Biag ni Lam-ang (Summary)

BIAG NI LAM-ANG (Life of Lam-ang) is pre-Hispanic epic poem of the Ilocano people of the Philippines. The
story was handed down orally for generations before it was written down around 1640 assumedly by a blind
Ilokano bard named Pedro Bucaneg.

BUOD (SUMMARY) OF BIAG NI LAM-ANG

Don Juan and his wife Namongan lived in Nalbuan, now part of La Union in the northern part of the Philippines.
They had a son named Lam-ang. Before Lam-ang was born, Don Juan went to the mountains in order to
punish a group of their Igorot enemies. While he was away, his son Lam-ang was born. It took four people to
help Namongan give birth. As soon as the baby boy popped out, he spoke and asked that he be given the
name Lam-ang. He also chose his godparents and asked where his father was.

After nine months of waiting for his father to return, Lam-ang decided he would go look for him. Namongan
thought Lam-ang was up to the challenge but she was sad to let him go. During his exhausting journey, he
decided to rest for awhile. He fell asleep and had a dream about his father's head being stuck on a pole by the
Igorot. Lam-ang was furious when he learned what had happened to his father. He rushed to their village and
killed them all, except for one whom he let go so that he could tell other people about Lam-ang's greatness.

Upon returning to Nalbuan in triumph, he was bathed by women in the Amburayan river. All the fish died
because of the dirt and odor from Lam-ang's body.

There was a young woman named Ines Kannoyan whom Lam-ang wanted to woo. She lived in Calanutian and
he brought along his white rooster and gray dog to visit her. On the way, Lam-ang met his enemy Sumarang,
another suitor of Ines whom he fought and readily defeated. Lam-ang found the house of Ines surrounded by
many suitors all of whom were trying to catch her attention. He had his rooster crow, which caused a nearby
house to fall. This made Ines look out. He had his dog bark and in an instant the fallen house rose up again.
The girl's parents witnessed this and called for him. The rooster expressed the love of Lam-ang. The parents
agreed to a marriage with their daughter if Lam-ang would give them a dowry valued at double their wealth.
Lam-ang had no problem fulfilling this condition and he and Ines were married.

It was a tradition to have a newly married man swim in the river for the rarang fish. Unfortunately, Lam-ang
dove straight into the mouth of the water monster Berkakan. Ines had Marcos get his bones, which she
covered with a piece of cloth. His rooster crowed and his dog barked and slowly the bones started to move.
Back alive, Lam-ang and his wife lived happily ever after with his white rooster and gray dog.


REFLECTION
Biag ni Lam-ang (Life of Lam-ang) is indeed a very great epic. This ain't the first time that I read Biag ni Lam-
ang, probably when I was a grade4 student and 1st year High School and the epic is a remarkable one. I love
the epic because it shows a lot of values in life and the culture of the Filipino. The values that we get in this
epic, are the value of being Respectful, Lam-ang is very respectful to his mother and other people. He loves
his mother so much. Another is, dertermination, this value reflects so much to Lam-ang. When he fought to
the enemy of his father. Determination because he wanted to seek justice for his father, though when Lam-ang
was born he wasn't able to see and touch his father because it was captured be the Igorots in the forest. He
did not have an opportunity to experience the love of a father. But when knew what happened to his father, he
grabbed the opportunity to revenge and avenge for his father's death. See? Lam-ang is very loving, and that is
being Filipino "a family oriented".
Faithfulness and Loving. Inness Kannoyan the beautiful wife of Lam-ang is very faithful to him and Lam-
ang too. Because of his love of Innes, he killed several monsters and eventually fought Sumarang, the other
dedicated suitor of Innes. He showed the true meaning of love when he was tasked to get the fish rarang and
he almost died just to prove his love for Innes.
Bravery. Don Juan Panganiban, Lam-ang's father, fought th Igorots at the forest to defend their tribe even his
life in exchange.
Responsible. Namongan, Lam-ang's mother, when Don Juan was in the battle, he gave birth to Lam-ang and
since that, he took over the responsibility over his husband. She stand as mother and a father. And Lam-ang
grew as a loving and kind person.

Lam-ang has an amazing qualities that certainly Filipino people have.


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
fathers 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 fathers 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 Cannoyans place in the town of Calanutian,
disregarding her mothers 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 Cannoyans 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 Cannoyans 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 Cannoyans 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 Cannoyans 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 Cannoyans 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-angs 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-angs 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 farmers (Magana) version pre-dates the Bucanegs 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 Greeks 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.(Dr.A.V.Rotor)