Title Details

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A literary work is a product of the time, the place, and the circumstances of its composition. As such literary works are representations of the culture from which they emerge, for they are the emanations, the active agents of a people's ideology. It is assumed that the epic as literary creation is a lens through which the Ilonggo ideology and culture can be brought into focus to better understand their distinctive as a group of people. This qualitative study using the Cultural Poetics/New Historicism Approach to criticism sought to uncover the Ilonggo cultural heritage through the Epic of Labaw Donggon. The basis of the analysis was the English translation by Dr. F. Landa Jocano. Specially, the study aimed to answer the following questions: 1. What distinctive characteristics of the epic hero are exemplified in Labaw Dongon? 2. What ancient beliefs and practices surface in the epic? 3. a. How did these characteristics, belief and practices reflect the values of the Ilonggo as a cultural group? b. What are these values projected by the Ilonggos as a cultural group? The findings of the study revealed that the distinctive characteristics of the epic hero exemplified in the Epic of Labaw Dongon were: unusual birth and miraculous growth; life full of action and adventure; victorious in adventures; restored to life and lives happily after; impressive appearance and a loud voice, strong, brave and with great fighting powers; great determination and endurance; and possess supernatural or magical power, magical objects, animals and guardians or friendly spirits.

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