The pre-colonial period of the Philippines
include those included by the prehistory
and the early history in the year 900–1521 of the Philippine archipelago's inhabitants, -the
indigenous forebears of today's Filipino people . It was a period that entails abundant history
and marks the true blood of being a Filipino.
Despite being colonized by many countries, it is still evident up to this day that our
country will stand up in having our own identity, set of cultures, traditions, and discoveries yet to
behold. As a matter of fact, the colonizers during pre-colonials have contributed a lot in enriching
our country’s beliefs, wisdom, practices and traditions. From the very language we speak, to our
dishes, delicacies and even the way we dress; we may be stitched with the colonizer’s ways but
Filipinos will definitely find a way to retain the essence of being a Filipino.
Another interesting fact about the Pre-colonial is the literary works. It was primarily
based on the categories of nature such as seas, oceans, trees, mountains, and falls. Not only
that, it also focuses mainly on oral, like myths, folktales, legends, songs, rites, chants. Our
natives were very good at creating epics – long poems/stories about the legends; fold epics are
the most significant literary pieces in the oral literature of our country. One of the famous folk
epics is Biag ni Lam-ang, it was about a born baby who’s very strong and name himself after
being born, he was said to be the strongest man and can defeat all his enemies. It is one of the
examples of the works of our ancestors; it describes our Philippine literature and shows the
characteristics of it. The characteristics of our literature are in form of songs or chant; includes
our beliefs, traditions and uniqueness of our natives; mostly the stories are about the heroes or
powerful characters. Our epics became known because it was passed from one person to
another then to the next generation.
Moreover, Philippine pre-colonial culture was basically Malayan in structure and form.
They had written language which was used not just for communication but also for literary
expression. They also had music and dances for almost all occasions and a wide variety of
musical instruments that shows their ingenuity. This is something that the Filipinos have
adopted and modified up to this day.
Philippines being called as the Pearl of the Orient Sea or in Spanish term, “Perla del
Mar de Oriente” which was first used in 1751 was because of its well-known natural beauty.
This term became more popular because of the National hero Jose Rizal in his last poem “Mi
ultimo adios” before he died in 1896.
“It’s more fun in the Philippines”, indeed it is. Not just because the beauty and
adventure it holds, but also because of the very small details of it. The hospitality and warm
smiles of the Filipinos will always keep the tourist to keep coming back for more. But what
makes the Pre-colonial very unique is the resiliency of the Filipinos to have our own identity.
“It’s more fun in the Philippines”,
indeed it was, because of the
hospitality of Filipinos, the
great and breath-taking places
here and many more. The
Philippine literature started
before th
“It’s more fun in the Philippines”,
indeed it was, because of the
hospitality of Filipinos, the
great and breath-taking places
here and many more. The
Philippine literature started
before th
“It’s more fun in the Philippines”,
indeed it was, because of the
hospitality of Filipinos, the
great and breath-taking places
here and many more. The
Philippine literature started
before th
“It’s more fun in the Philippines”,
indeed it was, because of the
hospitality of Filipinos, the
great and breath-taking places
here and many more. The
Philippine literature started
before th
“It’s more fun in the Philippines”,
indeed it was, because of the
hospitality of Filipinos, the
great and breath-taking places
here and many more. The
Philippine literature started
before When a disaster happens, our ancestors thought it was because God is
punishing them for their sins and because of those thoughts, they formulated stories and that
was the origin of Oral Literature. Before, those stories were believed as a reason because there’s
no scientific explanation about it.
