HOW about we pay attention to our homegrown, genuine, culturally enlightening myths and get away from current urban legends that have been cascading and overwhelming us in social media, particularly with our entertaining, infuriating, oppressive and laughable election narratives.

A modest little book, Song of Negros, was launched just before we went to the polls and makes for useful and entertaining reading après-voting. It was compiled from field researchers and written up by Victoria Hoffarth (Central Book Supply or www.central.com.ph 2022).

As the title implies the myths (also legends and tales) come from the island of Negros, located in the Visayas, and consisting of two provinces in one island — Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental.

Populated first by the Atis, dark-skinned and curly-haired, its population was soon added to by the proto-Malays. The Atis are thought to have come by a land bridge from Borneo and the rest — Bukidnons, Visayans came by boat either from Brunei or some such nearby landmass. Suffice it to say that the Spanish, having met the Atis, called the island Negros, a naïve and now politically incorrect way of describing others who are different.

These early people of Negros had their own perspectives about life, creation and rationalization of the environment.

Thus, there are origin myths like those of all other peoples. When the world was only sky and water, Kaptan was god of the sky and Maguayan ruled the water. They married and had Dagat and Hangin for children who in turn had four children of their own — three sons, Kalibutan (land), Adlao (sun) and Bulan (moon), and an only daughter, Suga (light). Gods have human attributes, including wanting to become more powerful than other gods and setting aside their better qualities to follow their lower instincts. Thus Kalibutan decided to take the power of the universe from his grandfather, Kaptan, who in anger hit him with a lightning bolt that broke him into pieces. He is now the land of rocks and soil. And Adlao and Bulan, who were inveigled into the conspiracy from weakness of character also incurred the ire of Kaptan. A lightning bolt turned Adlao who was made of gold into the hot sun and since Bulan was beside him when the bolt hit, the copper which he was made of melted in the ambient heat, and he became the cooler moon. Meanwhile Suga, who went to Kaptan looking for her brothers, was also hit by a lightning bolt from the irate Kaptan who was beside himself with anger. Since Suga was made of crystal, she broke into little pieces and those became the stars. Thus, is the universe explained.

As the author Victoria Hoffarth conceptualized the book, the myths explain many things about our world and our human nature whose actions in whatever way, good or bad, have consequences. Thus, myths explain the world to us and explain us to ourselves.

There is the myth of how

Negros (originally known as Buglas in prehistory) began as a piece from another larger island (from Annipay to Buglas) which means Negros began as a piece from Panay Island.

Then there is the Siete Pecados myth explaining the small islands off Dumangas in Negros. They are what is left of the seven rebellious sons of the sorcerer king, Kanlaon (the highest mountain in Negros is named after him) and his wife, Marapara. Kanlaon was cruel and demanding of his sons who in turn became rebellious and conspiratorial against their father. Marapara, seeing a tragedy about to happen, helped them escape their father on a boat towards Panay. But Kanlaon found out and sent a storm with howling winds and huge waves that destroyed the boat and scattered the seven sons to the seas, turning them into small islands. Thus, Siete Pecados (seven sins) because they were rebellious sons, a sin.

So, the above two tales are about elders and progeny, loyalty and betrayal, the dynamics that are true today and in the long past in families, countries, organizations. In our culture parents can tend to be authoritarian and sometimes verge on the unreasonable.

Ms. Hoffarth collected seven myths with the aid of research