Philippine Lit

Philippine Literature 
Literature and history are closely interrelated. In discovering the history of a race, the feelings, aspirations, customs and traditions of a people are sure to be included . . . and these feelings, aspirations, customs and traditions that are written is literature.   History can also be written and this too, is literature.   Events that can be written down are part of true literature.   Literature, therefore, is part of history.
Literature and history, however, also have differences.   Literature may be figments of the imagination or events devoid of truth that have been written down, while history is made up of events that really happened.
 The Pre-Spanish Period
Long before the Spaniard and other foreigners landed on Philippine shores, our forefathers already had their own literature stamped in the history of our race.
  Our ancient literature shows our customs and traditions in everyday life as trace in our folk stories, old plays and short stories.
Our ancestors also had their own alphabet which was different from that brought by the Spaniards.   The first alphabet used by our ancestors was similar to that of the Malayo-Polynesian alphabet.
  Whatever record our ancestors left were either burned by the Spanish friars in the belief that they were works of the devil or were written on materials that easily perished, like the barks of trees, dried leaves and bamboo cylinders which could not have remained undestroyed even if efforts were made to preserve them.
  Other records that remained showed folk songs that proved existence of a native culture truly our own.   Some of these were passed on by word of mouth till they reached the hands of some publishers or printers who took interest in printing the manuscripts of the ancient Filipinos.
  The Spaniards who came to the Philippines tried to prove that our ancestors were really fond of poetry, songs, stories, riddles and proverbs which we still enjoy today and which serve to show to generations... [continues]

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