The Moon and the Bakunawa

There were originally seven moons in the Heavenly Kingdom

which shone down over the world, loved by the people. The

serpent Baunawa saw the beauty of the moons and fell in love

with them. He would spend his time laying in his dark cavern

and gazing up at the sky, admiring the beauty of the ‘seven

sisters’. The more he gazed at them, the more he yearned to

make them his. He thought that if he could just swallow the

moons, he would be their eternal owner.

One night, he decided to try and possess the sisters for himself.

Bakunawa launched himself into the sky and swallowed one of

the moons, before hastily returning to the safety of his lair. To

his horror, the moon he had swallowed melted in his stomach

and he desperately flew out of his lair and swallowed another

moon, but the same thing happened again. In his despair,

Bakunawa flew into the night and swallowed moon and after

moon, until he had eaten six of the seven sisters, causing the

people to cry and mourn the sisters.

Bakunawa saw that only one moon remained, but he was

determined to make the remaining sister his. Flying into the

air, he wrapped his body around the moon, opening his mouth

to swallow the last moon.

The people saw the huge serpent wrapped around the moon

and they feared that they would lose the last of the light in the

night sky. In desperation, the people came out from their

houses and cried out “RETURN OUR MOON.”

They fell to their knees in prayer as others shouted and banged

their drums, making a huge amount of noise. Bakunawa was

swallowing the moon as the people cried out, and darkness was

falling on the world. The people screamed and banged their

drums until the whole world was filled with the noise. Finally,

Bakunawa spat out the moon and fled back to the safety of his

lair, deep under the sea.

The people celebrated as one moon was left, brightening up

the night sky. However, they feared that Bakunawa would

return again and again to try and swallow their beloved moon.

They knew that they had to prevent this and so Bathala, who

created the moons, planted bamboo on the remaining moon,

which is now seen as the dark side of the moon. Bathala hoped

that this would make Bakunawa see that the moon was spoiled,

and he would no longer desire to possess the moon.

Bakunawa has never given up and he will try to swallow the

moon, but the people know his tricks and are ready for him.

When the light of the moon dims and Bakunawa wraps his

giant body around the moon, the people pray and create such a

noise that he retreats back to his lair once again. For as long as

the bamboo lives on the moon, Bakunawa will never succeed in

taking the last remaining Sister.