ORAL LORE FROM PRE-COLONIAL TIMES (-1564)

Filipinos often lose sight of the fact that the first period of Philippine literary history is the
longest. Certain events from the nation’s history had forced lowland Filipinos to begin
counting the years of history from 1521, the first-time written records by Westerners
referred to the archipelago later to be called “Las Islas Filipinas”. However, the
discovery of the “Tabon Man” in a cave in Palawan in 1962, has allowed us to stretch
our prehistory as far as 50,000 years back. The stages of that prehistory show how the
early Filipinos grew in control over their environment. Through the research and writings
about Philippine history, much can be reliably inferred about precolonial Philippine
literature from an analysis of collected oral lore of Filipinos whose ancestors were able
to preserve their indigenous culture by living beyond the reach of Spanish colonial
administrators.
The oral literature of the precolonial Filipinos bore the marks of the community. The
subject was invariably the common experience of the people constituting the
village-food-gathering, creatures, and objects of nature, work in the home, field, forest
or sea, caring for children, etc. This is evident in the most common forms of oral
literature like the riddle, the proverbs, and the song, which always seem to assume that
the audience is familiar with the situations, activities, and objects mentioned in the
course of expressing a thought or emotion. The language of oral literature, unless the
piece was part of the cultural heritage of the community like the epic, was the language
of daily life. At this phase of literary development, any member of the community was a
potential poet, singer, or storyteller as long as he knew the language and had been
attentive to the conventions of the forms.

A long time before Spaniards and other foreign lands in the Philippine shore, our
forefathers already have their literature stamped in the history of our race. Our ancient
literature shows the customs and traditions in everyday life as a trace in our folk stories,
old plays, and short stories. The abundance and variety of Philippine Literature evolved
even before the colonial period. Folks, tales, epic, poems, and marathon chants have
existed in most ethnolinguistic groups that were passed from generation to generation
through word of mouth, some of these pre-colonial literary pieces are shown in
traditional narratives, speeches, and songs.

What is ORAL LORE?

Oral tradition or Oral Lore is the cultural knowledge and information that has been
passed down through speech from one generation to the next. Oral tradition can also
refer to this mode of communication.
Tradition means something that is handed down from generation to
generation. Oral means transmitted by speech, and it is used in the term oral tradition to
specifically distinguish information passed down through speech, song, or
demonstration, as opposed to writing.

DIFFERENT LITERARY FORMS DURING THE PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD

1.) RIDDLES (Bugtong o palaisipan)
- It showcases Filipino wit, Literary talent, and keen observation of the
surroundings.
- Involves reference to one or two images that symbolizes the characteristics of
an unknown object that is to be guessed.
- the purpose of the riddle is usually to deceive the listener about its meaning.
A description is given and then the answer is demanded as to what has been
meant.
PURPOSE OF BUGTONG
▪ To entertain
▪ To educate
▪ To titillate
▪ To curse without expressly cursing
▪ To preserve the culture

Examples of Bugtong:
1. Three eyes have I, all in a row; when the red one opens, all freeze like the snow.
(Answer: Traffic light)
2. What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries? (Answer: A towel)
3. If you speak its name, you break it. What is it? (Answer: Silence)
4. I have a tail, and I have a head, but I have no body. I am NOT a snake. What am
I? (Answer: A coin)
5. How many months have 28 days? (Answer: All of them)
6. What word becomes shorter when you add letters to it? (Answer: "Short")
7. What word begins with a T, ends with a T, and has a T in it? (Answer: A teapot)
8. What word begins with an E, ends with an E, but has only one letter? (Answer:
An envelope)
9. If a rooster sits on a roof facing north, which way will the egg roll? (Answer:
Roosters don't lay eggs.)
10. A cowboy arrived in town on Friday, stayed one night, then left on Friday. How is
this possible? (Answer: The horse's name is Friday)

2.) PROVERBS (Salawikain)

- A simple and concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, that expresses
a truth based on common sense or experience.
- They are often metaphorical.
- They have been customarily used as laws and rules on good behavior by our
ancestors.
- To others, these are like allegories and parables that impart a lesson for the
young ones.
Examples:
1. Don’t judge a book by its cover.
Meaning: Don’t judge people (or for that matter, places or things) solely on their
appearance.
2. When there’s a will, there’s a way.
Meaning: If you are determined, you will find a way to achieve what you want.
3. Actions speak louder than words.
Meaning: What you do shows how you actually feel more than what you say.
 3.) LO-AS
- Lo-a, a folk tradition, mirrors the Ilonggo’s folks’ creative or poetic intuition. It
encapsulates in a single form the workings of the creative mind of the Ilonggo
folks or the common tao – the ordinary souls that one may meet in his daily
existence; housewives, farmers, “tambays”, laborers, teachers, even
students. Ordinary as they are, their lo-a is proof of an extraordinary mind
whose creativity flows spontaneously from the soul.
Sensitivity of the Ilonggo folks’ external senses to the sounds and sighs of
their immediate surroundings, resulted in the lo-as orchestral and musical
versification. It appears that sounds appeal instantaneously to the Ilonggo
mind maneuvers the connection of words to words and of sounds to sounds,
almost always logically, effecting meaning or pure rhythmic and melodious
utterances.
The richness of the Ilonggo language also lends to the musicality of the lo-a.
The concrete sense experience or images found in lo-a stand witness to the
Ilonggo language’s power to evoke direct visual, auditory and tactile sensory
experiences or pure internal sensations. Words in the Ilonggo language,
when uttered, create mental pictures of things or situations. It is said that
situations, objects, or circumstances are as they are spoken. Such
characteristic of the language has not escaped the folk mind; thus, with
cleverness and tint of genius, the folk mind explores the possibility of the
language by playing on words and combining sounds and images.

Examples:
1.
Rosas, rosas nga kamantigue
Soltero nga waay nobya, agi.

Bulak, bulak sang tangkong

Dalaga nga wala sang nobyo, bingkong.

Tapakan ko central, gupi

Guwa kalamay, puti.

Didto sa Bohol
May isa ka lalaki nga manol
Panawag sa kasilyas, City Hall.

Lo-a, however, is more than just words and sounds. The assemblage of words and
sounds, arranged into logical directions and connections, make lo-a act and will
something.

2.
Nonoy hinugay paglabay-labay
Sa atubang sang amon nga balay
Basi malagari ka ni Tatay
 Mawasi gid ang imo nga tinday.
May ara lugar ako nga ginhalinan
Sa parte Aurora, nayon sa sidlangan
Madamo nga bulak ang akon gin-agyan
Solo gid ikaw Inday ang naluyagan.

The words and sounds do not only please the ears, but they also challenge the
thought processes. Lo-a speaks, relating that which has been perceived by the mind
through the senses. Hence, ideas, cloaked in denotations and connotations, may be
unearthed.

3.
Tintin ka na uwak
Latay sa margoso
Margoso nga mapait
Para sa soltero nga maanghit.

Mataas nga lamesa ang akon ginlakbay

Kutsara kag tinidor ang akon kaaway
Wala ko pagbaliha ang akon kabudlay
Tubtob lamang makita larawan mo Inday.

Lo-a, also, reveals the Ilonggo’s closeness to nature and the things around them.
This is evident in the surfeit of images or sense experiences used in lo-a. The
Ilonggo mind’s knack for catching sights and sounds from his immediate world
embellishes lo-a with an abundance of picturesque words and utterances.
Perception and translation into image-evoking words, however, undergo a process.
The folk mind, through the external senses, perceives things or the reality around
him and through his imagination and intellect, transmits the image to the soul. The
image, as interpreted by the soul, is transmitted back through the intellect and
imagination into a concrete meaningful form – folk poetry or lo-a.

With its meaningful form, lo-a signifies something. It is a sign, complete with a
tangible form, a form with sense, and a form and sense with meaning. The meaning
found in lo-a may be clothed in metaphorical language. It may also be disguised in
symbolic representations. Hence, lo-a may be interpreted in its textual context alone.
Nevertheless, as a sign, lo-a with its textual evidence may be interpreted in this
socio-cultural context.

4.
Kon si papel man ang lumupad-lupad
Kag humapon diri sa akon palad
Kusniton ko lang kag ipilak
Dili gid makatintar kay bulak.
Didto sa amon sa Ajuy
May nadula nga balinghoy
Duda gid ako sa imo Nonoy
Ara sa imo gataboy-taboy.

Sa idalom sang taytay

May army nga napatay
Bulag-bulag ang lawas
P’ro gatindog ang armas.

Palayo, palayo
Ang buho nga mabaho
Palapit, palapit
Ang buho nga manumit.

Lo-a then is an artistic or creative expression of the Ilonggo folks, such expression of
which finds realization in a particular cultural practice by a group of people – the
Ilonggos.

4.) MYTHS
- Myths are stories that often have religious origins that provide explanations
for natural phenomena, offer moral insight, and include supernatural beings.
- A complex cultural phenomenon that can be approached from several
viewpoints.
- In general, myth is a narrative that describes and portrays in symbolic
language, the origin of basic elements and assumptions of a culture.

Myths are often told as if they were factual. These stories were meant to offer
reasonable explanations; therefore, the audience believed these stories to be true.
Myths include gods and/or goddesses, and these figures often have supernatural
powers.
Myths include an explanation for how something came to be in the world. Such stories
have ancient origins; therefore, they did not have the scientific explanations that we do
today for such phenomena as weather.
Myths often teach morals to their audience. Within many myths, there is a lesson to be
learned.
Example:
1. Why There is a High Tide during a full Moon (Ibanag)
2. How the stars came to be (Bukidnon- Mindanao)

5.) LEGEND
 - A traditional narrative or collection of related narratives, popularly historically
factual but a mixture of fact and fiction.
- The medieval Latin word legenda means “things for reading”. During certain
services of the early Christian Church, legenda, or lives of the saints, were
read aloud.
- A legend is set in a specific place at a specific time; the subject is often a
heroic historical personage.
- A legend differs from a myth by portraying a human hero rather than one who
is a god. Legends, originally oral, have been developed into literary
masterpieces.
- Legends are stories about real people who are famous for doing something
brave or extraordinary. Every time the story was told, it became more
exaggerated and so it is now difficult to tell how much of the story is really
true.
Example:
1. Legend of Banana Plant
2. The legend of the firefly

6.) EPICS
- A long poem, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition narrating the
deeds and adventure of heroic and legendary figures or the history of a
nation.

Examples:
1. Biag ni Lam-ang (Ilocanos)
2. The legacy of Agyu (Manobo)
3. Hudhud ni Aliguyon (Ifugao Epic)

The Spaniard who came to the Philippines tried to prove that our ancestors were fond of
poetry, song, stories, riddles, and proverbs which we still enjoy today and which serve to
show to generation the true culture of our people.

Self-Check:
Instructions: Identify the correct answer for each number.
1. This is the year that is believed to be the beginning of counting Philippine literary
history?
2. It refers to the remains that were discovered in the year 1962?
3. What is the exact place where these remains were found?
4. According to him, there is a discrepancy between what is actually known about
Philippine pre-history and what has been written about it.
5. It is a form of human communication where knowledge, art, ideas, and cultural
material are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to
another?
6. It showcases Filipino wit, Literary talent, and keen observation of the
surroundings?
7. These are like allegories and parables that impart a lesson for the young ones?
8. An epic recited to honor or praise an important person at the festival or the
patron saint of a festival?
9. It is popularly historically factual but a mixture of fact and fiction.
10. He is the man whose life story is depicted in the novel “Biag ni Lam-ang”?