CUSTOM OF

TAGALOG
Historical Context
■ The Government had difficulty is running local
politics because of the limited number of
Spaniards who wanted to live outside of
Intramuros
■ Spanish officials were forced to allow Filipinos to
hold the position of gobernadorcillo
■ Gobernadorcillo was a municipal judge who carried
out in a town the combined charges or
responsibilities of leadership, economic, and
judicial administration.
■ To ensure that gobernadorcillos would remain loyal to
the crown, friars assigned parishes to supervise &
monitor activities of the former.
■ Friars ended up performing the administrative duties
that the colonial officials should have been doing.
■ Friars also became the most knowledgable and
influential figure in the pueblos.
■ The word pueblo is the Spanish word for "town" or
"village". It comes from the Latin root word
populus meaning "people".
Activities that the Friars were
doing:
■ Supervising the election of the local
executives
■ Collecting of taxes
■ Educating the youth and other civic
duties.
Friars who were assigned in
mission territories were:
■ Required to inform their superiors of what was happening in
their respective areas
■ To prepare reports on the number of natives they converted
■ To document people’s way of life—i.e, their hardships and
struggles, etc.
■ Others who were keen observers submitted short letters
and/or long dispatches.
■ They also shared their personal observations and
experiences .
Plasencia’s Relacion de Las
Costumbres de Los Tagalogs
■ “Custom of the Tagalogs”, 1589, by Fray Juan de
Plasencia
■ Contains numerous information that historians
could use in reconstructing the political and socio-
cultural history of the Tagalog region
■ Considered a primary source because Plasencia
personally witnessed the events and took account
of what was happening
Other examples of Literature
Written by Friars and Colonial
Officials during the Spanish Period
1.) Relacion de las Islas Filipinas (1582)
■ Written by Miguel de Loarca, an encomendero of
Panay
■ He described the Filipinos’ way of life in the
Western Visayas area.
2.) Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
■ Written by Lt. Gov. Antonio de Morga
■ Provides information about the state of the
Philippines in the latter part of the 16th century.
Other Spanish Missionaries who continued the
historiographical traditions:
■ Relacion de las Islas Filipinas, 1604
- Fr. Pedro Chirino S.J.

■ Historia General, 1751

- Fr. Juan Delgado S.J.

■ Labor Evangelica, 1663

- Fr. Francisco Colin S.J.

■ Historia natural de sitio, fertilidad y calidad de las Islas e Indios de Bisayas, 1668
- Fr. Francisco Ignacio Alcina S.J.
About the Author
• Fray Juan de Plasencia (real name: Juan de
Portocarrero)
• He was a member of the Franciscan Order
who came together with the first batch of
missionaries to the Philippines in 1578
• He and Fray Diego de Oropesa were
assigned to do mission works in the
Southern Tagalog area.
• He helped in the foundation and
organizations of numerous towns in Quezon,
Laguna, Rizal and Bulacan
• His continuous interaction with the people he
converted to Christianity engaged him to
write Custom of Tagalogs, 1589, where he
vividly described the political, social,
economic, and cultural practices of the
Filipinos before they were Christianized.
Fray Juan de Plasencia

■ He believed that catechism or explaining the basic tenets of the

Catholic faith is another very important function of a missionary.
■ His biggest challenge at the time was how to make the articles of
faith comprehensible to people who have never heard of Christ or
the Catholic church.
 ABOUT THE TEXT

■ Original document of Customs of the Tagalogs is currently kept in the

Archivo General de Indias.(A.G.I) in Seville, Spain.
■ Duplicate copy of it is kept in the Archivo Franciscano Ibero- Oriental in
Madrid, Spain
■ English translation appeared in Volume VII of the Blair and Robert’s The
Philippine Islands.
EXCERTS FROM
CUSTOM OF
TAGALOG
DATUS

■ The chiefs who governed them were

captains in their wars, and whom they
obeyed and reverenced.
■ Chiefs ruled over a few people; sometimes
as many as a hundred houses, or even less
than thirty.
■ Tribal gathering is called in tagalog a
“barangay”
■ Datus who corresponded to our knights.
 Three Castes:
NOBLES
 Freeborn or
they call
maharlica.
 They not pay tax
or tribute to the
dato.
 Must
accompany the
datu in war.
COMMONERS
 Aliping Namamahay
 Married
 Serve their master whether
he be a dato or not.
 Live in their own houses
and lords their property and
gold.
 Cannot be made slaves (sa
guiguilar) nor can either
parents or children be sold.
 SLAVES

 Aliping sa Guiguilar

 Serve their master in

his house and his
cultivated lands and
may be sold

 Not married
Difference between the aliping
Namamahay and Aliping sa Guiguilar

■Aliping Namamahay are not slaves

while Aliping sa Guiguilar are slaves.
Maharlica’s on both father’s and mother’s side
continue to be so forever; if these maharlicas
had children and their mothers became free. If
one of them had children by a slave-woman of
another, she was compelled, when pregnant, to
give her master half of the gold tael because of
her risk of death.
If two person married, of whom one was a maharlica and the
other slave, whether namamahay or sa guiguilir children were
divided. First, third and fifth child is for the father while the
second, fourth and sixth fell to the mother. Those who became
slave fell under the category of servitude which was their
parent’s, either namamahay or a sa guiguilir. If there’s an odd
child, he/she is half free and half slave.
■ Of these two kinds of slaves the sa guiguilir could be sold but not the
namamahay and their children nor they be transferred however they
could be transferred from barangay, provided they remain in the same
village.
■ Maharlicas could not, after marriage, move from one village to
another.
■ Marriage dowries deal more Complex if the couples are young.
Parents also received part of the dowries.
WORSHIP OF THE
TAGALOGS
PanDOT OR “WORsHiP”
■ A festive celebration
■ Includes performing of sacrifices,
adoration of their idols or the general
practice of Idolatry.
■ Usually lasts for 4 days
■ People bring drums which they beat
successively while the feast lasted
■ Nagaanitos was also another way the feast
was called by the members of the
barangay
Place of Worship
■ Their place of worship was called a temple
■ Since there are no temples consecrated for the
performance of these rights, it is usually held in
a large house of a chief.
■ Sibi- is a temporary shed on each side of the
house to shelter the gathered people
■ Sorihile- small lamps on the posts of the house
BATHALA
■ They worshipped this god specially
■ He was said to be the “all powerful”
and “maker of all things”

SUN
 They also worshipped the sun for
its beauty, respected and honored
as the heavens
THE MOON

■ They worship the moon especially when it’s

new, which at the time they had great
rejoicings to adore and welcome it

STARS
 They also worship the stars, most especially
the morning star which they called “Tala”
THEIR OTHER IDOLS:
■ Lic-ha- were images with differrent shapes
■ Little Trifles- they adored these like the
Romans
■ Dian Masalanta- the patron of lovers and of
generation
■ Lacapati and Indianale- were patrons of
cultivated lands and of husbandry
■ Buaya- they paid reverence to these creatures
for fear of getting harmed
 Tagalog Omens
■ They believed that rats, snakes, the bird(
tigmamanugin) or if they pass by someone who
sneezed they think of this as a bad omen and that
they should go back home for evil will befall them if
they continue their journey.
■ Divination- to see whether weapons, such as dagger or
knife, were useful and lucky for the possesor
Time
■ The natives had no established division of years or
months, instead they base time or season on their
cultivation of soil, counting the moons, or the
different produce of trees and flowers. These help
them make up a year
Manner of Offering
■ Their sacrifice was to proclaim a feast and offer to
the devil what they had to eat. This is done in front
of a an idol with fragrant perfumes.
■ Often they sacrifice goats, fowls, and swine which
were decapitated and laid bare before the idol
■ They worship these idols sometimes by putting
wrappings of cloths in the heads of these idols, thus
it’s like worshipping the devil without seeing him
Purpose of These Offerings

■ Healing of the sick

■ Prosperous voyage of those embarking on the sea
■ A good harvest
■ Successful child birth
■ Happy outcome of married life
Distinction of Priest and the Devil
CATALONAN
■ The first distinction
■ Was a man or woman, that officiates the feast.
■ The devil was sometimes capable of entering the body of the
catalonan, said to take it’s shape and appearance with great
arrogance and would sometimes shoot flame from his/her eyes
■ In some districts if the possession was severe they tie the
person on a tree to prevent the devil in destroying the
minister
MANGAGAUAY
 The second distinction
 Witches who deceived people by
pretending to heal the sick
 They can instantly kill a person
or prolong life, believed to be
the works of a devil
 Found throughout the land
MANYISALAT
■The third distinction, the same as the mangagaguay
■Had a power of applying remedies for lovers to make
them despise their own wives
■When the ritual was successful the abandoned wives’
health would deteriorate and would discharge blood
and matter
■Office is general throughout the land
 MANCOCOLAM
■ This is the fourth distinction
■ Duty was to emit fire from himself at
night, once or often each month
■ Fire could not be extinguished and people
who wallowed with this priest would fell ill
and die
■ Found throughout the land
HOCLOBAN
■ The fifth distinction
■ More powerful than the mangagauay
■ Without use of medicines but just by
saluting or raising his hand they can
kill whom they chose or heal those
who became ill by their charms.
■ They are found in Catanduanes
 SILAGAN
■ The sixth distinction
■ If they saw anyone clothed in white, they
would tear out his liver and eat it, causing
death to the victim
■ Don’t let anyone believe this as a fable, for a
Spanish notary was killed in Calauan, his
intestines pulled out from his anus, was later
buried in Calilaya by father Fray Juan de
Merida
■ Found in the island of Catanduanes
MAGTATANGAL
■ The seventh distinction
■ His purpose is to show himself at
night with no head or entrails,
pretends to carry his head in
different places and returns to his
body in the morning
■ Still occurred in Catanduanes
OSUANG
■ The eight distinction
■ Equivalent to a sorcerer, they say
he has the ability to fly and
murders men and eats their flesh
■ Exists in the Visayas and not
among the tagalogs
 MANGAGAYOMA
■ The ninth, and is another class
of witches
■ They made charms for lovers out
of herbs, stones, and wood which
would infuse their hearts with
love
■ Deceives people and sometimes
through the devil’s intervention
they gained their ends
SONAT
■The tenth, equivalent to a preacher
■It was his job to help one die, at which time he
predicted the salvation or condemnation of the
soul
■He can be found throughout the land
PANGATAHOJAN
■ The eleventh, was a soothsayer
■ Predicted the future
■ Office generally found in the land

BAYOGUIN
 The twelfth, signified a “cotquean”
 A man whose nature is inclined toward that of a woman
(homosexual)
Their manner of burying the dead was
as follows:
The deceased was buried beside his house
If he were a chief, he was placed beneath a little house or porch which
they constructed for this purpose.
Before interring him, they mourned him for four days. And afterward
laid him on boat which served as a coffin or bier, placing him beneath
the porch, where guard kept over him by a slave. In place of rowers,
various animals were placed within the boat, each one being assigned
a place at the oar by twos---male female of each species being
together.
Examples:
Two goats
Two deer, or two fowls
■ It was the slave’s care to see that they were fed.
If the deceased had been a warrior, a living slave
was tied beneath his body until in this way he
died. In course of time, all suffer decay, and for
many days the relatives of the dead man
bewailed him, singing dirges, and praises of his
good qualities, until they wearied of it. This grief
was accompanied by eating and drinking. This
was a customs of tagalongs.
■ There infidels said that they knew that there was another life of rest
which they called maca, just as if we should say “paradise,” or in
other words, “village of rest”. They say that those who go to this place
are the just, and the valiant, and those who lived without doing harm,
or who possessed moral virtues. They said also, that in the other life
and mortality, there was a place of punishment, grief, and affliction
called casanaan, which was a “place of anguish”, they also
maintained that no one would go to heaven, where there only dwelt
bathala, “the maker of all things,” who governed from above. There
were also another pagans who confessed more clearly to hell, which
they called as I have said, casanaan; they said that all the wicked
went to that place, and there dwelt the demons, whom they called
sitan.
■ There were also ghosts, which they called vibit, and
phantoms, which they called tigbalaang. They had another
deception namely, if any woman died in childbirth, she and
the child suffered punishment, and that, at night, she could
be heard lamenting.
■ This called patianac. May honor and glory be to God our
Lord, that among the tagalongs not a trace of this is left, and
that those who are now marrying do not even know what it
is, thanks to the preaching of the holy gospel, which has
banished it.
RELEVANCE
 Plasencia’s Customs of the Tagalog is a very
popular primary source as it vividly describes
the way o life of the Filipinos before Spanish and
Christian influences.
It also covers numerous topics that are
relevant in many disciplines.
Political scientists, for instance, find it
useful because it contains information about the
social classes, political stratifications and legal
system of the Tagalog region.
 Moreover, it tackles property rights,marriage
rituals, burial practices and the manner in which
justice is dispensed.
Plasencia’s account also preserves and
popularizes the unwritten customs,traditions and
religious and superstitious beliefs of us Filipinos.
Plasencia’s work also tackles our historical
knowledge about manananaggal,aswang,hukluban
and gayuma.
 Priests and missionaries also read Plasencia’s
Customs of the Tagalogs and Doctrina Christiana
because they contain insights that can help and
inspire them to become evangelizers.
The realization that one needs to master local
language and study of the culture of the people to be
a successful insight from Plasencia.
They also learned from Plasencia that preaching
should be accompanied with reading materials that
contain the basic elements of faith.
 Plasencia’s historical writings also disprove the
claim of some Spaniards that when they arrived in the
Philippines, Filipinos were still uncivilized and lacking in
culture.
It is clear in the excerpts quoted that at time
Plasencia was assigned in the Tagalog region, Filipinos
were already politically and economically organized,
They had functioning government tax system, set of
laws,criminal justice system,indigenous calendar and
long standing customs and traditions.Moreover they had
a concept of a supreme being(Bathala),practiced burial
customs and believed in life after death.
 All of these lead to the conclusion that
prior to the coming of the Spaniards,
Filipinos were already civilized and
maintained a lifestyle that was on a part
with or even better than that of the people
from other countries in SouthEast Asia.