the bones. When all Lam-ang’s bones were gathered, the rooster crowed and the bones
moved. The dog barked, and Lam-ang arose and was finally resurrected. Cannoyan embraced him.
For his deep appreciation for the help of his pets - the cock and the dog - and of Marcus the diver,
he promised that each other would get his or its due reward. And they lived happily ever after.

This synopsis is based on the transcription made by Jose Llanes from a recitation by memory of
the poem by an old farmer, one Francisco Magana, from Bangui Ilocos Norte, sometime in 1947.
Of the six old versions of the epic which include a Zarzuela (folk stage play) written by Eufemio
L. Inofinada, the Llanes version (206 stanzas) and that of Leopoldo Yabes (305 stanzas) are the
most popular. Many believe that the author of the epic is Pedro Bucaneg, a blind Ilocano poet who
lived during the early part of Spanish colonization. On close examination the farmer’s (Magana)
version pre-dates the Bucaneg’s “Hispanized” version, because the farmer clings more closely to
ethnical culture, and is richer with indigenous and pagan influences. Historians believe that Biag
ni Lam-ang is an epic drawn out from oral tradition handed down through countless generations
in the same way the Greek’s Iliad and Odyssey were handed down through centuries to the modern
world. Historians like H. Otley Beyer, Fox, Fay-Cooper Cole and Jose R. Calip believe in the pre-
Hispanic origin of the poem. Calip in his doctoral dissertation, University of Santo Tomas, 1957,
further stated that “it is not a product of any single mind but as a property of the people- a floating
wisdom from the centuries into the generations.” Through a long, slow evolutionary process, it
floated from one century to another, and grew into several versions retaining a lucid mirror of the
people of the past, reflecting their own values, environment and culture. Reference: Lam-ang in
Transition by Kenneth E.Bauzon, Philippine Social Sciences and Humanities Review, Vol
XXXVIII, No.3-4.

 Application:

Based on the epic “Biag ni Lam-ang”, What beliefs did the olden Filipinos have? Describe the
culture of the Filipinos in the Pre-colonial stage? What culture and traits had been retained
nowadays?

Assignment
Choose a theme in Biag ni Lam-ang and cite 3 scenes depicting such theme.
 POST QUIZ ON PRE-COLONIAL LITERATURE AND BIAG NI LAM-ANG

A. Pre-Colonial
1-2. Give 2 examples of ritual dances.
3-4. Give 2 features of a ritual dance.
5. It is the most important form of oral literature
6. It is a popular poetic form composed of 12-syllable lines arranged in quatrains.
7. What is the Filipino word for metaphor?
8. How did the literary works survive?
9. From what race did the majority of Filipinos come from before the Spanish arrived?
10. According to Thelma Kintanar, Pre-colonial Philippine Literature covers from prehistory to
what year?
B. Biag ni Lam-ang
1. What does “biag” mean?
2. Where did Lam-ang live?
3. What question did Lam-ang ask his mother after his baptism?
4. Where did Ines live?
5. What part of the crocodile’s body is considered a good luck charm?
6-8. What were Lam-ang’s three pets?
9. How did pre-colonial women reject suitors?
10. What did Ines’ parents ask from Lam-ang before allowing him to marry their daughter?
11-15. Describe how Lam-ang was brought to life again?

ANSWER KEY
A.
1-2. Cha’long and Ati-atihan
3-4. Pantomime and Impersonation
5. Folk epic
6. Komintang
7. Talinhaga
8. Oral tradition
9. Malay
10. 1564
B.
1. Life
2. Nalbuan
3. Whether he is of honorable birth or not
4. Kalanutian
5. Teeth
6. Hen
7. Rooster
8. Dog
9. Poured urine over their heads
10. Dowry
11-15
Ines- covered his bones, turned her back
Rooster- Crowed
Hen- Flapped Wings
Dog – Growled twice, ran its foot among the bones