Tonight, we’ll read a folktale called “Aponibolinayen and the Sun”, from the book “Philippine Folk Tales” published in 1916, compiled by anthropologist Mabel Cook Cole. This story comes from the Ting-yen or Itneg people, who live in a mountainous region in the Philippines.

The Itnegs believe in the existence of numerous supernatural powerful beings. They believe in spirits and deities, the greatest of which they believe to be Kadaklan who lives up in the sky and who created the earth, the moon, the stars, and the sun. Tonight, we’ll read about the sun in particular and how he came to be married to a special mortal woman with magical powers.