Anitun Tabu

      The fickle-minded goddess of wind and rain. She is the daughter of Idiyanale and Dumangan and the sister of Dumakulem.

anitun+ tbu

Illustrated by Mica Ellah Tambalong

Pray For Good Weather

    For centuries, ancient Filipinos have always encountered numerous rain, storms and strong winds. They always seem to see that weather is very unpredictable as it keeps on changing. Anitun Tabu, who is known to be the goddess of wind and rain is known to have a fickle minded personality among the gods. She is the daughter of Idiyanale who is the goddess of labor and good deeds, and Dumangan who is the god of good harvest. Anitun Tabu is said to  be born in the middle of the Pacific Ocean which is the largest and deepest among the five oceanic divisions. She is a kind of goddess who is weak in personality but strong in power. Every time her mood changes the weather also changes  depending on how positive and negative her mood is.

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    Anitun Tabu has been gifted since the day she was born. Her parents also seem to have noticed that she has an extraordinary power in controlling the winds according to her will. She really has power as she possesses a gift that can be very helpful to the natives when it comes to crops and harvest. By the time she became a teenager, she is often seen with mixed personalities and moods which later proves that her emotions and feelings are in coordination with the condition of the sky and wind. Every time she is heartbroken or sad the sky would pour with water. The downpour can be light or it can be strong depending on the gravity of her emotion. Every time the people experience the rain they always think that Anitun Tabu is heartbroken again. Sometimes the natives would perform a rain dance in order to ask for rain and to prevent the water sources from drying up. Although Anitun Tabu has powerful abilities, she remains vulnerable and easy to change moods and mind which explains that the Philippines is strongly affected by the  gloomy weather from the Pacific where the goddess was born. People are still glad about the rain which they consider as  blessings and thus they continue to pray to Anitun Tabu especially the farmers who live in dry lands and  are in need of water for their crops and harvest. This is especially done during the El Ñino season when there is scarcity of rain and wind.