The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 43, 1670-1700: 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 43, 1670-1700: 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
Their customs at marriage were very peculiar. They married only one
woman. The chiefs however, had several concubines, who were commonly
slaves. They generally married their nearest relative, provided
she were not a sister, for they could not contract marriage with
sisters. When they grew tired of their wife, they returned her to
her parents. It was unnecessary to give cause for the divorce, for it
was sufficient to give up the dowry which he himself had given when
he was married. That dowry was of two kinds and was always paid by
the bridegroom. One kind was called bigay suso, and was the payment
for the milk which the mother had given to the damsel, by which he
obtained her completely. The other was called bigay caya and was
the real dowry. It was given to those recently married for their
support. At times, however, the expense of the wedding was discounted
from it, as well as the clothes, so that very little or nothing at all
remained for the recently married couple. Besides the bridegroom giving
that dowry, he had to serve the parents of the bride for some years;
to feast them on certain days; to assist in the sowing of the rice
and the harvest, and to carry food to the laborers. All the relatives
of the bridegroom had to be obsequious to the bride, to her parents,
and to all her relatives, so long as those years of service lasted. If
they failed in any point, the marriage was dissolved, a thing which
was very agreeable to the parents of the woman, for then a new suitor
appeared, and they began to suck his blood again. In retaliation for
what the bridegroom suffered before marriage, he treated his wife like
a slave after marriage. She had to find the sustenance for the family,
while her husband was off enjoying himself, and she considered herself
fortunate if after that he did not beat her. The self-interest of
the parents in their daughters in which this pernicious custom is
observed, has been the reason why it has been impossible to uproot
this hitherto, notwithstanding the royal cedulas and the decrees
of the bishops which prohibit it. The ceremony of the marriage was
performed with the sacrifice of a hog, which a priestess killed after
going through a thousand gestures. She blessed the couple abundantly,
and afterward the old women gave them food in a dish and gave vent to
many obscenities, after which the couple were pronounced married. Then
followed dances according to their custom, and drunken revels for all
the days that the function lasted. The number of days were regulated
according to the wealth of the contracting parties. He who went to
the feast gave something to the couple, and note was made of it so
that they could do the same in a like case.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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