Pintados

THE first impression of the western man on the native in Leyte could be read in Pigafetta's account in Limasawa when he described the brother of Rajah Siani of that island: He "was the handsomest among these people. His hair was very black and of shoulder length; he had a silk cloth on his head and two large gold rings hang from the ears. He wore a cotton cloth, embroidered with silk to cover himself from waist down to the knees On his side, he wore a dagger with a long handle, all of gold, with its scabbard made of carved wood. With this he wore upon him scents of storac and binoin (benzoin). He was tanned and his face was all painted... The painted king was called Colambu and the other Rajah Siani." (Blair & Robertson)

Although Pigafetta was describing what could have been the representative of the upper crust of Leyte's social structure during the period of discovery, the observations of the early Jesuits here, particularly Chirino and Alzina, did not seem to vary too much.

Alzina saw that there were distinctions in the way the natives dressed compared to their chiefs. "Men wore red bajag or pinayusan down to their knees, chiefs wore theirs longer; one end of this cloth fell to their knees, the other end is passed between the legs. They bring it up to the waist and wind it once until it joins with the end that comes from below. Thus joined, they wind the cloth around the stomach once, twice or even three times, until the end in front and that in the back are even, such that both the front and back ends cover all the body from waist down..."(Alzina)

As for their ends (called ampis in the vernacular), "...one should be much longer than than the other". The upper portion of the body was covered with baro, with"... sleeves fitting, neck hole wide and round, reaching the knees. Some are open in front, others are closed. People merely fold a strip of cloth and cut a hole in the middle through which to thrust their head. But the sides are sewn, leaving on the bottom side slits a palm long more or less."(ibid)

Men's attire were not complete without the head turban or pudung. Among the poor, this was made of abaca, wound twice around the head, with the top uncovered. But the chiefs wore linen ones, completely decorated with silk, and wound many turns around the head. Those who had records of valor wore colored pudung called pinajusan.

Some natives had hats made of straw or palm, flat and with no crown. They walked barefooted.

But that was not the complete picture of the native Leyteño at the end of the 16th century. Without the indelible paint etched on his dark brown skin, he would not be considered man enough. "Pintados" was the name given to the natives here because of their body paintings.

"The Bisayans are called Pintados because they are in fact so, not by nature although they are well-built, well-featured and white, but by painting their entire bodies from head to foot as soon as they are young men with strength and courage enough to endure the torture of painting. In the old days, they painted themselves when they had performed some brave deed. They paint themselves by first drawing blood with pricks from a very sharp point, following the design and lines previously marked by the craftsmen in the art, and then over the fresh blood applying a black powder that can never again be erased.

They do not paint the whole body at one time, but part by part, so that the painting takes many days to complete. In the former times they had to perform a new feat of bravery for each of the parts that were to be painted. The paintings are very elegant, and well proportioned to the members and parts where they are located. I used to say there, captivated and astonished by the appearance of one of these, that if they brought it to Europe a great deal of money could be made by displaying it. Children are not painted. The women paint the whole of one hand and a part of the other." (ibid)

Legaspi in 1565 made a similar observation when he set foot on Leyte. " The torsos, thighs and arms of the men were tattooed with pigment deep in the flesh; most of them wore only bahag to cover the loins; gold pendants hang from their ears; and the chiefs also wore gold anklets."(Documentos Ineditos)
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