Kier (Slide 1)- Juan de Plasencia is the author of the Customs of the Tagalog and

Relation of the Worship of the Tagalogs, their Gods, and their Burials and
Superstitions. He entered the Franciscan order in early youth,came to the Philippine
Islands as one of the first missionaries of that order, in 1577. He was distinguished, in
his labors among the natives, for gathering the converts into reductions (villages in
which they dwelt apart from the heathen, and under the special care of the
missionaries), for establishing numerous primary schools, for his linguistic abilities—
being one of the first to form a grammar and vocabulary of the Tagal language—and
for the ethnological researches embodied in the memoir which is presented in our text.
He died at Lilio, in the province of La Laguna, in 1590.

Slide 2- CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOG

Shaira (slide 3)- The Tagalog people had chiefs, called datos, who governed them and
were captains in their wars. These chiefs ruled over few people, and the barangay was
a family of parents and children, relations and slaves. They were not subject to one
another, except in friendship and relationship. In addition to the chiefs, there were
knights who corresponded to them.
Wellmar (slide 4)- nobles, commoners, and slaves were free-born, free-born people
who did not pay tax or tribute to the dato, but must accompany him in war and help
him build houses. Their lands were divided among the barangay, especially the
irrigated portion, and no one could cultivate them unless after purchase or
inheritance. They also paid a hundred gantas of rice annually.
Katrina (Slide 5)- The commoners are called alipingnamamahay, who are married and
serve their master with half of their cultivated lands,
Kier (Slide 6)- the slaves are aliping saguiguilir, who serve their master in his house
and on his cultivated lands and may be sold. Those who are born in the house of their
master are rarely sold, and those to whom a debt is owed transfer the debt to another,
making a profit.
Shaira (Slide 7)- The difference between the aliping namamahay and the aliping
saguiguilir is important, as many have been classed as slaves who are not. The
Indians have adopted the custom of taking away the children of the aliping and using
them as servants in their households, which is illegal. If an aliping appeals to justice,
it is proved that he is an aliping as well as his father and mother before him and is at
once considered an alipin, without further declaration. The alcaldes-mayor should be
instructed to ascertain which class the aliping belongs to and have the answer put in
the document that they give him.
Wellmar (Slide 8)- Those who are maharlicas on both the father's and mother's side
continue to be so forever, unless they become slaves through marriage.
Katrina (Slide 9)- If they had children among their slaves, the children and their
mothers became free, but if they had children by a slave-woman, they were compelled
to give their master half of a gold tael. If two persons married, the children were
divided, with the first belonging to the father, the second, the fourth, and the sixth
falling to the mother, and the same applied to the mother. The division of children
between free and slave was determined by whether the child was male or female.
Those who became slaves fell under the category of servitude which was their parent's,
either namamahay or saguiguilir. The maharlicas could not move from one village to
another, or from one barangay to another, without paying a fine in gold.
Kier (Slide 10)- Failure to pay the fine could result in a war between the barangay
which the person left and the one which he entered. When one married a woman of
another village, the children were divided equally between the two barangays. This
arrangement kept them obedient to the dato, or chief, which is no longer the case. The
most important details in this text are that the chiefs are spiritless and faint-hearted,
and that investigations made and sentences passed by the dato must take place in the
presence of those of his barangay. They also had laws that condemned to death a man
of low birth, witches, and others of the same class, and condemned no one to slavery
unless they merited the death-penalty. The most important details in this text are that
accomplices became slaves of the chief after making recompense to the injured person,
and that fines in gold were punished by fines in gold. Slaves were made by debt, either
saguiguilir or alipingnamamahay, and if the creditor were not served, the culprit had
to pay the double of what was lent him.
Shaira (Slide 11)- In inheritances, the legitimate children of a father and mother were
inherited equally, except in the case where the father and mother died before paying
the debt.
Wellmar (slide 12)- When the parents gave a dowry to any son, the excess was not
counted in the whole property to be divided. If one had children by two or more
legitimate wives, each child received the inheritance and dowry of his mother, with its
increase, and that share of his father's estate which fell to him out of the whole. If a
man had a child by one of his slaves, the former had no share in the inheritance, but
the legitimate children were bound to free the mother and give him something—a tael
or a slave, if the father were a chief. If besides his legitimate children, he had also
some son by a free unmarried woman, to whom a dowry was given but who was not
considered as a real wife, all these were classed as natural children. In the case of a
child by a free married woman, born while she was married, the inheritance went only
to the father or grandparents, brothers, or nearest relatives of the deceased. Adopted
children inherit the double of what was paid for their adoption, and dowries are given
by the men to the women's parents.
Katrina (slide 13)- Unmarried women can own no property, and if the wife leaves the
husband for the purpose of marrying another, all her dowry and an equal amount fell
to the husband. If the husband left his wife, he lost the half of the dowry and the other
half was returned to him. The most important details in this text are the customs
observed among the natives in Laguna and the tingues, and among the entire Tagalog
race. These customs include returning one-half the dowry to the husband whose wife
had died, and returning the other half to the relatives of the husband. In the matter of
marriage dowries, there is a fine stipulated, which varies depending on the practice of
the village and the affluence of the individual. If the parents were living, they paid the
fine, as it was assumed that it had been their design to separate the children. The text
is sent to the alcaldes-mayor, accompanied by an explanation, as the absurdities
found in their opinions are pitiable.

Slide 14- RELATION OF THE WORSHIP OF THE TAGALOGS, THEIR GODS, AND
THEIR BURIALS AND SUPERSTITIONS
Kier (slide 15)- The Filipinas Islands have no temples consecrated to the performing
of sacrifices, the adoration of their idols, or the general practice of idolatry.
Shaira (slide 16)- To celebrate a festival, they built a temporary shed on each side of
the house, with a roof, called sibi, to protect the people from the wet when it rained.
On the posts of the house they set small lamps, sorihile, and one large lamp, adorned
with leaves of the white palm. They also brought together many drums, large and
small, which they beat successively while the feast lasted.
Wellmar (Slide 17)- The house was called a temple, and they worshiped Badhala, the
"all powerful," and the sun, which is almost universally respected and honored by
heathens.
Katrina (Slide 18)- The people of the Philippines adored the moon, stars, Pleiades,
Mapolon, Balatic, and other animals.
Kier (slide 19) They had many idols, such as lic-ha, Dian masalanta, Lacapati and
Idianale, and water-lizards called buaya.
Shaira (slide 20)- They were also liable to find auguries in things they witnessed, such
as a serpent or rat, or a bird singing in the tree. The natives of the Philippines
practiced divination and divination, and had no established division of years, months,
and days. Since the advent of the Spaniards, the seasons have been given their proper
names and divided into weeks. To offer sacrifice, they would proclaim a feast and offer
to the devil what they had to eat in front of an idol, which they would then perfume
with fragrant perfumes and praise in poetic songs.
Wellmar (slide 21) The catolonan is an officiating priest, male or female, who is called
catolonan. In some idolatries, the devil was sometimes liable to enter the body of the
catolonan and fill her with arrogance and superiority.
Katrina (slide 22) The objects of sacrifice were goats, fowls, and swine, which were
flayed, decapitated, and laid before the idol. A feast was held with fried food and fruits,
and the heads of the animals were cooked and eaten. The priests of the devil offered
sacrifices and adoration for personal matters, such as the recovery of a sick person,
the prosperous voyage of those embarking on the sea, a good harvest in the sowed
lands, a propitious result in wars, a successful delivery in childbirth, and a happy
outcome in married life.
Kier (slide 23) In the case of young girls, their eyes were blindfolded for four days and
four nights, and their friends and relatives were invited to partake of food and drink.
The catolonan was either a man or a woman, and the mangagauay were witches who
deceived by pretending to heal the sick. They could also cause death by binding to the
waist a live person. The serpent, manyisalat, mancocolam, hocloban, silagan, and
other witches had the power to apply remedies to lovers, prevent them from having
intercourse, and emit fire from themselves. They could also kill without medicine,
Shaira (slide 24) The infidels of the Philippine Islands believed that there was a life of
rest, called maca, and a place of punishment, grief, and affliction, called casanaan.
They also believed that no one would go to heaven, where there was only Bathala, "the
maker of all things," who governed from above. There were various kinds of infernal
ministers, such as catolonan, sonat, mangagauay, manyisalat, mancocolam,
hocloban, silagan, magtatangal, osuan, mangagayoma, pangatahoan, ghosts, vibit,
and phantoms. They also had a deception that if any woman died in childbirth, she
and the child suffered punishment and could be heard lamenting. Juan de Plasencia
was one of the first missionaries of the Franciscan order in 1577.