Philippine Arts in the Pre-Colonial Era

Historical Background

General Characteristics

The Arrival of the Negritos

• Arrived during the Old Stone Age (Paleolithic period)

• Walked dry-shod through Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and the land bridges

• First inhabitants

Literature

The Malays

The Indonesians

• belong to Iron Age culture

• daring and liberty-loving; belonged to the Brown race

Prominent Contributions

• Ati-atihan festivals

• Maragtas chronicle

• Code of Kalantiaw

• First sea-immigrants

• maritime Indonesians

belonged to the Mongoloid race with Caucasian affinities

• belonged to the New Stone Age (Neolithic period)

• based on their everyday lives

•tackles birth until death

• based on their lifestyle

• follows their religious beliefs (animism, etc.)

• simple

• made use of readily available mediums in nature

Tabon Skull

• oldest human fossil

may be classified into: floating or oral or written literature

• skull cap of a "Stone-Age Filipino", found inside Tabon Cave Palawan on May 28, 1962.

• about 22,000 years old, discovered by Dr. Robert B. Fox, American anthropologist of the National Museum

Tagalogs have the:

• songs, dance, and the drama probably developed simultaneously

• most of the pre-colonial drama was helf in the sambahan or places of worship

• these dealt with various subjects including love, war, legende, the memory of the deaceased and war heroes.

• bugtong (riddles)

• suliran and indulaninan (street songs

• sabi (maxim)

• talindaw (boat songs)

• diyuna (song of revelry)

• kumintang (romantic war song)

• dalit and umbay (dirge)

• tagumpay, balikungkong, dupayanin, and hiliraw (war songs)

• uyayi and hele (lullabies)

• ihiman (bridal song)

• tagulaylay (mournful song)

• dramas developed into different forms such as the pagbati, karagatan, tagayan, pananapatan, sabalan, and tibaw

• the karagatan was a debate in verse in which a problem is resolved

• tibaw is performed during the pasiyaw

Visual Arts

Paintings

Sculpture

Tattoos

The Ancient Filipinos had expressed paintings through tattoos and cave carvings

• The Pintados (painted ones), inhabitants of the Visayan islands as described by the first Spaniards to set eyes upon them

• They used sharp metal instruments previously heated over fire

The ancient Filipinos had attained a high artistic level through pottery, jewelry, and wood carving

Wood Carving

Hagabi

Bul-ul

• Ukkil etched on coral gives a grave distinctive marker known as Sunduk

• Its shape indicates the sex of the deceased, hexagonal posts for males and flat combs for females

• wooden chair of the Ifugaos

• Made of narra or ipil

signifies royalty or power

• Only the rich people can have this chair together with the rituals celebrated after the chair has been made

Silup

Petroglyphs

• Are carved Anito figures of the Ifugaos

• Represents Ancestral Spirits and granary gods

• Bul-uls are places in rice granaries as "Guardians of the Harvest"

• The tattooing imitated the upper garment worn by the men of North Kalinga

• The women of South Kalinga painted their faces bright red

Manunggul Jar

• the Angono Petroglyphs is the oldest known artwork in the Philippines

• There are 127 human and animal figures engraced on the rock wall dating back to 3000 B.C.

Sarimanok

Jewelry

• banga

• Depicts on its lid two boatmen riding a banca on their way to the great divide

• Used for burial rites by ancient people in Palawan 890-710 BK

• used by the people belonged in upper class or royal families

• Most well known of the old designs

• Represents a fowl with wings, feathered tail, and a head decorated with ornaments of scrolled and painted motif of leave, spirals and feather-like forms

Boaya

Filipino Bawisak Earrings

• Traditional Ifugao Tribe bead and shell earring

• The bottom shell designs have been described as either representing butterflies or a certain item of male generative anatomy

• Bontoc Warrior's Head Hunting Necklace

• Made of shell, boar tusk, rattan, fiber and bone

• usually perched atop a bamboo pole, stands among decorative flags during weddings and other festive occasions

Architecture

The Ancient Filipinos had first dwelt in caves and has learned the art of architecture as they move and hunt for food.

Ifugao House "Bale"

Lean-to

• Early Shelters: The portable lean-to which was both roof and wall, suited the lifestyle of the nomadic Negrito.

Torogan

Tausug House

• This ancestral house home of the Maranao Sultan or datu has a soaring, lakot-shaped roof, ornate beams and massive posts, all proclaiming exalted status

• The carved beam is called Panolong

• To the seafaring Tausug of Sulu, a house built on a flat dry land or site that slope towards Mercca is lucky. The one-room, gabled roof house known as bay sinug has a separate kitchen accesible through a side porch.

Performance Arts

Music

Dance and Theater

Dance tells a story.

Dance is for worship.

Dance shows scenes from everyday lives.

The Ancient Filipinos had music practically for all occasions, for every phase of life, from birth to death.

Banga Dance (from Kalinga): Show the Kalinga women as they go about their daily task of fetching water from the river.

Manerwap (from Bontoc)

A rain dance to the God "Kabunian", to open the skies and bring rain to water the rice terraces.

• Salip (from Kalinga): A courtship dance. When a man and a woman are going to be joined in marriage, the dance is to be performed. The only way the man will know that the woman will accept him is when she takes the blanked from him.

• Singkil (from the Maranao): A nce about the legend of the "Darangan" of the Maranao people of Mindanao. It tells the story of Princess Gandingan, who was caught in the middle of the forest during an earthquake and was eventually saved by the prince.

Salip

Darangan

Kapa Malong Malong (from Maranao): A dance that show many ways of wearing malong

Bamboo Zither

• Ethnic dances and songs are usually accompanied by chordophones such as Tangkol or Bamboo Zither of Bukidnon

Natives were music-lovers. Each community had their own sets of musical instruments. In the account of Pigafetta, the official historian of Magellan Expedition, women from Cebu were harmoniously playing

• cymbals (platiles)

• nose flutes, bamboo mouth organ (aphiw)

• Brass Gong (gansa)

• Flute (bansic)

• Long Drum (colibao)

• Bamboo Harp (subing)

• Water whistle (paiyak)

• Guitar (bugtot)

• Xylophone (agong)

• Drum (tugo)

Dance imitated animal movements.

Tareketek

(Benguet)

Binaylan Banog

(Misamis Oriental)

Kadal Tajo (South Cotabato)

Dance was a celebration of an event.

Gaddang

Gongs and Drum

Victories in War

Thanksgiving after a bountiful harvest

A dance about a mother hen protecting her chicks from a hungry hawk.

Dugso from Bukidnon: a dance of thanksgiving and on the birth of first son

Idaw(Cordillera)-a dance performed by warriors before going to war

• Cordillera Percussion

• Flat gongs made of copper and iron alloy

• The Kulintang or gongs of graduated sizes arranged in a row

• Dabakan is a conical drum

• Both is from Maranao

"true dance of T'boli", a story of a flock of sister birds that wandered too far to search for food

Two tareketeks (woodpeckers) fight for the attention of 3 females

Lepanto Dance by the Kang-kang-ey tribe of Benguet to thank the god Kabunian

Philippine Arts in the

Pre-Colonial Era