12 Surprising Facts You Didn’t Know About

Pre-Colonial Philippines
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Raise your hand if you know too little about pre-colonial Philippines. Don’t feel bad if
you do, because chances are you’re not alone. Before this, I knew more about Rizal
than anything else. Heck, even some school kids today believe that our history
started after Magellan ‘discovered’ the Philippines.

And you know what’s worse? It’s the fact that the little information we have about our
ancestors were recorded by foreigners. Makes me wonder what would have happened
had they not colonized us. We’ll probably never know, but for now, let’s learn some
of the most interesting facts about our ancestors I bet you didn’t encounter in school.

Also Read: 10 Reasons Why Life Was Better In Pre-Colonial Philippines

1. They compressed their babies’ skulls for aesthetic reasons.

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Early human civilizations like the Mayans (see photo) and the Visayans intentionally
reshaped their babies’ skulls to conform to their standard of beauty. Source:
Wikimedia Commons.

In ancient Visayas, being beautiful could be as simple as having a flat forehead and
nose. But since humans are not usually born with these features, the Visayans used a
device called tangad to achieve them.

The tangad was a comb-like set of thin rods that was put above the baby’s forehead,
surrounded by bandages, and fastened at some point behind. Remember, babies’
skulls are the most pliable, so this continuous pressure often resulted into
elongated heads.

Also Read: 15 Most Intense Archaeological Discoveries in Philippine History

Some of these deformed skulls were recovered from various burial grounds in the
Visayan region. Two of them are actually on display today at the Aga Khan Museum
in Marawi.

Upon close examination of these skulls, it was also discovered that their shape varies
depending on whether the pressure was applied between the forehead and the upper or
lower part of the occiput (i.e., back of the skull). Hence, some had “normally arched
foreheads but were flat behind, others were flattened at both front and back, and a
few were asymmetrical because of uneven pressure.”

2. Gold was literally everywhere.

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A golden statuette of the Hindu-Buddhist goddess “Kinari” found in a Butuan

archeological dig. It is among some of the Indian-influenced artifacts found in the
country. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

There was plenty of gold in the islands during the precolonial times that it used to be
part of our ancestors’ everyday attire.

In the book by historian William Henry Scott, it was said that a “Samar datu by the
name of Iberein was rowed out to a Spanish vessel anchored in his harbor in 1543 by
oarsmen collared in gold; while wearing on his own person earrings and chains.”
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Piloncitos, a type of coin used by the pre-colonial peoples of the archipelago. Source:
Wikimedia Commons.

Much of the gold artifacts that have been recovered in the country are believed to
have come from  the ancient kingdom of Butuan, a major center of commerce from
the 10th up to the 13th century. Ancient Indian texts also suggest that merchant ships
used to trade with people from what they referred to as Survarnadvipa or “Islands of
Gold,” believed by many as the present-day Indonesia and the Philippines.

Related Article: Pinoy chef made the world’s most expensive sushi! – Covered
with gold, diamonds

Precolonial treasures include ear ornaments called panika; bracelets known

as kasikas; and the spectacular serpent-like gold chain referred to as kamagi. Since
their discovery, some of these valued  gold artifacts have been looted, melted, and
sold to God knows where.
It didn’t matter to the treasure hunters that these gold ornaments were originally part
of our ancestors’ bahandi (heirloom wealth) and probably originated not just here but
also from other places they traded with.

3. You could judge how brave a man was by the color of his clothes.

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Native couple in the Philippines, as shown in the Boxer Codex. Source: Wikimedia
Commons.

Clothing in precolonial Philippines reflected one’s social standing and, in the case of
men, how many enemies they had killed.

In the Visayas, for example, basic clothing included bahag (G-string) for men

and malong (tube skirt) for women. The material used to make these clothes could
indicate the wearer’s social status, with the abaca being the most valued textile and
reserved for the elites.

READ: The Controversial Origin of Philippines’ National Costume

The Visayan bahag was a little bit larger than those worn by present-day inhabitants
of Zambales, Cordillera, and the Cagayan Valley. They usually had natural colors, but
warriors who personally killed an enemy could wear red bahag. 
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Pintados of the Visayas (Leyte or Samar), as shown in the Boxer Codex. Source:
Wikimedia Commons.

The same rule applied to the male headdress called pudong. Red was and still is the
symbol of bravery, which explains why the most prolific warriors at that time proudly
wore red bahag and pudong.
Historian William Henry Scott writes:

 “A red ‘pudong’ was called ‘magalong’, and was the insignia of braves who had
killed an enemy. The most prestigious kind of ‘pudong,’ limited to the most valiant,
was, like their G-strings, made of ‘pinayusan,’ a gauze-thin abaca of fibers selected
for their whiteness, tie-dyed a deep scarlet in patterns as fine as embroidery, and
burnished to a silky sheen. Such pudong were lengthened with each additional feat
of valor: real heroes therefore let one end hang loose with affected carelessness.” 

4. Our ancient warship was three times faster than a Spanish galleon.

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Depiction of a naga-inspired “karakoa” warship of the early Filipinos. From Emma

Blair and James Robertson, “The Philippine Islands: 1493-1898, vol. 16, 1904.

When I posted this on Facebook, I remember a disgruntled follower saying: “Why

compare the Spanish galleon with our ancestors’ primitive warship? It would be like
comparing motorcycle and a tank: The motorcycle might be faster, but it’s not gonna
win a war!”

But that’s exactly the point. They may be primitive, but our ancestors made the most
of what they have and came up with an amazing marine architecture. The Visayan
warship karakoa was the result of such ingenuity.

Also Read: An Ultimate Guide To Philippine Mythology’s Legendary Deities

Take note, though, that our early plank-built vessels were made in the same tradition
as other boats  dating as far back as 3rd century BCE. And that probably explains why
our karakoa is similar to Indonesia’s korakora.

In his paper “Boat-Building and Seamanship in Classic Philippine Society,” historian

William Henry Scott described the karakoa as “sleek, double-ended warships of low
freeboard and light draft with a keel on one continuous curve……and a raised
platform amidships for a warrior contingent for ship-to-ship contact.”

The karakoa served not only as a warship but also as a trading vessel. In fact,

accounts from 1561 Legazpi expedition described it as “a ship for sailing any place
they wanted.” 

And sailed they did, reaching places as far as Fukien coast in China where a bunch of
Visayan pirates pillaged the villages sometime in the 12th century.

The flexibility of its plank-built hull and the coordination of a hundred or so paddlers
all helped karakoa generate its best speed of 12 to 15 knots–three times the speed
of a Spanish galleon. It was so efficient that Fr. Francisco Combés once wrote
it could “sail like birds.”

5. Homosexuals had an important role in pre-colonial society.

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“Babaylan” by R. Aguilar at the Negros Museum.

Back then, there were no doctors or priests whom our ancestors could turn to when
things went awry. The only hope they had was a spirit medium or shamanwho could
directly communicate with the spirits or gods. They were known in the Visayas
as babaylan, while the Tagalogs called them catalonan (katulunan).

Also Read: The first same-sex marriage in the Philippines

More often than not, these babaylans or catalonans were women who came from

prominent families. However, early Spanish missionaries reported of the existence of
men who assumed the roles of a babaylan. That, of course, also suggests that these
male versions may have existed long before the Spaniards arrived.
What’s more surprising is that some of these male babaylans dressed and also
acted like women. Visayans called them asog while the Tagalogs named
them bayugin. In the 1668 book Historia de los Islas y Indios de Bisayas, Father
Francisco Alcina further described an asog as:

“…impotent men and deficient for the practice of matrimony, considered themselves

more like women than men in their manner of living or going about, even in their
occupations….”

The 16th-century manuscript Boxer Codex added even more intriguing details:

“The bayog or bayoguin are priest dressed in female garb ……..Almost all are
impotent for the reproductive act, and thus they marry other males and sleep with
them as man and wife and have carnal knowledge.”

As time went by, the term asog has taken on completely different meanings. In Aklan,

for example, asog is now used to refer to a tomboy or a woman acting like man.

6.  Human sacrifice was a bloody, fascinating mess.

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Excavation in Santa Ana Church in the 1960s yielded skeletal remains and artifacts
dating as far back as 11th century A.D. (Image found at www.skyscrapercity.com)

It’s not easy to be a slave in ancient Philippines. When a warrior died, for example, a
slave was traditionally tied and buried beneath his body. If one was killed violently or
if someone from the ruling class died (say, a datu), human sacrifices were almost
always required.

Father Juan de Plasencia, an early missionary who authored “Relacion de las

Costumbres de Los Tagalos” in 1589, provided us with a vivid portrait of an ancient
burial:

“Before interring him (the chief), they mourned him for four days; and afterward laid
him on a boat which serve as a coffin or bier…..If the deceased had been a warrior,
a living slave was tied beneath his body until in this wretched way he died.”
Sometimes, as a last resort, an alipin was sacrificed in the hope that the ancestor
spirits would take the slave instead of the dying datu. The slave could be
an atubang or a personal attendant who had accompanied the datu all his life. The
prize of his loyalty was often to die in the same manner as his master. So, if
the datu died of drowning, the slave would also be killed by drowning. This is
because of onong or the belief that those who belonged to the departed must
suffer the same fate.

Related Article: Rare ritual burial may reveal cannibalistic ancestry.

Slaves from foreign lands could also be sacrificed. In fact, an itatanun expedition had
the intention of taking captives from other communities. After being intoxicated, these
captives would then be killed in the most brutal ways. Pioneer missionary Martin de
Rada reported one case in Butuan wherein the slave was bound to a cross before being
tortured by bamboo spikes,  hit with a spear, and finally thrown into the river.

They believed that the dying datu was being attacked by the spirits of men he once
defeated, and the only way to satisfy the ancestors was to kill a slave.

7. It was considered a disgrace for a woman to have many children.

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Via Wikimedia Commons.

There’s no such thing as “family planning” in pre-colonial Philippines. Everything

they did was based on existing customs and beliefs, one of which was that having
many children was not desirable and even a disgrace.

Such was their fear to have more children that pregnant women were prohibited to
eat kambal na saging or similar food. They believed that eating it would cause
them to give birth to twins, which for them was a great insult.
Abortion was also practiced by almost everyone. The Boxer Codex reported that it
was done with the help of female abortionists who used massage, herbal medicines,
and even a stick to get the baby out of the womb.

READ: 10 Shocking Old-Timey Practices Filipinos Still Do Today

For others, the idea of having multiple children made them feel like pigs, so women
who were pregnant to their second or third child would resort to abortion to get
rid of their pregnancy. Poverty was another reason, as reported by Miguel de
Loarca: “….when the property is to be divided among all the children, they will all be
poor, and that it is better to have one child and leave him wealthy.”

The Visayans, according to historian William Henry Scott, also had a custom of
abandoning babies with debilitating defects, a fact that made many observers conclude
that “Visayans were never born blind or crippled.”

8. Celebrating a girl’s first menstruation, pre-colonial style.

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Painting by Manuel Pañares

Although menarche (first menstruation) is memorable for a lot of women today,

rarely does it become a cause for celebration. In the precolonial era, however, this
transition was seen as a crucial period in womanhood, so much so that all girls were
required to go through an intricate rite of passage.

The said ceremony was known as “dating” among ancient Tagalogs. It was usually
held with the help of a catalonan (babaylan), the go-to priestess-cum-doctor during
that time. During the ritual, the girl who was having her first period was secluded,
covered, and blindfolded.

Isolation usually lasted for four days if the woman was a commoner, while those
belonging to the principal class had to go through this process for as long as a
month and twenty days!

The Boxer Codex explains that our ancestors blindfolded the girl so she wouldn’t see
anything dishonest, and therefore prevent her from growing up a “bad woman.” The
mantles covering her, on the other hand, shielded her from wind blows, which they
believed could lead to insanity.

The girl could also not eat anything apart from two eggs or four mouthfuls of rice–
morning and night, for four straight days. As if that’s not enough, the girl was also
prohibited to talk to anybody, for fear that she would become talkative. All of these
while her friends and relatives feasted and celebrated.

Also Read: 35 Outrageous Filipino Superstitions You Didn’t Know Existed

Each morning throughout the duration of the ceremony, the blindfolded girl was led to
the river for her ritual bath. Her feet weren’t allowed to touch the ground, so
a catalonan or a male helper assisted her. The girl would be either led to the river
through an “elevated walkway of planks” or carried by a male helper on his shoulder.

After immersing eight times in the water, the girl was carried back to the home where
she would be rubbed with traditional male scents like civet or musk. Father Placensia,
who was among those who witnessed the ritual, discovered later on that the natives
did this “in order that the girl might bear children, and have fortune in finding a
husband to their taste, who would not leave them widows in their youth.”

9. Whatever happened to our ancient writing system?

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A page from Plasencia’s “Doctrina Christiana en lengua Española y Tagala.”

Source: Wikimedia Commons.

First things first: You’re not supposed to call our ancient script “alibata” because it’s
a misnomer. The word (from ‘Alif-bata,’ the first letters of the Arabic script) was
actually invented by Paul Versoza who thought our earliest writing system was of
Arabic origins.

The thing is, the baybayin (which is the correct term) is believed to be one of

indigenous alphabets in Asia that originated from the Sanskrit of the ancient
India.
READ: 5 Historic Lies You Were Taught In School

Upon their arrival, some of the Spanish chroniclers didn’t believe their eyes when
they saw some of the natives being so literate. Father Chirino observed that there
is “hardly a man, and much less  a woman, who does not read and write,” while
Morga wrote that there were very few who “do not write it (baybayin) very well and
correctly.”

Composed of 17 symbols, the ancient baybayin has survived in a few artifactsand

in Father Plasencia’s Doctrina Christiana en lengua Española y Tagala, known as the
only example of the baybayin from the 16th century.

As to why the baybayin quickly disappeared, there are few possible reasons. First, we

were not like China which was miles ahead when it comes to writing and record-
keeping. Instead, our ancestors used anything they could get their hands on as their
writing pad (leaves, bamboo tubes, bark of trees, you name it) while pointed weapons
or saps of trees served as their ink.

The Boxer Codex also suggests that the content of whatever our ancestors wrote was
relatively insignificant: “They have neither books nor histories nor do they write
anything of any length but only letters and reminders to one another.”

Of course, the Spaniards also contributed to the early death of our ancient syllabic
writing. Historian Teodoro Agoncillo believed so: “Aside from the destructive work
of the elements, the early Spanish missionaries, in their zeal to propagate the
Catholic religion, destroyed many manuscripts on the ground that they were the work
of the Devil himself.” 

10. Social classes were not as permanent as we thought.

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Depiction of a pre-colonial noble Filipino couple in the Boxer Codex. Source:

Wikimedia Commons.

When the ancient Filipinos started trading with the outsiders, economy also started to
improve. This is when social classes began to emerge, and life suddenly became
unfair.

As you may recall from the HEKASI subject that bored you as a kid, the pre-colonial
Filipinos were divided into four: There was the ruling datu class; the wealthy warrior
class called maharlika; the timawa or freemen; and the most ‘unfortunate’ of them
all–the alipin or uripon class.

Also Read: 11 Things From Philippine History Everyone Pictures Incorrectly

The alipin was further divided into two sub-classes: the namamahay or those who

owned their houses and only served their masters on an as-needed basis; and
the saguiguilid who didn’t own a thing nor enjoyed any social privileges.

You might think that being born a slave at that time was tantamount to being doomed
for life. However, that’s not exactly the case, as there were reports of those who
either moved up or down in the pre-colonial social ladder.
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A Visayan freemen (‘timawa’) couple, as shown in the Boxer Codex. Source:

Wikimedia Commons.

In the case of the alipin, he could improve his social status by marriage. For example,
as recorded by Father Plasencia, “if the maharlikas had children by their slaves, the
children and their mothers became free.” Of course, this thing didn’t happen all the
time, neither was it applicable to all social classes.
An alipin could also buy his freedom from his master if he was lucky enough to
obtain gold through “war, by the grade of goldsmith, or otherwise.” Take note,
however, that inter-class mobility could only happen one step at a time. In other
words, an alipin could never bypass other classes to become a datu overnight,  and
vice versa.

Other classes could also be demoted to the slave class for various reasons. Save for
the datu or chiefs, anyone who committed a crime and failed to pay the fine would
become a slave.

As for the datu, he could end up a low-ranked individual either because of poor

leadership, which would prompt his followers to abandon him, or through an inter-
barangay war, during which the captured and defeated  datu as well as his family
would lose some of their social privileges.

11. Courtship was a long, arduous, and expensive process.

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Painting by Botong Francisco

Paninilbihan or the custom requiring the guy to work for the girl’s family before
marriage was already prevalent during the pre-colonial times. From chopping wood to
fetching water, the soon-to-be-groom would do everything to win his girl’s hand.

READ: The bizarre, painful sexual practices of early Filipinos

It often took months or even years before the parents were finally convinced that he
was the right man for their daughter. And even at that point, the courtship wasn’t over
yet.

The man was required to give bigay-kaya, or a dowry in the form of land, gold, or
dependents. Of course, he needed the help of his parents to raise the required
amount. Spanish chronicler Father Plasencia reported that a bigger amount of
dowry was usually given to a favored son, especially if he was about to tie the
knot with the chief’s daughter. In the case of the Visayans, this dowry was usually
given to the father-in-law who would not entrust it to the couple until they had
children.

Also Read: A Photo Of Ifugaos in Wedding Dress (1900)

In other areas of the country, the dowry was just the beginning. According to historian
Teodoro Agoncillo, there was also the panghimuyat or the payment for the “mother’s
nocturnal efforts in rearing the girl to womanhood”; the bigay-suso or payment for
the girl’s wet nurse (if there’s any) who breastfed her when she’s still a baby; and
the himaraw or the “reimbursement for the amount spent in feeding the girl during
her infancy.”

As if that’s not enough to make the would-be groom go bankrupt, there was also
the sambon among the Zambals which was basically a “bribe'” given to the girl’s
relatives. Fortunately, through a custom called pamumulungan or pamamalae, the
groom’s parents had the chance to meet the in-laws, haggle all they could, and make
the final arrangements before the marriage.

12. They used a “life or death” method of judgment.

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An example of a “hot water ordeal” in the Ifugao culture, early 20th century. Source:
Ifugao Law (In American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 15, No. 1)

You may have first encountered “trial by ordeal” while reading stories from the
medieval Europe. It’s basically a method of judgment wherein an accused party would
be asked to do something dangerous. If he luckily survives, he would be considered
innocent. Otherwise, he would be proclaimed guilty.

Our ancestors–and even some of today’s indigenous peoples–had a similar custom.

The difference is that our version didn’t usually end up in a life-or-death situation.

READ: 6 True Stories From Philippine History Creepier Than Any Horror
Movie
The ifugaos, for example, subjected the involved parties into either a “hot
water” or “hot bolo” ordeal. The former involved dropping of pebbles in a pot filled
with boiling water. The accused was then asked to dip his hands into the pot and
take out the stones. Failure to do this or doing it with “undue haste” would be
interpreted as confession of guilt. 

The “hot bolo” ordeal, as the name suggests, required both suspects to have their
hands be touched by a scorching knife. The one who suffered the most burns would be
declared guilty.

Other methods included giving lighted candles to the suspects; the one whose candle
died off first was the guilty party. There’s also one which asked both persons to chew
rice and later spit it out, the guilty person being the one who spits the thickest saliva.

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References

Agoncillo, T. (1990). History of the Filipino People (8th ed.). Quezon City: C & E

Publishing, Inc.

Burton, R. (1919). Ifugao Law. American Archaeology And Ethnology, 15(1).

Carpio, A. (2014). Historical Facts, Historical Lies, And Historical Rights In The

West Philippine Sea(1st ed., pp. 8-9). Retrieved from http://goo.gl/75DG4b
Geremia-Lachica, M. (1996). Panay’s Babaylan: The Male Takeover. Review Of
Women’s Studies, 6(1), 54-58. Retrieved from http://goo.gl/DOlMZ7

Jocano, F. (1998). Filipino Prehistory: Rediscovering Precolonial Heritage. Punlad

Research House.

Junker, L. (1999). Raiding, Trading, and Feasting: The Political Economy of

Philippine Chiefdoms. University of Hawaii Press.

Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms. (2015). Asia Society. Retrieved 8

April 2016, from http://goo.gl/LwL6iA

Remoto, D. (2002). Happy and gay. philSTAR.com. Retrieved 9 April 2016, from

http://goo.gl/Tt8tB1

Scott, W. (1994). Barangay: Sixteenth-century Philippine Culture and Society.

Ateneo University Press.

Vega, P. (2011). The World of Amaya: Unleashing the Karakoa. GMA News Online.

Retrieved 8 April 2016, from http://goo.gl/uhyHPg