LESSON 2 CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS is a narrative on the established culture of the . missionary in the Tagalog THE CUSTOMS of the Tagalogs ; Plasencia, Tagalogs in Luzon written by Juan de region since 1578 until 1590. This document was written as an which was to provide pieces of inform: justice, inheritances, slaves, dowries, worship, bur in the colony. In addition, the document is to recti way of life in the region. a Franciscan he request of the monarchy in Spain answer to t! a i t, administration of ation about the burials, a1 ify previous reports about the people's government nd superstition of the “Indians” Plasencia wrote: “This people always had chiefs, called by t were captains in their wars, and whom they ol who committed any offense against them, or spoke but a word to thei children, was severely punished.” hem datos, who governed them and eyed and reverenced. The subject ‘ir wives and ‘These chiefs ruled over but few people; sometimes as many as a hundred houses, sometimes even less than thirty. This tribal gathering is called in Tagalog a barangay. It was inferred that the reason for giving themselves this name arose from the fact (as they are classed, by their language, among the Malay nations) that when they came to this land, the head of the barangay, which is a boat, thus called—as is discussed at length in the first chapter of the first ten chapters—became a dato. And so, even at the present day, it is ascertained that this barangay in its origin was a family of parents and children, relations and slaves. There were many of these barangays in each town, or, at least, on ee ee ee another They were riot, however, subject fone weept in fiends lationship. The chiefs, in their various wars, elped one another with their respective barangays. In these three classes, those who are maharlicas on both the fathers and mothers side Continue tobe so forever; and fit happens that they should become slaves, itis through marriage ar tal oon expan If these maharlicas had children among their slaves, be eee ee free; fone of them had children by the slave-woman of another, she was coi ven treemant, to give her master half of a gold tael, because of her risk of death, ility to labor during the pregnaricy. In such a case half of the child wos free— ig the pared. the haf belonging to the father, who supplied the child with food Ifhe did not do this, As his child in which case the latter was wholly alae. he showed that he did not recognize him itter was wholly a slave. Ifa free woman had children by re all free, pri ere not her husband. il aslave, they were all free, provided he we not her hi jot her husband. 30 READINGS IN PHILiIPr ye HisToRYIf two persons married, of whom one was a maharlica and the other a slave, whether namamahay or sa guiguilir, the children were divided: the first, whether male or female, belonged to the father, as did the third and fifth; the second, the fourth, and the sixth fell to the mother, and so on. In this manner, if the father were free, all those who belonged to him were free; if he were a slave, all those who belonged to him were slaves; and the same applied to the mother. If there should not be more than one child he was half free and half slave. The only question here concerned the division, whether the child were male or female. ‘Those who became slaves fell under the category of servitude which was their parent's, either namamahay or sa guiguilir. If there were an odd number of children, the odd one was half free and half slave. I have not been able to ascertain with any certainty when or at what age the division of children was made, for each one suited himself in this respect. Of these two kinds of slaves the sa guiguilir could be sold, but not the namamahay and their children, nor could they be transferred. However, they could be transferred from the barangay by inheritance, provided they remained in the same village. They condemned no one to slavery, unless he merited the death-penalty. As for the witches, they killed them, and their children and accomplices became slaves of the chief, after he had made some recompense to the injured person. All other offenses were punished by fines in gold, which, if not paid with promptness, exposed the culprit to serve, until the payment should be made, the person aggrieved, to whom the money was to be paid. This was done in the following way: Half the cultivated lands and all their produce belonged to the master. The master provided the culprit with food and clothing, thus enslaving the culprit and his children until such time as he might amass enough money to pay the fine. If the father should by chance pay his debt, the master then claimed that he had fed and clothed his children, and should be paid therefo In what concerns loans, there was formerly, and is today, an excess of usury, which isa great hindrance to baptism as well as to confession; for it turns out in the same way as I have showed in the case of the one under judgment, who gives half of his cultivated lands and profits until he pays the debt. The debtor is condemned to a life of toil; and thus borrowers become slaves, and after the death of the father the children pay the debt. Not doing so, double the amount must be paid. This system should and can be reformed. In the case of a child by a free married woman, born while she was married, if the husband punished the adulterer this was considered a dowry; and the child entered with the others into partition in the inheritance. His share equaled the part left by the father, _ nothing more. If there were no other sons than he, the children and the nearest relatives inherited equally with him. But if the adulterer were not punished by the husband of the woman who had the child, the latter was not considered as his child, nor did he inherit anything. It should be noticed that the offender was not considered dishonored by the punishment inflicted, nor did the husband leave the woman. By the punishment of the father the child was fittingly made legitimate. READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY 31Dowries are given by the men to the women’s parents. If the latter are living, they enjoy the use of it, At their death, provided the dowry has not been consumed, it is divided like the rest of the estate, equally among the children, except in case the father should care to bestow something additional upon the daughter. If the wife, at the time of her marriage, has neither father, mother, nor grandparents, she enjoys her dowry— which, in such a case, belongs to no other relative or child. It should be noticed that unmarried women can own no property, in land or dowry, for the result of all their labors accrues to their parents. The above is what I have been able to ascertain clearly concerning customs observed among these natives in all this Laguna and the tingues, and among the entire Tagalog race. The old men say that a dato who did anything contrary to this would not be esteemed; and, in relating tyrannies which they had committed, some condemned them and adjudged them wicked... In all the villages, or in other parts of the Filipinas 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. They so constructed the house that it might contain many people—dividing it, after the fashion of ships, into three compartments. On the posts of 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. Among their many idols there was one called. Badhala, whom they especially worshiped. The title seems to signify “all powerful,” or “maker of all things.” They also worshiped the sun, which, on account of its beauty, is almost universally respected and honored by heathens. They worshiped, too, the moon, especially when... ‘Thesenativeshadno established division of years, months, and days; theseare 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 yea" | The winter and summer are distifiguished as sun-time and water-time—the latter term | designating winter in those regions, where there is no cold, snow, or ice. 32 READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY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 odoriferous woods, and praise it in poetic songs sung by the officiating priest, male or female, who is called catolonan. The participants made responses to the song, beseeching the idol to favor them with those things of which they were in need, and generally, by offering repeated healths, they all became intoxicated. In some of their idolatries they were accustomed to place a good piece of cloth, doubled, over the idol, and over the cloth a chain or large, gold ring, thus worshiping the devil without having sight of him. The devil was sometimes liable to enter into the body of the catolonan, and, assuming her shape and appearance, filled her with so great arrogance—he being the cause of it— that she seemed to shoot flames from her eyes; her hair stood on end, a fearful sight to those beholding, and she uttered words of arrogance and superiority. In some districts, especially in the mountains, when in those idolatries the devil incarnated himself and took on the form of his minister, the latter had to be tied to a tree by his companions, to prevent the devil in his infernal fury from destroying him. This, however, happened but rarely. The objects of sacrifice were goats, fowls, and swine, which were flayed, decapitated, and laid before the idol... In the case of young girls who first had their monthly courses, their eyes were blindfolded four days and four nights; and, in the meantime, the friends and relatives were all invited to partake of food and drink. At the end of this period, the catolonan took the young girl to the water, bathed her and washed her head, and removed the bandage from her eyes. The old men said that they did this in order that the girls might bear children, and have fortune in finding husbands to their taste, who would not leave them widows in their youth. 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 by a slave... 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 say that those who go to this place are the just, and the valiant, and those who lived without doing harm, or who possessed other 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 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... READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY 33There werealso ghosts, wh ichthey called vibit,andphantoms, 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”.