Literature During the Spanish Era (1565-1898)

Spanish colonization brought about great cultural changes which so greatly altered the content,
medium and form of Philippine literature.

The simple and bucolic Filipino lifestyle became more sophisticated through a long period of
exposure to the lifestyle of the colonizers. The Spaniards came with the Sword and the Cross; and to serve
the dual purpose of territorial expansion and evangelization, they needed literature to serve these twin
purposes and goals.

The content of literature was mostly religious; lives of saints religious books, prayers, psalms,
Marian hymns, the pasyon (the "epic" of Christian life), and the like.

To reach the inhabitants faster and to enhance the evangelization process, the Spaniards needed
interpreters and translators. To fill this need, they taught selected inhabitants to speak the Spanish language;
they themselves studied and acquired the native languages of the indios. They introduced the Roman
alphabet and later brought in the printing press (1593). Thus, the medium of literature became tri-ligual;
the Castillian language, Tagalog, and some still in the dialects of various communities. The oral literature
could not be erased from the memories of our ancestors; but the Roman alphabet replaced the syllabaries
of the natives; and literature began to appear in print.

Ancient literary forms were enriched with the various literary forms patterned after European
metrical romances (corridos and awits), "zarzuelas” recreational plays (Duplo; moro-moro, juego de
prenda) and the "balagtasan".

The opening of the Suez Canal brought prosperity to use Filipinos. Soon the rich and landed sent
their sons to study European schools and brought home liberal ideas of freedom, equality, and a national
fervor for independence and national identity

Literature now assumed the role of catalyst, a tool for the awakening of the Filipino long enslaved
and plundered by the "conquistadores".

Writings of Rizal, M.H. del Pilar, F. Baltazar or Balagtas, etc. exposed the abuses of the Spaniards
and the colonial mentality and subservience of the Filipino. To the colonial masters, these writings were
revolutionary in nature. Only the expurgated copies of Rizal’s novels (Noli and Fili) were allowed for
limited circulation. Literary medium was bilingual. Most writings were in Spanish and Tagalog, their
content, bicultural.

Today, the literary outputs of our writers still cary the Filipino’s Spanish cultural heritage. Spanish
loan words have become part of our vocabulary such as terms like Don/Doña. Señor, Señorita, Muchacha
or servidor(a), mesa, caraoje, tonto, pronto, alcalde, gobernador, hijo/hija, guardia de honor, cedula and
many more. They often are part of contemporary writing.

Adapted from Vinuya, R.V. (2011). Philippine literature: a statement of ourselves. Grandbooks Publishing, Inc.