Customs of the Tagalogs

by FRAY JUAN DE PLASENCIA

ANNABEE MAGBANUA-CLAUR, Ph. D.
Customs of the Tagalogs
by FRAY JUAN DE PLASENCIA
Fray Juan
de
Plasencia
 SOURCE
De Plasencia, Juan.
1906. “Customs of the
Tagalogs” in Emma
Helen Blair and James
Alexander Robertson.
The Philippine Islands:
1493-1898. Cleveland,
OH: The Arthur H.
Clark Company.
BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR

He was born in the early 16th century to the

illustrious family in the region of
Extremadura, Spain.
His real name is Joan de Puerto Carrero,
del convento de Villanueva de la Serena
He came with the first batch of
FRANCISCAN missionaries to the
Philippines in July 2, 1578.
BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR

He started preaching in the Tagalog region

specifically in Laguna, Quezon, Bulacan, and
Rizal areas together with Franciscan Fray
Diego de Oropesa.
He was one of those who initiated the
Reduccion Policy, a policy to resettle natives
in central locations.
BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR

His works include

1) Arte de la Lengua (Art of Language);

2) Coleccion de frases tagala (Collection of Tagalog

Phrases);

3) Diccionario Tagalog ( Tagalog Dictionary); and

4) Doctrina Christiana en Lengua Española y Tagala

which became the first printed book in the
Philippines in 1593.
REDUCCION
BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR

His experiences with the natives he converted to

Christianity influenced him to write the book
entitled RELACION DE LAS COSTUMBRES DE
LOS TAGALOGS ( Customs of the Tagalogs)
in 1589. This book describes in details the cultural,
economic, social, and political practices of the
Filipino natives before the Spaniards arrived.

He died in Liliw, Laguna in 1590.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

 Before the colonization by the Spaniards, the
Filipinos particularly the Tagalog, already had
customs and beliefs that they followed and were
accustomed to. These customs and beliefs showed
how systematized and civilized their way of living
was making it difficult for the Spanish colonial
government to administer the natives.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

 Also, some of the Spaniards did not want to live
outside Intramuros. For this reason, Filipino natives
were allowed to be gobernadorcillos. But friars were
assigned to monitor those gobernadorcillos. As part
of their monitoring, they performed administrative
functions such as collection of taxes, implementation
of the Royal orders to the localities, and other civic
duties. Thus, friars played significant roles in the
pueblo.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

 Among their administrative duties, friars were
requested to make reports informing their
superiors on their experiences in their assigned
localities. Fray Juan de Plasencia also received this
request.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

 To fulfill this request, Fray Plasencia thoroughly
informed himself by observing and talking to people
from different localities; by experiencing those
practices with the natives; and by compiling all those
information about the political and socio-cultural
activities of the people in the Tagalog region.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM CUSTOMS OF
THE TAGALOGS

 Analysis – Customs
Datos (chiefs)
governed them and were captains in their wars, and
whom they obeyed and reverenced
subject who committed any offense against them, or
spoke but a word to their wives and children, was
severely punished.
Ruled a barangay
 Analysis – Customs
Barangay
as many as a hundred houses, sometimes even less than
thirty
many barangays in a town, they are not subject to one
another, except in relationship and friendship (Chiefs
helped one another in wars)
 Analysis – Customs
Maharlica (nobles)
Didn’t pay taxes/tribute to dato, accompanies him in
wars instead (at his own expense)
very close to the chief (Feast before wars, division of
spoils after, rows boat for dato, helps build house for
dato and are fed for it)
Some cases, they paid a hundred gantas of rice annually
(when a new chief buys the land, new chief divided
lands as he see fit)
 Analysis – Customs
Division of lands
the land of a barangay, especially the irrigated portion,
is divided upon the members
cannot be cultivated by a person from another barangay
UNLESS: purchased or inherited
TINGUES (mountain ridges) owned in common by
barangay
Chiefs had fisheries (with limits) and section of rivers
(for market), no one could fish or trade except members
of barangay. (Special exception to those who pay the
privilege in doing those)
 Analysis – Customs
Aliping namamahay (commoners)
married and serves master (datu or not) with half of
cultivated lands
has own houses, property, gold
children inherits these lands, properties
cannot be sold and made slaves (saguiguilir)
If they should fall by inheritance into the hands of a son
of their master who was going to dwell in
another village, they could not be taken from their own
village and carried with him; but they would remain in
their native village, doing service there and cultivating
the sowed lands.
 Analysis – Customs
Aliping sa guiguilir (Slaves)
includes those who cannot pay debts, captives of war
can be a namamahay (commoner) when they pay their
masters a certain amount of gold (usually greater than 5 taels)
serves master in his house and on his cultivated lands
can be granted a portion of harvest for them to work
faithfully (not always and only if master profited from his
work)
can be sold, servants born in house of master are rarely sold
Consequently, the alcaldes-mayor should be instructed to
ascertain, when anyone asks for his alipin, to which class he
belongs, and to have the answer put in the document that
they give him.
 Analysis – Customs
Conception of Children on Non-Married couples
Maharlicas on both father and mother side are maharlicas
forever (can be slaves through marriage)
If a maharlica had children among his slave, the child and
mother becomes free
If the child is from a slave-woman of another, mother should
pay half of a gold tael to master (because of risk of death and
inability of servitude during pregnancy)
If child is recognized by the father(by supplying with food) , half
of him was free. If not, the child is wholly a slave
If a free-woman has children by a slave, they are free provided
that she is not married to the slave.
 Analysis – Customs
Conception of children on married couples
If a maharlica marries an alipin (whether namamahay or
saguiguilid), the 1st, 3rd, 5th child belonged to father, 2nd,
4th, 6th, to the mother. If father is free, children are free.
If father is a slave, children are also slaves. Same applies
to the mother (when the number of children is even
number)
When the number of children is odd, the odd one is
half-free/half-slave
If only 1 child, the latter is half-free/half-slave
Those who became slaves fell under the category of
servitude which was their parent's, either namamahay or
sa guiguilir
 Analysis – Customs
Transferring of barangays
Aliping saguiguilir can be transferred to other barangays
when sold
Aliping namamahay cannot be sold and can only be
transferred through inheritance (barangay should be on
the same village)
Maharlicas cannot transfer village or barangays after
marriage unless they pay a certain fine of gold.(depends
on the village. Ranges from 3 taels to banquet to entire
barangay)
failure of payment might result to war to the barangay he
left and entered
 Analysis – Customs
Laws and punishments
Investigations made and sentences passed by dato
should take place in front of the barangay members
On special cases, an arbiter (unanimously chosen) is
named as a judge. (chosen because they are just and fair
men)
if person accused feels aggrieved,
if controversy lay between two datos who wish to avoid war
when disputants belonged to two different barangays
 Analysis – Customs
Laws and punishments
Condemned to death
a man of lowbirth who insulted daughter or wife of chief
witches and the like
slavery is never a punishment
unless a persons merited the death penalty
children and accomplices of witches
if fines were not paid
All other offenses were punished by fines in gold
if not paid, the culprit serves person aggrieved until
payment has been made
 Analysis - Customs
Inheritances
legitimate children of a married couple inherited
equally, except when parents showed a slight partiality
such as gifts like gold taels or jewels
If one had children to two or more legitimate wives,
children receives inheritance and dowry of mother and
share of father’s estate
If one had a child to slave and to his legitimate wife,
former had no share of inheritance but the mother will
be freed and will be given a tael or a slave (if father is a
datu)
 Analysis - Customs
Inheritances
If one had a child to a legitimate wife and another free
woman ( inaasaya), legitimate child gets 2/3 of
inheritance and the other gets 1/3
If no legitimate children and only from the inaasaya, the
latter gets all inheritance.
If a married woman had a child from another man
if husband punished adulterer, it’s considered dowry and
the child is part of the inheritance
If the husband did not punish the adulterer, the child is
not considered legitimate and gains no inheritance
Adopted children inherits the double on what was paid
for their adoption
Analysis – Worship
Simbahan
A temple or place of adoration
The whole barangay united and joined in the worship
which they call nagaanitos
Place to conduct a festival or “pandot”
Analysis – Worship
Bathala
“All powerful” or “maker of all things”

Sun

Moon

Stars

Lic-ha
Idols which were images with different shapes
Analysis – Worship
Dian masalanta
Patron of lovers and of generation

Lacapati and Idianale

Patron of the cultivated lands and of husbandry

Crocodiles
Paid reverence in fear of being harmed by them
A portion of what they carried in their boats
Analysis – Worship
Auguries
If they left their house and met on the way a serpent or
rat, or a bird called tigmamanuguin which was singing in
the tree, considering the incident as a sign that some
evil might befall them
Analysis – Worship
No established division of years, months, and days
Cultivation of the soil
Counted by moons
Different effect produced upon the trees when yielding
flowers, fruits, and leaves
Analysis – Worship
Manner of Offering Sacrifice
Proclaim a feast, and offer to the devil what they had to
eat
Done in front of the idol and praise it in poetic songs
sung by the officiating priest (Catolonan)
Objects of sacrifice were goats, fowls, and swine
Flayed, decapitated, and laid before the idol
A jar of rice
Buyos – small fruit wrapped in a leaf with some lime
Fried food and fruits
Analysis – Worship
Reasons for Sacrifices
Recovery of a sick person
Prosperous voyage of those embarking on the sea
Good harvest in the sowed lands
Propitious result in wars
Successful delivery in childbirth
Happy outcome in married life
Analysis – Worship
Young girl’s first monthly period
Blindfolded for four days and four nights
The friends and relatives were all invited to partake of
food and drink
At the end of this period, the catolonan took the young
girl to the water, bathed her and washed her head, and
removed the bandage from her eyes
Did this in order that the girls might bear children, and
have fortune in finding husbands to their taste
 Analysis – Worship
THE PRIESTS OF THE DEVIL

1. Catalonan
❖ Man or woman
❖ Honorable one among the natives
❖ Held ordinarily by people of rank
 Analysis – Worship
2. Mangagauay
❖ Witches
❖ Deceived by pretending to heal the sick
❖ Induced ailments by their charms
❖ Capable of causing death
❖ Prolong life for a year by binding a live serpent to the
waist
❖ Serpent – believed to be the devil, or at least his
substance
 Analysis – Worship
3. Manyisalat
❖ Same as mangagauay
❖ Power of applying remedies to lovers
❖ They would abandon and despise their wives
❖ Prevent having intercourse with the wives
❖ Abandoned women – bring sickness (discharge
blood and matter)
 Analysis – Worship
4. Mancocolam
❖ Emit fire from himself
❖ Fire – could not be extinguished or emitted
❖ Except if the priest wallowed in the ordure and filth
which falls from the houses
❖ He who lived in the house fell ill and died
 Analysis – Worship
5. Hocloban
❖ Greater efficacy than the mangagauay
❖ By simply saluting or raising their hand, they killed
whom they chose
❖ Only in Catanduanes
 Analysis – Worship
6. Silagan
❖ To tear out the liver of anyone clothed in white and eat
it
❖ Only in Catanduanes
❖ Calavan – they tore out in this way through his anus all
the intestines of a Spanish notary
 Analysis – Worship
7. Magtatangal
❖ Show himself at night without his head or intestines
❖ The devil walked about carried, or pretended to carry,
his head to different places
❖ In the morning, returned it to his body
❖ Catanduanes
 Analysis – Worship
8. Osuang
❖ Equivalent to “sorcerer”
❖ Seen him fly and he murdered men and ate their flesh
❖ Visayas Islands

9. Mangagayoma
❖ Another class of witches
❖ Made charms for lovers out of herbs, stones, and wood,
which would infuse the heart with love
 Analysis – Worship
10. Sonat
❖ Equivalent to “preacher”
❖ Help one to die, at which time he predicted the
salvation or condemnation of the soul

11. Pangatahojan
❖ Soothsayer, predicted the future

12. Bayoguin
❖ Signified a “cotquean”, a man whose nature inclined
toward that of a woman
 Analysis - Worship
Manner of burying the dead
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
If he were a warrior, a living slave was tied beneath his
body until in this wretched way he died
Mourned for four days
Laid him on a boat which served as a coffin
Also accompanied by eating and drinking
Analysis – Worship
Manner of burying the dead [Aetas or Negritos]
Dug a deep, perpendicular hole
Placed the deceased within it, leaving him upright with
head or crown unburied, on top of which they put half
a coconut which was to serve him as a shield
Pursuit of some Indian, whom they killed in
punishment for the Negrito who had died
To this end they conspired together, hanging a certain
token on their necks until some one of them procured
the death of the innocent one
Analysis – Worship
Another life
“Maca”
“Paradise” or “village of rest”
Those who lived without doing harm
Possessed other moral virtues
“Casanaan”
“A place of anguish”
All the wicked
Here dwelt the demons, sitan
Heaven
Only Bathala who governed from above
 Analysis - Worship
Ghosts
Vibit

Phantoms
Tigbalaang

Patianac
If any woman died in childbirth, she and the child
suffered punishment
CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE DOCUMENT IN UNDERSTANDING
THE GRAND NARRATIVE IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

The writing of Fray Plasencia

presents the way of life, political
and socio-cultural practices, and
political stratifications of the early
Filipino people specifically in the
Tagalog region.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE DOCUMENT IN UNDERSTANDING
THE GRAND NARRATIVE IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

It discusses the idea of a tribal

gathering known as barangay
and social classes during the
early Filipino communities. It
tackles the privileges and
responsibilities of the datos, the
maharlicas, the commoners, and
the slaves.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE DOCUMENT IN UNDERSTANDING
THE GRAND NARRATIVE IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

Because of Fray Plasencia’s

accounts, unwritten traditions,
customs of worship, laws,
religious practices, and
superstitious beliefs were
preserved.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE DOCUMENT IN UNDERSTANDING
THE GRAND NARRATIVE IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

It is considered as an important
piece of literature giving us a
glimpse of our ancestors’ beliefs
on mancocolam, osuang,
mangagayoma, patianac, and
other superstitious beliefs of the
Filipino people.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE DOCUMENT IN UNDERSTANDING
THE GRAND NARRATIVE IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

This account proved that Filipinos had their

own culture before the Spaniards came ---as
reiterated by Fray Plasencia that Filipinos had
systematized politically and economically their
social structure. Early Filipinos had their
structured political system, laws and
punishments, and system of taxation. Also,
Filipinos had a religion before Christianity was
introduced by the Spaniards. They had their
concepts of the supreme being, manner of
burying the dead, and life after death.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE DOCUMENT IN UNDERSTANDING
THE GRAND NARRATIVE IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

The account of Fray Plasencia serves as

an inspiration to the missionaries not
only during the Spanish colonization
period but also at the present time.
Missionaries acknowledge the
importance of knowing the culture and
mastering the language of their assigned
areas in spreading the Christianity.