Friday, July 6, 2012

Phil. History -- Malayan Heritage

Ages before the coming of the Spaniards, our Malay ancestors had brought to our shores their ancestral culture as follows:

1. Food and Drinks
2. Mode of Dressing
3. Tattoos
4. House
5. Natural Courtesy and Politeness
6. Cleanliness and Neatness
7. Amusements
8. Music
9. Marriage Customs
10. The Wedding Ceremony
11. Government
12. Laws
13. Religion
14. Burial and Mourning Customs
15. Superstitions
16. Languages
17. Writing
18. Literacy of the Early Filipinos
19. Literature
20. Education
21. Arts
22. Science
23. Weight and Measures
24. Calendars
25. Coinage
26. Domestic and Foreign Trade
27. Agriculture and Industries

Food and Drinks
     - rice was the staple food of the early Filipinos
     - they cooked their food in earthen pots or in bamboo tubes
     - tuba was the popular wine which was made from coconut same with lambanog- a tagalog wine taken    from the coconut palm http://www.batangas-philippines.com/palm-wine.html
     - Basi - an Ilocano wine made from sugarcane
     - Pangasi  - a Bisayan wine made from fermented wine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_wine while tapuy  - an Igorot wine distilled from rice

Mode of Dressing
       - The men wore kangan (a short sleeved jacket) and bahag (a strip of cloth wrapped around the waist and in between the legs)
       - the men used putong ( a piece of cloth wound around the head) instead of a hat
       - the women wore a baro ( a wide-sleeved jacket) and patadyong (skirt)

Tattoos  
      - The tattoos serve  two purposes:
             1. to enhance their bodily beauty
             2. to show their war records

House 
       - The early Filipino houses were made of wood, bamboo, and palm leaves.
       - the Bagobos and Kalingas still live in such houses
       - the Badjaos (sea-gypsies) of Sulu Sea still live in a boat-house as their forefathers did in ancient times

Natural Courtesy and Politeness 
       - when two persons of equal rank met on the road, they removed their putong as a sign of courtesy
       - when he is his superior, he took off his putong and put it over his left shoulder and bowed low.
       - when a man and woman walked together, the man was always behind the woman.

Cleanliness and Neatness
       - the early Filipinos were clean and neat in their personal habits. They bathed daily
       - their favorite hour for bathing in the river was at sunset when they had finished their daily toil

Music
       - kudyapi -tagalog guitar                      - tultogan - Bisayan bamboo drum
       - kalaleng - Tinggian nose-flute             - silbay - Ilocano reed flute
       - kulintang - Moro xylophone               - suracan - Subanum cymbal

       - kumintang-tagalog love dance            - tagumpay-tagalog song of victory
       - mahinhin-tagalog courtship dance       - dallu-Negrito religious song
       - dandansoy-bisayan tuba dance          - ayog-ku- Igorot serenade song 
       - kinnotan-Ilocano art's dance              - bactal-Tagbanua death song
       - paujalay-Moro wedding dance          - dallot-Ilocano ballad song w/c recounts the exploits of Lam- ang
       - tadok - Tinggian love dance               - tudob-Agusan harvest song

Marriage Customs
        - Before marriage, the groom gave a dowry to the family of the bride called bigaykaya
        - the groom had to work in the house of the bride for a certain period of time

Government
        - The early Filipinos had their own form of government called barangay- a Malayan word which was balangay -means sailboat.
        - the ruler of the barangay was called datu also known as hari or raja.
        -the ruler was the chief executive, legislator, and judge and in times of war, he was the commander of the barangay warriors
       - the datu usually obtained his position by inheritance. When the datu died, his son inherited the datuship. If the datu died childless, the barangay chose a man to be the datu on the basis of his wisdom, physical strenght, or wealth.

Laws    
        - The early Filipinos had both oral and written laws. The oral laws were the customs (ugali) of the race which were handed down orally from generation to generation.
        - the written laws promulgated by the datus with the help of the elders, and were put into writing. These written laws were announced to the people by a barangay crier known as umalahokan.

Religion
         -the ancient Filipinos were pagan with the exception of Muslims. Their  supreme God was Bathala, creator of heaven , earth and men.
         - other gods and goddesses were anitos (Tagalog), diwatas (Bisayan)

Burial and Mourning Customs
         - the mourning custom for a deceased datu was called larao.
         - all wars and quarrels were suspended
         - clothes, food, weapons, and sometimes slaves were buried with the dead

Superstitions
        - the early Filipinos believed in witches such as: aswang, mangkukulam, tianak, and the tikbalang
        - they also believed in the magical power of amulets or charms such as: anting-anting, gayuma,
           odom- Bicol magic herb which makes its possessor invisible t the human eye,
           uiga- Bisayan charm which enables any man to cross a river without getting wet

Languages
       - the Malayo-Polynesian languages- the mother tongue of the Pacifi races
       - Father Pedro Chirino in 1604 wrote: "there is no single or general language of the Filipinos extending throughout the islands, but all of them, though there are many different tongues, are so much alike that they may be learned and spoken in short time."     

Writing
        - the early Filipinos used a sharp pointed iron instrument called sipol as a pen.
        - they wrote on  banana leaves, tree-barks, and bamboo tubes

Education
        - the system of the education in the Philippines before the arrival of the Spaniards was generally informal.
        - the children studied in their own homes with their parents or with some old men in the barangays as tutors.

 Domestic and Foreign Trade
       - the usual method of trading with foreign merchants was by barter in which they offered their own products in exchange for the products of other countries.
       - it had been observed by the two early Chinese writers, Chao Ju-kua (1225) and Wang Tayuan (1349)  that Filipinos were honest in their commercial transaction.

Agriculture and Industries
           -Farming was the main industry of ancient Filipinos.
           - Two method of cultivation were used: the kaingin and the regular means of tillage using wooden plows and harrows drawn by carabaos.

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OUR HERITAGE FROM INDIA, CHINA AND ARABIA


Early Relations with India

                  - the Hindu visitors to our land came peacefully. They were traders or foreign immigrants.

Hindu antiques or relics from India were found in different place:
        1. gold image of Agusan- this statue of a Hindu goddess was found at Esperanza, Agusan Province in 1917.
        2. Copper image of Ganesha- this statue of elephant god of the Hindus was found in Mactan in 1843.
        3. Gold pendant of Garuda- the legendary bird of India was found in Brooke's Point, Palawa in 1961.

Traces of Hindu culture can be found in our: religion; jobs; writing; language; customs; and races.
In religion, Bathala is of Indian origin
In jobs, weaving cotton cloth, making lotus design, making guitars, making sampaguita flower leis, raising
             fruits (mango, langka) vegetable (ampalaya, patola and ,malunggay)
In writing, our ancient alphabet came from their Sanskrit writing
In language, examples: ama, asawa, halaga, maharlika, nanay, mutya, paa, raha, sandata

Sarong (skirt) and the putong of the ancient Filipinos were of Indian origin.

Early Relations with China  
     
     - like Hindus, the early Chines came to our land to buy and sell only not to conquer or rules us.
     - they also spread Chinese culture to our country, many Chinese settled here and married Filipino women.
 
Our Chinese heritage is economic and social. Traces of Chinese influence are found in our: jobs, costumes, language, and blood.

In jobs, Filipino learned how to make gunpowder, to mine for gold, to work with metal, to use porcelain,
            gongs and metals, and to make kites.                  
In costumes, loose trousers, slippers, wooden shoes (bakya), fans and umbrellas. the use of white clothes 
           for mourning the dead came from the Chinese.
In social customs, respect for elders, arranged  marriages, worship of dead ancestors, use of firecrakers at
          New Year; the vices: the tong (fee) for owners of gambling dens and gambling with jueteng, cards
          and mah-jong,
In language, examples: ate, bakya, bantay, buwisit, gunting, kuya, pinto, and susi
In blood, many Chinese married Filipina women and lived in the Philippines.

Early Relations with Arabia
  
      - Every Filipino today knows about Saudi Arabia because many of our countrymen work there and in other Arab countries in the Middle East. In 1380, the first Arab visitor named Mukdum came to Sulu from Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He spread the Islam, the Muslim religion and built the first mosque (Muslim church) at Simunul, Sulu.

       - In 1450, another Arab missionary named Abu Bakr went to Jolo. Married the princess of Jolo and founded the sultanate of Sulu.

       - In 1475, an Arab trader named Kabungsuwan landed at Cotabato and conquered that valley. Also married the princess and founded the sultanate of Maguindanao.

If the Spaniards had not come and spread Christianity, the Philippines would have become a Muslim country.

Our Arab heritage: religion, politics, social life

Our Arabic heritage is mostly seen among Muslim Filipinos in the south.
The Arabs gave the Muslim filipinos the religion of Islam
In politics, the Arab introduced the sultanate form of government and laws.
Sultan (King); raha (heir); dayang (princess); kali (judge)

Some examples of Muslim customs are: polygamy, divorce and pilgrimage  to Mecca.
Ramadan- the Muslim holy festival of fasting and prayer
Singkil - the royal Muslim dance of the Maranao

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pls. read and study...

Good luck and God bless!

 
         





































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