Beliefs

1. Religious Beliefs
- Believed in immortality of soul and life after death.
- Diseases or illness was attributed to the temper of the environmental spirits
and the soul-spirits of the dead relatives.
- The Filipinos adored the sun and the moon, animals and birds, for they
seemed to consider the objects of nature as something to be respected.
- Ancient Filipinos were animistic (worship nature). They believe in Anitos,
Diwatas, good and bad spirits.

- Anitos (Tagalog) and Diwatas (Visayan) were idols adored by Ancient

Filipinos. Anitos, however, were not necessarily and exclusively good. Some
of them were deemed bad and, therefore, their enemies. But whether good or
bad, the people offered prayers and sacrifices to them: to the good in order to
win their goodwill; and to the bad in order to placate their anger.
- Offered sacrifices to ancestral spirits:
 Anitos – Tagalogs
 Diwatas - Visayans

- Filipinos have a number of Gods and deities they believed in. The name for
God varies from region to region: same with the belief on how the world came
to be.
- Paganism
 Bathala – the Supreme God
 Sidapa – God of death
 Agni – God of fire
 Idianale – God of agriculture

2. Marriage Customs
- There was a custom in which a man belonging to one class married a
woman of the same class, Thus, a chief married a woman of his rank; a noble
that of his class; and the dependent that of his status. Nevertheless, this
custom was not rigid, and it was possible for a noble to marry a dependent or
a woman of the chieftain class, and a dependant to marry a woman outside
his rank.
 “ASAWA”, a man’s legitimate wife.
 “FRIENDS”, term given to the other woman.

Stages of Marriage

PANINILBIHAN
- was a test on the part of groom from the in-laws.
- a test of love and ability to provide.
- done by men to gain approval from the woman’s parents
- Examples: pagsisibak, pag-iigib, at pagaararo.

- A state of courtship immediately before the marriage called: PAMAMALAE

(Tagalog), PAMAMANHIKAN (Visaya), at PAMUMULUNGAN (Bicol).
DOWRY
- Giving dowry called “Bigay Kaya” which usually consisted of land or gold.
 Panghihimuyat – payment for mother’s nocturnal effort in rearing the
girl to womanhood.
 Himaraw - reimbursement for the amount spent in feeding the girl to
womanhood.

MIxed Marriages
- If the married couple belonged to different classes, their children were
equally divided among the parents in so far as social status was concerned.

Inheritance and Succession

- Among the ancient Filipinos, the legitimate children automatically inherited
the property of their parents, even without a written will.
- The property was divided equally among the children, although either parent
might show a little partially in giving a favorite son or daughter an extra jewel
or a few pieces of gold.
- In the absence of heirs, the property of the couple went to the nearest
relatives.

3. Belief in Future Life

- The early Filipino belief in the future life to their way of thinking, Man is
composed of an ethereal body and an eternal soul. The soul of people who
had been good and just, who had died in battle, and whose relatives had
offered sacrifices to the god and anitos went to heaven.
 Heaven was called:
 Kalualhatian (Tagalog)
 Ologan (Visayans)
 Kamurauayan (Bicol)

- The soul of the evil and craven went to hell where they lived in perpetual
torture amidst suffocating heat and blasting flames.
 Hell was called:
 Kasamaan (Tagalog)
 Solad (Visayans)
 Gayaabam (Bicol)

Burial and Mourning Practices

- Belief in life after death and in the relation between the dead and the living
made the ancient Filipinos respectful of their dead. The deceased relative was
placed in a wooden coffin and buried under the house, complete with cloth,
gold, and other valuable things. This was done in the belief that a well-
provisioned dead person would be received with alacrity in the other world,
while a poorly provided dead one would be received with indifference, if not
with hostility.
 Laraw – mourning for a dead chieftain
 Maglahe – mourning for a dead man
 Morotal – mourning for a dead woman
4. Divination and Magic Charms
- The ancient Filipinos interpreted signs in nature, such as the flight of birds,
the barking of dogs, the singing of lizards, and the like, as good or bad omens
depending upon the circumstances.

Examples:
 The howling of a dog in the middle of the night presaged tragedy or
the death of a person.
 Sneezing was considered bad omen and those who, for instance,
were about to go on a journey or to war were admonished to back out,
for surely misfortune would overtake them.
 When species of bird called salaksak crossed the path of the warriors
on their way to battle it meant victory.

 ASWANG - known among the Europeans as Poltergeist; could change

his/her form from human to dog to horse to pig.
 MANGKUKULAM - could injure any man whose he did not like by the
expedient of pricking an image of a man in any part of the anatomy the
mangkukulam wanted to hurt.
 MANGGAGAWAY - had such power to bring harm to anybody he wanted
to destroy.
 TIYANAK - took pleasure in sucking the blood of babies still unborn.
 TIKBALANG - like the aswang, could assume different forms in order to
mislead a traveler at night.
 ANTING-ANTING - or agimat insured a man against weapons of every
kind.
 GAYUMA - made a man lovable to all the ladies or vice-versa.
 TAGAHUPA - was mixed in a drink and made the unfortunate drinker a
sort of vassal to the man with the magic potion.

Houses
 Nipa Hut, or Bahay Kubo - is made of wood, bamboo, and nipa palm;
it was built on stilts and can be entered through ladders that can be
drawn up.

 Tree Houses – some Filipinos such as Kalingas and Bagobos built

their houses on treetops.
 Boat Houses – Still use by the Badjaos of Sulu Sea because the sea
is their source of living.