Customs of The

Tagalogs
 Prepared by:
Bagnol, Sheley Guendyline G.
Sobrevilla, Jessamin B.
Tejada, Sairah G.
  
Las Costumbres de los Indios Tagalos de
Filipinas
Juan de Plasencia
• Background of the Author
✣ Born to the illustrious family of Portocarreros in Plasensia in the region of
Extremadura, Spain in the early 16th century. He was one of the seven children
of Pedro Portocarrero, a captain of a Spanish schooner.
✣ Juan de Plasencia grew up during the period known as the Siglo de Oro, a
Golden Age when arts and literature flourished in many parts of Spain, among
them his native Extremadura.
✣ Fray Joan de Puerto Carrero, del convento de Villanueva de la Serena. Was
his real name.
ARRIVAL IN THE PHILIPPINES
✣ Fray Juan de Plasencia came together with the first batch of
Franciscan missionaries in the Philippines.
✣ Arrived at a port in Cavite, a few kilometers south of Manila on the
2nd of July 1578.

Purpose: Relacion de las Costumbres and Instruccion

✣ To put an end to some injustices being committed against the
natives by certain government official
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE DOCUMENT
SOCIAL CLASS

Chieftain
Datu
Nobles
(Maharlik)
Commoners
(Aliping
Namamahay)

Slaves ( Aliping

Saguiguilid)
 SOCIAL CLASS
• Datu - chief, captain of wars, whom governed, obeyed and reverenced.
• Nobles or maharlika - Free-born, they do not pay taxes.
•  Commoners or aliping namamahay - They live in their own houses and
lords of their property and gold.
•  Slaves or aliping sa guiguilid - They serve their master in his house and
his cultivated lands and can be sold.
• Houses are made of wood, bamboo, and nipa palm.
•  Mode of Dressing Male Headgear is called Putong (symbolizes the
number of persons the wearer had killed) (Upper) a jacket with short
sleeves called kanggan. (Lower) bahag
• Mode of Dressing Female (Upper) Baro or Camisa (Lower) Saya.
.

Ornaments:
✣ A decorative object or detail that adds quality or distinction to a
person, place or thing.
 CUSTOMS OF TAGALOG
1. Government
The unit of government is called Barangay ruled by a chieftain, and consist of 30 to 100 families
together with their relatives and slaves.

2. Administration of Justice
The chieftain’s executive function includes implementing laws, ensuring order and giving
protection to his subject. Disputes between individuals were settled by a court made up of the
chieftain and council of elders.

3. Inheritance
The 1st son of the barangay chieftain inherits his father’s position; if the 1st son dies, the 2nd son
succeeds their father; in the absence of male heirs, it is the eldest daughter that becomes the
chieftain.
 CUSTOMS OF TAGALOG
1.Slaves A person becomes slave by: (1) by captivity in war, (2) by reason of debt, (3) by
inheritance, (4) by purchase, and (5) by committing a crime.
✣ Slaves can be emancipated through: (1) by forgiveness, (2) by paying debt, (3) by condonation,
and (4) by bravery (where a slave can possibly become a Datu) or by marriage.

2. Marriage Customs ✣ Men were in general, monogamous; while their wives are called Asawa.
✣ Courtship begins with Paninilbihan.
✣ Prior to marriage the man requires to give a dowry: (1) Bigay- kaya (a piece of land or gold);
(2) Panghihimuyat (a gift for the brides parents); (3) Bigay-suso (for brides wet nurse).
✣ Marriage between couples belonging to different social classes were not common.
✣ Several grounds of divorce are: (1) Adultery, (2) Abandonment on the part of the husband,
(3) Cruelty, and (4) Insanity.
 CUSTOMS OF TAGALOG

1.Religious Belief ✣ They worship many gods and goddesses: (1) bathala, supreme being;
(2) Idayanale, god of agriculture; (3) Sidarapa, god of death; (4) Agni, god of fire; (5)
Balangaw, god of rainbow; (6) Mandarangan, god of war; (7) Lalahon, god of harvest; and
(8) Siginarugan, god of hell.
✣ Also believe in sacred animals and tress.

2. Superstitious Beliefs
✣ Believe in Aswang, Dwende, Kapre, Tikbalang, Patyanak/Tiyanak.
✣ They also believe in magical power of amulet and charms such as anting-anting, kulam
and gayuma or love potion.
Economic Life :
✣ Agriculture in the plane lands: planting of rice, corn, banana,
coconut, sugar canes and other kinds of vegetable and fruits.
✣ Hunting in high lands.
✣ Fishing in river banks and sea.
✣ Shipbuilding, weaving, poultry, mining and lumbering.
✣ Domestic trade of different barangays by boat.
✣ Foreign trade with countries like Borneo, China, Japan,
Cambodia, Java, and Thailand.
 CUSTOMS OF TAGALOG
Language and System of Writing

✣Major languages: Tagalog, Ilocano, Pangasinan, Pangpangan,

Sugbuhanon, Hiligaynon, Magindanao and Samarnon this languages is
originated from the Malayo-Polenisian language.

✣System of writing: the alphabets consisted of 3 vowels and 14 consonants

called Baybayin.
✣They used tap of tress as ink and pointed stick as pencil.
✣They wrote on large plant leaves, bark of a tree or bamboo tubes.
References :
✣ History of the Filipino People (Eighth Edition) by Teodoro
Agoncillo
✣ The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898 Volume VII, 1588–1591
(Edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James
Alexander Robertson with historical introduction and additional
notes by Edward Gaylord Bourne)