pre colonial life and culture in the philippines

PRE - COLONIAL LIFEandCULTURE

“The Filipinos possessed an elaborate civilization in the past. This achievement didn’t become part

of the Filipino consciousness, even today, because of the advent of colonization during

which a systematic distortion of our perceptiveabout ourselves was carried out.”

- The Vision of Our Future Must Be Rooted On Our Image of the PastBy: Prof. Landa F. Jocano

CRITERIA FOR CLASSIFYING SOCIETIES

INTO CLASSIFIED OR NON-CLASSIFIED:

• Effective Technology• BIG POPULATION CENTERS• POSSESSION OF PREDICTIVE SCIENCES• HIGHLY DEVELOPED ART• EXISTENCE OF FOREIGN TRADE

CRITERIA FOR CLASSIFYING SOCIETIES

INTO CLASSIFIED OR NON-CLASSIFIED:

• RELIGION• PUBLIC MONUMENTS• SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT• LAWS• WARFARE• PRESENCE OF WRITING

HOUSES

BAHAY KUBO(NIPA

HUT)

HOUSES

HOUSES

of

GOLD ACCESSORIES

BARO / CAMISA

SAYA / PATADYONG

GOLD ACCESSORIES

PUTONG

KANGGAN

BAHAG

SOCIAL CLASSES

• The chiefs, their families and relatives

• Carried the title Gat or Lakan

• Free-born persons or freed slaves

• Also known as ALIPIN

• Aliping namamahay• Aliping sagigilid

in

The

and

• Composed of 30 – 100 families

• Derived from the Malay word “balangay” meaning boat

• Ruled by a chieftain called Datu, Hari or Raja (in Muslim communities)

• Barangays concluded a treaty of friendship and alliance through this ritual

• One of the earliest examples of the written laws

• Trial by ordeal

• Trial by combat

Early Filipinos worshipped a Supreme Being they called Bathalang Maykapal.

Minor deities they worshipped:• Idianale – god of agriculture• Sidapa – god of death• Agni – god of fire• Mandarangan – god of war• Lalahon – goddess of harvest• Siginarugan – god of hell

The pre-Spanish Filipinos worshipped nature, the sun, the moon, the animals, the birds and even old trees.

They believed in ancestral spirits called anitos by the Tagalogs and diwatas by the Visayans.

The babaylan and katalona are priestesses who perform ritual offerings of sacrifice.

and

• Pre-Spanish Filipinos performed circumcision of their sons, a special rite done “for their health and cleanliness”

• Among the Visayans, it was puberty that men “skilfully made a hole in their virile member near its head, fastened it with a peg of the same material”.

• Young girls from the age of 6 and upward were “gradually opened” by certain men tasked to such function

• The Tagalogs had a different form of puberty rituals. Young girls who had their menstruations were blindfolded for four nights. Then a feast was given to friends and relatives. The Katalona bathe the young girl in the river and remove the blindfold.

• Filipinos also used potions for sexual malfunctioning.

and

and

• Mourning for a dead chieftain was called Laraw; for a dead man Maglahe; for a dead woman Morotal.

• Early Filipinos believed that the tattoo was a passport to the other world.

• Sudden death of a man killed by sword, lightning or crocodile were considered honourable and his soul went straight to Caluwalhatian by means of a rainbow.

EDUCATION

• Their alphabet, from Asokan (Indian) origin consisted of 17 letters with 3 vowels and 14 consonants.

• They used iron-pointed pens and wrote on tree boards, bamboo tubes and leaves of plants.

The eight major languages spoken by the ancient Filipinos were Tagalog,

Ilokano, Pangasinense, Kapampangan, Sugbuhanon, Hiligaynon, Samarnon and

Maguindanaw.

Malayo-Polynesian language isthe mother tongue of

Malay and Pacific races

MUSICDANCESand

• Kudyapi

• Tulogan

• Silbay

• Kutibeng

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

• Balitaw - Visayan folk song

• Dandansoy – Visayan tuba dance

• Kumintang – Tagalog love dance

• Mahinhin – Tagalog courtship dance

• Kinnotan

• Tadek – Tinggian love dance

MUSIC and DANCES

ECONOMY

ECONOMY• Agriculture was the main source of livelihood of the Filipinos.

• Two systems of land cultivation: Kaingin System (upland) Tillage System (lowland)

• Two systems of land holding: Private Public

ECONOMY• Other industries were mining, shipbuilding, fishing, lumbering,

weaving, poultry and livestock.

• Inter- baranganic trade and commerce was carried through the water system.

• Early Filipinos traded with countries like Japan, Thailand, India, Old Malaysia and Indonesia.

• The system of weights facilitated their commercial transactions.

SUBSISTENCE ECONOMY

Legaspi concludes that the natives were lazy and that they did not have the motivation to accumulate wealth. He did not understand that precisely, this was the nature or character of subsistence economy where everyone just worked for what he immediately needed and that was all. Besides, there was no parasitic class to exploit the labor of others for its benefit.

PRE - COLONIAL LIFEandCULTURE