The Strange Material Culture of Natives of the Philippines in the 16th Century
by
Roel P. Cantada
We are going to look at selected material culture of Philippine 16th century society. Culture is defined by sociologists as the patterned ways of thinking, feeling, and acting which people share and communicate to one another. It has two essential components: the non-material culture and the material culture. (McNall & McNall, 1992)
The non-material culture may include our likes, dislikes, modes of thought, systems of belief, and education. While the material culture includes as an example our houses, tools and clothes. (McNall & McNall) The material and non-material culture are tightly related. That is, our ways of thinking and feeling are reflected in our material culture. For example, the rooms in our contemporary houses have different uses and they reflect our mores, ethics and belief about what is public and private. We entertain guest in the sala, it is the room for the public. On the other hand sex is done in the bedroom because it is private. (McNall & McNall) Other cultures will have a different layout of rooms in their houses and would reflect their values and even their religious belief.
Some of the assumptions held by sociologists about culture are the following:
Culture must be learned, and therefore the material objects will also tell us what children during the 16th century had to learn to survive.
Culture changes. Our 21st century culture is different from the culture of our 16th century ancestors, and we will find out in this lecture how different that is, and also how similar.
Culture is transcendent. It endures while people die. Our ancestors may no longer be here but there are still legacies that they have left behind. Some of their culture may have even survived if not in the Philippines, perhaps in our brother tribes in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Culture may also die, or parts of it may no longer be sustained. We must also realize that if some of our ancestor’s cultural practices ceased to exist, ours could also. And this is part of what were going to try to learn in this course, whether our ancestors changed their culture willingly or were they merely passive receivers of foreign cultures. Were they simply forced to give up their culture or did they voluntarily gave it up for some reason?
Culture varies. Different societies have different cultures. And in the Philippines, there are variations in the cultures of different tribes. One should not expect to find one homogenous culture in the country. Because there are 55 languages and 142 dialects, and (Pittman as cited in Zaide & Zaide, p.20) each language group represents a distinct tribe.
Okay. In this paper we will take a look at some of our ancestors’ ways of body modification, clothes, houses, and their most important means of transportation—the balangay boat. Some of these material culture and their beliefs behind its use may appear shocking to us today. But I did not select these artifacts in order to make a mockery of our ancestors but to provide an interesting but at the same time objective presentation of their culture. According to Panopio et. al. “the perception among people is that cultures with low level of technological development are inferior and nonprogressive and thus, are considered backward, while those with a high level of technology are advanced and progressive.” (1995) This IMHO is a fallacious perspective. We must always remember that we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors. We wouldn’t be here if not for them, and we build upon what they have accomplished. We should not judge their technological development by comparing their material culture with ours, because most of our so called “high-tech” devices had not been invented yet during their time, and neither did the science exist at that time. Secondly is that we should not compare them with their contemporary western societies’ material culture without reminding ourselves that our ancestors’ culture was their response to their tropical environment, while the westerners had temperate and frigid climates. The simple fact that it is hot and humid in the Philippines while it is cold in western countries would immediately tell us that there are differences in the flora and fauna of our country and the west. And the resources available to our ancestors were different from theirs. This difference would then reflect in our clothes, houses, and the belief system associated with these objects. I will speak more on this later.
Body Modification. Let us start with material objects close to the skin. I will describe seven body modifications practiced by different tribes, but mostly by the Visayans. These are skull moulding, decorative dentistry, ear piercing, circumcision, penis pins, tattooing and hair styles.
Skull moulding or cranial reformation is the reshaping of a baby’s head using a board called sipit or saop in Bikol. The Visayans use a comb like set of thin rods called tangad. They bind the board to the baby’s forehead creating a receding forehead and a flat nose (occipito frontal type). Skulls showing this practice had been found in Albay, Marinduque, Samar, Cebu, Bohol, Surigao and Davao. But it was also practiced in non-Muslim parts of Sumatra, by the Melanau of Sarawak, and the Minahasa of Sulawesi. (Scott, 1991)
This is possible because an infant’s skull has 45 separate bones as oppose to the 28 bones of an adult. As we grow up the bones fuse together and connective tissues, fontanelles, or bumbunan in Tagalog are replaced by bones. Mothers know that if a baby’s head is continuously laid in the same position it will be flattened on that side, a condition called positional plagiocephaly in medicine and talipya by Tagalogs. But the Tagalogs do not practice skull moulding.
Now let’s turn to decorative dentistry. The Visayans either file or drill their teeth and they also color the teeth black or red. Ther were two ways to file the teeth. First is that the canines are filed flat. This is done because they thought canines make a person look like an animal, like dogs. Or they file all the front teeth to make them pointed. Some suggested in a study of Bornean tribes that “pointed teeth made them warlike at times of tribal war.” (Jones, 2001)
As for the color of the teeth, Visayans didn’t like white teeth because to them it looked like animal teeth. So they chew anipay root to make them black, or apply a tar-based coating called tapul. Chewing betel nut preparation called nganga in Tagalog makes it red, or they use red lakha ant eggs. (Scott) These stains have been known to preserve the teeth and prevent caries.
They drill the front of the teeth in order to insert gold wires. They can also crown or plate the teeth. Pusad was the general Visayan term for teeth goldwork. (Scott)
These practices are common in archipelagic Southeast Asia. The Tagalogs practiced it (Scott) and it has been observed in Bornean tribes, the Mentawai tribe in Siberut Island near Sumatra, and even the Balinese. In Bali it is an important ritual ceremony called metatah. Women’s canines are filed after their first menstruation while men’s are before marriage. They consider canine teeth, caling in Balinese, [or pangil in Tagalog] a symbol of bad behavior, uncivilized behavior, and even ‘evil’. (99 Bali)
The ceremony is described this way: “The sangging, who is the expert at tooth filing, puts a small cylinder of sugarcane in the patient’s mouth, wedged between the teeth, to keep the jaws open. The sangging may joke with the participant as he works. He then take his small file, kikir (kikil in Tagalog), and with his index finger on the flat of the file, sets to work filing. The only teeth that are modified are the two canine teeth in the upper jaw and the four incisors between them, six teeth (symbolizing the sad ripu (six enemies of human’s soul): lust, greed, anger, drunkeness, confusion, and jealousy). Reducing the influence of these six will help an individual live a healthy, well-adjusted existence as part of a closely knit family and community, and this behavior will insure reincarnation into a better future life. (99 Bali) The Balinese are Hindus that’s why they believe in reincarnation. You may want to google for a metatah ceremony at YouTube.
The third type of body modification is very common, pierced ears to wear earrings. Both men and women in the Visayas wear earrings [but another source said only women do]. Its difference with ordinary piercing is that you can either insert two fingers or an entire fist into the hole. (Scott) The Tagalogs practiced this as well and called it “malambing na tainga”. Tainga is the ear and lambi is the ear lobe. Today the modern day equivalent is called “tunnel” piercing.
According to Scott the hole was produced this way. The ear was pierced with a copper needle. “The first holes in the earlobes were made soon after birth, while the rest of the holes before the second year.” They could have as many as four earrings. “A thick cotton thread was looped through the hole to keep it from closing. After the wound had healed, the thread was replaced with a series of gradually thicker bamboo or hardwood splints until the hole was as large as the circumference of the little finger. It was slowly extended to the desired size by inserting leaves tightly rolled up, spring like, to exert steady gentle pressure outward.”
Now I want to turn to the fourth type of body modification—circumcision. Circumcision is the removal of some or all the foreskin or prepuce from the penis. It comes from the Latin word circum meaning around and cædere, to cut. (Wikipedia) It is known to all Christians as a commandment of God to Abraham and his children, but scholars believe it is even older than that and may have been practiced by other tribes without contact with the Hebrews. Among the Hebrews, the ceremony of circumcision is called brit milah, which literally means “covenant of circumcision”. It is usually performed by a ritual circumciser or mohel to a baby on the eight day after birth. (Wikipedia)
In 16th century Philippine society, it is called the same in Tagalog and Visaya, that is, tuli. The cut is done lengthwise the prepuce. But the Visayans have another method called girlo, where the prepuce is actually removed. (Scott) As is today, to be circumcised in the Philippines is a sign of manhood, but for other than the Muslims, it has lost its religious significance. Peer pressure keeps the practice alive as uncircumcised adults are teased and considered immature boys rather than men. They are taunted as pisot in Visayan and supót in Tagalog [accent on the last syllable otherwise it will mean a bag].
The Tagalog method that was probably used is known as pukpok. Since mine was done by a doctor, I would narrate to you the procedure described to me by an elder. What is interesting is that he and his friends circumcised each other at the age of eleven. They swam in the river first to soften the prepuce, and then a stake made of guava wood is used as a cutting board or pangaw. Guava is known for its antiseptic properties, so while doing the process they chew guava leaves. The upper part of the foreskin is then placed or hanged over the pangaw and a sharp knife was placed above it lengthwise. Then the knife is struck (pukpok) with another piece of wood creating a cut. The one being circumcised then spits guava leaf juice at his wound, and then jumps back to the river. Why they went back to the river with a bleeding penis is unexplained.
The more controversial circumcision is female circumcision called sonat. Today it is also called female genital cutting or female genital mutilation. According to Scott, it was practiced by the Tagalogs and the Pampangans and was similar to that practiced in Borneo. The Pampangans called it gitang.
The procedure is probably similar to that practiced by Indonesian Muslim women. It has been categorized as WHO Type I and IV. Type I means the removal or splitting of the clitoral hood with or without cutting off the clitoris. And Type IV is only a symbolic pricking of blood release using either a blood lancet or a sewing needle. (Wikipedia) It usually takes place within the first year of the baby, often on day 36 or 40 after birth, depending on local traditions. In some areas, however, it is performed on girls up to ten years of age. (US Department of State, 2001)
The symbolic pricking of blood has an interesting similarity with the Jewish “hatafat dam brit”, which means “drop of the blood of the covenant”. It is performed on male converts who had been circumcised outside of the ceremony of the brit milah. The mohel draws a symbolic drop of blood from the penis where the prepuce should have been. (Wikipedia)
It is said that female circumcision predates Islam and Christianity and its origins are unknown. Scott did not say why it was practiced by the Tagalogs and Pampangans; perhaps it came with the Indonesian brand of Islam. The Indonesian’s experience may give us a clue.
“According a study, Kemayoran community women in Jakarta believe that the practice is mandated or recommended by Islam. The more educated mothers believe the practice is sunnah (recommended or encouraged by the prophet Muhammad). The less educated mothers believe the practice is wajib (mandatory).
The rural mothers of the West Java community of Cijeruk said the procedure was performed according to sunnah and was meant to purify female babies. It was also regarded as a local custom and believed to promote good hygiene.
Some religious leaders believe that the removal or partial removal of the clitoris is beneficial to marriage because a woman would be more likely to remain faithful to her husband if she had no sexual drive. Some religious Islamic leaders consider this practice a mandate of Islam. Other religious leaders believe that this practice is recommended by Islamic teachings but not mandated.” (US Department of State)
Let us now discuss the fifth type of body modification—penis pins. This device is made of two parts. A metal pin called by Visayans and Bikolanos tugbuk. And end-pieces known among the said tribes as sakra. The sakras had been described to look like cowboy’s boot spurs or a tailors tracing wheel. One dug up in Iloilo has eight knobby protrusions with a diameter of 5 centimeters. (Scott)
Although shocking to most who have heard of it for the first time, it is a widespread practice in Southeast Asia. It is practiced by the Toradja and Sadang in Sulawesi (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online), Indonesia where it is known as Kambi or Kambiong. In southern Borneo it was Kaleng and while the Kenyah called it Aja; the Kayan called it Uttang or Oettang. (King, 2002) It’s most famous name is from the Iban of Borneo—Ampallang or Palang, which means “crossbar” (Morrison) (pahalang in Tagalog) or the tugbuk. In the Indian Kama Sutra it is called Apadravya.
Paolo Mantegazza (as cited in Morrison) described the procedure of acquisition of the tugbuk as follows (the veracity of this still needs verification): "the operation is performed only on adults. The skin is forced back; the penis is placed between two small planks of bamboo and for ten days it is covered with rags dipped in cold water. Then the glans is perforated with a sharp bamboo needle; a feather dipped in oil, is placed in the wound until it heals. Wet compresses are used all the while. When the Dayaks travel and work they carry a feather in this canal.” When they need to use the penis pin, they pull the feather out and replace it with the ampallang.
The Tagalogs have a similar device; they embed a small metal ball in the glans of the penis. It is now called by a Spanish name bolitas meaning “small ball bearings”. The Alfur of Sulawesi had been reported to do the same. (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online)
The main function of these devices is for sexual pleasure. If you wish to know more about it, you may want to read Henry Scott’s book Barangay, Sixteenth Century Philippine Culture and Society.
Okay. The next type of body modification is tattooing. It is very common. The Visayans called it batuk, which may be related to the word batik in Tagalog. The Visayans were the most tattooed tribe in the Philippines, that is why the Spaniards called them “Pintados”, meaning painted people, while the Tagalogs called them Lipong because to them they looked like Li-pong Chinese Jars which had blue designs. Their bayani had batuk from head to foot. Even their faces were tattooed. Women also had tattoos but only on their hands. Other tribes also tattooed themselves except the Tagalog [and probably other Muslim tribes], who at the time of the coming of the Spaniards do not practice tattooing perhaps due to Islamic influence.
“Tattoo work was done by a skillful artist ... He began by tracing the designs on the body with an ink made from pitch soot” (Scott), perhaps collected by holding a jar or pot coated with oil over a flame. “Then he pricked them into the skin with a small tool set with a number of short needles like the teeth of a comb, and then rubbed soot into the fresh wounds.” The soot and ink was called biro. (Scott) In Polynesia the tool looks more like a toothbrush and it is placed above the design while using another small stick to repeatedly strike the other stick with needles onto the flesh. Among the Apayao the tool is called igihisi, which has 1-5 pins attached to a rattan (Casal et.al.). The operation was not performed all in one sitting but in installments, but even so, often caused a high fever and occasionally infection and death. (Scott)
Why did they do it? Because these tattoos were symbols of male valor; they were applied only after a man had performed in battle with fitting courage, (Scott) and were like the medals of soldiers today. In some literature it is said that the amount of tattoo a Visayan warrior has was equal to the number of enemies he had killed. Today people with some sort of tattoos are also feared, but they got them in jail using oddly enough the same method that was used in ancient times. I think they call the tattoos “komiks” from comics because there are lots of drawings on the inmate’s skin.
Finally we turn to hair styles. Hair styles differed from one tribe to another, and between one barangay and another. Although in one barangay perhaps there is only one accepted style. Individualism was probably very rare. But for the whole barangay, hair styles just like today could go in and out of fashion quickly. They could be hanging loose in one decade and knotted in the next.
Visayan men had long hair while Tagalogs had short hair. The Sambals of Zambales wore their hair like their contemporary Chinese, with the front half of the skull shaved while the back is allowed to grow long.
Women always had very long hair. They put them up into a chignon or pusod in Tagalog. They had combs or suklay made of wood or ivory with intricate carvings. Visayan women used fragrant flowers to perfume their hair, and sesame seed oil to encourage luxuriant growth (Scott). Even today Filipinos are aware of indigenous hair care products like gugo, a vine which is crushed and dried and then soaked in water to extract the juices to be used as shampoo. Sabila or aloe vera for hair growth and coconut oil.
Facial hair is removed with tweezers or a pair of clam shells and Visayan men and women had their eyebrows shaved into thin arcs likened to a crescent moon. (Scott) Tagalog men grow mustaches or misay, but remove beards or gumi.
Before moving on to clothing let me ask you first what you think about our ancestor’s concept of beauty and other values and beliefs that are behind their body modification. How does it compare to those of modern teenagers. Why do you do things like body piercing?
Clothing. How do you imagine our ancestor’s clothing? Do this exercise. Get a piece of paper and try to draw what our ancestors ancestors wore. After the discussion of our next topic compare what you have drawn with descriptions from historical accounts.
For this lecture I will use the Tagalog clothing as a representative of the kind of clothing worn in the Philippines in the 16th century. But remember that there will always be variations from tribe to tribe, and barangay to barangay.
The male attire is composed of the baro, a long sleeved collarless shirt and the bahag or G-string. The Tagalog bahag is probably similar to the Visayan which is much wider than the Ifugao’s. There was also a mantle called tapi (Scott), which was wrapped around the waist like a short malong. This is familiar to Tagalogs when they say “nakatapi ng tuwalya”, wrapped in a towel. The headdress is called putong and is narrower and shorter than the pudong of the Visayans. The putong is similar to the headdress of Indonesians which is like a scarf tied around the head. The verb iputong means to put on the head. These clothes are commonly made of cotton, from the kápok tree or if imported is made of silk. Tagalog men also wear an alampay, a long scarf thrown across the shoulders. It is covered with embroidery or perhaps weaving design done by their wives. There is no known surviving sample of Tagalog textile design and we are left with the tribal designs of surviving indigenous tribes. For accessories men wore necklaces (kuwintas), bracelets (galang), armlets (kalumbiga), rings (singsing), and a sort of chainlet for the leg worn below the knee called a bitik. These alahas or jewelry is usually made of gold except the bitik which is made of brass.
Women wear the baro as upper garment and two tapis. An ankle length white one and a shorter colored one over it. Then they wore a talukbong or shawl very much like the Muslim women today. For accessories they wore the alahas mentioned above except the bitik, and they wore hikaw or earrings, which were large and dangling which accentuates their “malambing na tainga”. Women also wear makeup—tana eyebrow paint, pupól face powder, red kamuntigi nail polish, and yellow bárak (curcuma zedoaria) root to rub on the body as skin lotion. (Scott) Men and women don’t wear shoes but may have borrowed the concept of wooden clogs from Chinese, bakya. But people cannot wear that while walking on the rice fields, the forest or while fishing.
Women weave the textile using the backstrap loom.
Houses. Today people believe that Filipinos of the past lived only in bahay kubo or nipa huts. But the Tagalog word for a big wooden house is dálam. Unfortunately we have no surviving examples of this. But you may want to do some research on beautiful Maranao and Ifugao wooden houses to get an idea of the architecture of ancient people of the Philippines.
The Tagalog house like other tribes is raised on the ground by poles. The space underneath the house is called silong and is used to raise chickens or pigs. One could enter the house through a ladder that is pulled up at night. A tapayan, big jar of water was usually near the ladder for washing the feet before going up. The house was usually made up of two rooms, or if there is a daughter a third room, silid is reserved for her. Entertaining guests, eating on dulang, low tables, and sleeping on mats called banig are all done in the same room called the bulwagan. Another room called a batalan was for washing stuff and peeing as it has slated bamboo floors. The floor is called sahig, the roof is bubong or atip, and the walls are dingding. It seems that there were no doors and windows because the words for these are all Spanish. Cooking was probably done outside. Filipinos ate with their hands, and used locally made clay pots or imported Chinese porcelain. Defecating was done outdoors in the wide wide world.
What does the layout of these houses tell us about their attitude towards privacy and individuality?
Balangay boat. If the low land people of the Philippines were not in their homes, rice fields, or the forest they’re probably in their boats. Tagalog after all came from the word taga-ilog or river dweller, while Pampangan means beach dweller.
The best known boat of our people is the balangay or balanghai boat. The term for a village, barangay came from the balangay boat. Ancient remains of these boats had been found in Butuan, Agusan del Norte in Mindanao. One boat was carbon-14 dated to about 320 A.D. while another was dated to 1250 (Casal, et.al.).
The balangay is a flat bottomed plank boat. It could be around 15 meters long and 4 meters wide. The planks are connected by the Visayans through the use of pegs, while the Tagalogs had been reported to drill holes on the side of the planks and sew their boats. Holes and gaps are then plugged with some sort of pitch. This method of boat building is similar to those by ancient Egyptians and Vikings of Scandinavia.
The sail is made of woven nipa palm which is probably the same as sleeping mats. A common feature of Pacific boats is the outrigger called katig in Tagalog. It is attached to a long bamboo raft or wood called a batangan, which is where rowers sit.
Boats are built by specialist called pandays.
Open discussion.
Now that we’ve had a survey of some of the material culture of 16th century people in the Philippines, let me ask you how do you think these objects relate to their non-material culture and their environment?
References:
Casal, G.S., Dizon, E.Z, Ronquillo, W.P., & Salcedo, C.G. (1998) The ingenious Filipino boat. In Kasaysayan, The story of the Filipino people, Vol. 2. Hong Kong: Asia Publishing, Company Limited.
McNall, S.G., & McNall, S.A. (1992). Sociology. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Panopio, I.S., Cordero-MacDonald, F.V., & Raymundo, A.A. (1995). General sociology, focus on the Philippines (3rd. ed.). Quezon City: Ken.
Scott, W. H. (1991) Barangay, sixteenth century Philippine culture and society. Quezon City: Ateneo De Manila University.
Zaide, S.M., & Zaide, G.F. (1994). The Philippines: A unique nation. Manila: All-Nations.
Readings: Description of Tagalogs
They have better houses and buildings, more orderly, although located in swampy land or along river banks. The Moros are dressed with cotton clothes and are not naked like the Bisayans. Their clothes consist of [words not understood] and without collars; and with their sleeves and their [word not understood] they come dressed, although they wear below the waist some mantle well located, which covers the flesh up to the knees, because below that their legs protrude. From the calf of the knees they wear many chainlets often made of brass which they call bitiques; these are worn only by the men who regard them as very stylish. They also wear many golden chains around the neck, specially if they are chiefs, because these are what they value most, and there are some who wear more than ten or twelve of these chains. They wear a head-dress of small cloth which is neither wide nor long and which they wrap once around the head with a knot. They do not have long hair because they cut it as in Spain. They are not accustomed to wearing a beard, nor allowing it to grow although in general they are all hairy; what grows is carefully removed; and the Bisayans do likewise. The Moros wear only mustaches which they do not remove and allow to grow all they can. The Bisayans in no manner are accustomed to wear any shoes nor do the men wear ear holes as do the Bisayans; the women carry much gold jewelry because they are richer than the Bisayans. Men and women also wear many bracelets and chains of gold in the arms. They are not used to wearing them on the legs. Women likewise carry around the neck golden chains that men do. The Moros do not paint any part of their body.
... The dress of women are not as neat nor as elegant as that of the Bisayans, because they wrap a cotton or taffeta mantle around the body with very little polish. They wear jackets and skirts in the same way we have told as the Bisayans. They also wear their dress over the skin, gathering it at the waist and the breast because they use no chemise or shoes. The [wives of] chiefs, when going out of their houses, are customarily carried on the shoulders of their slaves and in this manner travel through the streets. All carry over their dress some small mantles which reach the waists; they are of cotton and colored, and some are of satin, and taffeta and damask obtained from China.
... Women are used to carry on their heads over their hair, which they wear loose, diadems made of gold, this if of the chief’s women; if of others, the diadems are made of tortoise or conch shell. These are very elegant.
Reference:
Customs and usages of Moros in the Philippine isles of the west. In Jocano, F.L. (Ed.), The Philippines at the Spanish contact, Some major accounts of early Filipino society and culture. Manila: MCS Enterprises, pp. 195-199.
