Notes 1

Oral Lore from Precolonial Times (-1564)
The First period of the Philippine literary is the longest.

The lowland Filipinos begin counting the years of our history from 1521, where in
the first written records by westerners referred to the archipelago later called
"Las Islas Filipinas".
The discovery of the "Tabon Man" in the cave of palawan in 1962 has allowed
us to go back in times as 50,000 years ago. This discovery show how the
Filipinos back then grew in control over their environment until the beginning of
the Christian Era.
"Hispanization of the Philippines" could be more accurately summed up as
"Philippinization' of Spanish Catholicism.
John L. Phelen said that the impact of western culture was to grow in intensity
with the passing time spent under Spanish and American control.
William Henry Scott observes " A considerable discrepancy between what is
actually known about the prehispanic Philippines and what has been written
about it."
Early Filipinos lived in villages frequently found along sea coasts and river
banks, close to the major sources of foods and most convenient
transportation route.
Scott described the cultural development of early Filipinos on the eve of
colonization.
Present day students of phil. lit. are fortunate because they no longer deal with
"Myths" of precolonial phil.
The language of oral literature was the language of daily life.
Any member of the community was a potential poet, singer or a story teller as
long as he knew the language and had been attentive to the conventions of the
form.
The conventions of various oral literary forms, like formulaic repetitions,
stereotyping of characters and musical devices, were aids to the
performers who were able to recall the pieces because of these conventions.
The ethnic(natives) minorities have been able to preserve for us epics, tales,
songs, riddles and proverbs.
The selections are not cultural artifacts rather they are use as cultural items
useful in the reconstruction of a period in literary history that has been
obscured by the foreign culture
Literary works created in the setting of a society where the resources for
economic subsistence were owned communally.
The subject matter was invariably the common experience of the people
constuting a village (Food-Gathering, work in home, field and forest etc.)
These activities express a thought or emotions.
Delivering the piece is expressing the performers own beliefs, attitudes and
emotions.
In settlements along sea coasts, a native syllabary was in use before the
Spaniards came and brought to us the Roman Alphabet.
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 Syllabary fell into the disuse of Christianized Filipinos, much valuable
information about precolonial culture that could have been handed down to us
was lost.
Fewer and fewer Filipinos kept records of their oral lore.
In time, the perishable materials on which the Filipinos wrote were left to
disintegrate and those remained were destroyed by the missionaries.
2 ways by which the uniqueness of indigenous culture survived
colonization.
i. By resistance to colonial rule.
ii. By virtue of isolation from centers of colonial power.
Riddles and Proverbs are the simplest forms of oral literature.
We get the sampling of the primordial poem, at the heart of which was the
TALINHAGA (analogue, metaphor, or figure)
Notes_2
Oral Lore from Pre-Colonial Times ( 1564)
From Notes on Philippine Literature: A History and Anthology by Bienvenido
Lumbera
from the down of our civilization to the establishment of settlements
1st period of Philippine literature longest

1521 Magellan, Las Islas Filipinas
Philippinization of Spanish Catholicism
William Henry Scott discrepancy between what is actually known about the
prehispanic PH and what has been written about it
Filipinos lived in villages along sea coasts, river banks, major sources of food and
most convenient transportation routes; nomads wearing bark and woven cloth,
etc. chewing betel nut for 3,000 years
natives, ethnic minorities, tribal Filipinos
epics, tales, songs, riddles, proverbs
subject matter peoples common experience
food-gathering
creatures and objects of nature
work in the home, field, forest, sea
did not emphasize authorship; belongs to the community
language of daily life
Conventions of various oral literary forms/aids to the performers:

formulaic repetitions
stereotyping of characters
regular rhythmic
musical devices
native syllabary 3 vowels (a, i-e, u-o), 14 consonants
syllabary fell into disuse among Christianized Filipinos = valuable information lost
perishable materials destroyed by missionaries against pagan culture
animistic worship of objects
uniqueness of indigenous culture survived colonization
resistance to colonial rule
virtue of isolation from centers of colonial power
riddles and proverbs simplest forms of oral literature
Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala Pedro de Sanlucar and Juan de Noceda provides
samples of early oral lore; collection
monoriming heptasyllabic lines single rimes, seven syllables per line
ambahan contemporary Hanunoo Mangyans, chanted
tanaga stanza form with four lines; hispanized descendant of ambahan
lyric poetry fabled genealogies and vainglorious deeds of their gods
religious lives of people are based on tradition
prose narratives
origin myths, hero tales, fables and legends
to explain natural phenomena, past events and contemporary beliefs in order to
make the environment less fearsome by making it more comprehensible and to
make idle hours less tedious; to entertain and to explain
drama as literary form has NOT yet begun
mimetic dances imitating natural cycles and work activities
folk epics literary and classical most significant pieces of literature
E. Arsenio Manuel
surveyed ethnoepics, described 13 epics (pagan), 2 (christian), 4 (muslim)
common features
narratives of sustained length
based on oral tradition
revolving around supernatural events/heroic deeds
with a certain seriousness of purpose, embodying or validating the beliefs, customs,
ideals or life values of the people
in the form of verse
chanted or sung
Lam-ang (Biag ni Lam-ang)
Christian Ilokos
Ines Kannoyan
eaten by monster fish rarang
brought back to life by his rooster and dog
Tuwaang
Pagan Epic
Manuvus of Central Mindanao
The Maiden of Buhong Sky
Hinilawod
Pagan Epic
Sulod of Panay
Longest epic
part 1 Labaw Denggan
part 2 Humadapnon
Bantugan
Maranaw Epic
Conclusion: Filipinos had a culture that linked them with the Malays of South East
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 Asian
perspective which served as a filtering device for the western culture that the
colonizers brought over from Europe.

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Oral Lore from Precolonial Times (-1564)

The First period of the Philippine literary is the longest.

1st period of Philippine literature longest

Conventions of various oral literary forms/aids to the performers:

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