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.
