The Ibálong, also known as Handiong or Handyong, is a 60-stanza fragment of a Bicolano full-length folk epic of the Bicol region of the Philippines, based on the Indian Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. The epic is said to have been narrated in verse form by a native bard called Kadunung.
It was passed on orally until it was presumably jotted down in its complete Bicol narrative by Fray Bernardino de Melendreras de la Trinidad. The Ibalong portrays deeds in heroic proportions, centering on white men or tawong-lipod who were warrior-heroes named, among others, Tambaloslos, Baltog, Handyong, and Bantong. They came from Boltavara (present-day India), settling and ruling Bicol and its people. The epic is set in the land of Aslon and Ibalong. The mountains Asog, Masaraga, Isarog, and Lingyon were prominent features of the area.[1]
In its oldest known text, the folk epic does not have a title. Its oldest existing account is written in Spanish.[1]
A non-religious festival called the Ibalong Festival is celebrated annually in honor of the epic Ibalong as a commemoration of the Ibalon geography. It is unusual because Spaniards introduced saints and fiestas and all religious-related activities except Ibalong. It is also a celebration of the province's people and their resiliency, given the string of calamities that regularly befall the region given its typhoon-prone geographical location.
- ^ a b Aguilar, Celedonio G. (1994). Readings in Philippine literature. Manila: Rex Book Store. p. 51. ISBN 9712315649. Retrieved 9 February 2015.