Specific Arts in the Philippines

Specific Arts in the Philippines

The Philippines were ruled by Western powers - first the Spanish and later the United States, for some 350 years.

Except for a few religious minorities, the Philippines have also become thoroughly Christianized and boasts of being the only country in Southeast Asia with a Christian majority. 

This leaves few traces of its pre-colonial history, in which the culture of the archipelago was influenced by India, China, and Southeast Asian civilizations.

The pre-colonial Philippines were also influenced by spiritual traditions from indigenous animism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism

Though the ethnic art forms such as pottery, weaving and metalwork were retained, the Spanish friars and the Chinese, the colony's primary trading partner, were slowly introducing newer art forms. Icons brought by the friars were used as models for sculpture.

1. Weavings, Textile designs and patterns (Banig)

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Weaving

 is a process used to create fabric by interlacing threads. Weft threads are laced over and under and run horizontally to the warp threads. 

Weaving

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• By working the warp and weft threads at right angles, a weaver can create fabric materials like cloth, carpets, or tapestries

1. Weaving

• The traditional weaving is to produce with a traditional instrument of wood, all kinds of traditional fabrics of wool, cotton, and silk.

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T'nalak (also spelled tinalak),

is a weaving tradition of the T'boli people of South Cotabato, Philippines.

The traditional female weavers are known as dream weavers, because the pattern of the t'nalak cloth are inspired by their dreams.

malong 

Malong is a traditional Filipino rectangular or tube-like wraparound skirt bearing a variety of geometric or okir designs. 

Banig

• Banig is basically a hand-woven mat made of Buri, or Pandan or seagrass leaves and not a textile. 

• The leaves are dried and dyed and woven afterward to produce a uniquely designed or patterned mat

2.Body Tattoo

Symbolism is part and parcel of pre-colonial Filipino warrior culture. A certain clothing, tattoo or cicatrix may connote the wearer’s status in the warrior society.

Batuk

Tattooing was widely practiced in pre-colonial Philippines both for the purposes of ornamentation and rite of passage

Batuk is the general term for tattoos in the Visayas

Pintados Festival

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• Pintados Festival is celebrated in Tacloban to pay tribute to the ancient tattooing tradition of the Visayans. 

3.Pottery

Evidence of Philippine Pottery-making as early as 6000 B.C. in Sanga-Sanga Cave, Sulu and Laurente Cave, Cagayan.

The Manunggul Jar

 a secondary burial jar excavated from a Neolithic burial site in the Manunggul

cave of the Tabon Caves at Lipuun Point in Palawan, Philippines.

Tapayan or tempayan

Tapayan or tempayan are large wide-mouthed earthenware or stoneware jars found in various Austronesian cultures in island Southeast Asia.

Palayok

A palayok is a clay pot used as the traditional food preparation container in the Philippines.

4.Wood carving

Native Filipinos carved boats, plows, arrows, spears, and other essential items, often creating ornamental patterns for the use of the tribal hierarchy and to celebrate special occasions. 

In early times, figurines were carved as totems to protect villages and ward off evil.

Bulul

Bulul, also known as bul-ul or tinagtaggu, is a carved wooden figure used to guard the rice crop by the Ifugao (and their sub-tribe Kalanguya) peoples of northern Luzon.

Sarimanok

The Sarimanok is derived from a totem bird of the Maranao people, called Itotoro. According to the Maranao people, the Itotoro is a medium to the spirit world via its unseen twin spirit bird called Inikadowa.