FACTS: He spent most of his missionary life in the 

Juan de Plasencia Philippines, where he founded numerous towns in 

Luzon and authored several religious and linguistic
books, most notably the Doctrina Cristiana
Born: Juan Portocarrero1520 Plasencia, Extremadura, Spain
 (Christian Doctrine), the first book ever printed in
Died: 1590 (aged 69–70) Lilio, Laguna, Captaincy General of
the Philippines.
the Philippines
Nationality: Spanish
Known for: Doctrina Cristiana

The Worship of the Tagalogs, Their Gods, and Their

Burials and Superstitions by Juan de Plasencia
Worship of the Tagalogs
In all the barangays and other parts of this Philippine
archipelago, there is no temple (templo, church) or designated place of
worship, offering and prayer of the people to their goddesses (dioses,
gods).
They have the term ‘church,’ signifying the place of
worship, but it is not the true home of God and only temporary
(provisional, temporary), as they celebrate ‘pandot,’ the worship of their
idols. The church, they call sibi, are curtains (barracas, sheds) that they
build on either side of the house of the rich man or the village chief. Sibi
are roofs (tejados, roofs) on top of the columns (poles, poles) curtains
(cubierta, cover) of people in the heat of the sun or raindrops.

They do a lot of work so that more people can enter. They are divided into 3 parts. In each pillar, they

Nag-aañito
hang what they call sorihili, small lamps (farols, lamps), and a large light in the middle of the sibi. They also hang
palms (frondas, white palms) woven (tejado, woven) in various shapes.

They carry many drums (tambors, drums), of various sizes, which they continue to play until the end of
the feast, usually after 4 days. During those days, the whole village was united, primarily the family prepared, in the
worship of añito.

They call this worship ‘nag-aanito’ when celebrating ‘pandot.’ After ‘pandot,’ they break up the seeds
and their church disappears again.

‘Badhala’ things).
Of all their idols, there is one they worship only, Badhala, the most powerful and creator of all (creator of all

All the natives (naturales, natives) also worship the sun (sol, sun) because of its beauty and power. Even the
moon (luna, moon), especially if it is still small (nueva luna, new moon), they celebrate and congratulate appearances.

The stars (estrellas, stars) are also worshiped in many places even though they do not know the name of the
constellations, except Talà, the morning star (matutina, morning star), the Mapolon (los siete cabritos, the Pleiades), and
the Balatic (Great Bear).

They have many idols (statues, idols) that they call creations (creaciones, icons) made of various shapes and
forms. They also pray for anything belonging to their relatives who were killed in the war to protect them and help them avoid
danger.

The Crocodile was also worshiped

They also worship Dian Masalanta as the source (god, god) of love (amor, love) and pregnancy (embarazo, pregnancy).
Laca Pati is the center of the farm and Idianale is the center of animal husbandry and fish (fishery). They also respect crocodiles
(cocodrillo, crocodiles). Fearing that they would snatch them, they offered them any fish or oyster they had brought with them in the boat,
when they came across the river or the shore.

Whatever they are they use hints (presagios, omens) of good (luck, good luck) or bad luck (bad luck, bad luck). For
example, when they leave the house, they return immediately to avoid bad luck when they see a snake (serpent, snake) or rat (raton,
mouse) or when someone snorts (estornudo, sneeze). A bird song they
call tigmamanuquin is doomed and they must go home when they hear it. The strange song is blessed and
when they hear it, their walk will be good. They also use divination to realize whether their stabs are effective
(eficaz, effective), or if they will be harmed if they use weapons in battle.

Worship and Din

Even though it is not pandot time, they prepare the anñito and offer it to their añito. Its statue is smeared with perfumes
from civet cats or resins of fragrant plants and trees (storax). Sometimes, they clothed the añito with a cloth and surrounded it with a
ring (gold ring) or gold chain (gold chain), although they rarely looked at the statue while wearing it.

In front of it, they sing ‘makatà,’ awards (alabanzas, praises) that are accompanied and answered by the audience.
Pangunain añito the catalonan (the ‘kataló’o talking to añito), their priest (priest, priest) in worship. They pray that añito will give
them whatever grace they ask for, while they are constantly pouring wine for their comfort, until they are all drunk (borracho, drunk).

Occasionally, the soul of the añito enters the body of the catalonan and his eyes seem to be on fire (ojos, eyes). Her
hair rises in terror, and she speaks incomprehensible things. He shakes hands and, in other places, they tend to tie the catalonan to a
tree so as not to hurt. This rarely happens.

INFORMATION:
Customs of the Pampangas in their Lawsuits (‘Las costumbres que antiguamente tenian los naturales de
PamPanga en sus Pleitos’), by Fray Juan de Plasencia, OSF, for Governador General Santiago de Vera,
president of the Audiencia, Manila, 1589, part of The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898,of Emma Helen
Blair and James A. Robertson, publish in Manila, 1903-1908, Bank of the Philippine
Islands commemorative CD re-release, 1998

SOURCES