Bicol and Its History

Bicol and Its History

Bicol Region has had various names since the time of Spanish who called its northern part Tierra de Camarines and its southern part Tierra de Ibalon. Some historians claim that it was originally referred to Ibalon but the Spaniards later divided it into Partido de Ibalon and Partido de Camarines.

Though described by the Spanish missionaries as the friendliest race in the Philippines, gentle, temperate and religious, the Bicolanos fiercely resisted the first attempts to subdue them in 1573. Fr. Martin de Rada reported how they refused to surrender unless forced into it by superior arms. Their chiefs bravely opposed the Spanish forces led by Salcedo’s officer, Captain Pedro Chavez, who established the Spanish city of Caceres next to the indigenous village of Naga.

Dialect

The people of the Bicol region, called Bicolanos, speak any of the several languages of the Bikol socio linguistic language, also called Bikolano, an Austronesian language closely related to other Central Philippine languages such as Cebuano and Tagalog. Bicol languages include the Inland Bikol of Bikol-Rinconada (Rinconada area), Bikol-Cam. Sur (Buhi, Cam. Sur; Libon, Oas, Daraga, Albay and Donsol, Sorsogon), Bikol-Pandan (Northern Catanduanes). Standard Bikol is based from the coastal Bikol language of the dialect of Naga City and is understood widely throughout the region even though they cannot speak it fluently. Bikol is the dominant language of the region. The Filipino language (Tagalog) is also spoken in northern parts of Camarines Norte as well as in the municipality of Del Gallego, Camarines Sur. Two Visayan languages, Sorsoganon and Masbateño or Minasbate, are spoken in Masbate and Sorsogon; they are collectively referred to as Bisakol.

People

The Bicol region was known as Ibalon, variously interpreted to derive form ibalio, "to bring to the other side"; ibalon, "people from the other side" or "people who are hospitable and give visitors gifts to bring home"; or as a  corruption of Gibal-ong, a sitio of Magallanes, Sorsogon where the Spaniards first landed in 1567.  The Bico River was first mentioned in Spanish Documents in 1572. The region was also called "Los Camarines" after the huts found by the Spaniards in Camalig,  Albay.  No prehistoric animal fossils have been discovered in Bicol and the peopling of the region remains obscure.  The Aeta from Camarines Sur to Sorsogon strongly suggest that aborigines lived there long ago, but earliest evidence is of middle to late Neolithic life.  

Culture

Material Culture

       To suit the tropical climate, the Bicolanos use light material for their houses; others now have bungalows to withstand the impact of strong typhoons. Light, western styled clothes are predominantly used now.

       The typical Bicolano wears light, western styled clothes similar to the Filipinos in urban centers. Seldom, if ever, are there Bicolanos weaving sinamy or piña for clothing as in the past; sinamy is reserved now for pillow cases, mosquito nets, fishing nets, bags and other decorative items.

       Coconut and abaca are two dollar-earning products that are grown in the coastal valleys hillsides or slopes of several fertile volcanoes respectively. The Bicol River basin or rice granary provide the peasants rice, corn, and root crops for food and small cash surplus when crops evade the dreaded frequent typhoons. For land preparation, carabao-drawn plow and harrow are generally used; sickles are used for cutting rice stalks, threshing is done either by stepping on or beating the rice straws with basbas and cleaning is done with the use of the nigo (winnowing basket).

       Meals are generally rich in carbohydrates and viands of vegetables, fish and meat are cooked in various ways. Bicolanos almost always cook their vegetables in coconut milk; for meat recipes such as pochero, adobo and tapa. A special meat dish is the dinuguan. Fish that serve as common viand are mackerel and anchovy; in Lake Buhi, the sinarapan or tabios (known as the smallest fish in the world) is common. Except for those living in Rinconada, Bicolanos are not extraordinarily fond of eating hot or peppery.

       Copra processing and abaca stripping are generally done by hand. Fishing is also an important industry and fish supply is normally plentiful during the months of May through September. Organized or big-time fishing makes use of costly nets and motor-powered and electric-lighted boats or launches called palakaya or basnigan. Individual fishermen, on the other hand, commonly use two types of nets – the basnig and the pangki as well as the chinchoro, buliche and sarap.

       In Buhi Lake, the sarap and sumbiling are used; the small fishes caught through the former is called sinarapan. The bunuan (corral) of the inangcla, sakag, sibi-sibid and sakag types are common. The banwit, two kinds of which are the og-og and kitang, are also used.

       Mining and the manufacture of various items from abaca are important industries. The former started when the Spaniards discovered the Paracale mines in Camarines Norte.

Non-Material Culture

       Close family ties and religiosity are important traits for survival in the typhoon-prone physical environment. Some persisting traditional practices are the pamalay, pantomina and tigsikan. Beliefs on god, the soul and life after death are strongly held by the people. Related to these, there are annual rituals like the pabasa, tanggal, fiestas and flores de mayo. Side by side with these are held beliefs on spiritual beings as the tawo sa lipod, dwende, onglo, tambaluslos, kalag, katambay, aswang and mangkukulam.

       On the whole, the value system of the Bicolanos shows the influence of Spanish religious doctrines and American materialism merged with the traditional animistic beliefs. It is thus, a multi-cultural system which evolved through the years to accommodate the realities of the erratic regional climatic conditions in a varihued geographical setting. Such traits can be gleaned from numerous folktales and folksongs that abound, the most known of which is the Sarong Bangui. The heroic stories reflect such traits as kindness, a determination to conquer evil forces, resourcefulness and courage. The folksong come in the form of awit, sinamlampati, panayokyok, panambitan, hatol, pag-omaw, rawit-dawit and children’s song and chants.