The first foreigner to describe a native of the Philippines was Antonio Pigafetta, the chronicler who accompanied Ferdinand Magellan on his voyage, and in 1521 found himself in what we know as the Vasayas. He described the people as pintados, the painted ones, because their bodies instead of being covered with clothing was largely covered with tattoos. All men were tattooed from ankle to chest, warriors on the breast and back as well, with the bravest and boldest bearing still more designs from chin to ear to eye. Some were bearded while others had no facial hair. They were well-built, as tall as the Spaniards, and though most were naked they wore small palm-leaf hats. Their long black hair reached to their waist and was tied at the back. Some wore G-strings beneath which their skin showed lighter and was without tattoo.

        Women had tattoos only on the hands, either one or both hands decorated in designs executed with exceedingly fine lines reminiscent of damask or embroidery. They, too, were mostly naked, although some wore a narrow strip of bark cloth thin as paper to cover their privies. They were good-looking, delicately formed with exceedingly black hair worn loose, hanging quite down to the ground. The women were lighter of skin than the men because while the men worked outdoors, the women spent their time indoors weaving mats, baskets and other household items from palm leaves.

        Both men and women wore items made of gold and had their teeth filed, colored and decorated with gold. Both had pierced ears: men with one or two holes per lobe, women with three or four to accommodate their variety of ornaments. Both wore scent.

        For formal occasions or public appearances blouses, tunics, capes, or ankle-length robes might be worn.

        The tube skirt malong was worn by both men and women. Men wrapped it around the hips, tied with a knot in front, but not passed between the legs. Women wore it long, tied at the waist, or tied beneath the armpits. Both wore headdresses. It should be noted that there are descriptions of textiles fashioned from both imported and indigenous materials including one from very fine abaca threads polished to a high sheen, so it would seem nudity was a choice not a necessity for, as we shall see, they could be finely dressed.

        Of the people of Mazaua – Limasawa – Pigafetta has this to say:

        "Those people live in accordance with justice, and have weights and measures. They love peace, ease and quiet. They have wooden balances, the bar of which has a cord in the middle 
by which it is held. At one end is a bit of lead, and at the other marks like quarter-pounds, third-pounds, and pounds. When they wish to weigh they take the scales which has three wires like ours, and place it above the marks, and so weigh accurately. They have very large measures without any bottom. The youth play on pipes made like ours which they call subin. Their houses are constructed of wood and are built of planks and bamboo, raised high from the ground on large logs, and one must enter them by means of ladders. They have rooms like ours; and under the house they keep their swine, goats, and fowls……"

        His descriptions of the king and a queen:

        "According to their custom he (the king) was very grandly decked out, and the finest looking man we saw among those people. His hair was exceedingly black, and hung to his shoulders. He had a covering of silk on his head, and wore two large golden earrings fastened in his ears. He wore a cotton cloth all embroidered with silk, which covered him from the waist to the knees. At his side hung a dagger, the haft of which was somewhat long and all of gold, and its scabbard of carved wood. He had three spots of gold on every tooth, and his teeth appeared as if bound with gold. He was perfumed with storax and benzoin. He was tawny and painted all over…. 

        The queen was young and beautiful, and was entirely covered with a white and black cloth. Her mouth and nails were very red, while on her head she wore a large hat of palm leaves in The manner of a parasol, with a crown about it of the same leaves, like the tiara of the Pope;  And she never goes any place without such a one. 

        One day the queen came with great pomp to hear Mass. Three girls preceded her with three of her hats in their hands. She was dressed in black and white with a large silk scarf, crossed with gold stripes thrown over her head, which covered her shoulders; and she had on her hat. A great number of women accompanied her, who were all naked and barefoot, except that they had a small covering of palm-tree cloth before their privies, and a small scarf upon the head, and all with hair flowing free…. "

        In Luzon 16th century Spaniards saw a people much like those of the Visayas but without tattoos.

        Tagalog men filed and colored their teeth, and pegged them with gold, reddened their lips with betel nut chewing and distended their earlobes to the shoulder with heavy gold earrings. They wore their hair short, and, with the exception of some who had mustaches, were without facial hair. Their basic garment was a silk or cotton G-string, sufficient in length and width to hang over the hips and thighs with a flap at the back which inspired comments from the Spaniards, such as, “You’re getting your tail wet”. 

        The ladies used makeup – eyebrow paint, face powder, red nail polish and a skin lotion made from a local root. A priest is known to have inveighed against the vanity of plucking their eyebrows every month.

        On formal occasions both men and women wore a short-sleeved, collarless shirt or jacket, or a cloak or long-sleeved gown. A special piece of male finery was a scarf intricately worked by his wife thrown over the shoulders. They wrapped themselves in mantles and wore a turban-like headdress. 

        Feminine dress consisted of two rectangular wraparound skirts, one ankle-length and the other, a shorter colored version, worn over it. Above the skirt a cloak, shawl, or loose smock might be worn. Upper class men and women fumigated their clothes with incense. Silk was a common textile medium with jusi being a fine red silk woven only in Tondo. Clothing was indeed a symbol of social status. 

        In the middle of the 19th century Sir John Bowring of Her Majesty’s British Government made a visit to Asia to negotiate treaties, stopping in the Philippines long enough to observe:

 

        "Chinese under-tones may be seen in the styles and even colors of dress, as well as in the language and customs. Intermarriages between the Filipinos and the Chinese invigorated The Filipino racial stock, for “the Mestizo descendants of Chinese fathers and Indian (Filipina) mothers form incomparably the most promising portion of the Philippine population. By and large, the offsprings of Filipina-Chinese ancestors possess the sterling traits that can make a nation great – the courage and resiliency of the Malay and the frugality and sagacity of the Chinese.” 

        In he early years of the 20th century an observer from the United States of America noted that:

 

        "Filipino men only rarely took action without first consulting their wives. The Women generally held the keys to whatever there was of value in the home. They were the business managers, and, as a rule, more intelligent than their husbands. The men cooked, washed the dishes, made the beds, and labored in the fields. To reach the men, particularly in areas such as health and education, it was often necessary to reach the wives first."

Sonia Krug

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bowring, Sir John. A Visit to the Philippine Islands. Manila: Filipiniana Book Guild, 1963.
Krug, Sonia. A View of the American Colonial Period in the Philippines. Talk for the Museum Volunteers of the Philippines 1997 February Lecture Series, Ayala Museum, February 21, 1997.
Pigafetta, Antonio and Maximilianus Transylvanus. First Voyage Around the World and De Moluccis Insulis. Manila: Filipiniana Book Guild, 1969.
Scott, William Henry. Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society. Manila: Ateneo De Manila University Press, 1994.