Journal
Monday,Oct 12 2009, 02:30:50 AMBaybayin – the lost tagalog script of pre-Span..
As the days go by I learn more about the nation its history and the people in these beautiful Islands of the Philippines. Until today I thought the West brought literacy to Philippines but that is not so in fact the native Filipino’s all could write prior to the Spanish colonization in the 16th Century.
Yes they had there own characters and had passed down the literate art for many centuries before the Spanish landing. In fact the total populations second communication method was writing (carving) messages on bamboo. The writing was termed Baybayin it made up of 17 simple and elegant characters used for personal communication and poetry. Yes this nation of song and music lovers have a history of writing poetry in Baybayin and expect it was mainly romantic verse.
The Spanish however destroyed all the writing as they thought it was tied up with paganism.
In most ancient cultures, the art of reading and writing was reserved for the few who belonged to privileged classes. In ancient Egyptian, Mayan, and Indonesian civilizations, writing was in the hands of priests and scribes. The culture that the Spaniards found in the Philippines was unique in that the art of reading and writing was in the hands of everybody.
This being at a time when most people in Europe could not write their own name. Today’s Filipino’s all speak and write in more than one language normally Tagalog (National tongue), One of the hundreds of local tongues, Most speak or have an understanding of English. The simple fact this happy nation of people still love to communicate since the days of writing on Bamboo they have become the leading nation concerning cell phone texting. Sadly for a long time the ancient Baybayin text was only known by a few Filipino Scholars and those that took an interest in Filipino history.