The Aeta, or Agta are an indigenous people who live in scattered, isolated mountainous parts of

the Philippines. Pronounced as eye-ta, this ethnic group is one of the most widespread in the
country. They are a dark to very dark brown skinned people who tend to be short in stature, small
of frame, curly haired, small nosed and have dark brown eyes. Genetic research shows that the
Aeta are as far removed from peoples of African ancestry as Europeans are.<ref>

</ref> They are thought to

be the first inhabitants of the Philippines, preceding the Austronesian
migrations.<ref>http://litera1no4.tripod.com/pinatuboaeta_frame.html</ref>
The Aetas became commonly known through Spanish colonial rule as Negritos. Various Aeta
groups in northern Luzon are known as "Pugut" or "Pugot," a name designated by their Ilocanospeaking neighbors, and which is the colloquial term for those with darker complexions. In
Ilocano, the word also means "goblin" or "forest spirit."

Contents

1 History

2 Culture

o 2.1 Language
o 2.2 Religion
o 2.3 Clothing
o 2.4 Practices
o 2.5 Medicine
o 2.6 Art
o 2.7 Music

3 References

4 External links

5 Original Source

History
See also: History of the Philippines (pre-1521)
The history of the Aeta continues to confound anthropologists and archaeologists. One theory
suggests that the Aeta are the descendants of the original inhabitants of the Philippines who
contrary to their sea-faring Austronesian neighbors arrived through land bridges that linked the
country with the Asian mainland about 30,000 years ago. Unlike many of their Austronesian
counterparts, the Aetas have shown resistance to change. The attempts of the Spaniards to settle
them in reducciones or reservations all throughout Spanish rule failed.
Mining, deforestation, illegal logging, and slash-and-burn farming has caused the indigenous
population in all parts of the Philippines to steadily decrease to the point where they number in
the thousands today, but unlike the federal laws granting Native Americans land and protection,
the Philippines affords them no protection. In addition, the Aeta have become extremely nomadic
due to social and economic strain on their culture and way of life that had previously remained
unchanged for thousands of years. The Aeta have no sense of money or land ownership and
sometimes can be seen camping out in city parks or panhandling although this is done out of
boredom rather than out of a need for food or money.
While resisting change from the other society for hundreds of years, the Aetas have adjusted to
social, economic, cultural, and political pressures with remarkable resilience; they have created
systems and structures within their culture to cushion the sudden impact of change.

Culture
Language
All Aeta communities have adopted the language of their Austronesian neighbors, which have
sometimes diverged over time to become different languages. These include, in order of number
of speakers, Mag-indi, Mag-antsi, Abellen, Ambala, and Mariveleo.

Religion
There are different views on the dominant character of the Aeta religion. Those who believe they
are monotheistic argue that various Aeta tribes believe in a supreme being who rule over lesser
spirits or deities. The Mamanua believe in the supreme Magbabaya while the Pinatubo Aeta
worship "Apo Namalyari."
The Aetas are also animists. For example, the Pinatubo Aeta believe in environmental spirits
such as anito and kamana. They believe that good and evil spirits inhabit the environment, such
as the spirits of the river, sea, sky, mountain, hill, valley, and other places. The Ati of Negros
island call their environmental spirits taglugar or tagapuyo, which literally means "inhabiting a
place." They also believe in spirits of disease and comfort.
No special occasion is needed for the Aeta to pray, although there is a clear link between prayer
and economic activities. The Aeta dance before and after a pig hunt. The night before Aeta
women gather shellfish, they perform a dance which is partly an apology to the fish and partly a
charm to ensure the catch. Similarly, the men hold a bee dance before and after the expeditions
for honey.

Clothing
Their traditional clothing is very simple. The young women wear wraparound skirts. Elder
women wear bark cloth, while elder men loincloths. The old women of the Agta wear a bark
cloth strip which passes between the legs, and is attached to a string around the waist. Today
most Aeta who have been in contact with lowlanders have adopted the T-shirts, pants and rubber
sandals commonly used by the latter.

Practices
The Aetas are skillful in weaving and plaiting. For example, the Mamanuas produce excellent
winnowing baskets, rattan hammocks, and other household containers.
Women exclusively weave winnows and mats. Only men make armlets. They also produce
raincoats made of palm leaves whose bases surround the neck of the wearer, and whose topmost
part spreads like a fan all around the body.

Medicine

Aeta women are known around the country as purveyors of herbal medicines.

Art
A traditional form of visual art is body scarification. The Aetas intentionally wound the skin on
their back, arms, breast, legs, hands, calves and abdomen, and then they irritate the wounds with
fire, lime and other means to form scars.
Other "decorative disfigurements" include the chipping of the teeth. With the use of a file, the
Dumagat another sub-tribe who belong to the Aeta family - mutilate their teeth during late
puberty. The teeth are dyed black a few years afterwards.
The Aetas generally use ornaments typical of people living in subsistence economies. Flowers
and leaves are used as earplugs for certain occasions. Girdles, necklaces, and neckbands of
braided rattan incorporated with wild pig bristles are frequently worn.

Music
Main articles: Agung and Music of the Philippines
The Aeta have a musical heritage consisting of various types of agung ensembles - ensembles
composed of large hanging, suspended or held, bossed/knobbed gongs which act as drone
without any accompanying melodic instrument.<ref name=Philip>Mercurio, Philip Dominguez
(2006). Traditional Music of the Southern Philippines (html). PnoyAndTheCity: A center for
Kulintang - A home for Pasikings. Retrieved on 21 November, 2006.</ref>

Malays (ethnic group)

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Malays (Malay: Melayu) are an ethnic group of Austronesian peoples predominantly inhabiting
the Malay Peninsula and parts of Sumatra and Borneo. The Malay ethnic group is distinct from
the concept of a Malay race, which encompasses a wider group of people, including most of
Indonesia and the Philippines. The Malay language is a member of the Austronesian family of
languages.
Contents

1 History

2 Etymology
o

2.1 Alternate uses of the term

3 Ethnic group vs. cultural sphere

4 Culture
o

4.1 Languages

4.2 Religion

4.3 Weapons

4.4 Arts and music

4.5 Sports & Recreation

4.6 Architecture

4.7 Malay Customs

4.8 Malay Names

5 See also

6 External links

7 References

8 Original Source

History

The Malay people are believed to have originated in Borneo and then expanded outwards into
Sumatra and later into the Malay Peninsula. These people were descendants of Austronesianspeakers who migrated from the Philippines and originally from Taiwan. The main foundation of
this school of thought lies in the fact that the oldest Malay settlements have been discovered in
Sumatra and not in the Malay Peninsula. This suggests an upward - south to north - migratory
route.
Etymology

According to the History of Jambi, the word Melayu originated from a river with name Melayu
River near to Batang Hari River of today's Muara Jambi, Jambi province of Sumatra, Indonesia.
The founder of Malacca, Parameswara was a prince of Palembang which was once owned by a
nation called "Malayu" back in the 7th century. Yi Jing (635-713) clearly recorded in his journal
book a nation of name 'Ma-La-Yu' existed. According to archaeological research of Jambi, large
numbers of ancient artifacts and ancient architectures of Melayu have been found with photo
evidence.

The word "Malay" was adopted into English via the Dutch word "Malayo", itself from
Portuguese "Malaio", which originates from the Malay word "Melayu". According to one
popular theory, the word Melayu means "migrating" or "fleeing", which might refer to the high
mobility of these people across the region.
Another theory holds that the name refers to the Sanskrit word Malai Yur which means "Land of
Mountains" (malai means mountain and yur means land), a reference to the hilly nature of the
Malay Archipelago.
Alternate uses of the term

The name Malay is sometimes used to describe the concept of a Malay race, which includes all
the ethnic groups inhabiting the Malay Archipelago and which are not of older aboriginal stock.
The term Melayu (Malay person in Malay Language), in the Federal Constitution of Malaysia,
refers to a person who practices Islam and Malay Cultures, speaks Malay Language, and whose
ancestors are Malays.
Ethnic group vs. cultural sphere

The term Malay can refer to the ethnic group who live in the Malay peninsula (which include the
southernmost part of Thailand call Patani and Satun) and east Sumatra as well as the cultural
sphere that encompass a large part of the archipelago. The Malay ethnic group is the majority in
Malaysia and Brunei and a sizable minority in Singapore and Indonesia. This people speak
various dialects of Malay language. The peninsular dialect is the standard speech among Malays
in Malaysia and Singapore. Meanwhile, the Riau dialect of eastern Sumatra has been adopted as
a national tongue, Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia), for the whole Indonesian population. The
ethnic Malay are predominantly Muslim. In Malaysia, the majority of the population is made up
of ethnic Malays while the minorities consist of southern Chinese (e.g. Hokkien and Cantonese),
southern Indians (mainly Tamils and Malayalis), non-ethnic Malay indigenous people (e.g. Iban
and Kadazan), as well as Eurasians.
Malay cultural influences filtered out throughout the archipelago, such as the monarchical state,
religion (Hinduism/Buddhism in the first millennium AD, Islam in the second millennium), and
the Malay language. The influential Srivijaya kingdom had unified the various ethnic groups in
southeast Asia into a convergent cultural sphere for almost a millennium. It was during that time
that vast borrowing of Sanskrit words and concepts facilitated the advanced linguistic
development of Malay as a language. Malay was the regional lingua franca, and Malay-based
creole languages existed in most trading ports in Indonesia.
Culture
Languages

The languages spoken by Malays are classified as members of the Malayo-Polynesian family of
languages, which is a one of the many branches belonging to the Austronesian language family.

This large family of languages includes all the native languages spoken by Malays across the
Malay Archipelago. The primary languages spoken by Malays are Bahasa Melayu and
Indonesian.
Religion

In terms of religion, most Malays had converted from Hinduism, Buddhism and animism to
Islam in the early 15th century; influenced by Arab, Chinese and Indian Muslim seafarers during
the Islamic Golden Age. Today, Muslims form the dominant religious group among Malays of
Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. Their conversion to Islam from Hinduism and
Theravada Buddhism began in the 1400s, largely influenced by the decision of the royal court of
Malacca. Most Malays in Thailand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Australia and Surinam being
descendants of those who had already been Islamised in Malaysia, Indonesia, etc are also
Muslims.
Weapons

Keris
The most iconic weapon to the Malays is Keris. It is known as "Malay Dagger" in the Western
world. It has double-sided blade. The blade has various size and length, commonly from 5 inch
to 30 inch long. During the reign of Malacca Sultanate, Keris became the symbol of power. The
Sultans had his official Keris that symbolize the power to rule over the land and sea. All cabinet
members of the Sultanate had their own Keris.
The military commander had their own Keris as well. The Laksamana (equivalent to the
Admiral in modern navy), Panglima (equivalent to the Chief-of-Staff in modern army), and
Temenggung (equivalent to the Inspector General in modern police force)used their official
Keris as the authority to command their respective troops.
Common people bring along Keris with them when they travelled across the country as a selfdefense weapon. Normally, people practicing Silat (Malay form of martial arts) like to use Keris
during duel with his or her opponent. Those being stabbed using this weapon felt excruciating
pains and eventually died due to the poisonous blade.
In modern days, the Keris still symbolize the integrity and fighting spirit of the Malays.
Another important weapon of Malay origin is sword. People of the Malay world throughout
history used their swords for two main purposes: as a weapon and as a utility tool. Various
Indonesian, Malaysian swords have different shapes. Swords of Malay world can be grouped into
four categories. These are: Parang, Pedang, Klewang and Golok.
Parang

Parang is a characteristic of all single edged weapons used for chopping. It is a generic term used
in different languages around the archipelago. It can be called a Malay machete because people
use it for the same reasons: moving through the jungle and hunting. Parang weapon can be
classified into: Dayak Parang, heavily convex blades and other Parang. The former is a type of
sword which is transmitted from one Dayak generation to another with a belief that it has
supernatural powers.
Pedang
Pedang represents another type of sword used by Malay world. The term "pedang" itself simply
means "sword", and it describes a blade weapon used for cutting and thrusting. Some examples
of a Pedang are: Pedang Suduk and Pedang Sabet. The former is used in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Its main purpose is thrusting. Its possessors were warriors of the central Java courts. The latter is
a weapon used for slashing in the same region of Indonesia and Malaysia as Pedang Suduk. The
blade of the sword is wide. Pedang Sabet has a cutting edge and its back is blunt.
Klewang
Klewang is a type of sword used in Malay world. The weapon has a straight cutting edge as well
as a straight back. The former widens towards the point and the latter bring the blade to the tip at
a slant. An example of a Klewang sword is Kampilan. It is used in Moro, Mindanao.
Kampilan is an example of a long Klewang sword originally from Moro. Its length is usually
from 85 to 100 cm. Although this type of sword is very famous on the Philippine archipelago, the
name Kampilan describes different types of swords that can be found in other Malay regions.
The hilt of the Kampilan is called "sundi". Most hilts are wooden and they all same similar
shapes. The blade is called tungo.
Golok
Golok is a weapon that serves as a cleaver. The blade of this type of swords is short and heavy.
Golok has a cutting edge. The back of such type of sword could be whether straight or concave.
The main characteristic about a Golok is that it has a heavy blade in the central part of the sword
and then the blade curves to the sword's sharp point at the tip. Some examples of Golok are
Golok Lurus and Golok Lenkung.
Arts and music

Template:Sect-num-stub
Pottery and body modification art was the predominant forms of art during prehistoric times until
the arrival of Hinduism and Islam later.

Indonesia and Malaysia on the other hand is highly influenced by Islam and to some extent
Hindu. In Malaysia, the Joget dance is believed to have Portuguese influence due to its similarity
with the Barinyo (<- is that how you spell it?) dance.
Chinese traders also had a lasting impact in the region.
As seen in Malaysia, Sumatra and West Kalimantan, Malay music mainly consists of a gamelan,
flute, violin/rebab and gong player. Some of the most popular Malay dances are Mak Yong,
Zapin, Joget and Inang. The Malay court dancers are mainly women (especially the Mak Yong
and Inang dances) and the musicians being typically being men.
Sports & Recreation

Some of the most popular Malay sports & recreation of all times are gasing, flying the wau
bulan, as well as playing dam and sepak takraw.
Architecture

Template:Sect-num-stub Malay architecture varies by region but a few characteristics are

common across the peninsula, eastern Sumatra and Borneo. A common feature usually includes
stilts, the use of wood and other indigenous materials, ornate wood carvings and in some cases,
highly angular and sloping roofs.
Malay Customs

Template:Sect-num-stub
The Gateway to Malay Culture (written by Asiapac Editorial and illustrated by Zaki Ragman)
book states a lot of information about Malay customs. The most sections of the book regarding
this matter are from Customs and Traditions as well as the Do's and Don't's in Malay Culture.

Malay Names
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Since that the Malays are predominantly Muslims, they do not have family names and their
surname is taken from their father. Prior to the advent of Hinduism and Buddhism in Malaysia

and parts of Indonesia, the Malays used their traditional names. With the arrival of Hinduism and
Buddhism in Sumatra, Malay peninsula and Borneo, an influx of Malays took up Indian names.
For example, the name of the first Sultan of Malacca prior to his conversion to Islam was
Parameswara, which is an Indian name. Since 15th century, where the great majority of Malays
have embraced Islam, many Malays have then started using Arab names, as seen with the
Malaysian and Bruneian ministers and royal family members. For a Malay male, the name would
have an additional "bin" (son of) in between their name and father's name, whereas "binti"
(daugther of) is similarly applied to females. Adhering to the Islamic ruling for giving names, for
example, if a person's name is "Demang" (meaning 'chief') and that their surname is "Rajawali"
(meaning "saint king"), then the full name would be "Demang bin Rajawali." However, during
the death of a person, their mother's name would be used to address them. For example, if the
mother's name is "Melor", then, by right, Demang's full name should be "Demang bin Melor"
instead. Traditional Malay names are based on flowers for females and names based on
warriors/heros and nobility for males.