CULTURAL HOW WERE THEY
PRACTICE PRACTICED?
SOCIAL CLASSES The Maginoo class included only
those who were willing to claim
royal ancestry. Their prestige
relied on their ancestors' renown
(bansag) or their prosperity and
courage in war (lingas). In
general, the closer the maginoo
lineage was to a succession
(laladroyal )'s founder (puno), the
greater their standing.
CIVIL RELATIONS This elegant tradition of dowry-
(MARRIAGE, giving is called Tumbasan, or "the
DOWRY, act of fair making." It incorporates
INHERITANCE) the following fundamentals: in an
offer by the bride's parents to give
one hectare of riceland as a
dowry, it calls upon the parents of
the bridegroom to give one
hectare of riceland even or
equivalent to the gesture.
MANNER OF In a dambana, the activities of
WORSHIP Tagalismo were commonly
conducted. Roman Catholicism
was forcefully introduced by the
colonizers when the Spanish
arrived, who sought to eradicate
all other religions they found 'less'
than European religions. Most
Tagalogs belong to the Roman
Catholic Church at present, while
a comparatively smaller number
belong to different Protestant
sects or nationalized Christian
Churches.
DEATH (VIEW AND Trees are used as burial sites in
PRACTICES) rural Cavite areas. The dying
person selects the tree
beforehand, so a hut is
constructed close to the said tree
when he or she becomes
terminally ill or is obviously going
to die due to old age. The body of
the deceased is then vertically
WHAT DO THEY TELL
OR PICTURE OF THE
TAGALOGS THAT TIME?
The Tagalog had a social
system of three levels,
consisting of the alipin
(commoners, servants, and
slaves), the maharlika
(nobility of warriors), and
finally the maginoo.
A class of its own,
particularly with regard to
dowry-giving, is the
Tagalog custom of
courtship and marriage. In
either Christian Filipino or
pagan practices, there is no
resemblance.
Initially, the Tagalog people
had their own unique
religion, modernly known
as Tagalismo, as the
original name of the religion
is unknown and the
Spanish did not record it.
Before Spanish
colonization and Catholic
introduction, the Tagalog
people had various burial
rituals. Such practices
include, but are not limited
to, burials of trees,
cremation burials,
 entombed inside the hollowed-out
tree trunk. A statue known as likha
is also sealed with the dead inside
the tree trunk before colonization.
There was a complicated
cremation-burial tradition in Pila,
Laguna, where the body is let
alone first to decompose.
SPIRIT WORLD In the indigenous Philippine folk
beliefs, the present, ancestral
spirits, natural spirits, and deities,
although the word itself may have
other meanings and associations
depending on the Filipino ethnic
group.
sarcophagus burials, and
underground burials.
They said that everything
had a spirit. Phenomena. It
can also refer to carved
humanoid figures made of
wood, stone, or ivory
portraying these spirits, the
taotao. Anito (a term used
mainly in Luzon) is also
sometimes known as
diwata in some ethnic
groups (especially among
Visayans).