Oral Lore from Pre-Colonial Times

( 1564)
From Notes on Philippine Literature: A History and
Anthology by Bienvenido Lumbera
from the down of our civilization to the
establishment of settlements
1st period of Philippine literature longest
1521 Magellan, Las Islas Filipinas
Philippinization of Spanish Catholicism
William Henry Scott discrepancy
between what is actually known about the
prehispanic PH and what has been written
about it
Filipinos lived in villages along sea coasts,
river banks, major sources of food and most
convenient transportation routes; nomads
wearing bark and woven cloth, etc.
chewing betel nut for 3,000 years
natives, ethnic minorities, tribal Filipinos
epics, tales, songs, riddles, proverbs

subject matter peoples common

experience

food-gathering

creatures and objects of

nature

work in the home, field, forest,

sea

did not emphasize authorship;

belongs to the community

language of daily life

Conventions of various oral literary
forms/aids to the performers:
formulaic repetitions
stereotyping of characters
regular rythmic
musical devices
native syllabary 3 vowels (a, i-e, u-o), 14
consonants
syllabary fell into disuse among Christianized
Filipinos = valuable information lost
perishable materials destroyed by
missionaries against pagan culture
animistic worship of objects
uniqueness of indigenous culture survived
colonization
resistance to colonial rule
virtue of isolation from centers of colonial
power
riddles and proverbs simplest forms of oral
literature
Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala Pedro
de Sanlucar and Juan de Noceda provides
samples of early oral lore; collection
monoriming heptasyllabic lines single
rimes, seven syllables per line

 ambahan contemporary Hanunoo

Mangyans, chanted
tanaga - stanza form with four lines;
hispanized descendant of ambahan
lyric poetry fabled genealogies and
vainglorious deeds of their gods
religious lives of people are based on tradition
prose narratives
origin myths, hero tales, fables and
legends
to explain natural phenomena, past
events and contemporary beliefs in order to
make the environment less fearsome by
making it more comprehensible and to
make idle hours less tedious; to entertain
and to explain
drama as literary form has NOT yet begun
mimetic dances imitating natural cycles and
work activities
folk epics literary and classical most
significant pieces of literature
E. Arsenio Manuel
surveyed ethnoepics, described 13 epics
(pagan), 2 (christian), 4 (muslim)
common features

narratives of sustained length

based on oral tradition

revolving around supernatural

events/heroic deeds

with a certain seriousness of purpose,

embodying or validating the beliefs,
customs, ideals or life values of the
people

in the form of verse

chanted or sung
Lam-ang (Biag ni Lam-ang)
Christian Ilokos
Ines Kannoyan
eaten by monster fish rarang
brought back to life by his rooster and dog
Tuwaang
Pagan Epic
Manuvus of Central Mindanao
The Maiden of Buhong Sky
Hinilawod
Pagan Epic
Sulod of Panay
Longest epic
part 1 Labaw Denggan
part 2 Humadapnon
Bantugan
Maranaw Epic
Conclusion: Filipinos had a culture that linked
them with the Malays of South East Asia, a culture

with traces of Indian, Arabic and possibly, Chinese

influences. Their epics, songs, short poems, tales,
dances and rituals gave them a native Asian
perspective which served as a filtering device for
the western culture that the colonizers brought
over from Europe.