Simple folk

NATIVE innocence with its utter disregard for the western sense of modesty blended well in their plain, simple lifestyle. This Chirino noted:"The people are plain, simple and intelligent. They posess among other good and laudable customs, two in particular which are common to neighboring islands. One is that to travel or sail, they have no need to carry provisions with them since wherever they may arrive, they can be sure of being lodged or fed. The other is that whether the harvest be good or bad, the price of rice never goes up or down, the grain being sold by one to another always at the same price. Both practices derive from the spirit of good neighborliness that exists among them..."

Such simplicity was further reflected in their households. Their houses were usually built on six to eight poles (called harigue), some made of matured bamboo poles. The roof was made of palm leaves, straw or split bamboo. These houses measured three of four fathoms long, two fathoms wide and two fathoms high. But there were no doors as nobody would steal their belongings.

Once inside their houses, the natural propensity for comfort took over. They went about almost naked because of the heat: men enveloped themselves in blanket in which they sleep on the floor, while women knotted their mantles at the waist, without bodice or shirt. Some women wore skirts reaching to their feet, called lambong. Children under twelve ran about naked until they started to develop pubic hair.

Although every couple aspired to have their own house, it was customary for two or three couples to live in one house especially if they were related. Apparently, they were more concerned about their security, physical as well as economic, to bother too much about privacy.

The priest Fr. Alzina also observed that the natives "never knew the use of sheets and mattresses. Neither men nor women when sleeping had any sheet or bed but lay on the floor of their houses on small mats or palm that they call `petate'...they had other mats made of rattan, small palms with very long trunks; cut trunks into pieces of a fathom more or less and split them into strips which they tied closely together with a cord", a custom that still exists in many places to this day.

Their rattan mat was called "taguican" which was said to be nicer than "rampacan", which was fashioned from thin bamboo. But this second type of mat was more commonly used as it was easier to make.

Natives were not familiar with soft feather pillows, but they would use a block of wood for a pillow. As for blankets, in earlier days, it was sewn like a sack, open at one end and closed at the other. This was made of abaca.

Their bed or sleeping area was usually an elevated portion of the hut near their hearth. Nearby their cats, dogs and other domesticated animals also slept.The pigs however were used to clean up food leftovers and their human wastes left in some corner of the house.

In their kitchen, simplicity was again written all over. Plates and tumblers were made of coconut shells. These plates were called "paia", the tumbler "ongot". A few had chinaware, very thick and well-made, but these were used sparingly. They also tried making plates from clay but these were very crude. Despite these conditions, Alzina saw the people were happy and contented.

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