Tala is the goddess of the stars in Philippine mythology: the radiant deity of the morning and evening star and of all the stars of the night sky, sister of the sun-god [apolaki] and the moon-goddess [mayari], who scatters the lights across the heavens and guides travelers and sailors by her shining. She is the bright star-maiden of the Filipino cosmos.
The Goddess of the Stars
Tala is the goddess of the stars — the lights that fill the night sky — and especially of the brightest star, the morning and evening star (the planet Venus, called Tala in Tagalog to this day). A daughter of the supreme creator [bathala], she is one of the celestial children, the sister of the moon-goddess Mayari and the sun-god Apolaki, and with them she divides and adorns the heavens: Apolaki the day, Mayari the night, and Tala the stars that shine within it.
The Light of the Heavens
By the myths, it is Tala who brings out the stars at evening and gathers them in at dawn — or who, with her star-light, holds back the darkness. The morning star (Tala) appears before the dawn, the herald of the coming day, and the evening star follows the setting sun; and so Tala is the goddess of these bright lights that bracket the night, the first to appear and the last to fade. Her stars guide the way of travelers by land and sea, and her shining is a comfort and a guide in the darkness.
The Star-Maiden
In the celestial family of the children of Bathala, Tala the star-goddess completes the trio of sun, moon, and stars — the radiant maiden of the night’s lights, sister to the sun and moon, scattering her stars across the heavens. Her name endures in Filipino language and culture as the word for star, a living trace of the old goddess. In Tala, Filipino myth gave form to the stars and the guiding lights of the night — the radiant star-goddess, sister of the sun and moon, who brings out the stars at evening and shines as the morning and evening star, the bright star-maiden of the Philippine heavens.