Customs of the Tagalogs (16th century)
and if he gave ten or more taels he became wholly
*by Juan de Plasencia-his real name is Joan de
Portacarrero.
-he is a Spanish friar of the Franciscan Order
-came and joined forces in another
missionary,Fray Diego de Oropesa in the Phil
in 1578
-wrote the first religious book “Doctrina
Christiana”
-he called the datus spiritless and fainthearted
-He wrote the document because he was task by
the king of Spain to document the traditions and
the customs of the natives
-dissatisifed with the justice system of the
Filipino natives
-the purpose of the document is to put an end
into the injustice committed against the natives
and to provide the first form of civil code
-explains how the natives live,classified
themselves and how they share lands
*1589- wrote the Customs of the tagalogs in
Nagcarlan,Laguna which tackled the practice
and traditions of the tagalogs during the Spanish
era
Social Classes
*Datu-the leaders of the barangay,ruled over 100
houses
-decission makers of the community
-recognized as the smartest and the best in the
community
*Maharlika-considered as the free people or
noble people
-they do not pay taxes
-it is their responsibility to join and assist the
Datu in day to day activities
-usually trained fighters who fight during times
of war
- the datu offered them beforehand a feast and
afterward the divided the spoils
-the land they occupy were divided among the
whole barangay
*Aliping Namamahay- common people,they are
cannot be sold and treated as commodities
-serve the datus and maharlikas
-can be married,own a property and can enjoy
their lives
*Aliping Sagigilid-they do the heavy
extensive labor
-can be sold,thrown away and pambayad utang
-can be an aliping sagigilid if you commit heavy
offense,unable to pay debt or if you are a
captive
-can ransomed himself never less than five taels
free
-after this an amusing ceremony is accompanied if
the slave own a house they divided all things he
possessed even pots and jars if an odd of these
remains they broke it and if a piece of cloth left
they parted it in the middle
Rules during that time
*What if nagkaroon ng inter marriage between
maharlika and an alipin?
-the children will be divided, the 1st ,3rd and 5th
will belonged to the father
-the 2nd,4th and 6th belonged to the mother
*Filipinos that time can own a agricultural
land,they pay taxes to the Datu
*In terms of economy,they used gold tiles in
trading or barter
*What if the maharlika wants to trade in the
other barangay?
-the maharlika needs to pay big amount of gold
tiles to the Datu and needs to sponsor a
despedida or farewell
*In the rules of the Barangay the Datu usually
impose death penalty to those who are proven
ruining his family
*How to choose the Datu in the Barangay?
-the oldest,smartest and strongest
-blood relation (dynasty)
*The Filipinos during that time also practice
kasalan,dowries and divorce
*Dowry-was given by the men to the women’s
parents.
*What if the they got divorce?
-the dowry was able to enjoyed by the parents of
the girl
*If the wife left the husband for the purpose of
marrying another,all her dowry a will be given
back to the husband
*When the husband left his wife only half of the
dowry was returned to him
*In terms of religious activities there are lot of
methods of worship during that time
-has different gods and goddesses
*They do different activities in women,if the woman
experienced her first menstruation her eyes is
blindfolded for 4days and 4nights and in the
meantime all the friends and relatives are invited to
and partake a food and drinks. The young girl is
confined in one house while her relatives is having
a party outside. At the end of this period the
Catalonan bathed her to the water,wash her head
and remove the bandage in her eyes.
-the purpose of this is that it will bring goodluck
to the marriage of the young girl