THE LITERATURE IN

THE PRE-COLONIAL
PERIOD
P A S T 2
LIFESTYLE 3
ORAL 4
“The history of a nation can be learned in
its laws, and its political statements. But
to know the history of a nation’s spirit,
you must read its literature.”
-Croghan, 1977

5
Why should we study
Philippine Literature?

6
Why should we study Philippine Literature?
1. To trace our rich heritage of ideas and handed
down to us from our forefathers
2. For appreciation of our heritage.
3. To understand that we have noble traditions which
can serve as the means to assimilate other
cultures.

7
Did we have our own
literature even before
we were colonized?

8
PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD
BC to 1564 (oral lore)
This can be divided into
three periods:
1.MYTHOLOGICAL AGE
2.HEROIC AGE
3.FOLKTALES FOR ALL
AGES
9
MYTHOLOGICAL
Ancestors came up with tales
about the creation of the world
and man, the whys and
wherefores of natural
phenomena, creation of human
life, origin of topographical
features, dieties and spirits, good
and evil.
10
MYTHOLOGICAL The function of literature
in the community was to
explain natural
phenomena, past events
and contemporary
beliefs…to make the
environment less fearsome
by making it more
comprehensible. (Lumbera
and Lumbera, 2005) 11
“As literary works created in the setting of a society
where the resources for economic subsistence –
land, water and forest – were communally owned,
the oral literature of the pre-colonial Filipinos bore
the marks of the community. The subject matter
was invariably the common experience of people
constituting a village – food-gathering, creatures
and objects of nature, work in the home, field,
forest or sea, caring for children etc.”
– (Lumbera and Lumbera, 2005) 12
“This is evident in the most common forms
of oral literature like the riddle, the proverbs
and the song which always seem to
assume that the audience is familiar with
the situations, activities and objects
mentioned in the course of expressing a
thought or emotion.”
– (Lumbera and Lumbera, 2005)
13
“The language of oral lore was the
language of daily life...any
member of the community was a
potential poet or storyteller.”
– (Lumbera and Lumbera, 2005)
14
15
 Did you now that…

Drama as a literary form had

not yet begun to evolve among
Filipinos…but Philippine
theatre then consisted mimetic
dances imitating natural
cycles and work activities.
CH’ALONG of the Ifugaw
– a part of a wedding rite, involving the propitiation of evil
spirits who might bring harm upon the family. 16
 HEROIC AGE
Ordinary mortals and local heroes became chief
actors along with the shift in the locale, from the
skyworld to the earthworld. 17
18
 EPIC
Philippine Epics are lengthy narrative poems
based on oral tradition. The verses were chanted
or sung wjile being passed from generation to
generation. The plots of their stories revolve
around supernatural events and heroic deeds.

19
 FOLKTALES

Prose narratives that do no belong to a specific place

or time; characters can either be humans, animals and
even plants. 20
21
Here are other facts:

FILIPINOS HAD
RIDDLES
PROVERBS
SONGS
INDIGENOUS DRAMA
22
Rich verbal tradition of the early
Filipino refutes the belief that
people were ignorant and
barbaric before the Spaniards
even came and arrived in our
country.
23
What do all these
things tell you?

24
What pre-colonial
Philippine literary
work are you
familiar with?

25