LAKAPATI: The “Transgender” Tagalog Deity? Not so fast…
November 29, 2018
THE EXAMINATION of Philippine pre-history and how that fits into the modern L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ movement is always a very fascinating and popular topic here at The Aswang Project. I’ve written about the subject a few times, and have always remained open to new ideas, opinions and concepts. I’ve had my mind changed about different theories and try to present the articles as a discussion rather than a dictation of fact. I am also presenting this article as a starting point for discussion.
When I wrote about the Visayan deities Libulan and Bulan in the article “The Moon God Libulan/ Bulan : Patron deity of homosexuals?” I closed with, “So is it safe to call Libulan the patron deity of homosexuals? Not in a historical context, but as I said earlier, Philippine societies regarded their myths as containing psychological and archetypal truths. If modern Philippine society needs Libulan as a symbol for the LGBT movement, then that is his purpose for today. As a study of anthropology, history and the evolving realm of Philippine mythology, I’m okay with that – as should we all be.”
I felt honored when I received a message from R. Joseph Dazo, co-editor of the Libulan Binisaya Anthology of Queer Literature thanking me for featuring their book on Twitter. “The anthology is named after Libulan, the gender fluid deity of the moon in the pre-Hispanic Visayan cosmogony. We thank your website because we got the initial information from one of your posts back in 2016."
When artists began creating work presenting the love affair between Bulan and the deity of the underworld, Sidapa,it often depicted a young effeminate man representing Bulan, and a strong muscular and handsome deity representing Sidapa. I am overjoyed that artists are choosing to explore local mythology in their work. I did not make a big deal out of the ‘fact’ that the original telling of this story only speaks of Bulan as an object of beauty and Sidapa holding such a fascination with it that he takes it for himself. The original pantheon of deities in which this myth is held also specifies that Bulan is a small boy. Modern societal rules do not apply to the realm of deities, but I do feel that this warranted a ‘proceed with caution’. This anthropomorphic approach to deities and liberal re-tellings that some are using to connect the modern L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ movement to pre-colonial beliefs could also be used to attack it.
Bulan and Sidapa by @porkironandwine via Twitter
Later, I presented an article to address the growing opinion that the pre-colonial Philippines was ‘genderless’. In “Let’s Discuss Transgender People in the Pre-Colonial Philippines” I concluded “The important take-away is to remember that gender in the pre-colonial Philippines played a VERY important function. The society was not ‘genderless’, but they approached gender more in terms of societal functions, than sexual preference. I would love to hear what your thoughts on this are as I am always learning, and always open to differing opinions.”
A few years ago, articles began surfacing about the “transgender” Tagalog deity, Lakapati. I fully support the evolution of deities into the modern realm, but I will delicately suggest that this one may be re-writing Tagalog Mythology in a way that might not represent the original belief structure.
Lakapati/ Ikapati, Deity of Fertility & Agriculture
The name Lakapati may come from the Tagalog word Lakan which was a title for a noble ruler – the Tagalogs version of Rajah or Datu – and Pati, which comes from Sanskrit and is also a title meaning ‘master’ or ‘lord of’. During rituals and offerings, known as maganito, in the fields and during the planting season farmers would hold a child up in the air while invoking Lakapati and chant directly to them, “Lakapati, pakanin mo yaring alipin mo, huwag mo gutumin. (Translation: Lakapati, feed this servant who is yours, let them not be hungry). This chant was written down in the oldest Tagalog dictionary, Pedro de San Buenaventura’s Vocabulario de Lengua Tagala (1613), which also presented idea of Lakapati as a male/female image:
IDOLO) Lacapati (pp) era el abogado de las sementeras, figura de hombre y muger todo junto,…(Lacapati was the advocate of sowed fields, figure of man and woman all together,…)
The following subsequent sources have documented Lakapati/ Ikapati:
OUTLINE OF PHILIPPINE MYTHOLOGY by F. Lanada Jocano (1969)
Ikapati, goddess of cultivated land, was the most understanding and kind among the deities of Bathala. Her gift to man was agriculture. As the benevolent giver of food and prosperity, she was respected and loved by the people. From her came fertility of fields and health of flocks and herds.
Ikapati was said to have married Mapulon, god of seasons. They had a daughter named Anagolay, who became the goddess of lost things. When Anagolay attained maidenhood, she married Dumakulem, son of Idianale and Dumangan, by whom she had two children, Apolake, who became god of the sun and patron of warriors, and Dian Masalanta, who became goddess of lovers.
Ikapati by Galo B. Ocampo
BARANGAY by William Henry Scott (1994)
During sacrifices made in a new field to Lakapati, a major fertility deity, the farmer would hold up a child and say, “Lakapati, pakanin mo yaring alipin mo; huwag mong gutumin [Lakapati, feed this thy slave; let him not hunger]” (San Buenaventura 1613, 361).
Prominent among deities who received full-blown sacrifices were fertility gods. Lakapati, fittingly represented by a hermaphrodite image with both male and female parts, was worshiped in the fields at planting time; and Lakanbakod, who had gilded genitals as long as a rice stalk, was offered eels when fencing swiddens—because, they said, his were the strongest of all fences, “Linalakhan [sic] niya ang bakod nag bukid” (San Buenaventura 1613, 361).
CENTENNIAL CROSSINGS: Reading on Babaylan Feminism in the Philippines by FE B. Mangahas (Editor),Jenny R. Llaguno (Editor) (2006)
The description of Lakapati that caused the “transgender” confusion appears in Centennial Crossings: Reading on Babaylan Feminism in the Philippines where a very liberal, and potentially irresponsible, mash-up of the two previous documentations was presented.
Lakapat – The goddess of fertility and the most understanding and kind of all the deities. She was a hermaphrodite, having both male and female genitalia, symbolizing the balance of everything. Her bodily expression is notably feminine. Also known as Ikapati, She was the giver of food and prosperity. Her best gift to mankind was agriculture (cultivated fields), a reason why she is praised along with Dimangan, god of good harvest. Through her teachings, she was respected and loved by the people. She was known to be the kindest deity to the Tagalogs. Later, she married Mapulon, who courted her tirelessly. Her marriage with Mapulon was symbolic for the ancient Tagalogs as it referred to marriage as a mutual bond between two parties regardless of gender, which was common and an acceptable practice at the time. She had a daughter, named Anagolay who aided mankind when they have lost something or someone. During early Spanish rule, Lakapati was depicted as the Holy Spirit, as the people continued to revere her despite Spanish threats. In Tagalog animism, the small unhusked rice grain was Lakapati’s emblem.
Lakapati: TransDiwata ng Ginintuang Palay at Masaganang Ani by brianbarrtt
This raises a question.
Are Ikapati and Lakapati different and coming from variant Tagalog belief structures? This is important because Ikapati was documented as a ‘goddess’ who went on to marry and have children, while Lakapati is “represented by a hermaphrodite image with both male and female parts”. Were these two variants combined into one? While the answer doesn’t really change the function of each deity, it certainly should change the assignment of Lakapati’s “hermaphrodite” image into the female “transgender”, Ikapati – who may have been cisgender in the particular pantheon that was documented by Jocano. Unfortunately, William Henry Scott passed away in 1993 and we lost F. Landa Jocano in 2013, so we may never know which particular pantheons they were speaking of in their documentation.
Variants are not uncommon in Philippine Mythology. In the Visayan pantheons, Maguayan, goddess of the underworld and sea, is sometimes referred to as the wife of the sky god, Kaptan. Other versions from areas of Cebu say Maguayan is the brother of Kaptan.
Assigning Gender
While the above question remains unanswered, the Scott description of Lakapati’s gender is “hermaphrodite”. This was taken from the Buenaventura entry which may have been meant to represent a conjoined male/female. Jocano describes Ikapati as a “goddess”. One could (and I think they did) combine these descriptions to create a transgender deity, but it would be responsible to first find out if both Ikapati and Lakapati are indeed one in the same. I don’t think they are.
Times and attitudes have changed, and the language used to discuss sexual orientation and gender identity has also changed. Many cultures have had religions and beliefs that feature human-like gods and goddesses, most of them being specifically male or female. However, for some, creation and fertility was not always a female feature, and many concepts of nature and the universe could only be explained from a dipole perspective. Sometimes, being ‘hermaphrodite’ was a result of magical or mysterious events.
Hermaphroditos was the god of hermaphrodites and of effeminates. He was numbered amongst the winged love-gods known as Erotes. Hermaphroditos was a son of Hermes and Aphrodite, the gods of male and female sexuality.
Paris, France 2009 Grand Louvre Louvre Palace Hermaphrodite Sculpture © Tamar M. Thibodeau
According to some he was once a handsome youth who attracted the love of a Naiad nymphe Salmakis. She prayed to to be united with him forever and the gods, answering her prayer, merged their two forms into one. At the same time her spring acquired the property of making men who bathed in its waters soft and effeminate.
Hermaphroditos was depicted as a winged youth with both male and female features–usually female thighs, breasts, and style of hair, and male genitalia.
The mythological term “hermaphrodite” implies that a person is both fully male and fully female. This is a physiological impossibility. The words “hermaphrodite” and “pseudo-hermaphrodite” used to describe humans are stigmatizing and misleading. Unfortunately, some medical personnel still use them to refer to people with certain intersex conditions, because they still subscribe to an outdated nomenclature that uses gonadal anatomy as the basis of sex classification.
However, in mythology, the term is relevant. Androgyny has sometimes been encoded in ancient religions and mythologies as a symbol of the old human and the next coming race. According to Aristophanes, originally there were three kinds of people: men, women and men-women. (androgyne). The shape of the androgynous people was curious. Each person had two faces, four arms and four legs and two sets of genitals. As the story goes, as punishment for their rebellion, Zeus ordered that the androgynous people be split in two. As a result, the soul of androgynous person experienced a terrible loss and sought to reunite with his lost half to become whole again. This longing for a missing part and to be whole again expresses the deep longing of romantic love.
According to Aristophanes, originally there was a third kind of perain – men/women (androgyne)
Perhaps myths like this warrant a closer examination as to why Austronesian languages evolved into missing gender pronouns. Assigning gender to the hermaphroditic, androgynous, or conjoined deities and mythical beings may change that understanding.
So before we start assigning the ABCs of L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ to ancient pantheons, perhaps we should take a moment to reflect on what ramifications that could have. I truly believe that the decolonization, feminist and L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ movements have assisted greatly when it comes to understanding and claiming the pre-colonial identity of Filipinos. However, occasionally the desire to create a point from historical documents overshadows the information presented and creates new challenges for those revisiting the past. I won’t tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t do when it comes to finding their cultural belonging, but I would encourage you to take pause before assigning, changing, or combining things so they become simpler to understand in today’s confusing world.
When it comes to understanding pre-colonial beliefs in the Philippines, there is nothing simple about it.
Sources:
- William Henry Scott (1994), Barangay: sixteenth-century Philippine culture and society, Ateneo de Manila University Press, p. 79,
- F. Landa Jocano (1969), Outline of Philippine Mythology, Centro Escolar University Research and Development Center
- Leticia Ramos Shahani; Fe B. Mangahas; Jenny R. Llaguno, Centennial Crossings: Reading on Babaylan Feminism in the Philippines, C & E Publishing, Inc., pp. 27, 28, 30