LITERATURE

• Philippine Folk Narratives Myths are stories that make use of gods, goddesses, and other fantastical creatures as characters. These became a means for our ancestors to explain supernatural events, the beginning of cultural traditions, and the existence of mysteries. A myth may also attempt to explain the origin of the world and the people.
• Legends are believed to be historical but cannot be verified as authentic; legends are stories handed down through generations. These stories are often about famous persons or events. These may tell of an encounter with marvelous creatures, which the folks still believe in fairies, ghosts, water spirits, the devil, and the like.
• Folktales are prose narratives usually told to amuse or entertain. These are also instructional in nature, dealing with events set in an indefinite time and space.
• Epics


  • The main character or protagonist of the story is considered a hero
  • The hero's actions are presented without bias; the epic shows both the character's faults and virtues
  • Epics often involve battles, which reveal the extraordinary strength of the protagonist as he engages in acts of bravery
  • The setting may span several countries, involve the whole world, or even be set in the universe
  • Gods and other divine beings are portrayed as having a role in the outcome of events
• Poetry


  A form of literature that emphasizes rhythm, metrical structure, and the use of imagery and sound patterns. It is organized in stanzas, which are groups of consecutive lines in a poem, with each stanza forming a single unit.
• Filipinos practiced worshipping gods and goddesses during the precolonial period. This practice is known as animism, which is a belief that souls or spirits exist in plants, animals, or objects.
• Ancient Tagalog Deities


  • Bathala or Bathalang Maykapal (king of the gods)
  • Apolaki (god of war and guardian of the sun)
  • Mayari (goddess of the moon)
  • Tala (goddess of the stars)
  • Amihan (first creature that inhabited the earth)
  • Bacunawa (god of the underworld)
• Folk songs are repetitive and sonorous and have a playful melody. They may be about love and courtship, a long day's work, or may be songs sung at a funeral.
• Proverbs or salawikain


  Short sayings enveloped in rhymed verses that are meant to give advice to the young, offering words of wisdom or stating how one should live
• Riddles, locally called bugtong


  Perplexing questions meant to be guessed or solved. These are used for entertainment, and they require one to observe, analyze, and imagine to provide the right answer.
• On March 31, 1521, the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived on Philippine soil. He landed in Limasawa, an island in Southern Leyte. It was there that the first Catholic mass in the country was celebrated.
• On April 14, 1521, after reaching the island of Cebu, Fr. Pedro Valderrama baptized more than 500 natives along with Rajah Humabon.
• Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Prince Philip II of Asturias, who reigned as the King of Spain from 1556 to 1598.
• In 1565, King Philip II of Spain officially colonized the country and assigned the new expedition to the first Governor-General Miguel López de Legazpi. Six years later, he established his capital in Manila. This location offered the harbor of Manila Bay, a large population, and proximity to the ample food supplies of the Central Luzon rice lands.
• Spain's motives in colonizing the Philippines

  • Spice trade
  • Converting Filipinos to Christianity
• Spanish priests believed that stories about mythical creatures, spirits, deities, and rituals contained works of the devil. Because of this, they instructed the natives to destroy them. They also told them to undergo baptism and embrace Christianity.
• The Spanish culture became highly noticeable in literature because of characters similar to kings and queens and princes and princesses. For example, in Ibong Adarna, characters were addressed as Don and Donya. Even the setting is influenced by European culture.
• The 333-year Spanish colonization ended with outbreaks of revolution and the rise of independence. The Propaganda Movement, led by the ilustrados, who are elite Filipinos who went to Europe to study, Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo, demanded independence from Spain.
• On June 12, 1898, General Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed the independence of the Philippines from the Spanish colonial rule in his home in Kawit, Cavite. This freedom, however, was short-lived because of the arrival of the Americans in the land.
• Spanish Influences on Philippine Literature

  • The first Filipino alphabet, called Baybayin, was replaced by the Roman alphabet
  • Religious practices became based on the teachings of Christian doctrine
  • The Spanish language became the literary language during this time. As a result, our languages borrowed many Spanish words
  • Our songs, corridos, and moro-moros assimilated European legends and traditions
  • Academics collected ancient literature and translated it to Tagalog and other local languages
• Andres Bonifacio (May Pag-asa) and Emilio Jacinto (Dimasilaw) wrote for Kalayaan, while Jose Rizal wrote for La Solidaridad. These newspapers contributed to secular writings during the period and ignited the desire of the Filipinos to be free from Spain.
• General Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed the independence of the Philippines from the Spanish colonial rule in his home in Kawit, Cavite


  June 12, 1898
• The independence was short-lived because of the arrival of the Americans in the land
• Spanish Influences on Philippine Literature

  • The first Filipino alphabet, called Baybayin, was replaced by the Roman alphabet
  • Religious practices became based on the teachings of Christian doctrine
  • The Spanish language became the literary language during this time. As a result, our languages borrowed many Spanish words
  • Our songs, corridos, and moro-moros assimilated European legends and traditions
  • Academics collected ancient literature and translated it to Tagalog and other languages
  • Our periodicals during the Spanish colonization gained a religious tone
• Philippine poems during the precolonial period

  • Highlighted epics, riddles, folk songs, and proverbs that depicted the spiritual beliefs and everyday lives of natives
• Poetry under the Spanish colonial period

  • Focused on religion and values, which became instruments in spreading Christianity and Spanish-oriented culture
• Ladino poem


  A bilingual poem with religious themes, characterized by alternating lines or verses in Tagalog and Spanish
• Ladino


  Filipinos who were fluent in both Spanish and Filipino
• Ladino or complimentary bilingual poem

  • "Salamat nang walang hanggan" (Unending Thanks) by Francisco Bagongbanta
• Pasyon


  • A narrative poem about the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, consisting of five-line stanzas with eight syllables per line
• Earliest known pasyon


  • Ang Mahal na Pasión ni Jesu Christong Panginoon natin na Tola in 1704
• Awit


  • A narrative poem that consists of 12 syllables per line and four lines per stanza, with a slow rhythm usually accompanied by a guitar or bandurya, expressing adoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary and platonic and courtly love
• Famous awit


  • Florante at Laura by Francisco Balagtas
• Kurido


  • A narrative poem that consists of eight syllables per line and four lines per stanza, with a faster rhythm compared to an awit
• Example of a kurido


  • Ibong Adarna, which contains 1,722 stanzas and has five parts
• Dalit


  • A religious poem in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• Francisco Baltazar (1788-1862) was considered the master of traditional Tagalog poetry, and his work Florante at Laura was a metaphor for the tyranny of the Spanish colonizers
• Prose during the precolonial period


  • Natives created stories about the supernatural, creatures, spirits, deities, and even the origin of things
• Prose during the Spanish colonization

  • Spanish friars attempted to eliminate these stories and replaced them with religious ones to convert natives to Christianity
• First book printed in the Philippines

  • Doctrina Christiana en lengua Española y tagala (Christian Doctrine in the Spanish and Tagalog Languages) in 1593