Wednesday, November 02, 2005

PHILIPPINE HISTORY (Part I)

Chapter 5 Our Heritage from India, China & Arabia:

The Philippines is in Asia and has a close relations with other Asian nations.

INDIA
Early Relations with India
Hindus from the Asian mainland came to the country as early as 900 A.D.They were only traders or foreign immigrants, as their main purpose to us.

Hindu Antiques
1.Gold image of Agusan. Statue of Hindu goddess was found at Esperanza, Agusan Province in 1917.
2.Copper image of Ganesha. Statue of the elephant god of the Hindus was found in Mactan in 1843.
3.Gold pendant of Garuda, the legendary bird of India. Found at Brooke's Point , Palawan in 1961.

Other hindu Heritage
Traces of Hindu culture was found in our:
1.religion
Hindus taught us to pray to many gods, spirits & images.
The word "Bathala" is of Indian origin.
2.jobs
Hindus gave us such industries as: mining quicklime in Masbate, weaving cotton cloth, making lotus designs, making guitars, making sampaguita flower leis, raising fruits & vegetables.
3.writings
Our ancient alphabet came from their Sanskrit writing.

4.language
The Pilipino (Tagalog) language has 375 Sankrit words. Examples are: ama, asawa, halaga, maharlika, nanay, mutya, paa, raha & sandata.

The following are Filipino supertitious beliefs that came from India:
*A maiden who sings merily while cooking will marry an old widower.
*A comet flashing in the sky is an ill omen.
*A pregnant woman who eats twin bananas will give birth to twins.

5.customs
* hanging a garland of fresh around the neck of a visitor is a sign of hospitality & friendship.
* giving a dowry by the groom to the bride's parents.
* showering the groom & bride with rice after the ceremony.
* offering buyo to a visitor as a symbol of hospitality.
* pilgrimageby a childless coupleto a holy shrine whose deity is believed to have the power to their wish to have a child.

6.race
is also another factor of Hindu heritage.

CHINA
Early Relations with Chaina
In 982 A.D. Filipinos from Mindoro sailed to Canton, South China in Arab ship. Their main purpose for our country was fairly for trade like bartering goods & other products.
According to Wang Tayuan, a Chinese writer, " The Chinese trust the Filipinos, for they always keep their promise."

Filipino Visitors to China
Early Filipinos went to China to visit & offer gifts to Chinese emperor.
The largest group of early Filipino tourist in China arrived at Beijing, the capital of China, in 1417. They were more than 340 men & women, including three datus of Mindanao & visited the emperor. Unfortunately, on their way home, Datu Paduka Pahala got sick & diedon September 13, 1417. He was given a royal funeral by a Chinese emperor & buried near Dezhov City, Shandong Province, east China.

Our Chinese Heritage

1. Jobs, 2. Costumes, 3. Food, 4. Customs, 5. Language & 6. Blood

From Chinese Filipinos learned to make gunpowder, to mine for gold, to work with metal, to use with porcelain gongs & metals & to make kites.

In costumes, the Chinese gave the early Filipinos with loose trousers & jackets, slippers, wooden shoes, fans & umbrellas.

Social customs from Chinese were:

*respect for elders, arranged marriages & worship of dead ancestors.

Also terrible vices came from Chinese: use of firecracker during New Year, the tong(fee) for owners of gambling dens & gambling with jueteng, cards & mah-jong.

In language, about 1500 words in the Tagalog vocabulary came from the Chinese: ate, bakya, bantay, buwisit, gunting, kuya, pinto & susi.

Early Relations with Arabia

In early times, Arab missionaries & traders came to the Philippines.

In 1380, first Arab visitor named Mukdum came to Sulu from Mecca, Saudi Arabia & spread Islam, the Muslim religion & also built the first mosque atSimunul, Sulu.

In 1450, another Arab missionary named Abu Bakr came to Jolo. He married the princess in Jolo & founded the sultanate of Sulu.

In 1475, an Arab trader named Kabungsuwan landed at Cotabato & conquered the valley. He also married the local princess & founded the sultanate of Maguindanao.

Our Arabic Heritage

1.religion, 2.politics & 3.social life. Our Arabic heritage are mostly seen in the south.

Today, there are about 1,600,000 Muslims in the country. In politics, they introduced the form of government & laws. The title sultan(king), raha(heir),dayang(princess)& kali(judge) came from the Arabs.

Examples of Muslim customs are: polygamy, divorce & pilgrimage to Mecca.

About 2% of Filipinos have Arab blood from their ancestors.

Early Relations with Other Asians

Our ancestors also have contacts with Borneo, Malaya, Malacca, Thailand(Siam), Kampuchea(Cambodia) & Indonesia.

In 1515, the Filipinos had a small colony at Dingding, Malacca, in Malaysia.

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Czarenel Modelesque out
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