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

o wearing bark and woven cloth, etc.

o chewing betel nut for 3,000 years

o natives, ethnic minorities, tribal Filipinos

o 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:

o formulaic repetitions

o stereotyping of characters

o regular rythmic

o 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

o resistance to colonial rule

o 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

o origin myths, hero tales, fables and legends

 o 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

o surveyed ethnoepics, described 13 epics (pagan), 2 (christian), 4 (muslim)

o 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)

o Christian Ilokos

o Ines Kannoyan

o eaten by monster fish rarang

o brought back to life by his rooster and dog

Tuwaang

o Pagan Epic

o Manuvus of Central Mindanao

 o The Maiden of Buhong Sky

Hinilawod

o Pagan Epic

o Sulod of Panay

o Longest epic

o part 1 Labaw Denggan

o part 2 Humadapnon

Bantugan

o 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.