Customs of the Tagalogs

By Juan de Plasencia

A Report
Presented to
Ma’am Jesa Selibio
Silliman University

in Partial Fulfilment
of the Requirements of the Subject
History

By

JUSTINE JOSCELLE INIT

CJ FONTEJON
CASMER ANTONIO ZERNA
PHYL CATUBO
KYLE WEE
Group 2

July 2019
BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR
JUAN DE PLASENCIA
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• Born in the 16 century to the illustrious family of Portocarreros in Plasencia, in the
Region of Extramadura, Spain
• Joan de Puerto Carrero, del convent de Villanueva de la Serena
• Spanish friar in the Franciscan order
• Took the leading role in fostering the spread of primary education
• Converted natives, taught catechisms, and organized towns and barangays in the
Philippines
• Initiated the Reduccion Policy
• Came with the first batch of Franciscan missionaries in the Philippines in 1577.
• As soon as he arrived, he joined forces with another missionary, Fray Diego de Oropesa,
and they both started preaching around Laguna de Bay and Tayabas, Quezon, in Quezon
Province, where he founded several towns as early as two months upon arrival in
Manila.
• they are also credited with the foundation of a large number of towns in the provinces
of Bulacan, Laguna and Rizal
• Passed away in Liliw, Laguna in the year 1590.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
 Customs of the Tagalogs was written on the year 1589 during the Spanish Colonial
Period.
 Customs of the Tagalogs is a part (either chapters or subsections) of longer monographs
written by the chroniclers of the Spanish expeditions to the Philippines during the early
16th and 17th centuries.
 They appeared initially in Blair and Robertson’s 55 volumes, The Philippine Islands
(1903) and in the Philippine Journal of Sciences (1958).
 Written as a fulfillment of the task given to him by the King of Spain to document the
customs and traditions of the colonized (“natives”) based on, arguably, his own
observations and judgments.

ANALYSIS OF THE IMPORTANT HISTORICAL INFORMATION

FOUND IN THE DOCUMENT
Barangay was a family of parents, children, relations and slaves.
 Datos – chiefs
 The existence of three castes: nobles, commoners, slaves.
 The natives have various marriage customs

- If maharlicas had children among their slaves, their children and their mothers
became free.
 - If maharlicas had children by the slave-woman of another, the slave-woman was
compelled when pregnant, to give her master half of a gold tael.

- If a free woman had children by a slave they were all free, provided he were not her
husband.
- If two persons married, of whom one was a maharlica and the other a slave, the
children were divided.
- When one married woman of another village, the children were afterwards divided
equally between the two barangays.
 They had laws by which they condemned to death a man of low birth who insulted the
daughter or wife of a chief; likewise witches, and others of the same class.
 Practice of divorce and giving of dowrie
 Worship:
- No temples for sacrifices, adoration of idols or practice of idolatry
- Simbahan
- Pamdot
- Sibi - roof
- Sorihile - lamp
- Naganitos – worship
 They worship various idols like Worship various idols like: Bathala, Lic-Ha, Dian
Masalanta, Lacapati and Idianale, Tala, Seven Little Goats, Mapolon, Balatic, Buaya
 No established division of years, months, and days
 Offer sacrifices through feast
 Existence of Priest of the devils
 Different ways of burying the dead
 Grief accompanied by eating and drinking
 Existence of after life - paradise or village of rest, maca; place of punishment, casanaan

CONTRIBUTION AND RELEVANCE OF THE DOCUMENT IN

UNDERSTANDING THE GRAND NARRATIVE OF PHIL HISTORY
 The original work itself is a product of observations and judgments. Therefore, it is
possible that Juan de Plasencia’s account might contain prejudice in presenting his
observations and judgments. It is subject to bias.
 It has continued to serve as a basis for historical reconstructions of Tagalog society.
 The knowledge of how our ancestors lived in the past can help with the understanding
of succeeding events (present and future).
 It keeps historical records of the traditions and culture of the Tagalog.
 It helps us understand our culture further; helps preserve our culture
 The Customs of the Tagalogs gives an outlook on how we were viewed by foreign people.
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 There are 16 century beliefs and practices that are still present in our modern society.
 It affirms that our way of life in the modern time is affected by how our ancestors lived
theirs in the past.
REFERENCES
Blair, E. H. (2004). The Philippine Islands, 1493 – 1898, V7, 1588 – 1951. Retrieved from
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13701/13701-h/13701-h.htm
Mapano, S. (2015). Accustomed Othering in Colonial Writing A Review of “Customs of the
Tagalogs” (two relations) by Juan de Plasencia From The Philippine Islands 1493-1898. Retrieved
from http://www.artesdelasfilipinas.com/archives/186/accustomed-othering-in-colonial-writing