Spanish Colonial Period

• Spanish colonization of the Philippines started in 1565 during the time of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the first Spanish governor- general in the Philippines.
• The Spanish colonial period from 1565-1898 saw the Philippines under the Captaincy General of the Philippines, initially under Viceroyalty of New Spain.
• After the Mexican Empire's independence, the Philippines was under direct royal governance from 1821-1898.
• After ruling for 333 years, the Spaniards finally left in 1898 and were replaced by the Americans who stayed for 48 years.
• On July 4, 1946, the Americans recognized Philippine independence.
• 2 CHARACTERISTICS OF SPANISH LITERATURE: Religious Literature & Secular Literature
• RELIGIOUS LITERATURE - Religious lyrics written by Ladino poets or those versed in both Spanish and Tagalog were included in early catechism and were used to teach Filipinos about the Spanish language.
• PASYON - Long narrative poem about the passion and death of Christ. The most popular was “Ang Mahal na Pasyon ni Jesu Cristong Panginoon Natin” by Aguino de Belen. Is a Philippine epic narrative of the life of Jesus Christ, focused on his Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
• SENAKULO - Dramatization of the pasyon, it shows the passion and death of Christ. This is a dramatic performance to commemorate the passion and death of Jesus Christ.
• There are two kinds of Senakula: the Cantada and Hablada.
• In the Hablada, the lines are spoken in a more deliberate manner showing the rhythmic measure of each verse and the rhyming in each stanza and is more dignified in theme.
• Cantada is a performance where the lines are sung/chanted in verse like the Pasyon.
• • Senakulo or Sinakulo is derived from the Spanish word cenaculo, meaning "cenacle," which is the place where Jesus Christ celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples.
• KOMEDYA - The komedya is a play written in verse (usually octosyllabic or dodecasyllabic quatrains), which uses conventions of the marcha for exits and entrances, batalla or choreographed fighting, and magia or magical effects.
• Octosyllabic means having or written in lines that have eight syllables. Dodecasyllabic means a line of verse with twelve syllables.
• SECULAR LITERATURE (NON-RELIGIOUS) - 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.
• AWIT - Colorful tales of chivalry made for singing and chanting.
• The awit is set in dodecasyllabic quatrains.
• These are colorful tales of chivalry from European sources made for singing and chanting such as Gonzalo de Cordoba (Gonzalo of Cordoba). The awit entitled Florante at Laura was written by Francisco “Balagtas” Baltazar who was deemed as the “Prince of Tagalog Poets.”
• KORIDO - Is a metrical tale written in octosyllabic quatrains. long metrical tale or romance written in a vernacular language of the Philippines during the period of Spanish control.
• The corrido entitled “Ibong Adarna” was written by Jose Corazon dela Cruz (Huseng Sisiw) was deemed as the “King of Tagalog Poets.”
• PROSE NARRATIVE - Is written to describe proper decorum. Like the pasyon, these prose narratives were also used for proselitization. Some forms are: dialogo (dialogue), Manual de Urbanidad (conduct book); ejemplo (exemplum) and tratado (tratado).
• Example is:

  • Modesto de Castro’s “Pagsusulatan ng Dalawang Binibini na si Urbana at si Feliza” (Correspondence between the Two Maidens Urbana and Feliza) in 1864 and;
  • Joaquin Tuason’s “Ang Bagong Robinson” (The New Robinson) in 1879, an adaptation of Daniel Defoe’s novel.
• The first Filipino alphabet called ALIBATA was replaced by the Roman alphabet.
• The old Baybayin was replaced with the Spanish (Roman) alphabet called the abecederio.
• ANG DOCTRINA CRISTIANA (THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE): This was the first book printed in the Philippines in 1593 in xylography.
• It was written by Fr. Juan de Placencia and Fr. Domingo Nieva, in Tagalog and Spanish.
• It contained the Pater Noster (Our Father), Ave Maria (Hail Mary), Regina Coeli (Hail Holy Queen), the Ten Commandments of God, the Commandments of the Catholic Church, the Seven Mortal Sins, How to Confess, and the Catechism.
• Ladinos - were the indigenous Filipinos who were employed by Spaniards as translators of the priest's and friar's teachings.
• The year when the Spanish colonizers came with Magellan. On April 27, 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by a poison arrow during a skirmish on the island of Mactan in what is now the Philippines.
• MIGUEL LOPEZ DELEGAZPI - The first Spanish governor-general in the Philippines.