BRIEF HISTORY OF ORAL LORE FROM PRECOLONIAL TIMES TABON MAN Was discovered in a cave in Palawan in 1962 Allegedly

dly speaks of a prehistory that goes back 50,000 years ago [Early Filipinos] knew the use of gold and textiles, and how to smelt iron and make glass, and probably spoke a language or languages from which all modern Filipino tongues are derived. PHILIPPINIZATION OF SPANISH CATHOLICISM Remark of John L. Plehan This remark is actually a recognition of the tremendous bulk of prehistoric Filipino culture with which a transplanted culture came into contact. The impact of Western culture was to grow in intensity with the passing of time spent under Spanish and American control. Pervasiveness of the oral lore of the Filipinos would continue, surfacing at certain historical moments, but most of the time remaining unobserved because submerged in the culture of the colonial power. WILLIAM HENRY SCOTTS OBSERVATION [there is] a considerable discrepancy between what is actually known about the prehispanic Philippines and what has been written about it. Much that has been said about precolonial Filipinos is misleading, when the amount of verified information turned up by the studies of archeologist, ethnologists and anthropologists has certainly been considerable. EARLY FILIPINOS LIVED IN SEA COASTS AND RIVER BANKS, CLOSE TO THE MAJOR SOURCES OF FOOD AND TRANSPORTATION ROUTES. Much can be reliably inferred about precolonial Philippine literature from an analysis of collected oral lore of Filipinos whose ancestors were able to preserve their indigenous culture by living beyond the reach of Spanish colonial administrators and the culture of sixteenth-century Europe. They have been able to preserve for us epics, tales, songs, riddles and proverbs that are now our windows to a past with no written records. COMMUNALLY OWNED Precolonial literature is literary works created in the setting of a society where the resources for economic subsistence (land,
Hand-Outs in Philippine Literature [Literature 11]: Number THREE Prepared By: Donali Gem Goya M. Pableo

water, forest) were communally owned. They bore the mark of community. SUBJECT MATTER: common experience of a people constituting a village

CONVENTIONS OF VARIOUS LITERARY FORMS 1. Formulaic Repetitions 2. Stereotyping of Characters 3. Regular rhythmic and musical devices - These facilitated the transmission of poems, songs, tales and sayings and insured their survival into later times as they moved from one individual to another, one community to another, and one generation to another. COMMUNAL AUTHORSHIP Because ownership of the originating individual is not emphasized in the process of oral transmission, the receiving performer of the song often feels that the work he is performing is expressive of his own beliefs, attitudes and emotions. NATIVE SYLLABARY 3 Vowels: a, i-e, u-o 14 Consonants: b, d, g, h, k, l, m, n, ng, p, s, t, w and y When the syllabary fell into disuse among Christianized Filipinos, much valuable information about precolonial culture that could have been handed down to us was lost. TWO WAYS OF INDIGENOUS CULTURES SURVIVAL 1. Resistance to colonial rule - Maranaws - Maguindanaws - Taosugs of Mindanao - Igorots, Ifugaos, Bontocs and Kalingas of the Mountain Province 2. Isolation from colonial powers - Tagbanwas - Tagabilis - Mangyans - Bagobos - Manuvus - Bukidnon - Isneg RIDDLE, PROVERBS, SONG The simplest form of oral literature The audience is familiar with the situations, activities, and objects mentioned in the course of expressing a thought or emotion. LANGUAGE OF ORAL LITERATURE: language of daily life.
1

Any member of the society was a potential poet, singer or story-teller.

SOURCES OF RIDDLES AND PROVERBS 1. 1754 Tagalog-Spanish Dictionary 2. Pedro de Sanlucar and Juan de Nocedas Vocabulario de lengua tagala AMBAHAN Of Hanun00-Mangyans Is often chanted (without predetermined musical pitch or musical accompaniment) This might explain why vernacular Philippine poetry is invariably performed in a sing-song rhythm SONGS Tagalogs has as many as 16 songs Social Function of Songs (according to a Spanish chronicler): political and religious life were preserved in songs. In this barbaric songs were told the fabled genealogies and vainglorious deeds of their gods. PROSE NARRATIVES Consisted largely of origin myths, hero tales, fables and legends. Their function was to explain natural phenomena, past events, and contemporary beliefs in order to make the environment less fearsome and to make idle hours less tedious by filling them with humor and fantasy. FOLK EPICS The common features of folk epics, as described by E. Arsenio Manuel in his 1962 study, are: 1) Narratives of sustained length 2) Based on oral tradition 3) Revolving around supernatural events or heroic deeds 4) In the form of verse 5) Either chanted or sung 6) Embodying life-values of the people

PRIOR TO THE SPANISH CONQUEST Filipinos had a culture that linked them with the Malays of Southeast 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 perspective which served as a filtering device for the Western culture that the colonizers brought over from Europe. Reference: Lumbera, Bienvenido and Cynthia Lumbera. Philippine Literature: An Anthology.

Hand-Outs in Philippine Literature [Literature 11]: Number THREE Prepared By: Donali Gem Goya M. Pableo