Customs of the Tagalogs

Objectives of the lesson

• Understand pre-colonial Filipino customs before Spanish arrival
• Recognize complex pre-colonial Filipino societies predating colonization
• Value the relevance of these customs today

Juan de Plasencia

• Plasencia was an Italian missionary in the 16th century
• As a missionary he was in the first batch, arriving July 2, 1678
• He preached in Tagalog regions: Laguna, Quezon, Bulacan, and Rizal, with Fray Diego de Oropesa
• Implemented the Reduccion Policy, settling natives in central locations
• His experiences converting natives to Christianity led him to write "Relacion de las Costumbres de los Tagalogs" (Customs of the Tagalogs) in 1589

Philippine Society

• Pre-Spanish society already had customs and beliefs
• Society civil and systematic structure made it hard for the Spanish to administer the natives
• Some Spaniards chose to reside within Intramuros
• Filipino natives could become Gobernadorcillos, but were monitored by friars

Role of Friars

• Friars did administrative tasks in their monitoring roles
• This included collecting taxes
• They also implemented orders to localities and performed other civic duties
• Friars were significant figures in Pueblos
• Friars were tasked with reporting their experiences to superiors in assigned localities

Customs of the Tagalogs

• It details the cultural, economic, social, and political practices of pre-colonial Filipino natives

On the Barangay

• Datos were chiefs ruling the people and were captains in wars
• People obeyed and reverenced the Datos
• Barangay name origin is boats that people arrived with
• Each Barangay was essentially a family unit composed of parents, children, relations, and slaves

Caste Systems

• The social classes included the Maharlika (nobility), Timawa (freemen) and Alipin (slaves)
• The Maharlika are free-born and they are exempt from paying tax to the Datu
• The Timawa/Aliping namamahay live in their own houses and are lords of their own property and gold
• The Aliping saguiguilir serve their master in his house and on his cultivated lands and may be sold if needed

Caste System Situations

• Those who are Maharlikas on both parents’ sides remain so, and if they become slaves, it is through marriage
• If Maharlikas had children with their slaves, the children and mothers became free

Caste System Situations with Slave Women

• If Maharlikas had children by a slave woman of another, the woman gave her master half a gold tael when pregnant
• In this case, a child was half free if a Maharlika father recognized them; otherwise, the child was a full slave

Caste System and Free Women

• If a free woman had children with a slave, the children were all free if the slave was not her husband

Marriage and Caste

• If two people of different castes (Maharlika and Namamahay/Saguiguilir slave) married, the children were divided
• Odd birth order children (1st, 3rd, 5th, etc.) belonged to the father
• Even birth order children (2nd, 4th, 6th, etc.) belonged to the mother
• Only children were half free and half slave

Maharlikas and Marriage

• Maharlikas could not move to another village after marriage without paying a fine in gold, ranging from one to three taels, and a banquet to the entire barangay
• Special case existed of children divided equally between two barangays, after one married a woman from another village

Laws and Punishments

• Investigations and sentences by the Dato happened with the Barangay present
• Death penalty existed for a low-born man insulting the daughter/wife of a chief, witches and others of same class
• For loans, debtors were condemned to toil, becoming slaves and having their children pay the debt
• For inheritance, legitimate children of a father and a mother inherit equally

Dowries and Marriage

• Dowries are given by men to the women's parents before marriage
• Both parents enjoy the dowry's use if both are alive
• When parents die and dowry has not been consumed, it is divided like the rest of estate
• There is an exception if father bestows something additional upon their daughter

Divorce and Dowries Before Birth

• Wife leaves to marry another: all dowry and equal amount falls to husband
• Wife leaves and does not remarry: the dowry is returned to her husband

Divorce and Dowries with Children

• Husband leaves: he loses half the dowry, the other half returns to him
• Dowry and fine were given to children held by grandparents/responsible relatives, if children existed

Marriage Arrangements

• Dowries were bestowed by fathers upon sons when they are about to be married
• Half of the dowry was given immediately, even to children
• Those who reject the marriage paid a sum that depended on affluence/village practices
• The heaviest fine was due upon death of parents, whom children were unwilling to marry
• Dowry was returned, if parents had already received it
• If the parents were living, they paid fine

Worship and Religion

• No temples consecrated to sacrifices, idols, or idolatry
• Simbahan means temple/adoration place
• Festivals (Pandot/Worship), were celebrated there
• Small lamps (Sorihile), were used and Nagaanitos included the whole barangay for worship

Dieties

• Bathala is all powerful, or the maker of all things
• The sun was universally respected and honored
• The moon was greatly rejoiced, adored, and welcomed, especially when new
• Tala is the "Seven Little Goats" (the Pleiades)

Other Gods/Goddesses

• Mapolon meant the change of seasons
• Balatic represented the Greater Bear
• Licha is images with different shapes
• Dian Masalanta is the God for of lovers and generation
• Lacapati and Idianale - patrons of cultivated lands and of husbandry
• Buaya were crocodiles
• Tigmamanuguin were a bird

Years, Months and Days

• Determined by cultivation of soil
• Time was counted by observing the moon
• Months/years marked by effects on trees, such as fruits, flowers, and leaves

Offerings/Sacrifices

• Manner of making sacrifices used proclamations and offerings of food to the devil
• Katalonan officiated as priest (male or female)
• Reasons for sacrifices included personal matters like sick recovery, prosperous voyage, good harvest, a happy marriage
• Favorable results in wars, were another reason for offering the offering of sacrifice of adoration

Priests of the Devil Distinctions

• The Catalonan was a man or a woman, honorable among the natives and held ordinarily by people of rank
• Mangagauay/Witches would pretend to heal the sick
• Manyisalat had the power to apply remedies to lovers
• Mangkukulam could emit fire from themself at night
• Hocloban killed at will by saluting/raising a hand without medicine

More Priests of the Devil

• Silagan would tear out and eat the liver of anyone clothed in white
• Magtatangal showed themself at night to many persons, without a head/entrails
• Using, equivalent to "sorcerer"
• murderers/ate flesh with people as witnesses
• Mangangayoma made charms for lovers using herbs, stones and wood
• Pangatahojan made soothsayings and predicted the future
• Sonat, equivalent to "preacher" had a duty to help one die and predict salvation
• Bayoguin signified a "cotquean," a man inclined toward woman-like traits

Burial of the Dead

• Manner of burying in the house occurred when deceased was a chief or warrior

Burial of a Chief

• The chief was placed beneath a constructed little house/porch
• Before interring they were mourned for 4 days
• They are then laid on a boat which serves as a coffin
• The chief was placed beneath the guarded-by-slave porch
• Various animals filled boats in pairs in ‘place of rowers’, and slaves fed them

Burial of a Warrior

• A living slave was tied beneath body until both died
• In time, everything decays
• Relatives mourned for many days, singing dirges/praises of good qualities
• Grief involved eating and drinking

Concept on Another Life

• Maca is "paradise" or "village of rest."
  • It had Bathala
• Casanaan is a place of punishment, grief, affliction, and anguish
  • It had Sitan

Supernatural Beings

• Vibit meant ghosts
• Tigbalaang meant phantoms
• Patianac are women who died in childbirth

Historical Importance

• It contradicts the argument “There is no civilization before the Spanish colonization.”
• Customs/beliefs illustrated systemized and civilized way of life
• The Spanish colonial government had difficulty in administering due to these systems
• The early Filipinos already had their own concept of tribal like gatherings in barangays
• Barangays operated with own caste system which contained the Maharlika, commoners, and slaves each with different responsibilities
• A religion predated the arrival of the spaniards, and supreme beings/afterlife beliefs existed
• Traditions not written were preserved due to the text
• These traditions included ways of worship and laws
• Religious practices and superstitious beliefs were also accounted for in the text

Implications & Relevance Today

• The original work is a product of observation and judgements
• Juan de Plasencia's work might be contain some bias when presenting the information
• Pre-conquest society was not erased by the advent of the Spanish regime
• It has continued and serves as the basis for historical reconstructions of Tagalog society

Relevance to Contemporary Times

• Some 16th century beliefs and practices are still present today
• In the pre-hispanic period, Filipinos already had a government as well as a system of beliefs and practices
• Some perceptions on Filipino beliefs and practices have not changed much, even from Juan de Plasencia's point of view