The Manner of Dressing and Ornamentation of the Pinoys

The ancient Filipinos wore clothes made of cotton, silk, and hemp. The men wore a collarless, short-sleeved jacket, called kanggan and a strip of cloth known as bahag wrapped around their waist and passing down between their thighs. The color of the jacket indicated the rank of the wearer. The chie wore a red jacket, while those ranking below him wore either blue or black jackets. The men also wore turbans called putong–a long strip of cloth wrapped around their heads. Aside from the putong, the men also wore a hat called salakot. This hat was a wide-brimmed headgear made of rattan or other forest vines. They did not wear shoes. But they wore jewels such as gold necklaces, gold armlets and gold anklets.

The women wore a wide-sleeved jacket called baro or camisa, and a short, loose skirt called saya or patadyong. Over this skirt, a piece of white or red cloth, called tapis was usually wrapped above the waist. The women’s jewelry consisted of gold necklaces, large gold earrings, gold bracelets, and gold rings. These bright jewels were further brightened with agates, cornelians, pearls and other gems.

The men, women and children went about barefoot. Both the men and the women inserted gold between their teeth as ornaments. Their bodies, faces and arms were tattooed with various beautiful designs and figures. A tattoo served two purposes:

#1. to enhance the physical beauty of the wearer

#2. to show a man’s war record

The more men a warrior killed in battle, the more abundantly tattooed he was. The women were less tattooed than the men. The Visayans were the most tattooed among the ancient Filipinos. The early Spanish missionaries called them pintados (painted people) for this reason.

The houses of early Filipinos were built of bamboo, wood and nipa fronds. They were built close to one another in settlements, and their structure was well suited to the warm tropical climate. The houses were set on stakes high above the ground. To go up a house, a tall bamboo ladder was used. At night or when the home owner left it to go elsewhere, the ladder was drawn up. The lower part of the hose was used as an enclosure made of stakes and bamboo. There, the house owners’ fowls, swine and carabaos (buffalos) were kept at night. There was also a gallery–called the batalan–where jars of water were placed to cool and the washed dishes were left out to dry.

Some of the early Filipinos lived in tree-houses for better protection from their enemies and from wild beasts. There were also groups who live in houses on bamboo stilts on the seashore. Others live in the boat houses. The Bajaus and the Samals of the Sulu Sea are their descendants who still live in boat houses.