Customs Of The Tagalogs

CUSTOM OF TAGALOG

Historical Context ■ The Government had difficulty is running local politics because of the limited number of Spaniards who wanted to live outside of Intramuros ■ Spanish officials were forced to allow Filipinos to hold the position of gobernadorcillo ■ Gobernadorcillo was a municipal judge who carried out in a town the combined charges or responsibilities of leadership, economic, and judicial administration.

■ To ensure that gobernadorcillos would remain loyal to the crown, friars assigned parishes to supervise & monitor activities of the former. ■ Friars ended up performing the administrative duties that the colonial officials should have been doing.

■ Friars also became the most knowledgable and influential figure in the pueblos. ■ The word pueblo is the Spanish word for "town" or "village". It comes from the Latin root word populus meaning "people".

Activities that the Friars were doing: ■ Supervising the election of the local executives ■ Collecting of taxes ■ Educating the youth and other civic duties.

Friars who were assigned in mission territories were: ■ Required to inform their superiors of what was happening in their respective areas ■ To prepare reports on the number of natives they converted

■ To document people’s way of life—i.e, their hardships and struggles, etc. ■ Others who were keen observers submitted short letters and/or long dispatches.

■ They also shared their personal observations and experiences .

Plasencia’s Relacion de Las Costumbres de Los Tagalogs ■ “Custom of the Tagalogs”, 1589, by Fray Juan de Plasencia ■ Contains numerous information that historians could use in reconstructing the political and sociocultural history of the Tagalog region ■ Considered a primary source because Plasencia personally witnessed the events and took account of what was happening

Other examples of Literature Written by Friars and Colonial Officials during the Spanish Period 1.) Relacion de las Islas Filipinas (1582) ■ Written by Miguel de Loarca, an encomendero of Panay ■ He described the Filipinos’ way of life in the Western Visayas area. 2.) Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas ■ Written by Lt. Gov. Antonio de Morga ■ Provides information about the state of the Philippines in the latter part of the 16th century.

Other Spanish Missionaries who continued the historiographical traditions: ■ Relacion de las Islas Filipinas, 1604 -

Fr. Pedro Chirino S.J.

■ Historia General, 1751 -

Fr. Juan Delgado S.J.

■ Labor Evangelica, 1663 -

Fr. Francisco Colin S.J.

■ Historia natural de sitio, fertilidad y calidad de las Islas e Indios de Bisayas, 1668 - Fr. Francisco Ignacio Alcina S.J.

About the Author • Fray Juan de Plasencia (real name: Juan de Portocarrero) • He was a member of the Franciscan Order who came together with the first batch of missionaries to the Philippines in 1578 • He and Fray Diego de Oropesa were assigned to do mission works in the Southern Tagalog area. • He helped in the foundation and organizations of numerous towns in Quezon, Laguna, Rizal and Bulacan • His continuous interaction with the people he converted to Christianity engaged him to write Custom of Tagalogs, 1589, where he vividly described the political, social, economic, and cultural practices of the Filipinos before they were Christianized.

Fray Juan de Plasencia ■ He believed that catechism or explaining the basic tenets of the Catholic faith is another very important function of a missionary. ■ His biggest challenge at the time was how to make the articles of faith comprehensible to people who have never heard of Christ or the Catholic church.

ABOUT THE TEXT ■ Original document of Customs of the Tagalogs is currently kept in the Archivo General de Indias.(A.G.I) in Seville, Spain. ■ Duplicate copy of it is kept in the Archivo Franciscano Ibero- Oriental in Madrid, Spain ■ English translation appeared in Volume VII of the Blair and Robert’s The Philippine Islands.

EXCERTS FROM CUSTOM OF TAGALOG

DATUS ■ The chiefs who governed them were captains in their wars, and whom they obeyed and reverenced.

■ Chiefs ruled over a few people; sometimes as many as a hundred houses, or even less than thirty. ■ Tribal gathering is called in tagalog a “barangay”

■ Datus who corresponded to our knights.

Three Castes:

NOBLES  Freeborn or they call maharlica.  They not pay tax or tribute to the dato.  Must accompany the datu in war.

COMMONERS  Aliping Namamahay  Married  Serve their master whether he be a dato or not.  Live in their own houses and lords their property and gold.  Cannot be made slaves (sa guiguilar) nor can either parents or children be sold.

SLAVES  Aliping sa Guiguilar  Serve their master in his house and his cultivated lands and may be sold  Not married

Difference between the aliping Namamahay and Aliping sa Guiguilar

■Aliping Namamahay are not slaves while Aliping sa Guiguilar are slaves.

Maharlica’s on both father’s and mother’s side continue to be so forever; if these maharlicas had children and their mothers became free. If one of them had children by a slave-woman of another, she was compelled, when pregnant, to give her master half of the gold tael because of her risk of death.

If two person married, of whom one was a maharlica and the other slave, whether namamahay or sa guiguilir children were divided. First, third and fifth child is for the father while the second, fourth and sixth fell to the mother. Those who became slave fell under the category of servitude which was their parent’s, either namamahay or a sa guiguilir. If there’s an odd child, he/she is half free and half slave.

■ Of these two kinds of slaves the sa guiguilir could be sold but not the namamahay and their children nor they be transferred however they could be transferred from barangay, provided they remain in the same village. ■ Maharlicas could not, after marriage, move from one village to another. ■ Marriage dowries deal more Complex if the couples are young. Parents also received part of the dowries.

WORSHIP OF THE TAGALOGS

PanDOT OR “WORsHiP” ■ A festive celebration ■ Includes performing of sacrifices, adoration of their idols or the general practice of Idolatry. ■ Usually lasts for 4 days ■ People bring drums which they beat successively while the feast lasted ■ Nagaanitos was also another way the feast was called by the members of the barangay

Place of Worship ■ Their place of worship was called a temple ■ Since there are no temples consecrated for the performance of these rights, it is usually held in a large house of a chief. ■ Sibi- is a temporary shed on each side of the house to shelter the gathered people ■ Sorihile- small lamps on the posts of the house

BATHALA ■ They worshipped this god specially ■ He was said to be the “all powerful” and “maker of all things”

SUN  They also worshipped the sun for its beauty, respected and honored as the heavens

THE MOON ■ They worship the moon especially when it’s new, which at the time they had great rejoicings to adore and welcome it

STARS  They also worship the stars, most especially the morning star which they called “Tala”

THEIR OTHER IDOLS: ■ Lic-ha- were images with differrent shapes ■ Little Trifles- they adored these like the Romans ■ Dian Masalanta- the patron of lovers and of generation ■ Lacapati and Indianale- were patrons of cultivated lands and of husbandry ■ Buaya- they paid reverence to these creatures for fear of getting harmed

Tagalog Omens ■ They believed that rats, snakes, the bird( tigmamanugin) or if they pass by someone who sneezed they think of this as a bad omen and that they should go back home for evil will befall them if they continue their journey. ■ Divination- to see whether weapons, such as dagger or knife, were useful and lucky for the possesor

Time ■ The natives had no established division of years or months, instead they base time or season on their cultivation of soil, counting the moons, or the different produce of trees and flowers. These help them make up a year

Manner of Offering ■ Their sacrifice was to proclaim a feast and offer to the devil what they had to eat. This is done in front of a an idol with fragrant perfumes. ■ Often they sacrifice goats, fowls, and swine which were decapitated and laid bare before the idol ■ They worship these idols sometimes by putting wrappings of cloths in the heads of these idols, thus it’s like worshipping the devil without seeing him

Purpose of These Offerings ■ Healing of the sick ■ Prosperous voyage of those embarking on the sea

■ A good harvest ■ Successful child birth

■ Happy outcome of married life

Distinction of Priest and the Devil CATALONAN ■ The first distinction ■ Was a man or woman, that officiates the feast. ■ The devil was sometimes capable of entering the body of the catalonan, said to take it’s shape and appearance with great arrogance and would sometimes shoot flame from his/her eyes ■ In some districts if the possession was severe they tie the person on a tree to prevent the devil in destroying the minister

MANGAGAUAY  The second distinction  Witches who deceived people by pretending to heal the sick  They can instantly kill a person or prolong life, believed to be the works of a devil  Found throughout the land

MANYISALAT ■The third distinction, the same as the mangagaguay ■Had a power of applying remedies for lovers to make them despise their own wives ■When the ritual was successful the abandoned wives’ health would deteriorate and would discharge blood and matter ■Office is general throughout the land

MANCOCOLAM ■ This is the fourth distinction ■ Duty was to emit fire from himself at night, once or often each month ■ Fire could not be extinguished and people who wallowed with this priest would fell ill and die ■ Found throughout the land

HOCLOBAN

■ The fifth distinction ■ More powerful than the mangagauay ■ Without use of medicines but just by saluting or raising his hand they can kill whom they chose or heal those who became ill by their charms. ■ They are found in Catanduanes

SILAGAN

■ The sixth distinction ■ If they saw anyone clothed in white, they would tear out his liver and eat it, causing death to the victim ■ Don’t let anyone believe this as a fable, for a Spanish notary was killed in Calauan, his intestines pulled out from his anus, was later buried in Calilaya by father Fray Juan de Merida ■ Found in the island of Catanduanes

MAGTATANGAL ■ The seventh distinction ■ His purpose is to show himself at night with no head or entrails, pretends to carry his head in different places and returns to his body in the morning ■ Still occurred in Catanduanes

OSUANG

■ The eight distinction ■ Equivalent to a sorcerer, they say he has the ability to fly and murders men and eats their flesh ■ Exists in the Visayas and not among the tagalogs

MANGAGAYOMA

■ The ninth, and is another class of witches ■ They made charms for lovers out of herbs, stones, and wood which would infuse their hearts with love ■ Deceives people and sometimes through the devil’s intervention they gained their ends

SONAT ■The tenth, equivalent to a preacher ■It was his job to help one die, at which time he predicted the salvation or condemnation of the soul ■He can be found throughout the land

PANGATAHOJAN ■ The eleventh, was a soothsayer ■ Predicted the future ■ Office generally found in the land

BAYOGUIN  The twelfth, signified a “cotquean”  A man whose nature is inclined toward that of a woman (homosexual)

Their manner of burying the dead was as follows: The deceased was buried beside his house If he were a chief, he was placed beneath a little house or porch which they constructed for this purpose. Before interring him, they mourned him for four days. And afterward laid him on boat which served as a coffin or bier, placing him beneath the porch, where guard kept over him by a slave. In place of rowers, various animals were placed within the boat, each one being assigned a place at the oar by twos---male female of each species being together. Examples: Two goats Two deer, or two fowls

■ It was the slave’s care to see that they were fed. If the deceased had been a warrior, a living slave was tied beneath his body until in this way he died. In course of time, all suffer decay, and for many days the relatives of the dead man bewailed him, singing dirges, and praises of his good qualities, until they wearied of it. This grief was accompanied by eating and drinking. This was a customs of tagalongs.

■ There infidels said that they knew that there was another life of rest which they called maca, just as if we should say “paradise,” or in other words, “village of rest”. They say that those who go to this place are the just, and the valiant, and those who lived without doing harm, or who possessed moral virtues. They said also, that in the other life and mortality, there was a place of punishment, grief, and affliction called casanaan, which was a “place of anguish”, they also maintained that no one would go to heaven, where there only dwelt bathala, “the maker of all things,” who governed from above. There were also another pagans who confessed more clearly to hell, which they called as I have said, casanaan; they said that all the wicked went to that place, and there dwelt the demons, whom they called sitan.

■ There were also ghosts, which they called vibit, and phantoms, which they called tigbalaang. They had another deception namely, if any woman died in childbirth, she and the child suffered punishment, and that, at night, she could be heard lamenting. ■ This called patianac. May honor and glory be to God our Lord, that among the tagalongs not a trace of this is left, and that those who are now marrying do not even know what it is, thanks to the preaching of the holy gospel, which has banished it.

RELEVANCE

Plasencia’s Customs of the Tagalog is a very popular primary source as it vividly describes the way o life of the Filipinos before Spanish and Christian influences. It also covers numerous topics that are relevant in many disciplines. Political scientists, for instance, find it useful because it contains information about the social classes, political stratifications and legal system of the Tagalog region.

Moreover, it tackles property rights,marriage rituals, burial practices and the manner in which justice is dispensed. Plasencia’s account also preserves and popularizes the unwritten customs,traditions and religious and superstitious beliefs of us Filipinos. Plasencia’s work also tackles our historical knowledge about manananaggal,aswang,hukluban and gayuma.

Priests and missionaries also read Plasencia’s Customs of the Tagalogs and Doctrina Christiana because they contain insights that can help and inspire them to become evangelizers. The realization that one needs to master local language and study of the culture of the people to be a successful insight from Plasencia. They also learned from Plasencia that preaching should be accompanied with reading materials that contain the basic elements of faith.

Plasencia’s historical writings also disprove the claim of some Spaniards that when they arrived in the Philippines, Filipinos were still uncivilized and lacking in culture. It is clear in the excerpts quoted that at time Plasencia was assigned in the Tagalog region, Filipinos were already politically and economically organized, They had functioning government tax system, set of laws,criminal justice system,indigenous calendar and long standing customs and traditions.Moreover they had a concept of a supreme being(Bathala),practiced burial customs and believed in life after death.

All of these lead to the conclusion that prior to the coming of the Spaniards, Filipinos were already civilized and maintained a lifestyle that was on a part with or even better than that of the people from other countries in SouthEast Asia.