Pre Colonial
Pre Colonial
Pre Colonial
Kinilaw is at least one hundred years old and one of the earliest
food discoveries.
Since kinilaw was made through souring and not by fire, it was
highly likely that they consumed this food as it was easy to make.
“It was the discovery of seagoing, river-faring people who knew
the richness of the waters, the flavors of their wealth, and the high
value of freshness,” Fernandez wrote.
Rice has always been the center of meals.
The many words Filipinos used for rice — palay is unhusked, bigas
is husked, kanin is cooked — also mirrored the significance it had
in their way of life.
Once her menstrual period was over, she was led to a stream for a
bath but her feet were not allowed to touch the ground, so she
was either carried or made to walk on an elevated pathway.
When she returned home, oil or musk would be put on her body,
which was then followed by two nights of singing. During this time,
only females were allowed to be around her.
This ceremony also marked the woman as someone who can now
be married.
During that time, virginity was also not seen as a value that should
be upheld. In the essay, Mananzan explained how when the
Spaniards came in 1521, they were appalled by the freedom that
women had, a freedom that did not coincide with their idea of how
a woman should behave. Hence, the Spanish worked to transform
Filipinas into how women were in Iberian society — sheltered and
reserved.
Coin specialists have also found the earliest Filipino coin, which
was “a small gold piece no larger than a pea, shaped like a
rounded cone, with a character stamped in relief at the base,” and
called it ‘piloncito.’ They called it such because the gold bits
looked the same as the sugar receptacle called ‘pilon.’
Further proof that the gold bits were indeed the coins used by
early Filipinos surfaced when the largest piloncito was found to
weigh 2.65 grams, which is equivalent to one ‘mas,’ the standard
weight of gold that was used across Southeast Asia.
On the third or fourth day after the washing, the dead body would
be placed under sunlight and everyone in the community would
help in peeling off the skin of the body before they’re put in a
coffin.
Education from ancient Filipino people
The education of pre Spanish time in the Philippines was informal and unstructured. The fathers
taught their sons hot to look for food and others means of livelihood. The mother taught their girls
to do the household chores. This education basically prepared their children to became good
husband and wives.
Early Filipino ancestors valued education very much. Filipino men and women knows how to read
and write using their own alphabet called alibata. The alibata was composed of 17 symbols
representing the letters of the alphabet. Among these seventeen symbols were three vowels and
fourteen consonants.