Customs of
Tagalogs
By Juan de Plasencia
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
• Define and explain the social structure of pre-colonial Tagalog society,
including the roles and responsibilities of datus, the barangay system,
and the concept of social stratification.
• Analyze the legal system of pre-colonial Tagalog society, identifying
key laws and customs related to property, inheritance, and crime; and
• Develop an appreciation for the complexity and diversity of pre-
colonial Tagalog culture and its historical significance.
What is
Customs?
CUSTOMS
It is traditional and widely accepted
way of behaving or doing something
that is specific to a particular society,
place, or time.
Example:
0
0 Holiday
Religion
10
tradition
3
Wedding
celebfration 0 Holidays
2 4
This section shows the different
practices and customs, noted down
by Fray Juan de Plasencia in his
account, Customs of the Tagalogs.
The Tagalogs had long been
practicing these even prior to the
arrival of the Spaniards. Such
practices only prove that Filipinos
already lived with political, economic,
and cultural systems prior to the
Spanish colonization of the
Philippines.
Juan de Plasencia
• Born in the 16th century to the
illustrious family of the Portocarreros
in Plasencia, in the Region of
Extremadura, Spain.
• His real name is Joan de Puerto
Carrero, del convento de Villanueva de
la Serena.
• He was one of the seven children of
Pedro Portocarrero, a captain of a
Spanish schooner.
• He was a Spanish Friar of the
Franciscan order.
Juan de Plasencia
• He spent most of his missionary
life in the Philippines, where he
founded numerous towns in
Luzon and authored several
religious and linguistic books,
most notably, the Catecismo de la
Doctrina Cristiana, 1581 –
translated the Christian Doctrines
in Tagalog, the first book ever
printed in the Philippines.
Arrival in the
Philippines
Came with the first
batch of Franciscan
missionaries in the
Philippines in 1577.
Life in the
• He is believed to have arrived to the
PhilippinesPhilippines
in 1578. As soon as he
arrived, he joined forces with another
missionary, Fray Diego de Oropesa, and they
both started preaching around Laguna de
Bay and Tayabas, Quezon, in Quezon
Province, where he founded several towns
as early as two months upon arrival in
Manila.
• During the following years they are also
credited with the foundation of a large
number of towns in the provinces of
Bulacan, Laguna and Rizal, such as
Tayabas, Caliraya, Lucban, Mahjayjay,
Nagcarlan, Lilio(Liliw), Pila, Santa Cruz,
Lumban, Pangil, Siniloan, Morong, Antipolo,
Life in the
Philippines
• Elected as the custos of
the friars in May 23,
1584 and held it until
1588.
• Passed away in Liliw,
Laguna in the year
1590.
Literary Works
Catecismo de
Arte de la Vocabular Coleccion
la Doctrina
Lengua io de Frases Cristiana,
(Art of Tagala 1581 –
Language) (Collection translated the
of Tagalog Christian
Phrases) Doctrines in
Tagalog
Literary Works
La
Relacion de
Customs
Santina, of the
Diccionari las
1585 –
o Tagalog, Costumbres Tagalogs
opus on de Los
1580 Prayer Tagalos, 1589
by Juan
and – First Civil de
Meditatio Code of the Plasencia
n Philippines
Historical Background
of the document
Datos
(Datu)
who governed them and were
captains in their wars, and
whom they obeyed and
reverenced. The subject who
committed any offense against
them, or spoke but a word to
their wives and children, was
severely punished. These
chiefs ruled over but few
people; sometimes as many as
a hundred houses, sometimes
even less than thirty.
Barangay
Was a family of parents
and children,
relations and slaves
which is also A term
of used up to now. It
was also Called the
tribal gathering.
In addition to the chiefs, who
corresponded to our knights, there
were three castes.
In addition to the chiefs, who
corresponded to our knights, there
were three castes.
Nobles,
In addition to the chiefs, who
corresponded to our knights, there
were three castes.
Nobles, Commoners,
In addition to the chiefs, who
corresponded to our knights, there
were three castes.
Nobles, Commoners,
and Slaves
Nobles
The nobles were the
free-born whom they
call maharlica. They did
not pay tax or tribute to
the dato, but must
accompany him in war,
at their own expense.
Commoners
The commoners are called
aliping namamahay. They
are married, and serve their
master, whether he be a
dato or not, with half of their
cultivated lands, as was
agreed upon in the
beginning.
Slaves
The slaves are called aliping
saguiguilir. They serve their
master in his house and on his
cultivated lands, and may be
sold. The master grants them,
should he see fit, and providing
that he has profited through
their industry, a portion of their
harvests, so that they may
work faithfully.
THERE ARE SOME CASES OR
SITUATIONS
1. Those WHEREIN:
who are maharlicas on both the parents' side
continue to be so forever, and if it happens that they
should become slaves, it is through marriage.
2. If maharlicas had children among their slaves, the
children and the mother become free.
3. If maharlicas had children by the slave-woman of
another, the slave-woman was compelled when pregnant
to give her master half of a gold tael. In this case, half of
the child was free if the father (maharlica) recognized
him. If not, the child will become a whole slave.
THERE ARE SOME CASES OR
SITUATIONS WHEREIN:
4. If a free woman had children by a slave, they are all
free, provided he was not her husband.
5. If two persons are married, of whom was a maharlica
and the other a slave (namamahay or sa guiguilir), the
children were divided.
Father takes the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, so on... Mother takes
the 2nd, 4th, 6th, so on...
If it's an only child, they become half free and half slave.
THERE ARE SOME CASES OR
SITUATIONS WHEREIN:
Maharlicas could not after marriage move from one village
to another, they must fist pay a certain fine in gold.
And when one married a woman from another village,
their children are divided between the two barangays.
SOME OF THEIR LAWS
INCLUDE:
Giving a dowry to any son, in order to
marry the chief's daughter, it must be
greater than the sum given to the other
sons.
SOME OF THEIR LAWS
INCLUDE:
The adopted children inherit the double
of what was paid for their adoption.
In the case of a divorce before the birth of children, if
the wife left the husband for the purpose of marrying
another, allSOME OF
her dowry andTHEIR LAWS
an equal additional amount
fell to the husband; but if she left him, and did not
INCLUDE:
marry another, the dowry was returned. When the
husband left his wife, he lost the half of the dowry, and
the other half was returned to him. If he possessed
children at the time of his divorce, the whole dowry
and the fine went to the children, and was held for
them by their grandparents or other responsible
relatives.
SOME OF THEIR LAWS
INCLUDE:
The dowries are given by men to the
women's parents. If the latter are living,
they enjoy the use of it and at their
death, provided the dowry has not been
counted, it is divided equally among
their children.
The
In all the Worship
villages, or in otherof the
parts of the Filipinas
Tagalog
Islands, there are no temples consecrated to the
performing of sacrifices, the adoration of their idols,
or the general practice of idolatry. It is true that
they have the name simbahan, which means a
temple or place of adoration; but this is because,
formerly, when they wished to celebrate a festival,
which they called pandot, or "worship," they
celebrated it in the large house of a chief. There
they constructed, for the purpose of sheltering the
assembled people, a temporary shed on each side
of the house, with a roof, called sibi, to protect the
people from the wet when it rained.
The Worship of the
On the posts ofTagalog
the house they set small lamps,
called sorihile; in the center of the house they
placed one large lamp, adorned with leaves of the
white palm, wrought into many designs. They also
brought together many drums, large and small,
which they beat successively while the feast lasted,
which was usually four days. During this time the
whole barangay, or family, united and joined in the
worship which they call nagaanitos. The house, for
the above-mentioned period of time, was called a
temple.
The Worship of the
Among their many idols there was one called
Tagalog
Bathala, whom they especially
worshipped. The title seems to signify “all powerful.”
Or maker of all things.” They also worshipped the sun,
which, on account of its beauty, is almost universally
respected and honored by heathens. They
worshipped, too, the moon, especially when it was
new at which time they had great rejoicings, adoring
it and bidding it welcome. Some of them also adored
stars, although they did not know them by their
names, as the Spaniards and other nations know the
planets-with the exception of the morning star they
called Tala. They knew, too, the “seven little goats”
(The Pleiades) – as we call the and
consequently, the change of seasons, which they call
Mapolon; and Balatic , which is our Greater Bear.
Bathala Tala
“seven little goats” (The Pleiades) Mapolon
Balatic
They possessed many idols called lic-ha, which were images
with different shapes; They had another idol called Dian
Masalanta, who was the patron of loversand generation. The
idol called Lacapati and Idianale were patrons of the
cultivated lands and of husbandry, they paid reverence to
water –lizards called by them buaya or crocodiles, for fear of
being harmed by them. They were even in the bait of
offerings these animals a portion of what they carried in
their boats, by throwing it into the water. Or placing it up on
the bank. These natives had no established division of
years, months, and days; these are determined by the
cultivation of the soil, counted by moons, and the different
effect produced upon the trees when yielding flowers, fruits
and leaves: all this helps them in making up the year.
The priests of
the devil
Catolonan
Their manner of offering
sacrifice was to proclaim a
feast, and offer to the devil
what they had to eat. This
was done in front of the idol.
Which they anoint with
fragrant perfumes, such as
musk and civet, or gum of the
storax-tree and other
odoriferious woods, and
praise it in poeticsongs sung
by the officiating priest, male
or female.
Mangagauay
Mangagauay, or witches, who
deceived by pretending to heal
the sick. These priests even
induced maladies by their
charms, which in proportion to
the strength and efficacy of the
witchcraft, are capable of
causing death. In this way, if
they wished to kill at once they
did so; or they could prolong life
for a year by binding to the
waist a live serpent, which was
believed to be the devil, or at
least his substance.
Manyisalat
Manyisalat, which is the same as
magagauay. These priests had
the power of applying such
remedies to lovers that they
would abandon and despise
their own wives, and in fact
could prevent them from having
intercourse with the latter. If the
woman, constrained by these
means, were abandoned, it
would bring sickness upon her;
and on account of the desertion
she would discharge blood and
matter.
Mancocolam
Whose duty it was to emit fire
from himself at night, once or
oftener each month. This fire
could not be extinguished, nor
could it be thus emitted except
as the priest wallowed in the
ordure and filth which falls from
the houses, and he who lived in
the house where the priest was
wallowing in order to emit this
fire from himself, fell ill and died.
Hocloban
Which is another kind of witch, of
greater efficacy than the
mangagauay. Without the use of
medicine, and by simply saluting
or raising the hand, they killed
whom they chose. But if they
desired to heal those whom they
had made ill by their charms, they
did so by using other charms.
Moreover, if they wished to
destroy the house of some Indian
hostile to them, they were able to
do so without instruments. This
was in Catanduanes, an island off
the upper part of Luzon.
Silagan
if they saw anyone clothed in
white, to tear out his liver and
eat it, thus causing his death.
This, like the preceding, was in
the island of Catanduanes.
Magtatangal
His purpose was to show himself
at night to many persons,
without his head or entrails. In
such wise the devil walked
about and carried, or pretended
to carry, his head to different
places; and, in the morning,
returned it to his body-
remaining, as before, alive.
Osuang
Which is equivalent to
"sorcerer;" they say that they
have seen him fly, and that he
murdered men and ate their
flesh. This was among the
Visayas Islands; among the
Tagalos these did not exist.
Mangagayoma
They made charms for lovers
out of herbs, stones, and wood,
which would infuse the heart
with love. Thus did they deceive
the people, although sometimes,
through the intervention of the
devil, they gained their ends.
Sonata
Which is equivalent to
"preacher." It was his office to
help one to die, at which time he
predicted the salvation or
condemnation of the soul. It was
not lawful for the functions of
this office to be fulfilled by
others than people of high
standing, on account of the
esteem in which it was held.
Pangatahojan
Was a soothsayer, and
predicted the future. This
office was general in all the
islands.
Bayoguin
Signified a "cotquean," a man
whose nature inclined toward
that of a woman. Their manner
of burying the dead was as
follows: The deceased was
buried beside his house; and, 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 a boat
which served as a coffin or bier,
placing him beneath the porch,
where guard was kept over him
This was a custom of the Tagalos. The Aetas, or Negrillos
[Negritos] inhabitants of this island, had also a form of burial,
but different. They dug a deep, perpendicular hole, and
placed the deceased within it, leaving him upright with head
or crown unburied, on top of which they put half a cocoa-nut
which was to serve him as a shield. Then they went in
pursuit of some Indian, whom they killed in retribution for the
Negrillo who had died. To this end they conspired together,
hanging a certain token on their necks until some one of
them procured the death of the innocent one. These 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 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 dwelt only Bathala,
"the maker of all things," who governed from above. There
were also other pagans who confessed more clearly to a 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, that if any woman died
in childbirth, she and the child suffered punishment; and
that, at night, she could be heard lamenting. This was called
patianac.
May the honor and glory be God our Lord's, that among all
the Tagalos 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."
THANK YOU!
