CUSTOM

OF
Historical Context
■ The Government had difficulty is running local
politics because of the limited number of
Spaniards who wanted to live outside of
Intramuros
■ Spanish officials were forced to allow Filipinos to
hold the position of gobernadorcillo
■ Gobernadorcillo was a municipal judge who carried
out in a town the combined charges or
responsibilities of leadership, economic, and
judicial administration.
■ To ensure that gobernadorcillos would remain loyal to
the crown, friars assigned parishes to supervise &
monitor activities of the former.
■ Friars ended up performing the administrative duties
that the colonial officials should have been doing.
■ Friars also became the most knowledgable and
influential figure in the pueblos.
■ The word pueblo is the Spanish word for "town" or
"village". It comes from the Latin root word
populus meaning "people".
Activities t h a t the Friars
w e r e doing:
■ Supervising the election of the local
executives
■ Collecting of taxes
■ Educating the youth and other civic
duties.
F r i a r s who w e r e assigned in
mission t e r r i t o r i e s were:
■ Required to inform their superiors of what was happening in
their respective areas
■ To prepare reports on the number of natives they converted
■ To document people’s way of life—i.e, their hardships and
struggles, etc.
■ Others who were keen observers submitted short letters
and/or long dispatches.
■ They also shared their personal observations and
experiences .
Plasencia’s Relacion de Las
Costumbres de Los Ta g a l o g s
■ “Custom of the Tagalogs”, 1589, by Fray Juan de
Plasencia
■ Contains numerous information that historians
could use in reconstructing the political and socio-
cultural history of the Tagalog region
■ Considered a primary source because Plasencia
personally witnessed the events and took account
of what was happening
Other examples o f L i t e r a t u r e
W r i t t e n b y F r i a r s and C o l o n i a l
O f f i c i a l s d u r i n g t h e Spanish Period
1.) Relacion de las Islas Filipinas (1582)
■ Written by Miguel de Loarca, an encomendero of
Panay
■ He described the Filipinos’ way of life in the
Western Visayas area.
2.) Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
■ Written by Lt. Gov. Antonio de Morga
■ Provides information about the state of the
Philippines in the latter part of the 16th century.
Other Spanish Missionaries who continued
the historiographical traditions:
■ Relacion de las Islas Filipinas, 1604
- Fr. Pedro Chirino S.J.

■ Historia General, 1751

- Fr. Juan Delgado S.J.

■ Labor Evangelica, 1663

- Fr. Francisco Colin S.J.

■ Historia natural de sitio, fertilidad y calidad de las Islas e Indios de Bisayas,

1668
- Fr. Francisco Ignacio Alcina S.J.
About the
Author
• Fray Juan de Plasencia (real name: Juan
de Portocarrero)
• He was a member of the Franciscan
Order who came together with the first
batch of missionaries to the Philippines
in 1578
• He and Fray Diego de Oropesa were
assigned to do mission works in
the Southern Tagalog area.
• He helped in the foundation and
organizations of numerous towns in Quezon,
Laguna, Rizal and Bulacan
• His continuous interaction with the people he
converted to Christianity engaged him to
write Custom of Tagalogs, 1589, where he
vividly described the political, social,
economic, and cultural practices of the
Filipinos before they were Christianized.
Fray Juan de
Plasencia
■ He believed that catechism or explaining the basic tenets of the
Catholic faith is another very important function of a
missionary.
■ His biggest challenge at the time was how to make the articles
of faith comprehensible to people who have never heard of
Christ or the Catholic church.
 ABOUT THE
TEXT
■ Original document of Customs of the Tagalogs is currently kept in the
Archivo General de Indias.(A.G.I) in Seville, Spain.
■ Duplicate copy of it is kept in the Archivo Franciscano Ibero- Oriental
in
Madrid, Spain
■ English translation appeared in Volume VII of the Blair and Robert’s The
Philippine Islands.
EXCERTS FROM
CUSTOM OF
TAGALOG
DATU
S
■ The chiefs who governed them were
captains in their wars, and whom
they obeyed and reverenced.
■ Chiefs ruled over a few people; sometimes
as many as a hundred houses, or even
less than thirty.
■ Tribal gathering is called in tagalog
a “barangay”
■ Datus who corresponded to our
knights.
 Three
NOBLES Castes:
 Freeborn
or they call
maharlica.
 They not pay
tax or tribute to
the dato.
 Must
accompany
the datu in
war.
COMMONER
S
 Aliping Namamahay
 Married
 Serve their master
whether he be a dato or
not.
 Live in their own houses
and lords their property
and gold.
 Cannot be made slaves (sa
Guiguilid) nor can either
parents or children be
sold.
 SLAVE
S
 Aliping sa Guiguilid
 Serve their master
in his house and his
cultivated lands and
may be sold

 Not married
Difference between the aliping
Namamahay and Aliping sa Guiguilid

■Aliping Namamahay are not slaves

while Aliping sa Guiguilid are
slaves.
Maharlica’s on both father’s and mother’s side
continue to be so forever; if these maharlicas
had children and their mothers became free. If
one of them had children by a slave-woman of
another, she was compelled, when pregnant,
to give her master half of the gold tael
because of her risk of death.
If two person married, of whom one was a maharlica and the
other slave, whether namamahay or sa Guiguilid children
were divided. First, third and fifth child is for the father while
the second, fourth and sixth fell to the mother. Those who
became slave fell under the category of servitude which was
their
parent’s, either namamahay or a sa Guiguilid. If there’s an
odd child, he/she is half free and half slave.
■ Of these two kinds of slaves the sa Guiguilid could be sold but not
the namamahay and their children nor they be transferred however
they could be transferred from barangay, provided they remain in the
same village.
■ Maharlicas could not, after marriage, move from one village
to another.
■ Marriage dowries deal more Complex if the couples are
young. Parents also received part of the dowries.
WORSHIP OF HE
T TAGALO
GS
PanDOT OR
“WORsHiP”
■ A festive celebration
■ Includes performing of sacrifices,
adoration of their idols or the general
practice of Idolatry.
■ Usually lasts for 4 days
■ People bring drums which they beat
successively while the feast lasted
■ Nagaanitos was also another way
the feast
was called by the members of the
barangay
 Place o f
■Worship
Their place of worship was called a temple
■ Since there are no temples consecrated for the
performance of these rights, it is usually held
in a large house of a chief.
■ Sibi- is a temporary shed on each side of
the house to shelter the gathered people
■ Sorihile- small lamps on the posts of the
house
B A T H A L A
■ They worshipped this god specially
■ He was said to be the “all
powerful” and “maker of all
things”

S U N
 They also worshipped the sun for
its beauty, respected and
honored as the heavens
T H E M O O N

■ They worship the moon especially when

it’s new, which at the time they had great
rejoicings to adore and welcome it

S T A R S
 They also worship the stars, most
especially the morning star which they
called “Tala”
THEIR OTHER
IDOLS:
■ Lic-ha- were images with differrent shapes
■ Little Trifles- they adored these like
the Romans
■ Dian Masalanta- the patron of lovers and
of generation
■ Lacapati and Indianale- were patrons
of cultivated lands and of husbandry
■ Buaya- they paid reverence to these
creatures for fear of getting harmed
 Ta g a l o g Omens
■ They believed that rats, snakes, the
bird( tigmamanugin) or if they pass by someone
who sneezed they think of this as a bad omen
and that they should go back home for evil will
befall them if they continue their journey.
■ Divination- to see whether weapons, such as dagger
or knife, were useful and lucky for the possesor
Time
■ The natives had no established division of years
or months, instead they base time or season on
their cultivation of soil, counting the moons, or
the different produce of trees and flowers. These
help them make up a year
Manner o f O f f e r i n g
■ Their sacrifice was to proclaim a feast and offer to
the devil what they had to eat. This is done in
front of a an idol with fragrant perfumes.
■ Often they sacrifice goats, fowls, and swine
which were decapitated and laid bare before the
idol
■ They worship these idols sometimes by putting
wrappings of cloths in the heads of these idols,
thus it’s like worshipping the devil without seeing
him
Purpose o f These O ff e r i n g s

■ Healing of the sick

■ Prosperous voyage of those embarking on the
sea
■ A good harvest
■ Successful child birth
■ Happy outcome of married life
Distinction of Priest
and the Devil
CATALONAN
■ The first distinction
■ Was a man or woman, that officiates the feast.
■ The devil was sometimes capable of entering the
body of the catalonan, said to take it’s shape and
appearance with great arrogance and would
sometimes shoot flame from his/her eyes
■ In some districts if the possession was severe
they tie the person on a tree to prevent the devil
in destroying the minister
MANGAGAUAY
 The second distinction
 Witches who deceived
people by pretending to heal
the sick
 They can instantly kill a
person or prolong life,
believed to be the works of
a devil
 Found throughout the land
MANYIS
ALAT
■ The third distinction, the same as the
mangagaguay
■ Had a power of applying remedies for lovers to
make them despise their own wives
■ When the ritual was successful the abandoned
wives’ health would deteriorate and would
discharge blood and matter
■ Office is general throughout the land
 MANCOCOLAM
■ This is the fourth distinction
■ Duty was to emit fire from
himself at night, once or
often each month
■ Fire could not be extinguished
and people who wallowed with
this priest would fell ill and die
■ Found throughout the land
HOCLOBAN
■ The fifth distinction
■ More powerful than the
mangagauay
■ Without use of medicines but
just by saluting or raising his
hand they can kill whom they
chose or heal those who
became ill by their charms.
■ They are found in
Catanduanes
SILAGAN
■ The sixth distinction
■ If they saw anyone clothed in white,
they would tear out his liver and
eat it, causing death to the victim
■ Don’t let anyone believe this as a
fable, for a Spanish notary was killed
in Calauan, his intestines pulled out
from his anus, was later buried in
Calilaya by father Fray Juan de
Merida
■ Found in the island of Catanduanes
MAGTATANGAL

■ The seventh distinction

■ His purpose is to show
himself at night with no
head or entrails, pretends
to carry his head in
different places and
returns to
his body in the morning
■ Still occurred in
Catanduanes
OSUANG

■ The eight distinction

■ Equivalent to a sorcerer,
they say he has the ability
to fly and murders men and
eats their flesh
■ Exists in the Visayas
and not among the
tagalogs
MANGAGAYOMA

■ The ninth, and is another

class of witches
■ They made charms for lovers
out of herbs, stones, and
wood which would infuse their
hearts with love
■ Deceives people and
sometimes through the
devil’s intervention they
gained their ends
SONAT

■The tenth, equivalent to a preacher

■It was his job to help one die, at which
time he predicted the salvation or
condemnation of the soul
■He can be found throughout the land
PANGATAHOJAN

■ The eleventh, was a soothsayer

■ Predicted the future
■ Office generally found in the land

BAYOGUIN
 The twelfth, signified a “cotquean”
 A man whose nature is inclined
toward that of a woman
(homosexual)
Their manner of burying the dead was
as follows:
The deceased was buried beside his house
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 boat which served as a coffin or bier, placing him
beneath
the porch, where guard kept over him by a slave. In place of rowers,
various animals were placed within the boat, each one being
assigned
a place at the oar by twos---male female of each species
being together.
Examples:
Two goats
Two deer, or two fowls
■It was the slave’s care to see that they were fed.
If the deceased had been a warrior, a living
slave was tied beneath his body until in this
way he died. In course of time, all suffer decay,
and for many days the relatives of the dead
man bewailed him, singing dirges, and praises
of his good qualities, until they wearied of it.
This grief was accompanied by eating and
drinking. This was a customs of tagalongs.
■ There 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 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 only
dwelt bathala, “the maker of all things,” who governed from above.
There were also another pagans who confessed more clearly to 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.
■ There were also ghosts, which they called vibit, and
phantoms, which they called tigbalaang. They had another
deception namely, if any woman died in childbirth, she and
the child suffered punishment, and that, at night, she
could be heard lamenting.
■ This called patianac. May honor and glory be to God our
Lord, that among the tagalongs 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.
RELEVANC
E
 Plasencia’s Customs of the Tagalog is a very
popular primary source as it vividly describes
the way o life of the Filipinos before Spanish
and Christian influences.
It also covers numerous topics that
are relevant in many disciplines.
Political scientists, for instance, find it
useful because it contains information about
the
social classes, political stratifications and
legal system of the Tagalog region.
 Moreover, it tackles property
rights,marriage rituals, burial practices and the
manner in which justice is dispensed.
Plasencia’s account also preserves and
popularizes the unwritten customs,traditions
and religious and superstitious beliefs of us
Filipinos.
Plasencia’s work also tackles our historical
knowledge about manananaggal,aswang,hukluban
and gayuma.
 Priests and missionaries also read
Plasencia’s Customs of the Tagalogs and Doctrina
Christiana because they contain insights that can
help and inspire them to become evangelizers.
The realization that one needs to master
local
language and study of the culture of the people
to be a successful insight from Plasencia.
They also learned from Plasencia that
preaching
should be accompanied with reading
materials that contain the basic elements of faith.
 Plasencia’s historical writings also disprove the
claim of some Spaniards that when they arrived in the
Philippines, Filipinos were still uncivilized and lacking
in culture.
It is clear in the excerpts quoted that at time
Plasencia was assigned in the Tagalog region,
Filipinos were already politically and economically
organized,
They had functioning government tax system, set of
laws,criminal justice system,indigenous calendar and
long standing customs and traditions.Moreover
they had a concept of a supreme
being(Bathala),practiced burial
 All of these lead to the conclusion
that prior to the coming of the Spaniards,
Filipinos were already civilized and
maintained a lifestyle that was on a part
with or even better than that of the
people from other countries in SouthEast
Asia.
 Reference
https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/western-mindanao-state-university/n
ursing/customs-of-the-tagalog-readings-in-philippines/7074799

https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/western-mindanao-state-university/n
ursing/customs-of-the-tagalog-readings-in-philippines/7074799

https://prezi.com/p/vjiz6mscj-2-/customs-of-the-tagalogs-by-juan-de-plasencia/
?fbclid=IwAR2WMqi54a2GJ5zn8dIf0YfJC5sKdVgw4TvmoNeZoGlqc3ptlXMoZjPew
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