OUR MALAYAN HERITAGE

Philippine Heritage was enriched by early contacts with the advance civilization of India, China, Japan,
and Arabia.

CLEANLINESS and NEATNESS

Filipinos were clean and neat in their personal habits.

- they bathed daily

- they washed their hair regularly with gugo and water. They anointed it coconut oil and other
lotions
- they washed mouth and clean their teeth. They chewed buyo which made their teeth colored
but strong.
- they kept their homes clean.
- Father Francisco Collin said they keep a vessel full of water at the door of every home, and every
person, whether belonging to the house or not, upon entering, takes water from the vessel and
washes his feet, especially during the rainy season.

AMUSEMENTS

- they held banquets to celebrate a good harvest, a wedding, a religious sacrifice, and a victory in
a war
- these banquets were celebrated with much eating, drinking, singing, dancing and games.
- other forms of amusements are games as carabao races, wrestling, fencing, boat races, and
stone-throwing contests.

MUSIC

- they had various musical instruments and numerous dances and songs for different occasions.
- among their musical instruments were:

 kudyapi - tagalog guitar  tultogan - bisayan bamboo drum

 kalaleng - tinggian nose-flute  silbay - Ilocano reed flute
 kulintang - moro xylophone  surcan - subanum cymbal

- folk dances of the early Filipinos were charming examples are:

 kumintang - tagalog love dance  paujalay - moro wedding dance
 mahinhin - tagalog courtship dance  tadok - tinggian love dance
 dandansoy - bisayan tuba dance

-their songs expressed all aspects of life - love, war, labor, religion, and death

 tagumpay - tagalog song of victory  dallot - ilocano ballad song

 dallu - Negrito religious song  kuilay-kuilay - tingian wine song
 ayog-ku - igorot serenade song  tudob - agusan harvest song
 bactal - tagbanua death song
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS

- it is customary for them to marry within their rank. However, there was no strict prohibition
against intermarriages between the nobility and the commoner and between the rich and the
poor.
- Before marriage the groom gave a dowry (bigaykaya) to the family of the bride. it consisted of
gold, land, slaves, or anything else of value.
- Before marriage the groom had to work in the house of the girl for a certain period of time
- they already practiced divorced.
- The grounds for divorce were:

 adultery  cruelty
 desertion  insanity
 loss of affection  childlessness

The WEDDING CEREMONY

- On the day of the wedding ceremony would take place at the groom's house
- the friends of the groom went to bride's house to bring her to the home of the groom.
- the priestess, joined the hands of the couple over a bowl of uncooked rice and pronounced
them man and wife.

Government

Barangay - a Hispanized form of the Malayan word balangay, which means "sailboat".

- they applied the name barangay to their settlement in honor of the sailboat that brought them
to Philippine shores
- each barangay consisted of about 100 families.

Datu - ruler of barangay

- he was also known a hari or raja

- in time of peace, he was the chief executive, legislator, and judge
- in war, he was the commander of the barangay warriors
- he usually obtained his position by inheritance.
- his son will inherit the datuship, if the datu dies.
- if the datu died childless, the barangay chose a man to be the datu on the basis of his wisdom,
physical strength, or wealth.
Prepared by: Michael Vincent G. Manlupig
BTTE- FSM