Philippine History - Pre-colonial Philippines PDF

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Philippine History on different times....

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Pre-colonial Civilization

1. 5 New Information on Pre-colonial Philippines

a) The culture of pre-colonial Filipinos is rooted in nature and astronomical bodies, influencing the way they live. They created traditions and rituals that praise and revolve around these such as using stars as a time reference for work like slash and burn period or kaingin. The myths/stories about these celestial bodies and names of constellations also varied from one group/place to another because of geological differences.

b) There existed a multitude of superstitions and rituals that the Filipinos believed and practiced, from building the boat to sailing, hoping to avoid any kind of misfortune. These rituals are also expected to feed the souls of the objects they believed to exist. In these beliefs, sea/water bodies are associated in the way to the afterlife.

c) Even in the practices related to burial, hierarchy is very much evident since there is a significant difference in the way that the ruling class and the ordinary people are buried. An example of this difference is that whenever a datu dies, larao is observed wherein everyone in the community is required to participate in the mourning and no one

is allowed to be joyful. Meanwhile, when an ordinary person dies, individual and less grand rituals are performed such as maglahe and morotal. Additionally, mourning the death of relatives in pre-colonial Philippines included various other practices, such as shaving the head and eyebrows by the Bisaya or relatives, covering themselves with blankets, and not eating while staying like that for 3 days.

d) Pre-colonial Philippine practices were also similar to those of ancient civilizations. An example stated in the provided reading is when the datu of a community dies. In this case, the datu was to be buried together with his servant and wealth because it was believed that the datu will be welcomed into the afterlife. Such a practice bears resemblances to the tradition of pharaohs and their servants, except that datus were buried in their own house. In contrast to this, certain pre-colonial beliefs and practices are still present and applied, or have influenced those of modern Philippines. For instance, the Bagobos believed that an evil and a good spirit resides in a single life on its left and right side respectively. Presently, this idea of the duality of man is a commonly used symbolism for what the human conscience is, and is still a topic for philosophical discussions.

e)

Even before being colonized, the people of the Philippines already had a system of government (local) and organized religion. This is in contrast to how the Spaniards framed pre-colonial Filipinos as being barbaric and without organized communities.

2. Three things one should look forward to learning on Pre-colonial Philippines

a) I want to know more about the historical significance of the moon in the practices of the pre-colonial Filipinos since in the readings, the emphasis was given on the stars and not the other celestial bodies. b) I want to know more about the different burial practices of other groups like the hanging of coffins in Sagada which is still observed up to this day since the reference only focused on the belief of using bangkas and the water bodies to the afterlife. c) I want to learn more about the religion, superstitions, and beliefs of the pre-colonial people because what if we were not colonized? These may have been our beliefs right now.

3. 2 Questions Regarding Pre-colonial Philippines

a) How did the religion of Visayans influence their belief in omens and superstitions?

b) What specific factors lead to certain communities having different religious beliefs? How are these factors manifested into their beliefs?

References Abrera, M. B. (2005). Bangka, Kaluluwa, at Katutubong Paniniwala. Philippine Social Sciences Review, vol. 57, no. 1-4, pp. 29-53. https://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/pssr/article/view/1958 Ambrosio, D. L. (2005). Balatik: Katutubong Bituin ng mga Pilipino. Philippine Social Sciences Review, vol. 57, no. 1-4, pp. 1-28. https://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/pssr/article/view/1287/0 Scott, W.H. (1994). Visayan Religion. Barangay: sixteenth-century Philippine culture and society (pp. 77-93). Quezon City, Manila, Philippines: Ateneo de Manila University Press....