Group Activity

• With your groups, write down three

riddles for 5 minutes.
• Afterwards, the groups will be taking
turns on letting the other groups guess
the riddle that they have written down.
• The highest pointer will win the game.
Pre-colonial
Philippine
Literature
Objectives
• Identify geographic, linguistic, and ethnic
dimensions of the Philippine literary history
during pre-colonial times
• Identify representative texts, genres, and
authors of the pre-colonial period
• To value the contributions of local cultures
to the development of regional literary
traditions
Riddles
• Bugtong (Tagalog); paktakon (Ilongo);
patototdon (Bicol); buburtia (Ilocano)
• Metaphor
• A guessing game of objects
represented by other objects
• Buto’t balat
lumilipad
• Skin and bone
flying, what is it?
proverbs
• More serious
• Intended to teach values
• A statement of a particular culture’s codes of behaviour and
beliefs.
• Kasabihan (Tagalog); panultihon (Cebuano); kasebian
(Pampango); humabaton (Ilonggo)
• Objects or non-humans were used to impart messages about
human living
Bahay man ay palasyo Say koli pakalmoay liket
Kung laman ay Say ngiras pakalmoya
kuwago; irap
Mabuti pa ang kubong
Laman ay tao (Industry is the sibling of
prosperity. Laziness is
the sibling of starvation)
epics
• Most prominent literary genre of pre-
colonial period
• Darangen (Maranao); ulahingan
(Manobo); guman (Subanon); hudhud
(Ifugao)
• Feature local heroes taking on various
adventures
Famous epics:
1. Biag ni Lam-ang 6. Tuwaang
2. Kabunlan and
Midsakop
Bendian 7. Hari sa Bukit
3. Kumintang 8. Darangen
4. Kudaman 9. Bantugan
5. Maragtas at 10. Hudhud at
Hinilawod Alim
Myths,
legends, fables
myths
• Served to explain how the world was
created
• Intended to explain the origins of
plants and animals and other natural
phenomena
legends
• Appeared to have basis in real life
• Gintunan (Kiniray-a and Ilongo); sarita
(Ilocano); istorya (Pangasinan)
fables
• Short tales that highlights
animals
• Didactic
songs
lullabies
•Existed for the sake of
putting infants at ease
Matulog ka na bunso
Ang ina mo’y malayo;
At hindi ka masundo,
Daa’y walang magturo
Tulog na matulugin,
Hindi na kita gigisingin,
Hindi kita pupuyatin
At bunso’y palalayawin
Activity:
•Pick a literary genre
during the pre-colonial
Philippine Literature and
write an example of it.
How am I
made?
How is the
world
created?
Bilaan
Story of
Creation
Tagalog Story of
Creation
Activity:
1. How would you compare origin stories?
Which elements do they share and what
differences do they have in explaining
how the world came to be?
2. Which creation story is espoused by your
religion? How would you compare that
particular origin story to these two folk
narratives?
Activity:
3. Which aspects of two cultures could have
influenced the stories? Based on the details of the
two creation stories, what can we conclude
about the two cultures that came up with them?
4. Is there such a thing as a “correct” version of
how the world was created? What can we learn
about diversity from the creation stories that we
have read?