3. Modern Filipino culture, including
language and cuisine, was heavily
influenced by the Malays, who also
introduced arts, literature, and a
system of government.
Did you know?
4. Philippines has also become
thoroughly Christianized and
boasts of being the only country in
Southeast Asia with a Christian
majority.
5. Pre-colonial Philippine cuisine is
composed of food practices of the
indigenous people of the Philippines.
Different groups within the islands had
access to different crops and
resources which resulted in differences
in the way cooking was practiced
6. Suyat is the modern collective name
of the indigenous scripts of various
ethno-linguistic groups in the
Philippines prior to Spanish
colonization in the 16th century up to
the independence era in the 21st
century.
8. The most intimate weapon wielded by
pre-colonial inhabitants of the
Philippines was the balarao a dagger
with a double-edged leaf-shaped
blade and a cross-shaped hilt which
at times was used as a protection
against wrist cuts.
9.
10. Indigenous textiles and
accessories are extremely varied in
the Philippines. The traditions
concerning textiles and accessories
have centuries of practices honed
by different ethnic societies.
11.
12. Philippines had a rich
tradition of pottery as verified
by the finds at Ayub Cave in
South Cotabato and other
parts of the islands
15. In the 13th century, traders and
missionaries have introduced the
religion of Islam in the Philippines.
Islamic art meshed with ethnic
culture and produced a Filipino
Muslim art that reflects the ethnic
background and Islamic identity of
the people.
16. Islamic art is characterized by
designs of flowers, plant forms and
geometric designs. It is used in
calligraphy, architecture painting,
clothing and other forms of fine art.
17.
18. One characteristic of Islamic art is
the absence of human form. This
tradition comes from the belief that
any figural representation should
not be used for the purpose of
worship.
19. This is evident in the
architectural design of
mosques in Mindanao where
calligraphy is used as the main
form of expression.
20.
21. Calligraphy can be said to have
developed in the Arabs civilization
(and those who use the Arabic
script), whose tradition centers on
the preservation of the divine
revelation through the Koran
22.
23.
24. The only reminders of Filipino
Muslim art inside mosques is the
traditional art form known as Okkir.
This is believed to be of Hindu and
Chinese influences. Okkir uses
geometric and floral artwork.
25.
26. One popular motif of this art
form is the use of an imagery
of a dragon or serpent.
27.
28.
29. Clothing reflects the stlye and colours
of their ethnic background. A design
related to Islam that is used in the
Philippines is the batik cloth design. This
kind of design traces its influence from
Indonesia. It contains abstract themes
with geometric and floral design.
30.
31. Filipino Muslims believe that
following dress requirements
shows their Muslim identity. But
they have now considered the
Middle East as reference for the
proper Muslim dress.
32. Traditional design is still present
in modern dresses however the
overall look now follows according to
how Muslims have dressed globally
which is loose and more open to
Western influences.
33.
34. Other figural representation in
Filipino Islamic art such as the
buraq, a winged horse with a head
of a woman. This imagery relates
Prophet Muhammad’s ascension to
heaven.
35.
36.
37.
38. There is also other famous
creature the sarimanok, a
symbol for bravery and nobility.
41. The Spanish friars introduced Western
painting in the Philippines to artisans
who learned to copy on two-dimensional
form from the religious icons that friars
brought from Spain. For the first
centuries of Spanish colonization,
painting was limited to religious icons.
42. Painters from the Visayas island
of Bohol were noted for their
skillful manipulation of the
technique. Their paintings of
saints and religious scenes show
figures in frontal and static
positions.
43. For the Boholano painters, the
more important persons
would be depicted bigger than
the rest of the figures.
44.
45. Portugese explorer Ferdinand
Magellan successfully led the
European expedition to Philippines in
the service of the King of Spain.
A short time later he met an untimely
death on the nearby island of Mactan.
46. After King Philip II (for whom the
islands are named) had dispatched
three further expeditions that ended in
disaster, he sent out Miguel López de
Legazpi, who established the first
permanent Spanish settlement, in
Cebu, in 1565
47. The natives took to sculpture instantly.
The carving of anito was transformed
into sculpture of the saints.
These santos were used primarily for
the church altars and retablos. It also
replaced the anitos in the altars of the
natives’ homes.
48.
49. Carvings for churches include altarpieces
called retablos the central point of any
Catholic church. The retablo houses the
tabernacle and the image of the town’s
patron saint. Usually referred to as a
“cabinet of saints”, one would see a
hierarchy of saints depending on their
importance to the townspeople.
50.
51. In 1593, the Dominicans published
the La Doctrina Christiana en la
Lengua Española y Tagala (The
Christian Doctrine in the Spanish and
Tagalog Language), first book printed
in the country.
52. Engraving was introduced in the
1590’s by the Spanish colonizers.
On it was a woodcut engraving of
St. Dominic by Juan de Veyra, a
Chinese convert.
53. Tagalog painters Jose Loden, Tomas
Nazario and Miguel de los Reyes, did
the first still life paintings in the
country. They were commissioned in
1786 by a Spanish botanist to paint
the flora and fauna found in the
country.
