Mythologies of the Waray Tribe

Waray refers to both the people of Samar and Leyte and their language, also known as Lineyte-Samarnon. As a people, the Waray identify themselves according to their place of origin. Those who come from Samar call themselves Samareños, while those who come from Leyte call themselves Leyteños. Samar, the third largest island in the Philippines, occupies the northernmost part of Eastern Visayas. It is bounded by the San Bernardino Strait on the north and the Leyte Gulf on the south. Samar consists mainly of low, rugged hills and small lowland areas like those in Calbayog and in the valley of the Gandara River. Leyte is composed of the main portion of Leyte Island situated north of Southern Leyte, and the islands of Gigantangan and Maripipi. It is bounded by the Camotes Sea on the west, Leyte Gulf on the east, and Carigara Bay and Samar Sea on the north. Leyte’s topography is characterized by rugged mountains that reach a maximum height of over 1,200 meters. Leyte Valley, which bisects the central range and the northeastern range fronting San Juanico Strait, is considered the largest lowland area in the province. On the western side is the Ormoc Valley, another large lowland area. The San Juanico Bridge, originally named Marcos Bridge, crosses San Juanico Strait and links the two islands. The Waray also live in the islands of Maripipi, Hinamok, Homonhon, Daram, Zumarraga, and Capul. Biliran, another island predominantly Waray populated, is a separate province. The Waray language is also called Lineyte-Samarnon and Binisaya. In some islands and the southern part of Leyte, as well as in some small islands of Samar, Binisaya is spoken. The 2000 census estimates the Waray-speaking population—excluding those who identify themselves as Bisaya or Binisaya—to range from 2.2 to 2.5 million, which is 3.4% of the total Philippine population. Their dispersal throughout the Philippines is recorded as follows, from greatest to smallest number: Leyte, 597,633; Samar, also known as Western Samar, 585,342; Northern Samar, 460,390; Eastern Samar, 366,787; Biliran, 57,020; Caloocan City, 37,523; Cavite, 37,006; Manila, 35,654; Valenzuela City, 9,128; Laguna, 7,936; Cebu, 1,247; Southern Leyte, 536; and Lucena City, 502. With a 1.48 growth rate, the total Waray population would have been 2.7 million in 2014.

The strong and proud group, typically portrayed as brave Filipino warriors, are the Waray or Waray-Waray people who inhabit Samar, Biliran, and Leyte in the Eastern Visayas Region. They speak one of the major Visayan languages of the same name, Waray, also called Lineyte–Samarnon, with the Biliran dialect commonly referred to as Biliranon. Approximately 2,600,000 are speakers of Waray, with Cebuano being their second language. The Warays of Samar and Leyte can be distinguished by their local names. Samar Waray are called Samareños or Samarnons, and Leyte Waray are the Leyteños. Furthermore, geographically, Leyteños Waray occupy the northern part of Leyte Island. They are separated from the Leyteños Cebuano by a mountain range in the middle of the island. Waray-Waray are producers of some of the finest native Philippine wines called pangasi (a type of rice wine) and tuba (coconut wine). They are also weavers of popular rural hats and mats made from buri or tikug plant strips. Their main livelihood comes from farming and fishing.

The Waray tribe (or the Waray-Waray people) are a subgroup of the larger ethnolinguistic group Bisaya people, who constitute the 4th largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines. Their primary language is the Waray language (also called Lineyte-Samarnon or Binisaya), an Austronesian language native to the islands of Samar, Leyte and Biliran, which together comprise the Eastern Visayas Region of the Philippines. Waray people inhabit most of Samar where they are called Samareños/Samarnons, the northern part of the island of Leyte where they are called Leyteños, and the island of Biliran. In Leyte island, the Waray-speaking people are separated from the Cebuano-speaking Leyteños by the island's mountain range at the middle. The Waray people form the majority of the population in the provinces of Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, and Samar while they form a significant population in Leyte, Southern Leyte, Biliran, and Sorsogon. According to the Philippine census of 2010, the Waray population is 3,660,645. Encyclopedia Britannica estimates that the Waray people's population reached 4.2 million in early 21st century. Although, an updated 2020 Philippine census reveals that Warays only constitute around 4.1 million only, about 100,000 short of the Encyclopedia Britannica estimate. Most Warays are Catholic, with a minority professing Protestantism, Islam, traditional Waray beliefs, or having no religion. Christianity amounts to 99% of the Warays, 4.69% of which are Evangelicals.

Waray (also known as Waray-Waray or Bisaya/Binisaya nga Winaray/Waray, Spanish: idioma samareño meaning Samar language) is an Austronesian language and the fifth-most-spoken native regional language of the Philippines, native to Eastern Visayas. It is the native language of the Waray people and second language of the Abaknon people of Capul, Northern Samar, and some Cebuano-speaking peoples of western and southern parts of Leyte island. It is the third most spoken language among the Bisayan languages, only behind Cebuano and Hiligaynon. The term Waray comes from the word often heard by non-speakers meaning 'none' or 'nothing' in the language; similarly, Cebuanos are known in Leyte as mga Kana and their language as Kana (after the oft-heard word kana, meaning 'that' in the Cebuano language). The Cebuano pronunciation of Waray is walay with the same meaning. During the Spanish period, texts refer to the language as simply being a dialect of "Visayan". In contrast, most contemporary linguists consider many of these "Visayan dialects" (e.g., Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Karay-a, etc.) to be distinct languages, and the term Visayan is usually taken to refer to what is called Cebuano in contemporary linguistic literature. Domingo Ezguerra's 1663 (reprinted 1747) Arte de la lengua bisaya de la provincia de Leyte refers to the "Visayan tongue of the province of Leyte", Figueroa's Arte del idioma Visaya de Samar y Leyte refers to the "Visaya language of Samar and Leyte". Antonio Sanchez's 1914 Diccionario español-bisaya (Spanish-Visayan Dictionary) refers to the speech of "Sámar and Leyte".