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    DOH Pre Spanish Era

    Uploaded by

    Kyle Mendoza
    Ancient Filipinos had a holistic view of health that emphasized harmony between individuals, the natural environment, and the spiritual world. They believed illness was caused by imbalance in these relationships. Traditional healers called babaylans used incantations, rituals, and herbal medicines derived from over 50 indigenous plant species to restore balance and cure ailments. Early Filipino societies exhibited advanced civilizations with organized governments and sophisticated agricultural, metallurgical, and writing systems, despite being dismissed as primitive by Spanish colonizers.

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    DOH Pre Spanish Era

    Uploaded by

    Kyle Mendoza
    87 views6 pages
    Ancient Filipinos had a holistic view of health that emphasized harmony between individuals, the natural environment, and the spiritual world. They believed illness was caused by imbalance in these relationships. Traditional healers called babaylans used incantations, rituals, and herbal medicines derived from over 50 indigenous plant species to restore balance and cure ailments. Early Filipino societies exhibited advanced civilizations with organized governments and sophisticated agricultural, metallurgical, and writing systems, despite being dismissed as primitive by Spanish colonizers.

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    Ancient Filipinos had a holistic view of health that emphasized harmony between individuals, the natural environment, and the spiritual world. They believed illness was caused by imbalance in these relationships. Traditional healers called babaylans used incantations, rituals, and herbal medicines derived from over 50 indigenous plant species to restore balance and cure ailments. Early Filipino societies exhibited advanced civilizations with organized governments and sophisticated agricultural, metallurgical, and writing systems, despite being dismissed as primitive by Spanish colonizers.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    87 views6 pages

    DOH Pre Spanish Era

    Uploaded by

    Kyle Mendoza
    Ancient Filipinos had a holistic view of health that emphasized harmony between individuals, the natural environment, and the spiritual world. They believed illness was caused by imbalance in these relationships. Traditional healers called babaylans used incantations, rituals, and herbal medicines derived from over 50 indigenous plant species to restore balance and cure ailments. Early Filipino societies exhibited advanced civilizations with organized governments and sophisticated agricultural, metallurgical, and writing systems, despite being dismissed as primitive by Spanish colonizers.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 6

    The

    x
    A Legacyof
    Department
    of Health
    Story
    e
    Public Health
    second edition

    The Pre-Spanish Eran


    Introduction

    (Before 1565)

    Ancient Filipinos regarded health


    as a harmonious relationship with
    the environment, both natural
    and supernatural.

    20
    Introduction
    The Pre-Spanish Era ( Until 1565 )
    0

    21
    Image by Noel Escultura from Filipino Heritage
    n
    The
    x
    A Legacyof
    Department
    of Health
    Story
    e
    Public Health
    second edition

    Like most indigenous peoples, our ancestors put faith in nature not
    only for physical but also for spiritual sustenance. Belief in the power of
    both the animate and inanimate world was central to their way of life.
    It was also a way to life. Ailments were believed to be caused by disharmony with the spir-
    itual world, and restoring health meant appeasing the gods through incanta-
    tions, dances and ritual offerings that ranged from food, to clothing, to blood
    sacrifice. At the center of these rituals was the babaylan, mediator between
    the physical and spiritual worlds. Usually female, the babaylan was considered
    as their healer, priestess and leader. Such was her sway that to this day,
    echoes of this shaman figure remain in folk traditions that have survived
    centuries of foreign rule.
    But when the first Spanish explorers reached our shores, what
    they discovered was far more than such mysticism and superstition.
    Chroniclers noted the communities who lived together by a set
    of laws, ruled by chieftains called rajas or datus, in organized tribes called
    barangays. Our people’s achievements in metalwork, agriculture, and writ-
    ing are some of the evidence of a highly civilized society existent in pre-colonial
    Philippines.
    Euphorbiaceae
    was one of the 50
    fundamental herbs
    used in traditional
    medicine.

    Early Filipinos were good physicians who used medicinal herbs.

    22
    n
    Introduction
    The Pre-Spanish Era ( Until 1565 )
    0

    Malaria has been present in


    the Philippines for centuries.

    The leaves of the


    Anonas were used as
    a topical and applied
    to the stomach of
    children suffering
    from indigestion.

    23
    The
    x
    A Legacyof
    Department
    of Health
    Story
    e
    Public Health
    second edition

    d
    As a standard cure, the rural faith-healer prescribed well-masticated betel-nuts leaves and areca nut
    leaves which were spat onto the afflicted portion of the body.

    Sambong is an herbal medicine


    that grows in open grasslands.
    It is used to treat kidney stones,
    rheumatism, coughs, colds,
    hypertension, and diarrhea.

    24
    Introduction
    The Pre-Spanish Era ( Until 1565 )
    0

    One of the most prized


    medicinal plants is
    the igasud from the
    mountain regions of
    the Visayas. Its seed
    As well, Filipinos boasted an extensive
    when chewed is an knowledge of medicinal botany, making
    the Spanish historian Miguel de Loarca
    antidote for poison. It report that the natives were “good
    was renamed Pepita of physicians and had a remedy for
    every poison.” To name a few: the
    San Ignacio by Spanish leaves of the tangan-tangan when
    applied on the forehead relieved
    missionaries. headaches; the seeds of the
    balconag when rubbed on the scalp
    killed lice; the root of the pandakaki
    when boiled was a pain-reliever; the
    leaves of the balabgon when pounded
    and put on wounds was a salve, and
    many more. Antidotes using
    barks of trees were also popular
    such as the boiled bark of palanigan,
    which served as an antipyretic
    when ingested, the bark of the

    d
    bagosabak, an antidote for snake
    bite poisoning, and the pepita
    plant seed which was chewed for
    relief of food poisoning and stomach
    upset.
    In both their spiritual and herbal
    remedies, early Filipinos revealed a deep
    connection to the natural world, harnessing
    Pandakaki Puti
    it as a resource to fuel both body and spirit. is mixed with
    Whilst the Spaniards were intrigued by water, creating an
    these primitive means of healthcare, they herbal decoction
    believed that the natives, as they called to treat eczema.
    Filipinos, must be taught the western ways
    of health.

    25

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