Philippine
Literature
and the Spanish occupation
• Existing Philippine written records has
been destroyed
• Including the Philippine alphabet
• Replaced by Catholic teachings in Spanish
• The passion of Christ was forced on
indigenous communities
• Those who were to become part of the
colonial ruling elite were taught Latin
script.
• The only surviving documents
written in the ancient Tagalog
alphabet are not works of literature
– Lagune Copperplate Inscription from
900AD which is a receipt for payment of
a debt,
– Doctrina Christiana of 1593.
• Literature in the Philippines in written
form is only known from times well
into the colonial period.
• Many of the works written in the
early colonial period were religious in
nature extolling the virtues of
Christianity to a population that had
previously followed local polytheism.
• Chants and poems that could be read or memorized for
use in church or in local festivities were actively
encouraged
• the “Memorial De La Vida Cristiana en Lengua Tagala”
by Fernando Bagonbanta in 1605 contained many lyrics
that could be sung.
• In 1640 an ancient epic, Biag ni Lam-ang was published
by Pedro Buceneg, a blind Filipino poet who related the
ancient fable to a monk from his local parish.
• 1705 saw Gaspar Aquino de Belen write a series of
quintillas that were more subdued and serious in nature
than those of his predecessor Bagonbanta, emphasizing
the solemnity of the life of Christ.
• Philippine poetry and literature was written in
Spanish
• Tagalog being frowned upon as a base
language not worthy of great works of writing.
• One of the Philippines greatest writers of any
era Francisco Balagtas, a man likened with
William Shakespeare for the prolific and
profound nature of his works, refused to write
in Spanish for which he was persecuted
during his lifetime.
Pasyon
• A narrative of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus
Christ woven into a poem with stanzas of five lines and each
line having eight syllables.
• The indigenization of the Pasyon was begun by Gaspar
Aquino de Belén in Ang Mahal na Passion ni JesuCristong
Panginoon Natin na Tola (The poem of the Passion of our
Lord Jesus Christ), published in 1703 or 1704.
• The more popular version of the pasyon is the Casaysayan
nang Pasiong Mahal ni Jesucristong Panginoon Natin na
Sucat Ipag-alab nang Puso nang Sinomang Babasa (The
History of the Passion of Jesus Christ our Lord that will set
afire the heart of whosoever reads it).
• An 1852 erudition by Aniceto de Merced, El libro de la vida
(The Book of Life), did not, however become popular with the
masses.
• The tradition of chanting the pasyon does not owe anything to its
Mexican or Spanish origins but is connected to the singing of epics
during cultural celebrations among indigenous Filipinos.
• The pasyon is usually chanted acapella though occasionally the
chanters may be accompanied by guitars or a rondalla band.
• Many innovations in pasyon singing have been introduced, like the
use of the guitar or rondalla for accompaniment and the use of the
accordion by a traveling group of pasyon singers.
• Singing of the pasyon is performed in two basic group formations.
– two people or groups of people sing alternately.
– each of the singers take their turns in singing a stanza of text.
Senakulo
• from the Spanish cenaculo
• a Lenten play that depicts events from the Old and
New Testaments related to the life, sufferings, and
death of Christ.
• traditionally performed on a proscenium-type
stage with painted cloth or paper backdrops that
are called telon.
• It takes at least eight nights - from Palm Sunday to
Easter Sunday - to present the play.
• Christ is presented traditionally as meek and
masochistic, submitting lamblike to his fate in
obedience to authority.
• Modernized senakulo
– for only one or two hours
– presented in different types of venues: on the
traditional stage, on the streets, in a chapel, in a
large room, or out in the open.
– Comedy, courtship, and special effects may be
incorporated
– tend to focus not on Christ’s submissiveness, but
on his reason and resolve in courageously
standing up for the downtrodden against their
oppressors, perhaps suggesting how current
problems may be resolved.
• Street senakulos
– another form of penance where the people are
walking with the procession.
– Locals act as Roman soldiers with their
menacingly painted masks and armors, pounding
on doors to search for Jesus.
– The routine of the reenactment has not changed,
but its presentation is infused with a fresh flavor
to reach the modern-world absorbed
consciousness of the new generation.
The senakulo of Morong, Rizal
• Started in 1993
• Pangkalinangang Kilusan ng mga Taga-Morong (PAKITAMO), the
local cultural society in Morong, Rizal
• The play entitled "Ang Tagapagligtas" is largely based on the four
gospels.
–
–
–
–
Christ's nativity,
His youth,
His public ministry
suffering, death and resurrection.
• Fictional characters and dialogues are used as details to link the
gaps left open in the Bible.
• The play is in three acts - one act presented each night from Holy
Wednesday to Good Friday.
• A verse is sung in the traditional pasyon manner as prologue to
each act.
• PAKITAMO has organized a theater group to
undertake the annual presentation of the play
at the town plaza.
• Aside from its objective to
develop artistic talents, the PAKITAMOproduced senakulo aims to preserve tradition,
to promote brotherhood and to spread true
Christian values through the
theatrical presentation of the New
Testament.
Awit at corido
• Damiana Eugenio
– metrical romances
– long verse narratives on
chivalric-heroic, religious,
legendary and folkloric themes.
– They are of uniform stanza
pattern, monoriming and vary in
length, from a few hundred to
several thousand lines.
• Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera
– stories in verse about historic events, falsified and
fanciful, and love tragedies full of wonderful
events mixed with divine prodigy and diabolical
magic
– lengthy, exaggerated, puerile, and absurd in the
extreme.
– Not one of the characters is native. All are Turks,
Arabs, knight-errant, ambassadors, dukes,
warriors in armor, provided with magic arms and
with balsams like the famous one of Fierabras,
good Castilians and bad strangers.
• The korido is a declaration or narration on
falling in love and the struggles of a heroic
character, which is also filled with mystery.
• The awit, on the other hand, is a narration
of friendship and struggles of the
characters with the absence of mystery
AWIT
KORIDO
Tagalog word for song
a metrical story
Dodecasyllabic (plosa)
Octosyllabic (hakira)
chivalric-heroic
legendary and religious
andante or slow time
allegro or hurried time
a story fabricated from the
imagination of the writer although
the setting and characters are still
European
based on an existing tale or
legend from European countries
begins with "Buhay na
pinagdaanan ni" (life experienced
by) or "Salita at buhay na
pinagdaanan ni" (history and life
experienced by)
always begins with the word
'corrido,' as in "Corrido at
pinagdaanang buhay ni Principe
Baldovino
Komedya
• A colorful theatrical tradition that describes
the conflicts between the Muslims and the
Christians.
• It was used by the Spanish as a method to
spread Christianity in the country.
Types
1. Secular Komedya - performed at the local
fiestas.
1. Moro-Moro is a type - portrays the clash between
the Muslims and the Christians where the
forbidden romance between the prince and the
princess is settled by having the non-Christian be
converted to christianity or by his or her death
followed by a resurrection through divine
intervention.
2. Tibag or Arakya - featured during the annual
Santacruzan. The story evolves on the search for
the Holy Cross by Queen Helena and her son,
Emperor Constantino.
2. Religious Komedya – (Komedya de Santo)
centers on the life of Christ or of any saint. It
usually seen during church celebrations. The
actors move in a stylized way, have
extravagant costumes and elaborately
choreographed war scenes
• The Komedya instantly spread in various
parts of the country through the help of the
landlords and to the Hispano-Christian
values incorporated in the Filipino culture
• But it was eventually criticized for lack of
realism and national importance.
• The Komedya's popularity decreased as the
number of feudal lords shrank and modern
forms of theather emerged.
Duplo at karagatan
• Duplo - a means introduced in the
celebration to relieve the monotony and
sadness of the prayers for the dead.
• Karagatan - a native play; less formal than
the duplo. Among the Visayans karagatan
is a parlor game.
• The duplo and karagatan are by no means
plays possessing a high artistic quality.
• They have no character delineation.
• They are both religious and social
significant.
Printing
• Printing in the Philippines had been
established just seventeen years prior,
with the appearance of the DOCTRINA
CHRISTRIANA... by Juan de Vera in
1593.
• Thomas Pinpin - the first ethnic Filipino
printer.
Vocabulario De La Lengua
Tagala
• was printed by Spanish missionaries from wood blocks
in 1593
• Pedro De San Buenaventura, OFM
• a gem of Spanish-Philippine literature.
• Its rarity makes it one of the very few number of Filipino
incunabula – works printed in the Philippines between
1593 and 1643 – of which there are still copies. In this
case, there are only two.
• it is the first thesaurus or dictionary of a Philippine
language printed by Spanish missionaries.
Arte de la Lengua Tagala y
Manual Tagalog
• Sebastian de Totanes
• Binondo: Miguel Sanchez, 1865
Arte y Reglas de la Lengua
Tagala
• San Jose, Fray
Francisco Blancas de
• A 19th-century reprint
of the first guide to the
Tagalog language
Literature
• The first Philippine literature
book to be printed from typePastrimirias, by Father
Francisco De San Joseappeared only a few years
after Vocabulario…
• Most of the early Philippine
literary works had religious
themes and were written by
Spaniards.
• The best known of the early
native writers was
Francisco Balagtas (17891862)
• the prince of Filipino poets
– the father of Tagalog
poetry
• Balagtas' classic political
satire, Florante at Laura,
was written in the mid-19th
century
• During the last half of the 19th century,
Spanish schools were opened to Filipinos.
• Shortly afterward, publications in Spanish
by Filipino authors began to appear.