Customs of the Tagalogs by Juan de Plasencia
Background of the Author
• Known as Fray Joan De Portocarrero Del
Covento De Villanueva De La Serena
• Born on the year 1520
• Died and buried in Liliw, Laguna in 1590
• He grew up during the period known as the
Siglo De Oro, a golden age when arts and
literature flourished in many parts of Spain,
among them is Extremadura, Spain.
• A Spanish friar of the Franciscan Order. He
was among the first group of Franciscan
missionaries who arrived in the Philippines on
July 2, 1578.
• Well reputed as the one who took the leading
role in fostering the spread of primary
education.
• Converted natives to Christianity, taught
catechisms, and organized towns and
barangays in the Philippines.
• Titled as the “Father of the Filipino Barangay”
as he was the one who proposed the
Reduccion system.
Background of the Document
• Year it was written: The Customs of the
Tagalog were written in the late 16th century,
around 1589, during the Spanish Colonial
Period. It was produced in the Philippines,
specifically in the area around Manila, which
was a Spanish colonial stronghold.
• Year of publication: The document was not
published during Juan de Plasencia's lifetime
but was later published in the 20th century.
• Purpose of the document:
- To put an end to some injustices being
committed against the natives by certain
government officials.
- Juan de Plasencia wrote the document
with the intention of understanding and
converting the indigenous Tagalog people
to Christianity. It aimed to provide insights
into their customs and beliefs to facilitate
the process of evangelization.
• Age when the author wrote the document:
Juan de Plasencia was likely in his 40s when he
wrote the document, as he was born in 16th
century and wrote it in 1589.
• Translator:
- Original language of the document:
Spanish
- Language used in translation: English
- Translator: Frederic W. Morrison
• Where is the original document now?
- The original entitled “Relacion de las
Costumbres de los Tagalogs” is kept at the
Archivo General De Indias in Seville, Spain.
Content Analysis of the Document
Governing System
• Led by Datos
• Governs only few people between 30- 100
• They don’t settle far from others
• They are not subject to one another, except
friendship and relationship
• The chief (datu) help one another in wars
• Datu: Village chief or the had of barangay,
responsible for maintaining order and settling
disputes within the community
• Barangay: Tribal gathering, its origin was a
family of parents and children, relations and
slaves
3 Castes:
• Nobles
- The free-born whom they call
maharlica/maharlika.
- They don’t pay taxes or tribute to the Dato
but must accompany him in battles, at
their own expense
- No moving from one village to another
without complying the following:
o Fine and gold (depend from barangay
to barangay)
o A banquet to the entire barangay
o If they marry from other barangay the
children will be divided
o Sentences are passed by the datu
o They condemn a man at low caste who
disrespect his daughter or wife of datu
o The children of the accomplices are
turned to slave
 • Commoners
- They are called aliping namamahay
- They are married, and serve their master,
whether he be a dato or not, with half of
their cultivated lands, as were agreed
upon in the beginning.
- They live in their own houses, and are the
lords of their property and gold. Their
children inherit it, and enjoy their
property and lands.
- Their children, then, enjoy the rank of their
fathers, and they cannot be made slaves
(sa guiguilir) nor can either parents or
children be sold.
- Can’t be transferred to other barangay
unless by inheritance, provided they stay
in the same village
- THEY CANNOT BE SOLD
• Slaves
- They are called aliping sa guiguilir
- They serve their master in his house and
on his cultivated lands.
- THEY CAN BE SOLD
Witches
• As for the witches, they killed them and their
children and accomplices became slaves of the
chief after he had made some recompense to
the injured person. Other offences are
punished by fines in gold which not paid with
promptness, exposed the culprit to serve until
the payment should be made, person
aggrieved to whom the money was to be paid.
Punishments were done in the following way:
• Half the cultivated lands and all their products
belonged to the master. The master will
provide the culprit with food and clothing thus
enslaving him and his children.
• The master will have the possession of the
children if ever the payment could not be met
by the father.
• Aliping Saguiguilir - service within the house;
serve the master to whom the judgement
applied.
• Aliping Namamahay - living independently;
served the person who lent them wherewith
to pay.
Loans
• The same way goes to a debtor concerning
loans wherein he will give half of his cultivated
lands and profits until the debt has been paid
or else he's condemned to a life of toil and
becomes slave. After the father's death, the
children will continue to pay the debt or the
payment will be doubled.
Inheritances
• Legitimate children of a father and mother will
be inherited equally not unless the father and
mother showed a slight partiality by gifts such
as 2 to 3 taels or a jewel.
Dowry
• When the parents gave a dowry to any son,
and when, in order to marry him to a chief’s
daughter, the dowry was greater than the sum
given the other sons.
Two or More Legitimate Wives
• If one had children by two or more legitimate
wives, each child will receive the inheritance
and the mother's dowry with its increase and
share of his father's estate.
Slave Woman
• If a man had a son from one of his slaves as
well as legitimate children, the former will
have no share in the inheritance. If he had a
child with a slave woman, that child will also
receive some of his share.
Unmarried Woman (Inaasava)
• If ever he had children by an unmarried
woman, she will still receive a dowry but is not
considered as a real wife and her children are
said to be natural children. If the father has a
legitimate wife but did not have a son but had
children to the unmarried wife called
Inaasava, the latter will inherit all.
Free Married Woman
• In case of a child of a free married woman
which was born while she was married, if the
husband punished the adulterer and was
considered a dowry, that child will also have a
share in the inheritance.
Adopted Children’s Inheritance • Moreover, they tend to look at omens at what
they encounter. For example, a bird called
• Inherit the double of what was paid for their tigmamanuguin which sings from the tree,
adaption. they consider good or bad omens may come in
their journey. They also practice divination as
The Worship of the Tagalogs to show their luck.
• In all the villages, or in other parts of Filipinas • These natives determine time; by cultivation
Islands, there are no temples consecrated to of soil, counted by moons, and other more
the performing of sacrifices, the adoration of effects of the nature: all these helps to make
their idols, or the general practice of idolatry. the year. The winter and summer were named
as sun-time and water-time.
• Simbahan: a temple or place of adoration; this
is because, formerly, when they wished to • The years of the advent of the Spaniards,
celebrate a festival, which they called pandot, seasons were determined by names, and have
or “worship,” they celebrate it in the large been divided into weeks.
house of a chief. Feast
• They constructed it for the purpose of • Their manner of offering sacrifice was to
sheltering the assembles people, a temporary proclaim a feast.
shed on each side of the house, with a roof, • They offer to the devil what they had to eat.
called sibi, to protect the people from the wet • This was done in front of the idol.
when it rained. On the poste of the house, they
set small lamps, called sorihile. In the center
of the house, they placed one large lamp,
adorned with leaves of the white palm,
wrought into many designs.
• The use of drums which beats the feast until it
ends for usually four days. During this; the
barangay or family unite to worship which
they call nagaanitos.
• The house was called a temple.
• Among their many idols, there was named
Bathala, means signify "all powerful", or
"maker of all things", which they worship the
most.
• They also worship the sun, for its beauty. Also
they worship the moon, especially when it sets
to be new.
• Some of them adored the stars, knowing it to
be the morning star, which the called Tala.
• They alse knew the “seven little goats” (the
Pleiades), and the change of seasons, which
they call Mapolon; and Balatic, which is our
Greater Bear.
• They possessed many idols called lic-ha,
which were images with different shapes.
They had another idols called Dian Masalanta,
who was the patron of lovers and of
generation.
• The idols called Lacapati and Idianel were the
patron of the cultivated lands and of
husbandry.
• They paid reverence to water-lizards call by
the buaya, or crocodiles, from fear of being
harmed by them.
Distinctions of Devils According to the Priest:
1. CATOLONAN – was either a man or a woman
who communicates with the spirits, this office
was an honorable one among the natives.
2. MANGAGAUAY – wishes who deceived by
pretending to heal the sick.
3. MANYISALAT – they are same as the
mangagauay had the power of applying
remedies to lovers that they would abandoned
and despise their own wife.
4. MANCOCOLAM – its duty was to emit fire from
himself at night.
5. HOCLOBON – without the use of medicine, and
by simply saluting or raising the hand, they
killed whom they chose.
6. SILAGAN – if they saw anyone in white, they’ll
tear out its liver and eat it, thus causing his
death.
7. MAGTATANGAL – her purpose was to show
herself at night without his hear or entrails.
8. OSUANG – a “sorcerer” they say that they have
seen him fly, and that he murdered men and
ate their flesh.
9. MANGAGAYOMA – they made charms for
lovers out of herbs, stones, and wood which
would infuse the heart with love.
10. SONAT – which is equivalent to “preacher.” It
was his office to help one to die, at which time
he predicted the salvation or condemnation of
the soul.
11. PANGATAHOJAN (Babaylan) – is the spiritual
leader of the tribe in pre-colonial Philippines.
They are also soothsayers, and predicts the
future.
12. BAYOGUIN – signified a “cotquean,” a man
whose nature inclined toward that of a
woman.
Manner of Burying
• The deceased was buried beside his house,
and if they were a chief, he was placed beneath
a little house of porch which they constructed
for his purpose. Before entering him, they
mourned him for four days, and afterwards,
placed him in a boat which served as a coffin
or bier. In place of rowers, various animals
were place at the oar by twos - male and
female. It was the slave's care to see if they
were fed.
• If the deceased is a warrior, a living slave was
tied beneath his body until it is wretched way
he died. And for many days, the family of the
dead man bewailed him. Until finally they
wearied of it.
• The Aetas or Negrillos (Negritos) had also a
form of burial, but different. They dug a deep,
perpendicular hole, and placed the decease
within it leaving him upright with head or
crown unburied on top of which they put half
a coconut which was to serve him as a shield.
Superstitious Beliefs
• Believes in aswang, dwende, kapre, tikbalang,
patyanak/tiyanak.
• They also believe in magical power of amulet
and charms such as anting-anting, kulam and
gayuma or love potion.
Significance and Relevance
• THE CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS written by
Juan De Plasencia describes how Filipinos
lived before the Spaniards' colonization of the
Philippines. This was originally a product of
Plasencia’s observations and judgement which
has continued to serve as a basis for historical
reconstructions of Tagalog society.
• Religious Practices: The Filipinos regarded
to have adopted Catholicism from the Spanish.
They also worshiped the spirits of their
ancestors, which were represented by small
images. Which are any objects believed to
possess miraculous power, were common
among the people, and idols or images were
worshiped.
• Community Laws and Political System: The
early Filipinos had both written and unwritten
laws. The written laws were promulgated by
the datus. The two known written codes in the
pre-Spanish era are the “Maragtas Code”
which was said to have been written about
1250 A.D by Datu Sumakwel of Panay, and the
Kalintiaw Code written in 1433 A.D by Datu
Kalintiaw Code, also of Panay.
• Community Mores, Values, and Beliefs:
Over time, Filipinos came up with their
adaptations of these various Spanish dishes,
values, culture and beliefs and the most
important personality in the Catholic religion
is Jesus, then, his natal day is the most special
of all occasion. And lastly most early Filipinos
believed in worshiping different Gods,
creatures and spirits.