who is mayari?
mayari is a warrior goddess of the moon and daughter of the supreme creator of earth, bathala in Tagalog mythology. in one version of her story, bathala went into a deep slumber in his old age. mayari proposed to apolaki, her brother and god of the sun, that they both rule earth equally. apolaki chose to rule as one, which led to a fierce divine war between the two.
mayari lost one eye during their fight due to apolaki’s bagakay (a weapon made of bamboo). apolaki asked for forgiveness and relented to mayari’s proposal. as a result, apolaki ruled the day and mayari ruled the night, and the light during nightime was dimmer due to mayari’s lost eye.
mayari symbolizes inner strength, compassion, beauty, revolution, night, and the moon. her weapon, the yantok, is made of bamboo and measures up to 3 feet long. this ‘fighting stick’ is used in martial art forms such as eskrima, arnis, and kali.
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