The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 40 of 55, 1690-1691: Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 40 of 55, 1690-1691: Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
Notwithstanding so many lies that are made up to sustain this deceit,
there are but few who esteem it; and in general they are all atheists,
and those who have any religion are sorcerers. For as Moros, beyond not
eating pork, and practicing circumcision, and [having] a multiplicity
of women, they know not anything. They drink wine more than we do, and
all their happiness consists in drunken revels--[to them] a positive
act of greatness; and thus all their knightly deeds consist in emptying
more or fewer jars [of wine], and there is a wedding in which they
empty two hundred. All their festivals consist in this. They live in
all respects like men without any law who do not know God, and without
any mode of worship, and unmindful that there is such in the world. All
regard the law as little more or less, and, according to the land they
inhabit, follow its customs and laws. Accordingly they are neither
Moors, heathen, nor Christians, but barbarous atheists. Corralat,
who has civilized his country somewhat, has his mosque, and makes
his people attend it. But when they leave their village, each one
does as he pleases--except some of the chiefs, who, following the
example of the king, have made it a point of honor to appear to be
Moors. But the common people, assuredly, lay no stress on that point.
What they believe in thoroughly are omens, which are almost general in
all the islands. There are many of them: of birds, like the limocon;
[59] of insects, like the lizard; of accidental occurrences, like
sneezing; of happenings, like deaths or earthquakes; of observances
at time of sowing, and of reaping, and of the hunt--all of these have
their observances, which they fulfil in order to have luck in the
work; for they believe that without these it will be unlucky, and
without any profit. Therefore, they do not undertake those things,
since in many districts it is considered an omen when anyone asks
for a portion of what may be caught (as for instance, of the hunter
or fisher), if we say to him when he goes to try his luck: "Divide
with me what you shall catch." They consider that as a bad omen, and
return to their house, for they believe that they will catch nothing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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