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The Spaniards lead by Ferdinand Magellan came to Philippine Islands in the early 15th Century.
The Spanish colonial strategy was to undermine the native oral tradition by substituting for it the story of the Passion of Christ (Lumbera, p. 14).
Christ was by no means war-like or sexually attractive as many of the heroes of the oral epic tradition, the appeal of the Jesus myth inhered in the protagonist’s superior magic: by promising eternal life for everyone, he democratized the power to rise above death.
(MACANSANTOS n.d.)
The indigenous literature of the Philippines developed primarily in the oral tradition in poetic and narrative forms. Epic poems, legends, proverbs, songs, and riddles were passed from generation to generation through oral recitation and incantation in the various languages and dialects of the islands.
Catholic missionaries employed indigenous peoples as translators, creating a bilingual class known as ladinos.
Doctrina Christiana (1593), the first book to be printed in the Philippines, was a prayerbook written in Spanish with an accompanying Tagalog translation.
Ladinos are both fluent in Spanish and Tagalog (Medina, pp. 55-56).
Among the earliest writers of note were Francisco de San Jose and Francisco Bagongbata
But by far the most gifted of these native poet-translators was Gaspar Aquino de Belen (Lumbera, p.14). Mahal Na Pasion ni Jesu Christo, a Tagalog poem based on Christ’s passion, was published in 1704.
Mahal Na Pasion ni Jesu Christo, a Tagalog poem based on Christ’s passion, was published in 1704.
This long poem, original and folksy in its rendition of a humanized, indeed, a nativized Jesus, is a milestone in the history of Philippine letters. Ironically -- and perhaps just because of its profound influence on the popular imagination -- as artifact it marks the beginning of the end of the old mythological culture and a conversion to the new paradigm introduced by the colonial power.
Printing overtook tradition. The printed page, by itself, became the mnemonic device, the stage set for the development of prose.
The first Filipino novel was Ninay, written in Spanish by Pedro Paterno, a Philippine-born ilustrado (Medina p. 93). Following the sentimental style of his first book Sampaguitas (a collection of poems in Spanish), the novel endeavored to highlight the endearingly unique qualities of Filipinos.
Nínay is the first novel authored by a native Filipino. Originally written in the Spanish language by Pedro Alejandro Paterno, when he was twenty-three years old, and while living in Spain in 1885, the novel was later translated into English in 1907, and Tagalog language in 1908.
According to Dominador D. Buhain in his book A History of Publishing in the Philippines, being the first Filipino novel, Ninay marked the beginning of the awakening of national consciousness among the Filipino intelligentsia. Being a "largely cultural" novel, the narrative provides a "folkloristic tour" of the distinctive culture of the Filipinos.
Composed of 262 pages, the 1908 Tagalog version of the novel was published by the Limbagan Nang La Republika Kiotan Bilang 30 during the American period in Philippine history.
Until the 19th century, the printing presses were owned and managed by the religious orders (Lumbera, p.13).
The Life Story of Florante and Laura in the Kingdom of Albania: Culled from historical accounts and paintings which describe what happened in ancient Greece, and written by one who enjoys Tagalog verse.
Florante at Laura was said to be a result of the heartache that Baltazar received after losing the woman that he loved the most, Maria Asuncion Rivera, to a rich and powerful man named Mariano Capule.. Rivera was said to be the woman to whom Baltazar referred to as “Celia” and MAR in his poem. Florante at Laura was also written as a depiction of the country's situation during the rule of the Spaniards. The poem shows that religious difference should not be used to discriminate against one another.
Florante and Laura is considered an “Awit” or “a song” in English. It has 399 stanzas and is written in poetic form with the following characteristics:
Francisco Baltazar (1788 - 1862), popularly called Balagtas, is the acknowledged master of traditional Tagalog poetry. Of peasant origins, he left his hometown in Bigaa, Bulacan for Manila, with a strong determination to improve his lot through education. To support his studies, he worked as a domestic servant in Tondo. He steeped himself in classical studies in schools of prestige in the capital.
In the 18th century, secular literature from Spain in the form of medieval ballads inspired the native poetic-drama form called the komedya, later to be called moro-moro because these often dealt with the theme of Christians triumphing over Moslems (Lumbera, p. 15).
Jose de la Cruz (1746 - 1829) was the foremost exponent of the komedya during his time. A poet of prodigious output and urbane style, de la Cruz marks a turning point in that his elevated diction distinguishes his work from folk idiom (as for instance, that of Gaspar Aquino de Belen). Yet his appeal to the non-literate was universal. The popularity of the dramatic form, of which he was a master, was due to it being experienced as performance both by the lettered minority and the illiterate but genuinely appreciative majority.