Ma. Mercedes G. Planta
University of the Philippines, Diliman
This paper will present examples of flowers in the Philippines, both familiar and exotic, beginning with their natural history and form as natural living things – names of floral parts, blooming time and the lifespan of individual blossoms, color, scent, and other plant mechanisms – and their function in pre-colonial Philippine society. Drawn with insights from history and folklore, this paper is an ethnography study of sixteenth century Philippine life based on dictionaries. The early seventeenth century Spanish dictionaries of Philippine languages are considered the richest source of information for Philippine ethnography. These dictionaries are the earliest attempts by the Spaniards, particularly the Spanish missionaries, to “know” the Philippines. While these dictionaries were compiled in the seventeenth century, the data that have been obtained reflect Filipino ways of life prior to the coming of the Spaniards. It can be safely assumed, therefore, that these dictionaries can serve as a mirror of pre-colonial Philippine life in the contemporary period.
(Presented in the 2014 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum: Flower Culture in Asia, 8-9 July 2014, Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Institute of Asian Studies, and Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)