The Alimokon Egg

There once lived a man called Ul-loy and his wife Baul-loy by the river near the maabong trees. They were charged with the responsibility of guarding the Kaagan and Mandayan boundary as marked off by the maabong trees. One day, Baul-loy was gathering the day's wash when she espied an alimokon bird's egg. She relished alimokon eggs cooked in nearly done steaming pot of rice, so she brought this one home. When she reached her home, she placed the egg in a basket in her room, while attending to her other household chores. Distracted, she forgot to cook the alimokon egg. When she remembered the egg says later, an amazing thing happened. The alimokon egg hatched twins, but they were not alimokons. The twins were a male snake named Agwaon and a female child named Maag. As the twins grew older, Agwason derived great enjoyment in playing sipa with the children. Eventually, the snake grew to an enormous size. Agwason's playmates also grew up, but gradually, they avoided Agwason. They told him that they were busy with more important things so they did not have time to play sipa anymore. Sensing Agwason being saddened by this turn of events, Ul-loy told Agwasion that the other children are shying away from him not because of loss of interest in the game of sipa but more so because they were afraid of the snake's enormous size. Agwason replied that it was time for it to (to heaven). But Agwason would leave its twin sister Maag behind. Before leaving, Agwason told Ul-loy that in times of adversities and sickness, his descendants have only to perform a Diwata Ritual invoking Agwason's name and it will give them succor. As Maag grew to maidenhood, she mastered the art of weaving and made many beautiful woven fabrics.

The Kaagans of Baoy (now Mati, Davao Oriental)

Long before the Spaniards came to Baoy (now Mati, Davao Oriental,) where Mayo River made its progress to the sea, there lived men who were blessed by nature and communed with its mysteries. Along this river called Mayo, stood two lush maabong tree grows as tall as a mango tree with lush foliage and white bark. It is used in the treatment of a variety of diseases, from stomach aches, rheumatism to allergies. Even at that time, maabong trees were scarce and were taken care of. On one side of these maabong trees, facing the hilly areas, stoo a limao tree (native pomelo). The leaves of the limao tree, crushed and extracted of its juices, is used by the native women to beautify their hair. A yellow musaa (kerchief) is tied to a branch of the maabong tree facing the coastal areas. This yellow musaa signifies that the coastal region belonged to the Kaagan tribe. (yellow is the color 'of Kaagan royalty.) A red musaa hangs on the other maabong tree. This means that the area from this maabong tree up to the hilly areas belonged to the Mandaya tribe. Under the shade of this maabong tree, the Mandayas enact their Diwata Rituals for healing. The Diwata Ritual is performed in times of grave illness. The hardened resin of the camangyan tree is placed over the live coal embers, filling the air with smoke and the sweet scent of camanyan. The Abyan (spirit medium) then invokes the names of dead forefathers of the sick person. Suddenly, the Abyan seems possessed and acts strangely. In a little while, the Abyan recovers from his trance and with a clarity of vision, he discerns the cause of and the cure for the disease. When it is a case of the sick person being forgetful of his obligations to the dead, then he is required to perform these duties to remember and placate deceased relations who in turn aid him towards recovery.

What does KAAGAN mean?

Kaagan came from the word "kaag" which means "to inform," "to secure," "to warn," or "secrecy." It is a native word of the tribe used by its tribe men earlier when they have to inform their tribesmen about something to happen. The Kaagan Tribe is one of the early settlers of Southern Philippines when Davao was not yet divided into three provinces which was named as Davao del Norte (Northern), Davao Oriental (Eastern) and Davao del Sur (Southern). Kaagans lived along the riverbanks of Mayo River, Mati, Davao Oriental; Summog (Sumlog), Lupon, Davao Oriental; Mamuyapoy, Tarragona, Davao Oriental; Bingcungan; Hijo and Pantukan, Compostela Valley Province. The tribe was under the Sultanate of Maguindanao. There were three established governance before named the Sultanate of Sulu, Sultanate of Maguindanao and the Sultanate of Brunei. When the Americans came to the Philippines, the Kaagans were known as "Moros" or little brave people of the East. They were known of their kamaysugan (braveness). Yellow is the tribe's royalty color.