Our Malayan Heritage discusses the cultural practices of early Filipinos before the arrival of Spanish colonizers. It covers many aspects of their way of life including food, dress, housing, government, arts, sciences, and more. Early Filipinos had developed their own distinct culture that was influenced by their Malay ancestors, which they brought with them when they settled in the islands. They established independent barangay systems of governance and had diverse customs around areas like marriage, death, and oral traditions.
2. Ages before the coming of the Spaniards to
the Orient, Our Malay ancestors had brought to
our shores their ancestral culture including food
and drinks, mode of dressing, housing, society,
government and laws, writing, language,
literature, music (songs, dances, and musical
instruments), economy, religion, arts and
sciences, superstitious beliefs, and customs
and traditions.
4. • Staple food of the early Filipinos was rice aside from rice, their
food consisted of carabao meat, pork, chickens, sea turtles,
fish, bananas and other fruits and vegetables.
• They cooked their food in earthen pots or in bamboo tubes.
• They ate with their fingers, using banana plants as plates and
coconut shells as drinking cups.
• They made fire to cook their food by rubbing two pieces of dry
wood which when heated, produced a tiny flame.
• They stored their drinking water in big earthen jars or in huge
clean bamboo tubes.
• TUBA - popular wine which was made from coconut.
• BASI -an Ilocano wine made from sugarcane;
• PANGASI -Bisayan wine made from fermented rice;
• LAMBANOG -Tagalog wine taken from the coconut palm;
• TAPUY -an Igorot wine distilled from rice.
7. MEN
-KANGAN - a collarless, short-sleeve jacket
- it is reached slightly below the waist
- dyed (tining) either in blue or black,
and red for the Chief.
-BAHAG - a strip cloth wrapped around the waist
and in between legs.
-PUTONG- a piece of cloth wound around the
head.
-They had jewels, (gold necklaces, gold armlets
called kalombigas and the anklets
filled with agates, carnelians and other colored
glass).
8.
9. WOMEN
• -BARO - wide-sleeved jacket
• -PATADYONG - a skirt and made by a piece
of cotton cloth which they
wrapped about their waists
and let fall to their feet.
• -Jewels consisted of gold necklaces, gold
bracelets, large gold earrings, and gold rings.
-Men and Women went barefoot and inserted
gold between their teeth as an ornament.
12. • Early Filipinos tattooed their bodies with
various designs representing animals,
birds, flowers and geometric figures.
Tattoos served 2 purposes:
1. to enhance their bodily beauty and
2. to show their war record.
• The more men a warrior had killed in a
battle, the more tattooed he was.
• Women have less tattooed than men. The
children were not tattooed at all.
15. • Houses were made of wood, bamboo, and palm leaves.
• Each house had a bamboo ladder that could be drawn up at
night or when the family was out.
• They were built near each other in the Barangay.
• BATALAN- this is where jars of water were kept for
household purposes.
• The rice, firewood, and chickens were kept under the house.
• Some of them lived in tree-houses for better protection from
enemies.
• Badjaos - (sea-gypsies) of the Sulu Sea still live in boat-
houses, as their forefathers did.
18. -Early Filipinos were courteous and polite.
-When two persons of equal rank met on the road, they
removed their putong (turban) as a sign of courtesy.
-When a person addressed his Superior, he took off
his putong, put it over his left shoulder like a towel,
and bowed low. He addressed his superior with the
word 'po'. He spoke in polite language.
-When walking, women walks ahead, and the men
followed behind.
-Whenever the entire family went out, the mother and
daughters walked ahead, while the father and sons
followed behind.
20. -Filipinos were clean and neat in their personal habits.
-They bathed daily. Their favorite hour for bathing in the river
was at sunset when they had finished their daily toil.
-They washed their hair regularly with gugo and water. They
anointed coconut oil and other lotions.
-They washed their mouth and clean their teeth upon walking
up in the morning.
-They chewed buyo which made their teeth colored but strong.
-They kept their homes clean. Father Francisco Collin said
"they keep a vessel full of water at the door of every home,
and every person, whether belonging to the house or not,
upon entering, takes water from the vessel and washes his
feet, especially during the rainy season."
22. -The early Filipinos were not always fighting or
working.
-They held banquets to celebrate a good
harvest, a wedding, a religious sacrifice, and a
victory in a war.
-These banquets were celebrated with much
eating, drinking, singing, and dancing.
-Other forms of amusements are: games as
carabao races, wrestling, fencing, boat races,
and stone-throwing contests.
23. 8. MUSIC
- Early Filipinos were music lovers. They had
various musical instruments and numerous
dances and songs for different occasions.
26. Folk Dances
Kumintang - tagalog love dance,
Mahinhin - tagalog courtship dance,
Dandansoy - bisayan tuba dance,
Paujalay - moro wedding dance,
Tadok - tinggian love dance
27. Songs
-Tagumpay - tagalog song of victory
-Dallu - Negrito religious song
-Ayog-ku - igorot serenade song
-Bactal - tagbanua death song
-Dallot - ilocano ballad song
-Kuilay-Kuilay - tingian wine song
-Tudob - agusan harvest song
29. -Before marriage, the groom gave a dowry
(bigaykaya) to the family/ It consisted of gold, land,
slaves, or anything else of value.
-It was customary for them to marry within their
rank. However, there was no strict prohibition
against intermarriages.
-Aside from this dowry, the groom had to work in the
house of the girl for a certain period of time. He
carried water and firewood to the house. He assisted
the girl’s father in plowing the field. And he helped in
the planting and harvesting of rice.
30. -The early Filipinos practiced divorce. The
grounds of divorce were:
(1) adultery on the part of the wife;
(2) desertion on the part of the husband;
(3) loss of affection;
(4) cruelty;
(5) insanity, and
(6) childlessness.
32. -On the day of the wedding. The friends of the groom went to the
bride’s house to bring her to the home of the groom.
-The leader of the groom’s friends carried the spear of the
groom.
-Upon arrival at the house, the bride pretended to be shy and
would refuse to ascend the stairs. The groom’s father would give
her a gift to make her go up.
-Once inside the house, she would refuse to sit down, to smile
and to drink- unless more gifts were given to her.
-When the groom and the bride were drinking together, an old
man announced to the guests that the two were to be united in
marriage.
-Following this announcement, a priestess came forward. She
joined the hands of the couple over the bowl of uncooked rice
and pronounced them man and wife. And with a loud shout, She
threw the rice to all the guests whom answered with a similar
shout and the ceremony was over.
34. -The early Filipinos had their own form of government.-The early Filipinos had their own form of government.
-Each settlement was an independent kingdom called-Each settlement was an independent kingdom called
BARANGAY.BARANGAY.
-The early Filipinos applied the name Barangay to their-The early Filipinos applied the name Barangay to their
settlement in honor of the sailboat that brought them tosettlement in honor of the sailboat that brought them to
Philippine shore.Philippine shore.
-Each Barangay consisted of 100 families.-Each Barangay consisted of 100 families.
-Some barangays were big, such as Sugbu, Maktan,-Some barangays were big, such as Sugbu, Maktan,
Bigan, Maynila. Each of these big barangays had aBigan, Maynila. Each of these big barangays had a
population of more than 2,000population of more than 2,000
35. -The ruler of the barangay was called DATU, HARI, RAJA.
-In time of peace, he was the chief executive, legislator, and
judge. And in time of war, he was the commander of the
barangay warriors.
-The Datu usually obtained his position by inheritance. When the
Datu died, his son inherited the datuship.
- If a datu died childless, the barangay chose a man to be the
datu on the basis of his wisdom, physical strength, or wealth.
-There was no national government in ancient Philippines. There
were many independent barangays and many datus. But there
was no datu strong enough to unite the archipelago into one
nation.
37. -The early Filipinos had both Oral and Written laws.
-The Oral Laws were the customs (ugali) of the race which
were handed down orally from generation to generation. The
legendary law-giver was a woman named Lubluban, the great
granddaughter of the first man and the first woman in the
world.
-The written laws were promulgated by the datus with the help
of the elders and were put into writing. These written laws
were announced to the people by a barangay crier known as
Umalahokan. These written laws were put on the barks of
trees, wood, leaves or cloth/ Thus, they did not last.
-The code of kalantiaw is a clever hoax. The hoax was done
by Jose E. Marco, an antique collector from Negros Occidental
who gave the document to James E. Robertson of the National
Library in 1914. It could not be authentic because of its
suspicious origin, the strange writing and modern words in the
text, and the in-Filipino harshness of its laws.
40. -With the exception of the Muslims in Mindanao and Sulu, the
ancient Filipinos were pagans.
-Their supreme God was Bathala, creator of heaven, earth and
men. Below him were other Gods and Goddesses.
-The early Filipinos worshipped ancestral spirits called Anitos or
Diwatas. To these anitos, sacrifices called maganito were
offered. The sacrifice was performed by a priest or priestess
called katalona or baylana.
-They worshipped nature - rivers, mountains, old tress,
crocodiles, and fields - in the beliefs that such natural objects
were the habitats of spirits.
-They also believed in Life after Death. After death souls travels
to the next world to receive its due reward or punishment. The
good soul goes to heaven called “kalualhatian” or “ologa”,
while the bad soul goes to hell called “kasamaan” or “solad”.
42. -Filipinos took care in burying their dead as they believed in
the next world.
-The corpse was embalmed, as in ancient Egypt, and was
buried amidst deep sorrow near his home, in a cave, or on
a headland overlooking the sea.
-Clothes, food, weapons, and sometimes slaves were
buried with the dead.
-During the period of mourning, the relatives of the dead
wore rattan bands around their necks, arms, and legs. They
also abstained from eating meat and drinking wine.
43. -The mourning custom for a deceased datu was
called larao. When a datu died, a herald announced
the event and the larao was then observed.
-No colored clothes were worn by the grieving
people.
-All wars and quarrels were suspended, and singing
in boats returning from the sea was prohibited.
-All warriors carried their spears with their tips
pointed downward and their daggers with hilts
reversed.
45. -asuang who assumed the
form of a dog, a bird, or any
other animal, and devoured
human flesh;
-The early Filipinos believed in witches,
such as the:
-mangkukulam, who caused
people to die or to be sick by
pricking a toy with his magic
pin;
46. -tianak who sucked the
baby’s entrails by
means of his elongated
proboscis;
-tigbalang who appeared
in the form of a dog, a
horse, or an old man to
deceive his victims.
47. - The early Filipinos believed in the magical
power of amulets or charms.
-anting-anting, which was believed to make its
possessor invulnerable to iron weapons;
-gayuma, a love potion which can arouse an
adamant woman’s affection;
-odom, a Bicol magic herb which makes its
possessor invisible to the human eye;
-uiga, a Bisayan charm which enables any man
to cross a river without getting wet.
49. -The early Filipinos had different language and
dialects,
- but all of them originated from a common
linguistic source - the Malayo-Polynesian
language, the mother tongue of the Pacific
races.
-Thus wrote Father Pedro Chirino in 1604:
“There is no single or general language of the
Filipinos extending throughout the islands, but
all of them, though there are many different
tongues, are so much alike that they may be
51. -The early Filipinos used a sharp pointed iron
instrument called sipol (pen).
-They wrote on banana leaves, tree-barks, and
bamboo tubes.
-The direction of their writing was from left to right.
-The ancient alphabet consisted of three vowels
(serving as five) and 14 consonants
53. ORAL LITERATURE
1. Myths and legends which recounted of the world and
the origin of man, woman, and other creatures
2. Songs and poems which chanted the deeds of their
gods and heroes
3. fables, proverbs (sawikain) and riddles (bugtong).
- Darangan of the Maranaws and the Ilim and the Hud-
hud of the Ifugaos are examples of the existing
specimens of ancient oral poetry
WRITTEN LITERATURE
- tarsilas - surviving pre-spanish specimen. It is a
Muslim genealogies of Mindanao and Sulu.
55. - They had INFORMAL SYSTEM OF EDUCATION
- The children studied in their own homes with their
parents or with some old men in the barangays as
tutors.
-They were taught how to read,write, perform simple
arithmetic operation, the use of
weapons, lubus (art of acquiring amulets and
talismans) and tribal customs
-Boys - were trained to be warriors, hunters,
fisherman, farmers, mariners and craftsmen.
-Girls - were taught household chores
57. - Arts were part of their cultural heritage.
-Architecture - bahay kubo- style of home
-Their houses of bamboo, wood , nipa, and palm-leaves which
were cool, cozy, and suitable shelter.
-Painting - was shown in their ancient tattoo art. The Tattoo
artists used the dagger or knife as brush, black soot and jungle
spas as colors, and human body as canvas. They painted
gorgeous designs representing the sun, stars, flowers,
crocodile, etc.
-Sculptors carved statues in wood, clay, gold, and ivory.
-Statues were called likha (in Tagalog) or landang (Bicol), were
made in memory of their anitos or ancestors.
-They also made fine carvings on the handles of daggers,
krises,
bolos, and knives; on the outer surface of shields; and on the
59. -They knew curative value of medicinal plants and herbs
-Medical men - had herbs as antidotes for all kinds of
poison
-Medical lore - was associated with religion and magic
-They knew astronomy Also engineering - construct
forts(kuta)
-Irrigation ditches and rice terraces
-They could perform arithmetic operation
Native name for numerals:
isa (one)
puo (ten)
daan (hundred)
libo (thousand)
angao (one million)
kati (ten million)
gahala (one hundred million)
61. Early Filipinos had their own weights and measures.
weighting things:
Talaro - a kind of balance scale.
• measures of capacity:
kaban - (25 gantas) salop - (one ganta)
kaguitna - (one-half ganta) gatang - (one chupa)
•measures of length:
• Dipa - the length between the tip of the thumb and that of
the middle finger when extended.
• Tumuro - the length between the tip of the thumb and that
of forefinger when extended
• Sandamak - the width of the hand with the five fingers
pressed together
• Sandali - the width of one finger
63. -Early calendars of the Bisayans contained
seven days in a week ,and twelve months a
year.
-Each of the 12 months contained 30 days,
except the last month which had 26 days or total
of 365 days a year.
-Ifugao Calendar contains 13 months a year,
each having 28 days
-The Ifugao have a tribal keeper
called tumunoh, 13 strings representing the 13
months of the year.
65. -Early Filipinos knew the art of coinage.
-Several specimens of their ancient coins were
found in jars (GUI's) which had been excavated
in Bataan and Manila.
-Coins were cone-shaped gold pieces, usually
bearing the imprint of the Malayan letter M on
their flat bases. They are called piloncitos by
local numismatist, or collectors of coins.
68. -Domestic trade was carried on by means
of BARTER.
-Captain Miguel de Loarca said: "Filipinos of the
inland region exchanged their rice and cotton
for fish, salt, and other products raised by the
dwellers of coastal district"
-The usual method of trading with foreign
merchants was by barter in which they offered their
own products exchange for the products of other
countries.
-Chao Ju-kua (1225) and Wng Tayuan (1349),
Chinese writers observed that they were honest in
70. - Farming was the main industry of ancient Filipinos.
-two methods of cultivation were used:
1. Kaingin method - in which the land was cleared
by setting fire to the shrubs and bushes, after
which holes were bored in the ground with
pointed sticks and seeds were then planted there.
2. Regular means of tillage using wooden plows
and harrows drawn by carabaos.
- Other industries of early Filipinos were fishing,
mining,
lumbering, weaving, meat work, making tools and
weapons, manufacturing of wines, rising of poultry
and stock, tanning and shipbuilding.
