Customs of the Tagalogs

Juan de Plasensia, O.F.M.

About the Author:
— Fray Juan de Plasensia (real name is Joan de
Puerto Carrero) is one of the seven children of
Pedro Puerto Carrero, a Spanish boatman who
had travelled around the Mediterranean Sea.
— He grew up in Plasensia, in the region of
Extremadura during the Golden Age (Siglo de
Oro) of Spain.
— During this period there was an upsurge of
men entering religious life with the intention of
gearing up for missionary works in the newly
discovered territories.
— Plasensia belonged to the Franciscan Order established
by St. Francis of Assisi and came together with the first
batch of Franciscan missionaries. In the list of the first
batch of missionaries bound for the Philippine islands
dispatched for Casa de la Contratacion of Seville, dated 21
May 1577, Fray Joan de Puerto de Carrero del Convento
de Villanueva dela Serena was included in the said list. On
24 June 1577, the group left the port of San Luca de
Barrameda for Mexico and arrived in the following
month of September. On 15 March 1578, they left the
port of Acapulco and passed by Marianas or Ladrones
Islands for supplies, and reached the port of Cavite on 2
July 1578.
— After two months upon arrival in the Philippines, he and
Fray Diego de Oropresa were assigned to do mission
works in Southern Tagalog area by converting souls to
the Catholic faith.
— Aside from performing sacerdotal and
missionary functions, Plasensia also helped
in the foundation and organization of
numerous provinces, such as Bulacan,
Morong (now Rizal), Tayabas (now Quezon),
Laguna, and towns such as, Tayabas, Calilaya,
Lucban, Mahayhay, Nagcarlang, Lilio, Pila, Sta.
Cruz, Lumbang, Pangil, Siniloan, Morong,
Antipolo,Taytay, and Meycauayan.
—His continuous interaction with the people
he converted to Christianity enabled him to
write a book entitled Relacion de las
Costumbres de Los Tagalos (Customs of
the Tagalogs, 1589).
— It vividly describes the political, social,
economic and cultural practices of the
Filipinos before they were Christianized.
— His biggest challenge at that
time was how to make the
articles of faith
comprehensible to people
who have never heard of
Christ nor the Catholic
Church.
— In 1593, he published the
book Doctrina Christiana en
Lengua Espanola Y Tagala, the
first printed book in the
Philippines.
— He used it as reading material for those
Filipinos who wanted to deepen their faith in
the newly accepted religion.
— After several years of converting the natives
and teaching catechism, the Franciscan
Order honored him with the title
"Venerable."
— Plasensia died in Liliw, Laguna in 1590.
Historical Background of the
source/document:
— During the first century of Spanish rule,
colonial officials had the hard time running
local politics because of the limited number
of Spaniards who wanted to live outside
Intramuros, the Walled City.
— This situation forced them to allow Filipinos
to hold the position of gobernadorcillo.
— To ensure that they would remain loyal to
the Crown, they instructed the friars
assigned in the parishes to supervise and
monitor the activities of the gobernadorcillo.
— Hence, the friars ended up performing the
administrative duties that colonial officials
should have been doing in the local level.
— They supervised the election of the local
executives, helped in the collection of taxes,
directly involved in educating the youth and
performed other civic duties.
— As years went by, the friars ended up the
most knowledgeable and influential figure in
the pueblo.
— Some duties of friars assigned in mission
territories:
§ inform periodically their superiors of what
was going on in their respective
assignments.
§ report the number of natives they
converted, the people’s way of life, their
socio-economic situation and the problems
they encountered.
§ some submitted short letters while others
who were keen observers and gifted
writers wrote long dispatches.
— On top of the regular reports they
submit, they also shared their personal
observations and experiences.

— Plasensia’s
Relacion de las Costumbres de
Los Tagalos (Customs of the Tagalog,
1589) is an example of this kind of
work.
— It contains numerous information
that historians could use in
reconstructing the political and
socio-cultural history of the Tagalog
region.

— His work is a primary source

because he personally witnessed the
events and observations that he
discussed in his account. (Note: His
work is narrated in the first person.)
— There were other friars and
colonial officials who wrote about
the Filipinos that could further
enrich our knowledge of Philippine
history during the early part of the
Spanish period.
— Other Spanish missionaries who continued the
historiographical tradition initiated by Loarca
and Plasensia were:
◦ Fr. Pedro Chirino S.J. (Relación de las Islas
Filipinas, 1604;
◦ Fr. Juan Delgado S.J. (Historia General, 1751);
◦ Fr. Francisco Colin S.J. (Labor Evangelica,
1663);
◦ Francisco Ignacio Alcina S.J. (Historia natural del
sitio, fertilidad y calidad de las Islas e Indios de
Bisayas, 1668); and
◦ Fr. Joaquin Martinez de Zuniga O.S.A. (Historia,
1803).
— Many of the what we know about
Philippine history during the first
century of the Spanish period were
derived from the accounts of the
Spanish friars as part of their
mandate from the Crown.
 About the Text:
— The work of Plasensia is considered by
many historians as an example of a friar
account, which is one of the most
common contemporaneous account
during the early part of the Spanish
period.
— The original text of Plasensia’s Customs
of the Tagalogs is currently kept in
Archivo General de Indias (A.G.I.) in
Seville, Spain.
— There is also a duplicate copy of it in
the Archivo Franciscano Ibero-Oriental
(A.F.I.O.), in Madrid, Spain.
— In the Philippines, an English version of it
appeared in volume VII of the Blair and
Robertson collections.
— Another English translation of it was
published as part of the volume for pre-
Hispanic Philippines of the Filipiniana Book
Guild series by Mauro Garcia.
Content Presentation and
Analysis
— The contents of the writings of Fray Juan de
Plasencia depicts the ancient or pre-colonial
life of the Filipinos before and upon the
arrival of Spain as embodied in Plasencia’s
detailed narration of how life was in this
period.
— Most of the important data and information
had been found in most of the communities
in the country though it is not always true
that they are generally similar to one
another.
— It just proves that these occurrences, beliefs,
events, and practices had been existing long
before the arrival of Spain, hence it is just
appropriate to debunk the western depiction of
the islands as barbaric, uncivilized and uncultured
when they arrived. The period of Islamization of
the southern part of the country had also
contributed much to the development of culture
and some sort of civility in these places.
Outline of the Content
Presentation and Analysis
1. Community (Barangay, Dato, Three Castes)
2. Status of Women
3. Property
4. Marriage Customs
5. Political Structure
6. Worship (Religion)
q12 Priests of the Devil
7. Superstition
8. Burying the Dead
 q Barangay – tribal gathering ruled by chiefs
qIt is called a “barangay” because they associate themselves
with the “Malay” who are one of the first people to arrive
in the Philippines through a boat in which they call
“barangay”.
qSome consisted of around 30 - 100 houses
qBarangays also have some sort of diplomacy
qAll barangays were equal in terms of status and political
structure.

Community
 Datu
q thechiefs of the village;
they governed the
people as captains even
in wars, were obeyed,
and revered; any subject
who committed any
offense against them, or
spoke to their wives
and children, were
severely punished.
Social Hierarchy
q There are three status/castes within a
barangay: Maharlica, Aliping Namamahay,
Aliping sa Guiguilir.
q Maharlica are those who are born
free;
q Aliping Namamahay are those who
serve their masters however, they can
have their own properties
q Aliping sa Guiguilir are those
considered to be slaves who serve
their masters or can be sold off.
 • People who are born free

Maharlica (nobles) • Do not need to pay taxes

• Must accompany the datos in war

Aliping Namamahay • They have their own properties but has to serve
their own masters
(commoners)
• Children belonging to this caste inherit the status
of their parents

• Cannot be treated as a slave nor can be sold off.

Aliping sa Guiguilir • They serve their master in their houses and lands
(slaves)
• Can be sold off

• The master can reward his/her slaves by giving

them a portion of the harvest so that the slaves
would be faithful to him/her
Maharlica
qHe would keep their status for a lifetime
however, this can be taken if he/she
marries a slave.
qIn this case, the kids would be divided
and they would inherit the status of their
mother or father.
Status of Women
Women in pre-colonial Philippine society had
the right to inherit property, engage in trade
and industry, and succeed to the chieftainship
of the barangay in the absence of a male heir.

They also had the exclusive right to name their

children.

The men walked behind them as a sign of

respect.
 Property
q The land area was divided among the whole
barangay, especially the irrigated portions.
q No one from a different barangay could
cultivate land unless they inherit or buy the
land
q The lands on the tingues, or mountain ridges,
are not divided but owned by the barangay as a
whole.
q Any individual (regardless of their barangay)
that starts to clear any land area may sow in it.
Property
q Fisheries of chiefs had established
limits, and sections of the rivers for
markets
q Unless you were a member of the
chief’s barangay, which owns such
rivers and water systems, you had to
pay for the privilege of fishing or
selling in the chiefs’ fisheries.
Marriage Customs
Men were in general, monogamous; while their wives are
called asawa, while concubines are called “friends”

In order to win the hand of his lady, the man has to show his
patience and dedication to both the lady and her parents

Courtship usually begins with paninilbihan

If the man wins the trust of the parents, he does not

immediately marry the woman, but he has to satisfy several
conditions:
- give a dowry or bigay-kaya
- pay the panghihimuyat
- pay the parents himaraw
- bribe for the relatives called sambon (frequent
practice among the Zambals)
Once he had settled all of the above requirements, he brings
his parents to meet with the bride-to-be’s parents to haggle
and make the final arrangements; this is called pamamalae
or pamamanhikan or pamumulungan.

The wedding ceremonies vary depending on the status of the

couple; but normally, those from the upper class, a go-
between was employed.

Weddings are officiated by the priestess or babaylan.

Uncooked rice is then thrown on the couple after the

wedding ceremony.
q In the case of a divorce, if the wife would
leave her husband for the sake of marrying
another man, all her belongings plus a certain
amount would be given to her former husband
however, if she chooses to leave and do not
have any plans to marry, then all of her dowry
will be returned to her.
q In the case of an adoption, the children would
receive double the value of how much they
were bought to be adopted.
Politics
Government
— unit of government was the barangay,
which consisted of from 30 to 100
families. The term came from the Malay
word balangay, meaning boat
— barangays were headed by chieftains
called datu
— the subjects served their chieftain during
wars, voyages, planting and harvest, and
when his house needs to be built or
repaired; they also paid tributes called
buwis
the chief or datu
was the chief
executive, the
legislator, and the
judge; he was also
the supreme
commander in
times of war

Alliances among barangays

were common and these
were formalized in a
ritual called sangduguan

Conflicts between or
among barangays
were settled by
violence; those who
win by force is
always right
Legislation
— before laws are made, the chieftain or
datu consults with a council of elders
who approved of his plan
— they are not immediately enforced until
the new legislation is announced to the
village by the umalohokan, who also
explains the law to everyone
Laws
— were either:
◦ customary (handed down from
generation to generation orally) or
◦ written (promulgated from time to
time as necessity arose)
◦ dealt with various subjects such as
inheritance, property rights, divorce,
usury, family relations, divorce, adoption,
loans, etc.
◦ those found guilty of crimes were punished
either by fine or by death; some punishments
can be considered as torture by modern
standards
Judicial Process
— disputes between individuals were
settled by a court made up of the
village chief and the council of elders;
between barangays, a board made up
of elders from neutral barangays
acted as arbiter.
 Trial by Ordeal
— to determine the innocence of an
accused, he is made to go through a
number of ordeals which he must pass
— examples include dipping one’s hand in
boiling water, holding a lighted candle
that must not be extinguished, plunging
into a river and staying underwater for
as long as possible, chewing uncooked
rice and spitting, etc.
Religion
 Religious Beliefs
— Pre-colonial Filipinos believed in the existence of a number of
gods whom they worship and made offerings to according to
rank
— i.e. Bathalang Maykapal (Creator),
— Idinayale (god of agriculture),
— Sidapa (god of death),
— Balangaw (rainbow god),
— Mandarangan (war god),
— Agni (fire god)
— Lalahon (goddess of harvest),
— Siginarugan (god of hell),
— Diyan Masalanta (goddess of love)
 Worship and Belief (Religion)

q There were no temples or sacred places in

which Filipinos would worship
q The word simbahan means a place to
worship which is constructed at a large
house of the chief where people of the tribe
go to celebrate festivals (aka pandot or
worship)
q They beat large and small drums
successively during the feast which usually
lasted four days
 Worship and Belief (Religion)
q nagaanitos - worship; (anito - soul or spirit of
ancestors)
q sibi - a temporary shed, made on each side of
the chief’s house, for the assembled people.
q Bathala - one of their many idols, whom they
specially worshipped.
q They worshipped the sun, the moon, and
some, even the stars or a particular dead
man with special capability that fought
bravely or protected them in their time of
need
 Worship and Belief (Religion)
q sun - almost universally respected and honored because
of its beauty;
q moon - they would rejoice, especially when new
q stars - they did not name them except for the morning
star, which they called Tala
q “Seven little goats” - the Pleiades; a star cluster
q Balatic - the Greater Bear constellation
q Mapolon - the change of seasons
 Worship and Belief (Religion)
qlic-ha- idols; images with different shapes;
q Dian masalanta - an idol; patron of lovers
and generation
q Lacapati and Idianale - idols; patrons of
the cultivated lands and husbandry;
q buaya - crocodiles; were respected by the
Tagalogs due to their fear of being
harmed by them; they offered a portion of
what they carried in their boats to them
Some anitos were considered bad and they made
offerings to them too in order to appease them or
placate their anger;
priestesses such as the babaylan/ baylana or katalona
who acted as mediums to communicate with these
spirits.

They also showed respect for animals and plants like

the crocodile, crow, tigmamanukin; some trees
were not cut because they were thought to be
divine and are dwelling places of spirits
Diseases were thought to be caused by the temper
of the environmental spirits
‘12 Priests of the Devil’
1. Catolonan
o Priest from a people of rank
o Officiates the offering sacrifice for a feast
and the food to be eaten being offered to
the devil
2. Mangagauay
oThey pretend to heal the sick in order to
deceive others
3. Manyisalat
oThey can cast remedies to couples for them
to abandon one another
4. Mancocolam
oCan emit fire from himself which cannot be
extinguished
5. Hocloban
oMuch more powerful than a mangagauay in
which they can kill anyone without the use
of any medicine. They can also heal those
who are ill.
6. Silagan
oThey would tear out and eat the liver of
those they saw were wearing white
7. Magtatangal
oThey would go out at night without their heads
and put it back into their bodies before the sun
rise
8. Osuang
oTribesmen reported that they saw the “osuang”
who can fly and murdered a man and ate his
flesh.
9. Mangagayoma
oThey would seduce their partners with charms
and other accessories so they can deceive them.
10. Sonat
oThis devil helped people to die. They can also
know if the soul they helped to die can
either be saved or not.
11. Pangatahojan
oThey can predict the future.
12. Bayoguin
oThese are men who are in the nature of a
woman.
q Plasensia’s referred to certain ‘devil-ish
belief’s e.g. the mangagauay and
mangagayoma.
q He regarded them both as “witches” who
performed deceitful healing procedures, a
judgment made by an outsider who knew
nothing about the complexity of indigenous
psyche.
q What he failed to realize is that in
traditional cultures, these so-called “evil”
practices were an integral part of Filipino
folk beliefs
 Superstition
q They find omens in events they witness
q (i.e. when someone sneezed, met on
their way a rat or serpent, or the
Tigmamanuguin bird sang they would go
home in fear that evil would befall them if
they continued their journey)
q The Tigmamanuguin bird’s (a blue bird as
large as a turtle-dove) song had two forms:
a good omen, and a bad omen.
Burial Practices/Beliefs

— Pre-colonial Filipinos venerated the dead by

keeping alive their memory through the carving
of idols of stone, gold or ivory called likha or
larawan; food, wine and other things were also
shared with the dead
— The dead was placed in a wooden coffin and
buried under the house complete with cloth,
gold and other valuable things
— The bones of dead ancestors were placed
under the house in order to ward off would-be
robbers/thieves (Taytay, Palawan)
 Mourning for a dead chief is
called laraw, and this was
accompanied by certain
prohibitions like engaging in
petty quarrels, wars, carrying
daggers with hilts in the normal
position, singing in boats
coming from the sea or river,
and wearing loud clothes
Thanks to the National Museum for the photos below.
The celebration held on the ninth night
after the death of the person is called
pasiyam, in which a play called tibaw
is staged to honor the dead.
Relatives of the dead who was
murdered would not end their
mourning until they have exacted
vengeance or balata
qIn burying the dead, the corpse would be
placed beside its house and be mourned at
for 4 days.
q It will then be laid on a boat which serves
as a coffin which is guarded by a slave.
q The grief of the relatives of the deceased
is followed by eating and drinking.
Divination/Belief in Magic Charms
— Ancient Filipinos are quite superstitious and
put much value into certain unexplained
events or occurrences, and the magic charms
— they interpreted signs in nature like the flight
of birds, the barking of dogs, the singing of
lizards, and the like, as good or bad omens
depending on the circumstances
— there was also the belief in the existence of aswang,
mangkukulam, manggagaway, tiyanak, and the tikbalang
— amulets and charms were also used by the
ancients like the anting-anting, gayuma, odom or
tagabulag, wiga or sagabe, and tagahupa
CONTRIBUTION AND
RELEVANCE OF THE
DOCUMENT IN
UNDERSTANDING OF THE
GRAND NARRATIVE OF
PHILIPPINE HISTORY
Contribution & Relevance of the
Document
The document CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS had
contributed much to the understanding of the
culture and heritage of the Filipinos. In a way, it has
mainly provided us with significant and meaningful
information to better appreciate and be proud of
the cultural legacy from our forebears. It was able
to instill in us a sense of oneness and nationhood
that befits a rich culture that is of the Filipinos’
and as a result would be able to move forward to
progress hopefully with everyone supporting one
another in the process.
— Plasensia’s Customs of the Tagalogs is a
very popular primary source because
it vividly described the situation of the
Philippines before it was tainted with
Spanish and Christian influences.

— Scholars like it because it covered numerous

topics that are relevant in many disciplines.
— Political scientists for instance find it useful
because it contains a lot of information
about the social classes, political
stratifications and legal system of the
Tagalog region.

— Many of what we know about the

duties and responsibilities of the datus,
maharlikas and alipins came from
Plasensia’s account.
— Plasensia also preserved and
popularized the unwritten customs,
traditions, religious and superstitious
beliefs of the Filipinos.

— One can also say that our historical

knowledge about the manananggal,
aswang, hukluban, gayuma, etc. came
from Plasensia’s works, in addition to
oral histories.
— Priests and missionaries also read
Plasensia’s Customs of the Tagalogs and
Doctrina Christiana because they get a lot of
insights that help and inspire them to
become effective evangelizers.

— One insight they got from Plasensia is

the the realization that one needs to
master the local language and study
the culture of the people if you want
to be a successful missionary.
— They also learned from him that preaching
should be accompanied with reading
materials that contain the basic elements of
faith.
— These readings serve as their guide and
reference when the missionaries are no
longer around.
— All these insights from Plasensia are
applicable not only to missionaries but to
other professions as well.
— Plasensia’s historical writings also
disprove the claim of some Spaniards
and other historians that when they
arrived in the Philippines, Filipinos
were still uncivilized and lacking in
culture.

— It is clear in the excerpts quoted above that

at the time Plasensia was assigned in the
Tagalog region Filipinos were already
politically and economically organized.
— They have a functioning government,
tax system, set of laws, criminal justice
system, indigenous calendar and long-
standing customs and traditions.

— Moreover, they have already a concept

of supreme being (Bathala), practiced
burial customs and believed in life after
death.
— Lastly, Plasensia also mentioned that the
people he met were wearing garments, gold
ornaments and their houses were
decorated with idols.
— 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 at par
or even better than other countries in
Southeast Asia.
Learning Experiences
— Fray Juan de Plasencia’s work had been a
very useful tool for the understanding and
appreciation of the Filipinos’ social, cultural
and political history because of its rich
narrative especially on mentioning the
minutest of details in almost all aspects of
life during the pre-colonial period.
— It had brought vivid imagination to life as it
gave one moments of depicting the events in
his/her mind and provided opportunities for
better awareness of our country’s past, and
at the same time, applying these
— to one’s life that this will provide good examples
to students and “convert” them to critical thinkers
and not as passive and non-thinkers.
— This training has also given me the opportunity to
widen my outlook and views in life and has given
me more ideas to broaden the means of applying
these to make my students better appreciate not
only in having a class in history but more so about
being a Filipino
— Our learning here has been too fruitful and we
expect to be able to impart or share all of these
into practice the moment we return back to our
classrooms.
Sources/References
— LIFE AND WORKS OF FRAY JUAN DE
PLASENCIA
by: Fr. Jose "Long" D. Gutay, OFM,
OFM ARCHIVES – PHILIPPINES
— Filipino Class Structure in the Sixteenth Century
by William Henry Scott
Philippine Studies vol. 28, no. 2 (1980) 142–175
Copyright © Ateneo de Manila University
Philippine Studies is published by the Ateneo de
Manila University Press
— Readings in Prehistoric Philippines by Mauro
Garcia, 1979, Filipiniana Guild Series, Manila.
— Copy of the URL for Plasencia’s biography:
Source: https://sjbptaytayrizal.wordpress.com/tag/fray-
juan-de-plasencia retrieved 05.12.2017
The Marvelous Turn in the Accounts of the Magellan
Expedition to the Philippines in 16th Century by
Anna Melinda Testa-de Ocampo. Journal of English
Studies and Comparative Literature
— The Project Gutenberg
— E-Book of The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, V7, 1588-
1591,
by Emma Helen Blair