Arceo, Miguel Guico, Allen Alcantara, Indira Villalobos, Danica A12-04

Estrellado, Jann Alipusan, Frances Baliwag, Marielle

Description of the Literary Forms and Major Themes and

Characteristics
Philippines has rich
history on different
periods. This does not
only concern with
language and art but also
the way of living of
individuals back then.
During the pre-colonial
period, oral and written
literatures were present in
Pre-Colonial Period the culture. They use their
own alphabets probably
Sanskrit, Arabic, and the
Baybayin. They wrote on
bark of trees, on leaves,
bamboo tubes using their
knives and daggers,
pointed sticks as their
pens and their colored
saps as ink. That is the
reasons that such literary
forms that emerged
during that period did not
last long. Hence, this
period continued by word
of mouth and by oral
tradition. In terms of the
government, its earliest
form is the barangay
wherein it is ruled by
Historical Content
Before the Spaniards
came, it is said that the
original settlers of the
Philippines were a dark-
complexioned Australo-
Melanesian people who
lived as hunter-gatherers
in small bands who arrived
around 30,000 years ago.
They are the Aetas or
Negritos at present time,
who learned to adapt in the
life at jungle and
mountainous remote
areas. During that time,
Austronesian expansion
took place wherein a group
of horticultural people
survived via a combination
of light agriculture and
fishing out casted the
hunter-gatherers. Women
have a lot of power during
this period. The social
organization after the
Austronesian expansion
changed from small bands
to larger kinship groups
known as barangays. The
head of the barangay was
Genres that Emerged
Several literary forms
have developed during the
pre-colonial period in the
Philippines. Among these
are riddles or bugtong, a
one to four liner question
that describes something
in a difficult and confusing
way; folk narratives that
consist of myths, legends,
and folktales. Another
literary genre that
emerged is the proverbs
or aphorisms that express
norms or codes of
behavior, community
beliefs, or values in short
rhyming verbs. Under the
proverbs are tanaga and
the Filipino proverbs
called salawikain. Folk
song, a form of folk lyric
which expresses the
hopes and aspirations, the
people’s lifestyles as well
as their loved ones is also
involved. Few examples of
folk song are the lullabyes
or Ili-Ili (Ilongo); love
songs like the panawagon
Subjects of Literary
Forms
During the pre-colonial
period, literature in the
Philippines focuses on
the environment and the
society itself. The
subject matter was
invariably the common
experience of the people
constituting a village –
food gathering,
creatures and objects of
nature, work in the home
field, forest or sea,
caring for children and
others. Works on this
period also expresses
the hopes and
aspirations, the people’s
lifestyles as well as their
loves. In addition, the
themes of the literary
pieces also explain how
the world was created,
how certain animals
possess certain
characteristics, why
some places have
waterfalls, volcanoes,
mountains, flora or
fauna. Lastly, pre-
Commentary
As our group search and
look back into the pre-
colonial period, we have
learned that Philippines in
that time is rich in many
forms- in culture, in
tradition, in language, and
in literature. Even that the
life back then is very simple
and self-sufficient, we
believe that the certain
period in some point is
better than of today. The
reason why is that people
value their culture much
than what we do now.
Another is that women are
being valued as equal than
men or at times, superior.
Through research, we
found out that literature is
very important on them that
even the oral literature
becomes the language and
mirror of their own
community. Comparing this
to present, it is
disappointing to know that
only several people value
the literature as how they
chieftains or datu. The
laws are then made by
the datu with the help of
the elders. For the pre-
colonial religion, people
believe in anitos,
primordial forces of nature
that could accompany or
possess people. They
also believe that illness is
caused by evil spirits. On
the other hand, they
consider Bathala as the
most powerful God. While
in terms of arts, the New
stone age showed artistic
improvement in the form
of beads, amulets,
bracelets, and earrings.
Meanwhile, the Iron Age
introduced ornaments
with different forms and
sizes.
a chieftain known as the
datu. This method of
societal organization
persisted for centuries.
Several years passed, the
pre-colonial people often
called our “ancestors”,
then possessed a complex
working society and culture
revolving with works of arts
and literature. They
educate themselves very
well using the ancient
system of writing called
baybayin. In terms of the
professions, aside from
being farmers, hunters,
weapon-makers, and
seafarers, pre-colonial
Filipinos were involved in
mining, textiles, and
smiting. They have
established trading and
diplomatic relations with
countries as far as the
Middle East.
and balitao (Ilongo);
harana or serenade
(Cebuano); the bayok
(Maranao); ambahan of
the Mangyans; kalusan
(Ivatan), and soliranin
(Tagalog rowing song).
The epics are also
included as it is
considered ethno-epics
during the pre-colonization
period. This comes in
various names: Guman
(Subanon); Darangen
(Maranao); Hudhud
(Ifugao); and Ilahingan
(Manobo).
colonial period tackles value it in the past. Even us
certain values that admit that we have little
needs to be practiced in knowledge regarding the
daily lives. literature specifically the
salawikains and the
legends of our country.
People are often boxed
with the idea of the pre-
colonial period. There are
lots of misconceptions
about this time. This period
is not all about the Aetas
wearing bahag, is not
about illiteracy, not about
the people who knows only
hunting, but it is about the
opposites.
Focusing on the literature,
we are bit dismayed that
the written works were not
preserved due to the
perishable materials used.
Maybe the oral traditions
continued but still, having
the written ones are
considered treasures.
People are not able to see
the prosperous culture that
Filipinos had back then.
Lastly, we commend the
literary themes on pre-
colonial period since it talks
about the society and life
itself.