The Haven's Disastrous Retribution

Macaduc, The God Of Wars and Plunder

The Visayan god of war that was venerated and worshiped in the pre-colonial Visayas mainly by the "lupong(tattooed)" warriors and he is the patron of the "mangatang" or sea bandits.

 He is depicted has as exceedingly handsome and strong with bronzed skin and golden sharp teeth and numerous tattoos decorating his body.. Macanduc or Malandok represents the violent and physical untamed aspect of war, which is in contrast to Naguined who represents military strategy and generalship as the goddess of tactical warfare and poisons. He is one out of the three gods call upon before or during "Mangahat (sea raids)" and also in "Mangayu(land raids)" along with Naguined and Varangao.

BAHANDI SA NGIT NGIT NGA BAYBAYON

It was believed that Macanduc had a warship and his crew was the fiercest warriors in their previous lives turned into demigods and minor deities by Macanduc himself. His fleet was unrivaled by no monster nor god. He was powerful and all the earthly riches and the divine was his for the taking, but his eyes were set upward, he wanted to sack the skies. He wanted a celestial deity to be his ''bana'' (spouse/consort) and only a ''dayao'' would do. 

The ''dayao''(meaning superior in beauty and in friendliness) were celestial deities of the moon lighting up the night sky with their radiance. Macaduc wanted to plunder the sky to get a ''dayao'' and be his ''bahandi'' ( prized-possession) but the night skies were unreachable, but then one of the celestial deities descended said to be so comely and radiant that for a time being fishes and marine beasts forgot to swim, even the mermaids and birds forgot their songs. The Dayao was the pubescent aspect of the moons, Bulan with long dark hair and eyes darker than midnight and skin as radiant as the moons on the night sky.

Bulan descended to the waters of the earth to bathe with the mermaids. Macanduc walked on the sea as if it was land and was about to ensnare the lunar deity if only the god from the tallest mountain had intervened. The deity of Mt. Madjaas, he horned god and the devourer of children, and he who measures the lifespan of mortals Sidapa came. According to oral tales the two gods fought each other but Sidapa tricked the god of war by using the dead souls of people who died at sea thus claiming the child bride Bulan and defeating the war god Macanduc. It was said to be the first and only defeat Macanduc experienced.

YNAGUINID AND MACADUC STORY

 

There are a few gods in the Visayan pantheon that play a significant role in important moments for a Visayan community, and Ynaguinid and Macanduc are examples of such deities. They are the personification of war and they also serve as inspiration and standard for ancient Visayans on the art of warfare, sieges and pillages. Babaylans and chieftains pray to these formidable gods to bless the warriors with their might, bravery and strength to overcome their enemies in the olden days, such as the Moros from Mindanao, whose raiding tactics have caused problems to Visayan barangays all over the Southern part of the archipelago.

 Ynaguinid and Macanduc are favored deities of warriors, war leaders, chieftains, guards and slave masters. They believed that these deities also awesome appearances to go with their titles: They are said to be able-bodied men covered in many tattoos, symbols of a victor and slayers of men, their dark bodies are smeared in coal or mud, their faces streaked with blood, their teeth sharpened like shark teeth yet blackened with coal and herbs. 

They were the epitome of bravery and victor in battles for many Visayan warriors, and they try to emulate them by also covering their bodies with coal, mud and red tints from herbs, sharpening and blackening their teeth, and when victorious in a skirmish, have their bodies tattooed to symbolize the men they killed in battle so ko that the villagers will glorify them more, raising their status in the village system.

Ynaguinid is also known to be a deity of weapon and poison-making, and an old story once states that Ynaguinid appeared to a group of lost hunters or warriors as a beautiful woman of the forest, and taught them the secrets on how to create poisonous, oily concoctions by mixing poisonous plant oils from toxic floras such as the kayos/kolot, makasla and kamandag plants, to be used in hunting and wars.

Ynaguinid also taught them how to extract viper venom and mix it in herbal oil to create the special war poison called, the "odto" which means "high noon" in english, for anyone who was wounded by any weapon coated with this poison was not known to survive by noontime (most battles of yore were done in early morning till afternoon) from and how to coat their arrows and "bagakay sibats" with these potent potions. It was due to these stories and contributions attributed to Ynaguinid that made this deity also the deity of poisons, and in the North of the archipelago till the Bicol region, Ynaguinid is also known as Nagined, and was paired with Makbarubak and Arapayan as the trinity of poison gods.

Macanduc is a popular deity to southern and southeastern Visayan tribes of yore and was believed to be a really bloodthirsty deity, who loves spreading carnage and strife in the battlefields he walks on, taking lives of people from both sides without discrimination. It was also believed that he possesses tribe leaders and babaylans before the war, to empower the people with courage and a thirst for victory.

Ancient Visayans celebrated the art of sea warfare and excelled it, partly due to the fact that Moros tend to attack tribes from the sea and that the Visayas were made up of islands rather than a large mass of land. He noticed that one of the rituals Visayans do before going to a Sea Warfare is the ritual called, "pagdaga", which is a ritual of smearing the blood of the enemy on the prow and keel of the boats of the warriors.

Ynaguinid and Macanduc are also venerated by weapon smiths, and prayers before making a weapon are customary as also are prayers done after the successful completion of a weapon. Ancient Visayans also kept idols of these war deities in the homes of the chiefs and head babaylans, and they bring them out on festivities such as the start and end of a war, to celebrate the warriors and the victors of these battles.

When the Spaniards came to archipelago, Visayan warriors fougth valiantly against these invaders, believing that they are blessed by the powerful Ynaguinid and Macanduc in their endeavors of protecting their lands and villages. While most of these tribes were successful in driving out the Spanish fleets, they soon found out that their pursuers were only gone temporarily, as the Spaniards came with more force and struck the Visayans hard, claiming victory in the end. They did not waste time colonizing the Visayan islands, and converting natives into the Christians.

The Spaniards also ordered for the idols of nature gods and anything that reminds the natives of their old religion destroyed and burned, including idols of Ynaguinid and Macanduc, causing them to be forgotten over time. Nowadays, the powerful war deities Ynaguinid and Macanduc, and also the stories of bravery of the ancient Visayan warriors whom they inspired in life and in the battlefield, remains in the memory of the few surviving Visayan tribes all over the country, passed from generation to generation the the spoken word, and oral traditions these tribes still practice to this day.