Similarities and Peculiarities of

Traditional Culture among Moros and

Lumads in MINSUPALA

Mindanao State University – General Santos City

HISTORY 003
 Objectives:
1. Describe the distinct traditional culture among the Moro groups

2. Discover and depict the unique Social Customs and Religious Beliefs and
Practices among the selected Lumad groups

3. Compare and contrast the unique traditional culture of both Moros and
Lumads of MINSUPALA
SIMILARITIES

The Muslims in the Philippines tended to be united because

of their similarities, in, at least, four aspects or factors,
namely:
 Islam Religion
 Traditional Socio-Political Structures
 Moro (Muslim) Psychological Image
 Islamic – Malay Cultural Lines
ISLAM
Arrived in the Sulu archipelago towards the end of
the 13th century
Tuan Mashai’ka (1280)
Karim ul-Makhdum (2nd half of the 14th Century)
Rajah Baginda (beginning of 15th century)
Sayyid Abu Bakr – began the Sulu Sultanate
ISLAM
Maguindanao with a certain Sharif Awliya (1460)
 Sharif Kabungsuan (1515)

 Maranao with a certain Sharif Alawi who landed in

Misamis Oriental
 Itis not clear when Islam first came to Palawan (trade
and political influences flowing from the Sultanate of
Brunei, then later from Sultanate of Sulu)
ISLAM
“Folk Islam”
 Blending of normative beliefs and rites with the pre-Islamic beliefs and
cutsoms
 Moros conceive of the world as alive with spirits (diwatas, tonongs and
hantus) and they make offerings to these spirits
 Many attribute sickness and metal disorders to the work of malign spirits
and can be appeased by festivals and ceremonies (kalilang or kapangapar)
 Maranaos believed that every person is born with a twin spirit (inikadowa)
who, if offended by the words or behavior of its human double, may cause
sickness to the person
ISLAM
“Folk Islam”
 Environmental spirits relate to the success or
failure of agriculture (notably rice planting and
harvesting) and other socio-economic ventures
 Blending of Islamic and pre-Islamic beliefs and
customs is most visible in the “rites of passage” or
ceremonies related to the life-cycle of the Moros
TRADITIONAL SOCIO-POLITICAL STRUCTURES
Reworked the existing structure and produced
“Islamic variant” of the barangay type of society
“native state construction”
Sultanate system
3 classes:
 “Aristocrats”

 “Commoners”

 “Slaves”
TRADITIONAL SOCIO-POLITICAL STRUCTURES
The Datus
 Datus-in-fact
 Presided over a group of followers and/or controlled a given territory
 Datus-in-name
 Born into aristocratic families, while in reality they commanded no following and had
no power
 Royal Datus
 Aristocratic
families generally thought of as descended from the first Sultans of Sulu
and Maguindanao
TRADITIONAL SOCIO-POLITICAL STRUCTURES
The Datus
Basis of power:
1. Personal wealth
2. Followers who rallied around his leadership
3. His exemplification of the important values of Muslim
society, such as courage and prowess in slaying
TRADITIONAL SOCIO-POLITICAL STRUCTURES
Maranao society does not have social
classes (Charles Warriner in Saber &
Madale, 1975:37-44)
 Bilateral kinship
 Maranao have “descent lines” which are ranked as pegawiden
(carried) and pegawid (carrier)
TRADITIONAL SOCIO-POLITICAL STRUCTURES
The Sultans
 Pattern of emergence was essentially the same
 Established themselves as leaders among a loosely
organized people
 Married local women, learned the native language,
adopted many of the customs, adjusted to the social
order
 Claim to descent from Prophet Mohammad (hereditary)
The Sultan of Sulu is the head of the tausug
peoples. In the Sulu Sultanate, there were only
existed "Two Heirs" as the owners and inherits to
the Sulu Sultanate kingdom. The heirs so-called as
"The first heir-apparents" (Descendant of Sultan
Azimuddin /Alimuddin-I ibni Sultan Badaruddin-I.
Nowadays became Kiram & Shakiraullah families),
AND "The second heir-apparent" (Descendant of
Sultan Bantilan Muizzuddin ibni Sultan Badaruddin-
I. Nowadays became the Maharajah Adinda
families).
TRADITIONAL SOCIO-POLITICAL STRUCTURES
The Tarsilas
 Also called salsila, or sarsila, or salasila
 Written genealogy supporting the claim of an aristocratic
family to descent from sultans or royal datus back to Prophet
Mohammad – and sometimes even beyond (pre-Islamic)
 Validate their titles and status
 Show relations between the Moro sultans and ruling families
elsewhere in the Muslim world
 TRADITIONAL SOCIO-POLITICAL STRUCTURES
SULU SULTANATE
Sulu Archipelago
Organized middle of 15th century
and lasted in law until 1915 (27th
Sultan Jamal ul-Kiram II
surrendered all his claims to
temporal authority in Sulu to US
government)
MAGUINDANAO SULTANATE MARANAO
Mindanao Lanao Region
Organized in 16th century
*Sultanate of Maguindanao (near 43 sultanates dispersed through
Cotabato City) - lower valley (sa four (4) loosely federated
ilud) of the Pulangi River “states”
*Sultanate of Buayan (near Datu *Masiu
Piang) – upper valley (sa raya) *Bayabao
Sultanate of Kabuntalan *Unayan
(Bagumbayan) – between the *Baloi
other two 15 are regarded as “higher
sultanates”
TRADITIONAL SOCIO-POLITICAL STRUCTURES
The Sultans
 Not all Moro groups had sultans
 No independent political existence but clients of the larger
sultanates
 Yakan and Badjao groups were clients of the Sultan of Sulu
 Moro groups of the Zamboanga Peninsula and of Davao and
Sarangani Bay were clients of the Maguindanao Sultans
TRADITIONAL SOCIO-POLITICAL STRUCTURES

Sultan

Kali
Ruma Bichara (judge)
(House of Discussion) Most learned men, well versed
Council of the most powerful in the Qur’an and Shari’a and
and influential datus acquainted of the Muslim legist
al-Shafi’i

Ulama
(Group of panditas/imam)
Learned in the doctrines and
laws of Islam
TRADITIONAL SOCIO-POLITICAL STRUCTURES
The Sakops
Commoners
Sailors, Fishermen, farmers and artisans
Owed datus their loyalty, tribute and
when called upon labor and service as
fighting men
TRADITIONAL SOCIO-POLITICAL STRUCTURES
“Slaves”
 Attached to the households of the datus
 Bisaya (Maranao and Ilanun) from Visayan Islands
 Captives in wars or raids, by purchase or natural
reproduction of enslaved persons
 Olipon (bond slaves) enslaved for limited period
 Baniaga captured or kidnapped from among non-Muslims
TRADITIONAL SOCIO-POLITICAL STRUCTURES
“Slaves”
 Female slaves performed menial household tasks and sometimes
became the concubines of their masters
 Male slaves labored in the fields and performed manual labor
 Bear arms for their masters
 Late 18th and early 19th century, Sulu’s involvement in the British and
Spanish trade with China increased, so did the demand for
manpower to procure the sea and jungle products (sea cucumber and
bird’s nests) required in that trade (James Warren,1975:410-411)
Austronesian-speaking people (Formosan and Malayo-Poynesian) are
various populations in Southeast Asia and Oceania that speak languages
of the Austronesian family.
 The Haplogroup O1 (Y-DNA)a-M119 genetic marker is frequently
detected in Austronesians, as well as some non-Austronesian
populations in southern China.
 Other genetic markers found in native Austronesian populations
are Haplogroup C (Y-DNA), Haplogroup O2a (Y-DNA), and 
Haplogroup O3 (Y-DNA)
 Culture of Early Austronesian People

 Considered the sea as basic tenet of life

 Body art is common, especially elaborate
tattooing which has ancient origins
 Decorated jars and other forms of pottery
 Indigenous religions generally bound by the
belief in an all-powerful divinity
As aborigines of Mindanao islands, the Moros strongly
resemble their co-inhabitants and self – contained
subject peoples, the Indigenous (Lumad) hinterland
tribes.
They originated from common Indonesian stocks (Indo-
Malay Peoples) that migrated from the south of Mainland
Asia into the Malay Archipelago, in Mindanao, where they
were initially and widely known as the first, or Proto-
Manobo in both culture and language.
 Peculiarities
While the Muslims tend to be united by aforesaid factors, they also have
differences and peculiarities or variations. At least ten of these can be
cited and broadly categorized, as follows:
 Language and Dialect
 Subsistence Pattern (Livelihood adaptation)
 Historical Development (Extent and Intensity of Contacts)
 Degree of Islamization (conservatism vs liberalism, etc.)
 Social complexity (rural vs urban, etc.)
 Literary traditions (prose &poetry, darangen, etc.)
 Art and music
 Dances and sports
 Food delicacy and cakes
 Socio-psychological traits (stereotyping, norms, values, temperament)
Language
Subsistence Pattern
Historical Development
Degree of Islamization
Marriage Customs
 Social stratification is apparent (belonging to same status of his
family)
 Arranged marriage by the parents in the past, now more on romantic
marriage
 Criteria for selection of bride:
1. Status, wealth, prestige and power of her family
2. Her personality traits and qualities which fit her as mistress of a good home
3. Her health and beauty
4. Her education, training and experience
 Criteria for selection of an acceptable husband: wealth, status of his
parents, reputation, fighting ability, general demeanor and ability
Child Rearing
 He is taught to respect his elders, including his siblings.
 Heis expected to be quiet and submissive rather than
aggressive
 Ceremonial preparation for adulthood:
 Pag-Islam(what Islam has required) is male circumcision and
performed before or around the age of puberty
 Pagsunnat is female circumcision, often soon after the birth, not
until 6 or 7 years old
 Pagtammat (ending study of the Qur’an,i.e. graduation) marks
intellectual initiation
 Memorize passages of the Qur’an; learn about the “Five Pillars” of Islam; learn
religious songs and chants
Polygyny and Divorce
Code of Muslim Personal Laws (Presidential Decree No. 1083, 4 February
1977)
 Sura IV:3 (permits a man to have up to four wives but demands that
she shall treat them, and provide for them, equally
 Financial considerations

 Both the husband and wife have the right to sue for divorce
 Theoretically, the man may divorce his wife without a reason, even
capriciously, but the wife may sue only on grounds of her husband’s cruelty or
lack of maintenance
 Failure of the husband to support the family, incompatibility, quarrelling over
money matters, the barrenness of the wife, excessive gambling, disagreement
over treatment of the children and refusal of the woman to accept a co-wife
Food and Dress
 Much like that of most other Filipino groups and of the peoples of island Southeast
Asia
 Do not eat and drink, notably pork and alcoholic beverages

 Modesty in dress, the ideal being exposure only of the hands and feet and head
from the neck up
 Malong – traditional dress among Maguindanao and Maranao; large, multicolored,
oblong, woven cloth with its end sewn together
 Kombong – turban wrapped in the heads of Maranao and Maguidanao women
 Patadyong – smaller garment that the malong among the Tausug
 Sawal or kantyu – loose baggy trousers among Tausug
 Kopiya – traditional headgear, oval-shaped hat of felt or wool
Sickness and Its Cures
Folk medicine (Combination of common sense and
superstition)
More serious illnesses are likely to be attributed to
a variety of supernatural causes
Displeasure of the spirits, or offenses against one’s own
twin spirit or black magic of an enemy or the curse of
God for breaking a solemn promise, violating an oath, or
failing to observe a sacred custom
Sickness and Its Cures
Maguindanao tabib (medicine men) determine the
day of the week the illness began
Sunday – caused by the devil
Monday – caused by the wind
Tuesday – by water
Wednesday – by sun
Thursday – by hunger
Friday – agent of disease acted while the person was
sleeping
Saturday – due to an internal wound
Social Control: Maratabat
 Inculcation in the young Moro of the values and mores of
the society
 Sense of pride or their sense of shame
Literature: Epics
7 Major epics
Darangen (Maranao) – series of poetic narratives which
revolve mainly around one great, godlike hero, Prince
Bantugen, who dwelt in the legendary kingdom of Bembaran
(25 episodes)
Raja Indarapatra (Maguindanao and Maranao)
Garay
Kulintangan ensemble/Palabunibunyan
consists of 5 instruments:
 kulintang (series of 8 gongs),
 agong (wide-rimmed gong),
 gandingan (4 thin-rimmed gongs),
 dabakan (goblet-shaped drum) and
 babandir (small thin rimmed gong).
 Sagayan or warrior dance
 Asik or dance of the dolls for girls
 Kamayang sanusala or a fan and kerchief dance
highlighting the art of fan handling, dinggunda or
courtship dance
 Gardingan or counterpart of pangalay dance
 kagsingkil or kadsayan sa singkilan
History:
Kingdom of Bumbaran which was sank into what is now Lake Lanao. Only four survived. They
were organized into an independent and kin-shaped based political units called barangay,
but were organized into four pengampong (states or encampments)/ pat-a-pengampong ko
ranao administered by local datu (Bayabao, Masiu, Unayan and Balo-i)

Political Structure:
 There are 43 identified sultanates, 15 are regarded as higher sultanate and the rest
belong to the Lower sultanate - Multicentric Maranao society.
 Bisaya-called to their slaves, Moro raiders captured their slaves from the Visayan Island,
captive in wars and raids, acquired from or by purchasing it and natural birth from
enslaved person.
 In 1974 - 15 sultanate where given recognition by the Philippine government, Pres. Marcos
publicly acknowledge Sultan Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman - former congressman - of Bayang
as the Paramount sultan of the 19th Royal Houses of Mindanao and Sulu.
Ukir, Okir, Ukkil
 Ukir (Malay), Okir (Maranao) and Ukkil (Tausug) means to
carve or engrave
 Three Levels:
1. Process of engraving and carving or incising
2. Act of carving or engraving and to a particular type of curvilinear
design which combines stylized scroll, leaf, vine elements in a
seemingly finite range of abstract variations
3. Decorative designs “gentleman’s art” ( intricate curvilinear
motifs) and “ladies’ art” (zigzag or angular geometric)
 Three-types of houses:
 lawig (small)
 mala-a-walai (large) and
 torogan (ancestral house of the
datu)

 have posts (floating

foundations) to prevent
structures from collapsing during
earthquakes
 kaganat sa darangen “to stand from the darangen” to
interpret and reenact the journey of Prince Lomna to
propose marriage in behalf of his father, Bantugan.
 Sagayan or war dance/reenactment of Prince Bantugan’s
preparation of battle.
 Karatong or three dancers interact with each other.
Sadoratan or reenactment of the Paramata Gandingan
when Princess Paramata Gandingan is abducted and asked
to walk in the middle of two strings laid out.
 Kapemalongmalong which illustrates the various uses of
the malong.
 Singkil or the royal bamboo dance.
 Samal groupings of people:
 Samal Palabat- settled on land;
 Samal Talon- settled on interior ares mostly farmers;
 Samal Lipid- settled on coastal water or seashore;
 Samal Dilaut- settled on sea or the sea gypsies;
(Badjaos)
 Samal Balangingi- pirates and slave raiders
Notwithstanding the aforesaid differences, peculiarities or
variations, the most basic and sharp contrast between the Moros
and Lumads is their adherence to their respective belief or
religion. The Moros generally believe in the Islamic monotheism,
while the IPs are still animists and pagans, with traces of early
Hindu beliefs and Islamic influences. Politically, the Moros are
highly patriarchal under the sultanate-datuship system, while the
indigenous are generally, in the primitive stage of baganiship
(tribal heroism), timuay (local chief) or gumotanship (tribal
kingship).
 
Bagobos in their full warrior dress. Mamanwa
 Bagobo
 Religious Beliefs and Practices
 Paghuaga – human sacrifice honoring Mandarangan (“chief of
the war gods and patron of all who have taken at least one
human life”) and Tolus Ka Balekat (“one who knows
everything” and the god of the balekat or “highest type of
altar”) who reside in a lake in the volcano crater of Mt. Apo
 Believed to grant courage and success (war and trade)
 Children who participated in the ceremony were believed to
grow up fearless
 Sacrificial victim was slave, killed by a lance thrust. Corpse was
chopped by all the pieces distributed for them to take home.
Blaan bird dance, ADMULAK. Manobo warrior. The large circular
ornaments are a trademark.
 MANOBO
 Oral Tradition:
 Brothers Tabunaway and Mamalu who lived by a creek,
Banobo, which flowed into the Mindanao River near the
present site of Cotabato City. Tabunaway rejected Islam and
advised his younger brother to submit to conversion.
Tabunaway fled up to the Pulangi River went to Livungan
became the Livunganen. Others became Kirinteken, Mulitaan,
Kulaman and Tenenenen. Group stayed along the river in
Lanuan and built an ilian (fort) so became the Ilianon. Those
who went to divava (downriver) became the Dibabawon.
Mamalu’s descendants became the Maguindanao.
 Kulamanen split into Pulangian and Metidsalug/Matigsalug
 Tenenenen split into Keretanen, Lundugbatneg, and Rangiranen
 MANOBO
 Religious Beliefs and Practices:
Four worlds:
 Many-layered langit (skyworld), pasak or yongsud to
mamasak (earthworl), yongsud ni maybowan
(underworld), and kulaguan (Paradise where the epic
heroes dwell)
Three Kinds of Inhabitants in Langit:
 Umli (class of deities, aloof of human affairs), diwata
(lesser gods who control natural phenomenon and various
living creatures) and busaw (ghoul spirits cause illness and
misfortunes)
 MANOBO
 Religious Beliefs and Practices:
Katulusan (first layer)
Manama, Kerenen, Nenlimbag/ Medlimbag,
Memintaran, Misuara, Nengazen, and Alataala
Second layer: Mandangan (goddess of bloodshed and
war)
 Other diwatas: Ibabasuk/Ivevasuk (god of farming),
Manawbanaw/Manewvanew (god of rain and thunder),
Lelawag (god of wild game), Alimogkat/Elimagket and
Bulalakew/Bulelakew (gods of rivers and streams),
Mengilala (god of murder)
 MANOBO
 Religious Beliefs and Practices:
Ipememehandi (goddess of wealth)
 Dwelling place overflows with wealth: creek shimmers with
silver coins, the plains are made of gold, the riverbanks are
mirrors
Manawbanaw (god responsible for the Manobo system
of taboos)
Pelekumpas (goddess of the Valley of Dancing)
 Plants of gold make tinkling music and the soil is made of silver
and gold
 MANOBO
 Religious Beliefs and Practices:
Salladan/Mandalluman/Banwa/Pasak/Lupa
 Earth, a flat, circular space, the center of which is Mindanao
 Mt. Kalatungan as navel of the earth
T’boli women weaving T’nalak Tiruray children
 Buklug dancing platform Subanon enjoying
a drink together

Mandaya Wedding Costumes

 MANDAYA
 Religious Beliefs and Practices:
 Manauag – idols made from the bayog tree
and the eyes are taken from the fruit of
the magobahay (no arms and women
manauag are adorned with a comb). These
idols are set in canopied altars in their
houses
 Bailana performed rituals or ceremonies
 Limocon/Limoken is a bird of omen
 In A Different World
 Muslims of the Southern Philippines have maintained their roots more firmly
in the Islamized Malay World, and owe much to the Islamic Civilization of
Arabia and the Middle East.
 One cannot study the histories of Mindanao and Sulu Sultanates without
noting the dynastic, political and commercial ties which for centuries
existed between them and the rest of the Malay World and the larger Islamic
World beyond.
 One cannot travel in the Muslim areas of the Philippines without discovering
the arts and manufactures, music and dancing, language and literature,
dress and lifeways are similar, in some instances nearly identical, to those of
the neighboring Islamized peoples of Malaysia and Indonesia.
 Similarities of Tri-People

1. Common origin in the Malayo-

Polynesian family of languages
(Richard E. Elkins – Manobo
subfamily)
2. Rarities physical appearances
3. Similarity of origin by their folk
tradition
 Kalibugan of Titay, Zamboanga del Sur speak of two brothers as their
ancestors, both Subanen. Dumalandan to Islam While Gumabon-gabon
was not. Among the Lapuyan, Zamboanga del Sur, they talk of four
ancestors. Tabunaway was the ancestor of the Dumalandan

 Arumanen Manobo of North Cotabato and the say that brothers

Tabunaway and Mamalu are their ancestors, although they differ on
which of the tow was to Islam and on whether they were really siblings.
To the Maguindanao, they were blood brother and it was Tabunaway a
Muslim. Aong the Manobo, rela names of Tabunaway and Mamalu were
Rimpung and Sabala and were close friends, not siblings (brothers)