Exhaustive Study Notes on Pre-Hispanic Visayan Culture and Society

Spanish Orthography and Philippine Terms

• Spelling Confusion: Spanish orthography frequently confused the letters 'b' and 'v', as well as 's' and 'z' (for non-Castilians). For example, the location "Bisaya" appeared as "Vizaya," "Bigan" as "Vigan," and "Legazpi" was often written as "Legaspi."
• Missing Letters: The Spanish alphabet lacked equivalents for 'w' and 'ng.' Father Chirino omitted these from his Philippine alphabet.
• Mispronunciations:     * Dr. Morga spelled timawa as "timagua."     * Because 'n' and 'g' were pronounced as separate consonants, "Pangasinan" (meaning land of salt) was pronounced as "Pang-ga-si-nan."     * Many Spanish mispronunciations became accepted in modern languages. "Wawa" in Pampanga became "Guagua," while barangay (spelled balangay in Tagalog dictionaries) is now pronounced "ba-rang-gay."
• Transcription Standards: In modern citations, 'c' and 'qu' are changed to 'k,' 'gui' to 'gi,' 'u' to 'w,' and 'i' to 'y' near vowels. The 'g' in 'ng' is doubled where necessary (e.g., kayumanggi instead of cayomangi).
• Persistence of Linguistic Inconsistency: Inconsistencies remain regarding the use of 'u' and 'o' or 'e' and 'i,' alongside dialectal variations between 'd,' 'l,' and 'r.'

Physical Appearance and Skin Color

• Contradictory Early Descriptions: Sixteenth-century Spaniards gave varying accounts of Filipino skin color. The first Filipinos observed (from Homonhon, Limasawa, and Butuan) were described as dark-skinned and of medium stature.
• Specific Designations:     * Pigafetta: Used the Italian term olivastri (olive-skinned or tanned).     * Thomas Cavendish: Described Capul Islanders as "tawny."     * Common Descriptor: "The color of cooked quince."
• Regional Variations: Father Alcina noted natives of Leyte and Samar were lighter than those of Davao. Méntrida defined mailum as a color darker than natural Visayans but not black like the Ate (Negritos).
• Subjectivity of Color: Sympathetic accounts often referred to Filipinos as light-skinned. Natives of Leyte were called "white" in an account from $1544$. Loarca, Chirino, and others described Visayans as well-built and good-looking, with Boholanos being noted as particularly lighter, braver, and more spirited.
• Gender and Age Differences: Women were generally lighter than men due to indoor occupations like weaving. Daughters of ranking datus were said to be as light as European ladies. Children were light at birth.
• Indigenous Perception of Foreigners: Visayans did not perceive Iberians as white (maputi) but as mapuraw (natural or undyed/untattooed). They noted foreigners shared "plain white teeth" with monkeys, dogs, and pigs, describing their smiles as baga napkangnan huligid (like a chaw of coconut meat).

Decorative Dentistry

• Aesthetic Philosophy: Human beings were thought to be distinguished from wild animals by filing and staining their teeth.
• Tooth Filing (Sangka): An expert used a slender stone file to level the teeth. Variations included grinding them to saw-toothed points or opening spaces between them. The goal was symmetry and the reduction of eye teeth that resembled fangs.
• Coloring:     * Black: Achieved by chewing anipay root or applying tapul (a tar-based coating like polished ebony).     * Red: Achieved using lakha ant eggs and kaso flowers, preserved by habitual betel nut chewing.
• Goldwork (Pusad): General term for gold inlays, crowns, or plating. The professional dental worker was called a mananusad.     * Halop: Plating or caps held by gold rivets or pegs.     * Bansil: Gold pegs inserted into holes drilled with an awl called an ulok.     * Designs: Simple pegs looked like gold dots; flat-headed pegs overlapped like fish scales; round-headed pegs created filigree or beadwork designs.
• Literary References: In Mindanao epics (like the Manobo Ulahingan), the flash of golden teeth is a common image for a hero’s smile, highlighted by the crimson of betel nut chews.

Tattooing (The Pintados)

• Terminology: Batuk (or patik) was the general term. It also referred to markings on snakes or lizards.
• Social Significance: Tattoos were symbols of male valor, applied only after a man performed courageously in battle. They accumulated with further feats. Men without kills were scorned if they wore "counterfeit" tattoos.
• Macho Mettle:     * Tigma: A youth's first taste of war or sex.     * Tiklad: A first conquest in battle or love.     * Moxa (Labong): Burning wooly fibers on the arms to create scars for added prestige.     * Spartan Elite: Men tattooed up to the eyelids were considered elite and intimidating.
• The Process:     * Artist: A skillful artist was paid to trace designs with ink made from pitch soot (biro).     * Tools: A tool with short needles like a comb pricked the skin.     * Complications: The process done in installments often caused high fever, infection, or death. The healing period was called baug or binogok.
• Tattoo Patterns:     * Labid: Inch-wide zigzagging lines on the legs.     * Ablay: On the shoulder.     * Dubdub: On the chest.     * Daya-daya (or Tagur): On the arms.     * Bangut: Facial tattoos resembling a muzzle or a crocodile’s gaping jaws (langi).     * Hinawak: Tattoos below the waist; Lipong: Tattoos all over the body.
• Female Tattoos: Restricted to the hands with fine, damask-like lines.
• Modesty and Clothing: Despite tattoos acting as "handsome armor," Visayans wore G-strings (bahag) and sometimes robes. Missionaries like Chirino emphasized their modesty to European audiences.

Skull Moulding

• Cultural Ideal: Broad faces, receding foreheads, and flat noses were considered handsome. Skulls were compressed in infancy while the bones were soft.
• The Device (Tangad): A comblike set of thin rods bound to the forehead by bandages, directing growth backward to make the head higher at the rear. (Bikolanos used plates called sipit or saop).
• Terminology:     * Tinangad: Adults with the desired moulded profile.     * Puyak: Flatness at the back of the head.     * Ondo: An unmoulded, "overstuffed" skull, compared to a hunchback's hump.

Genital Modifications and Rituals

• Penis Pins (Tugbuk): A pin of brass, gold, ivory, or lead inserted through the head of the penis in childhood. It often had a hole for urination.
• Penis Wheels (Sakra): Cogwheels or rings with blunt teeth anchored by the tugbuk for the stimulation of female partners. Some were reported to be $7$ centimeters across and weigh $230$ grams.
• Cultural Context: Spanish observers attributed the custom to inordinate sexual appetite. Women were said to refuse men without a sakra.
• Circumcision (Tuli): Technically supercision (lengthwise cut). The uncircumcised were called pisot (meaning "unripe fruit"). Visayans claimed the practice was indigenous, predating Islam.

Pierced Ears and Earrings

• Piercing: Men usually had $1$ to $2$ holes per lobe; women had $3$ to $4$. The holes (hogar or tosok) were made with copper needles.
• Stretching: Holes were gradually distended using bamboo splints or rolled leaves until they could accommodate a fist.
• Jewelry:     * Panika: General term for rings/plugs in the lower hole.     * Pamarang/Barat: Large gold plugs, sometimes wheel-shaped with gems.     * Dalin-dalin: Simple loops.     * Palbad: Delicate rosettes for the upper holes.
• Repair (Kulot/Sisip): Distended lobes that tore (often during fights between women) were trimmed and sutured.
• Bingbing: Persons without pierced ears.

Hairstyles and Grooming

• Cultural Significance: Long hair was a matter of pride. Cutting it was a sign of mourning or punishment.
• Styles: Knots or chignons (at the back or top of the head) were common. Manila Muslims and those under Spanish influence had short hair (alot).
• Female Hair: Women favored ankle-length tresses in massive chignons, sometimes using additional switches (panta or talabhok).
• Grooming: Facial and body hair was removed with tweezers or clam shells. Eyebrows were shaved into thin arcs. Perfumes (bulat) made of sesame oil, flowers, or mammal excretions like ambergris and civet were used.

Clothing and Textiles

• Basic Garments: The G-string (bahag) for men and tube skirt (lambong) for women.
• Bahag (G-string): $4$ to $5$ meters long and nearly a meter wide.     * Ampis: Front flap; Pakawar: Back flap.     * Wayaway: The ends hanging down.     * Binkisi: Expensive version with fancywork (gowat).     * Color Law: Only men who killed an enemy could wear deep red bahag.
• Upper Garments:     * Saob-saob: Ankle-length cloak open at the front.     * Baro: Tight-sleeved tunic (Tagalog origin).     * Sinina: Short jacket exposing the midriff (potentially Chinese or Indonesian origin).
• Textiles: In order of value: abaca, decorated abaca, cotton, decorated cotton, silk, and imported printstuffs.
• Pudong (Headdress):     * Pudong-pudong: Simple abaca headband for commoners.     * Magalong: Red pudong for those who killed an enemy.     * Pinayusan: Gauze-thin abaca, tie-dyed scarlet, reserved for the most valiant.
• Hats: Women used broad-brimmed hats (sayap or tarindak) or the deep-crowned sarok for travel.

Jewelry and Heirloom Wealth

• Bahandi: Heirloom wealth consisting of gold, porcelain, and gongs, often buried with datus.
• Quantity of Gold: Spaniards reported gold jewelry as normal attire for the nearly naked. One Samsung datu, Iberein ($1543$), wore jewelry worth over $1,000$ pesos while being rowed by men collared in gold.
• Types of Necklaces:     * Tigbi/Karopi: Fruit or seed beads.     * Kamagi: Heavy gold chain of interlocked links. A single strand was saay; a $4$-meter version was barbar.
• Bracelets (Kasikas): Included binukaw (gold/silver) and shell bracelets (galis).

Religion and the Unseen World

• Diwata: Gods or deities (Malay-Sanskrit term).     * Si Dapa: Marked lifespan on a tree on Mount Madyaas.     * Magwayen: Boatman of the dead.     * Lalahon: Goddess of Mount Canlaon; sent locusts if angered.     * Makaptan: Capricious deity in the highest heavens who sent disease.
• Nature Spirits: Worshiped the sun, moon, and constellations. Crocodiles were addressed as "Grandfather." The balete tree (pahali) was sacred.
• Ancestors (Umalagad): Personal guardians invoked for raids and farming. They were the primary objects of daily adoration.
• Soul (Kalag): The vital essence that could leave the body during dreams or illness.
• Spirit Underworld:     * Aswang: Flesh-eaters who devoured the liver (atay).     * Tanggal: Head that flies off separately.     * Mantiw: Ghosts or apparitions.     * Yawa: General term for demons.

Religious Practitioners and Rituals

• Babaylan: Shamans or spirit mediums (mostly women or transvestites called asog). They entered trances to communicate with diwata.
• Anito: The act of sacrifice or worship (not the idol itself).
• Paganito: A seance or ceremony for fertility, weather, or health.     * Ritual: Involved green branches, colorful blankets, and the sacrifice of a hog (tinorlok). The babaylan danced (taruk), brandished a spear, and ran the victim through the heart.
• Tabus (Paglehe/Magrehe): Religious restrictions, such as the seven-day silence after harvest or mourning interdicts.

Death, Burial, and the Afterlife

• Paguli Rite: Final attempt to call back the soul using a coconut shell of water on the stomach.
• Human Sacrifice: Captives were sometimes sacrificed to accompany a dead datu. In Butuan, they were bound to a cross and tortured.
• Burial Customs:     * Longon: Hardwood coffin carved from a single tree trunk, caulked airtight.     * Jar Burial: Infants were buried in crocks; some evidence of secondary adult jar burials exists.     * Onong: Items (slaves, gold, porcelain) that "follow" the deceased.
• The Afterlife (Sulad/Saad): The soul was delivered by boat.     * Conditions: One needed gold jewelry to be accepted by relatives on the other side.     * Mount Madyaas: Final home for souls in Panay; Borneo for Cebuanos and Boholanos.     * Reincarnation: Souls lived through $9$ lifetimes, becoming smaller each time.

Social Organization

• Three Classes:     1. Datu: The ruling class/chiefs. Authority based on lineage and wealth (bahandi).     2. Timawa: Freemen or "knights." Served as the datu's military force; did not pay tribute or perform manual labor if personal vassals.     3. Oripun: Commoners or slaves.
• Oripun Sub-classes:     * Hayohay: Domestic slaves living in the master’s house.     * Tuhay/Mamahay: Householding slaves who gave a portion of crops/labor.     * Bulan: Half-slave (served by the month); Tilor/Sagipat: Quarter-slave.
• Political Structure: Chiefdoms were loose federations. Titles included Rajah, Batara, and Sarripada (from Sanskrit Sri Paduka).
• Staff of the Datu:     * Atubang sa datu: Chief minister.     * Paragahin: Steward/dispenser of tribute.     * Bilanggo: Sheriff/constable.     * Paratawag: Town crier (usually an oripun).

Law and Marriage

• Custom Law (Kabtangan): Laws were seen as part of the natural order. Crimes included theft, defamation, and witchcraft.
• Penalties: Fines in bahandi; inability to pay resulted in slavery. Death was reserved for witches.
• Marriage: A contract between families.     * Bugay (Bride-price): Property given to the girl's father. Included gold, slaves, and porcelain.     * Kagon: Mediators who used sticks for calculations during negotiations.     * Ceremony: The couple squeezed rice into balls; weaved their hair together.
• Divorce: Possible for incompatibility or misconduct but complicated by the return of the bugay.
• Inheritance: Followed the bloodline. Children of both sexes inherited equally. Spouses did not inherit from each other.