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Social Organization
Datu datu - head of the Visayan community,
principal, chief or “a lord of vassals” kadatoan - datus regarded as autonomous.
The right to rule depended on direct descent from former rules, so members of the datu class jealousy guarded their lineage: a man who became a datu by simply marrying one was called sabali.
tumao - lesser order of nobility, children of datus with their secondary wives
Datu There was no word for a primary datu or
paramount chief but those recognized as primus inter pares
(first among equals) were known as pangulo, head or leader
kaponoan, most sovereign or makaporos nga datu, a unifying chief
A datu’s authority arose from his lineage, but his power depended upon his wealth, the number of his slaves and subjects, and his reputation for physical prowess.
Some were autocratic and oppressive.
Timawa freemen or freedmen originally the offspring or descendants of a
datu’s commoner wives or concubines ginoo - all persons liberated by their own
master (freedmen) buhis or handug - trubute paid by timawa to
the datu timawa were theoretically free to transfer their
allegiance to some other datu but those attached to their lord as personal
vassals paid no tribute and rendered no agricultural labor
Timawa Timawa were therefore men of consequence
in the community. But they were not often men of substance; If they were wealthy enough to behave like a datu, they were belittled as timindok, a big banana.
They had no right to booty beyond what their datu can gave them , and they were held accountable for wounding or killing any captives.
Oripun / Olipun
(etymology) appears to be a transitive form of an archaic root udip meaning “to let live”.
Individual status within the oripun class depended on birthright, inherited or acquired debt.
bihag - outright captives ; marketed by dealers in along or botong as expensive merchandise like bahandi procelain and gongs, or ships and houses
hayohay [hayahay?] or ayuey - Oripun who lived in their master’s house
gintubo – children of hayohay; sibin or ginogotan – favorite gintubo of their masters
mamahay or tulay – olipuns with their own house bulan or pikas – half-slaves tinubos – redeemed or ransomed olipun horohan – higher class of olipun
Debt and dependence Visayan social fabric was thus woven of debt
and dependence-that is, relationships in which one person was dependent on the decisions of another, the one exercising choice, the other not.
The slave did not choose work for his master, bit his master might choose to grant him a favor.
tagolaling - days given a slave to work for himself.
Debt sulit – a debt without interest, a sale without
profit, or a crop without increase gaon – a kind of involuntary collateral seized
until the debt was paid tokot – “to make sure” was to collect a debt
from somebody other than the debtor who thus effectively acquired a new creditor who then had to collect as best he could
Community A datu’s following was his haop or dolohan bongto or lungsod - villages and towns where
one or more haop lived gamuro - hamlets or neighborhoods a cluster of houses required datu concensus,
and so did alliances between settlements members of haop were usually related – a
parentela or kindred
Kinship Terms Parents’ brothers and sisters were
differentiated by sex uncles - yoyo, oyo-an or bata, aunts - iyaan or dada
anak - sons and daughters, offspring igaanak, igsoon, igmanhod, igtotood or atod -
brothers , sisters and cousins of either sex patod or ig-agaw - cousins igkampor - second cousins in Kiniray-a bogto or boggong tinay, “gut brothers,”
children of the same parents
Law part of the customs and traditions handed
down from one generation to another not considered products of legislation but
part of the natural order of things A datu acted as judge (hukom) in both civil
clams and criminal cases, sometimes in consultation with an expert in custom law, by hearing testimony of sworn witnesses
Penalties were fines set in accord with the litigants’ standing crimes against upper-class persons were fined
more heavily, and an oripun who murdered a datu was simply killed outright
Marriage Weddings between people without property to
share by request were simple ceremonies in which the couple partook of the same cup or plate
hayohay were simply married off by their masters and given a few pots.
datu weddings were the most important social events in a Visayan community since they were contracts between families rather than individuals; they were also political events creating new alliances
marriage was forbidden between first-degree kin, but a niece could marry her uncle
Inheritance Children of both sexes inherited equally
unless their parents specified preference in a will (bilin)
A man and wife might bequeath to each conjugal property which they had accumulated together, but not what they had inherited
Property The property mentioned in bride-price
exchanges or inheritance disputes was always slaves and bahandi – imported porcelains and gongs and gold, especially ornate gold ornaments whose value greatly exceeded their gold content
Slaves were readily transferable, but bahandi was alienated only in case of dire family emergency, though it was sometimes loaned out in exchange for servitude
Labor Labor was itself a commodity that could
be bought and sold namomoo - to work in somebody else’s house,
most frequently weaving lihog - hired hands compensated only with
meals and with a feast when project was completed
himakdul - compensation given an agent or messenger for difficult service
hinguli - a kind of hazardous duty pay on expeditions like those called moro-moro after the Spaniards introduced the concept
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