ORAL LORE FROM

Mr. Harry Dave B.

PRE-COLONIAL TIMES Villasor
(--1564)
✔What do you know about the literature in the
precolonial period?
✔What do you think are the characteristics and purpose
of which?
 ORAL LORE

Oral lore or oral tradition is a form of human

communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and
cultural materials is received, preserved and
transmitted orally from one generation to another.
The transmission is through speech or song or may include
folktales, ballads, chants, prose or verses.
In this way, it is possible for a society to transmit oral history,
oral literature, oral law, and other oral knowledge across
generations without a writing system, or in parallel to a
writing system.
HOW PHILIPPINE PRE-COLONIAL
LITERATURE GOT
REDISCOVERED?
Philippine Pre-colonial literary history is the longest (…- 1564).
Filipinos have the misconception that Philippine literary history began
with the coming of the Spaniards in 1521.
With the discovery of the “Tabon Man” in 1962, we learned that the
history of the Filipinos dates to as far back as 50,000 years ago,
suggesting also the possible length of the existence of Philippine
literature.
According to scholar, William Henry Scott, “There is a discrepancy
between what is actually known about Philippine prehistory and what
has been written about it.”
Many chronicles possessed biases towards early Filipinos and these
were reflected in their writings.
Today, it is for scholar to do an analysis of Philippine pre-colonial
literature for a wealth of oral lore has been collected.
These indigenous literature were preserved by Filipinos whose
ancestors stayed beyond the reach of colonial forces.
 WHAT ARE THE
CHARACTERISTICS OF
PHILIPPINE PRE-COLONIAL
LITERATURE?
Community Owned
Uses Language of Daily Life
Orally Transmitted
ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION
In settlement along the sea coasts, a native syllabary was in
use before Spaniards came and brought to us the Roman
Alphabet.
These are the following:
3 vowels (a, i-e, u-o)
14 consonants (b, d, g, h, l, m, n, ng, p, s, t, w,y)
 WHAT ARE THE
CONVENTIONS OF VARIOUS
ORAL LITERARY FORMS?
Formulaic repetitions
Stereotyping of characters
Regular rhythmic and musical devices
These conventions were aids to the performers to better recall the
literary pieces.
It was these conventions that facilitated the transmission of poems,
song, tales and sayings and insured their survival into later times.
 WHAT ARE THE WAYS IN WHICH
INDIGENOUS CULTURE/
LITERATURE SURVIVED?
Resistance to Colonial Rule
Done by Maranaws, Tausugs f Mindanao and Ifugaos and Bontocs of
Mountain Province.
Isolation from Colonial Power
Done by Mangyans, B’ laans, Isnegs, and etc.
Their settlements were also geographically inaccessible.
 WHAT ARE THE EXAMPLES
OF PRE-COLONIAL
LITERARY FORMS?
Riddles
It is a folklore genre as well as rhetorical devise, having often
veiled or doubled meanings.
 TWO TYPES OF RIDDLES

Enigmas
Which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language
that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution.
Example: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”
Baboy sa lasang, ang tunok puro lansang.
Conundrum
Which are questions relying for their effects on punning in
either the question or the answer.
Example: What can be swallowed, or can swallow a person?
 Proverbs
Brief, simple and popular saying, or a phrase that gives advice and
effectively embodies a commonplace truth on experience or common
sense.
✔Kung di ukol, di bubukol.
✔Kung may isinuksok, may madudukot.
The lo-a
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, “istambays”, labourers, teachers, even students.
Folk Song
Are quite literally songs of the people and in determining the identity
of a country. These songs give clues about the country’s culture.
Examples:
Bahay Kubo, Pakitong – kitong, Sa Ugoy ng Duyan
Mimetic Dances- accompanied with songs and dances and
were the precursor of drama form.
 Myth- a traditional story accepted as history; serves to
explain the world view of people.
Mythical Creatures:
Bathala- chief god of gods
Diwata- fairies
Aswang- ghouls
Agta- black tree spirit man
Duwende- dwarves
Tikbalang- demon horses
Mambabarang- spirit- summoners
Folktale- “kwentong bayan”
Example: How the First Head Was Taken
Fables- “kwentong nag bibigay aral” o “pabula”
Example: The Ant and the Grasshopper
Legend- “alamat”
Example: Alamat ng Pinya
Epic- “epiko”
Example: Aliguyon