Customs of the Tagalogs – Concise Bullet Notes

Each community led by a chief (dato); command respected, severe penalties for insults to his family
Settlement unit = barangay (originally a migrating family boat); independent yet allied by kinship
Typical barangay size: a few dozen households

Three free castes: • Datos (chiefs) • Maharlica (nobles) • Aliping namamahay (commoners/tenant-clients)
Two slave grades: • Aliping namamahay – live in own houses, owe labor/produce share, not sellable • Aliping sa guiguilir – household slaves, can be sold
Slavery sources: war captives, debt, judicial fines, birth from slave parent
Mixed marriage rule: 1st–3rd–5th child follows father; 2nd–4th–6th follows mother; an odd remaining child half-free/half-slave
Ransom from slavery set in gold taels; full freedom after larger payment

Irrigated fields partitioned among barangay members; ownership stays within group via inheritance/purchase
Upland plots communally open: first cultivator gains use-rights
Chiefs often owned exclusive fisheries & market stretches, charging fees to outsiders

Chiefs judged cases publicly; dissatisfied parties could seek mutually chosen arbiter from another barangay
Capital crimes: insulting a chief’s female kin, witchcraft, heinous offenses; alternative = slavery for crimes worthy of death
Most penalties = fines in gold; non-payment → debtor serves injured party (half produce) until satisfied, potentially enslaving family
Usurious lending practices common; perpetuated hereditary debt-bondage

Legitimate children share estate equally; small gifts allowed favoritism
Children of slave mothers receive no estate but must be manumitted by legitimate heirs
Natural children (from unmarried free women) get one-third share beside legitimate heirs
Dowry (bigay-kaya) paid by groom to bride’s parents; reverts to children if marriage ends after children; penalties/fines specified for broken betrothals

No permanent temples; temporary festival house (simbahan) erected during pandot feast (≈ four days)
Supreme deity Bathala (“all-powerful”); also honored sun, moon (esp. new moon), stars (Tala, Pleiades, Balatic)
Fertility & agriculture spirits: Dian Masalanta, Lacapati, Idianale; crocodiles propitiated with food offerings
Omens from animals, sneezes, bird Tigmamanuguin songs guided daily actions
Calendar based on lunar cycles & plant phenology; seasons = time-of-sun (summer) vs. time-of-water (rainy)

Catolonan: primary male/female priest, led rites, could become spirit medium
Eleven specialized sorcerer classes (e.g., mangagauay – heal/harm; manyisalat – love charms; osuang – flesh-eating flyer)
Diviners (pangatahojan), death assistants (sonat), effeminate shamans (bayoguin) held social roles

Sacrifices: animals, rice mass, betel-nut, drinks before idol; communal feasting & intoxication
Motives: healing, voyage safety, harvest, war success, childbirth, marriage luck
Adolescent girls secluded four days at first menstruation, then ritually bathed for future fertility

Common dead interred beside home; chiefs set under porch in boat-shaped coffin guarded by slave; paired animal effigies as rowers
Warrior chiefs sometimes laid over living slave bound beneath
Prolonged mourning with songs, food, drink
Negrito burial: vertical pit with corpse standing, coconut-shell “shield,” followed by retaliatory killing of an outsider
Afterlife concepts: maca (paradise for just & brave) vs. casanaan (place of anguish ruled by sitan demons); Heaven reserved solely for Bathala

Alcaldes-mayor often misclassify namamahay as guiguilir; directive to record exact status in legal documents
Missionary notes urge reform of usury, ensure chiefs retain authority, and educate colonial officials on true customs
Plasencia (author) compiled data from elderly informants across Laguna & Tagalog areas, Oct $1589$