Pook, Agoncillo, Batangas: Historical Data

Historical data from the National Library of the Philippines.

Full transcription of the so-called “Historical Data” for the barrio of Pook in the town of Agoncillo, Batangas, the original scanned documents at the National Library of the Philippines Digital Collections not having OCR or optical character recognition properties. This transcription has been edited for grammar, spelling and punctuation where possible. The original pagination is provided for citation purposes.

[Cover page.]

COMPILATION
of
HISTORICAL DATA
for the
Barrio of Pook
Municipality of Agoncillo
Province of Batangas

[p. 1]

A very long time ago, there was nobody living in this vicinity but a single family. They were always together all the time on the belief what we could hardly remember why.

One day, two persons passed by looking for their lost animal. Because of tiredness, the family requested them to rest with the members. They were asked why they were always together. The [answer] was that it would be better to be together whatever happened to them. As long as they were changing their opinions concerning their customs and traditions, the strangers asked the name of the place. They were showered by the name of “POOK” which according to them was named by them.

It could hardly be remembered by the people of long ago when this place was named Pook due to the lack of records of the events of the past and civilization was far behind.

The names of those people mentioned who constituted the said family were:

Since then, here is the succession of the barrio lieutenants up to the present:

Due to the industry of the people living in this place, this became prosperous and the people lived happily.

When the Spaniards came and ruled the Philippines, the happiness existing among the people disappeared and their houses were burned. Majority were killed and tortured and among them was Nicolas Alcazar. The main cause of the maltreatment to the people was that they could hardly understand each other due to the different languages that they were using.

After many years, the Americans came for the purpose of liberating the Filipino people and to spread democracy in the Philippines, unlike the Spaniards who came here to conquer the Filipinos. The people recovered their losses and they lived happily up to the coming of the Japanese about ten years ago.

The people prospered and lived happily during the liberation and up to the present time.

[p. 2]

Traditions, Customs, and Practices in Domestic and Social Life:

Birth

Right after the birth of a female child, she will be put inside a case in order to be trained on cleanliness. After cutting the umbilical cord, it will be placed pointed to the face which by nature will create dimples on both sides.

Baptism

If a child is baptized together with all males, it is a belief that she will be courted by many. Aside, she or he would be brought first outside so as to be a man or woman of fortune.

Courtship

If a boy is courting a girl, he should not make an attempt to give any footwear in order not to be stepped on, but instead he should have made to give an umbrella.

Marriage

When the couple reaches the house of the girl, the parents will prepare such unusual food to be offered to the couple. While they are still on the first step of the ladder, there would be throwing of rice grains and breaking of pots so as to have plenty of children.

Death

Whenever there is a dead person in the family, they should not file plates which are used in eating so as to avoid succession of death.

Burial

Whenever the funeral starts, we must begin throwing water and vinegar followed by the sweeping of the floor. When the dead body is to be placed in the grave, we must pick a little amount of dust and throw it to the dead body which means to say that all misfortunes of the family be brought to the dead body.

Popular Songs

Games and amusements

Subli – Native Dance
Riddles

[p. 3]

Salawikain (Proverbs and Sayings)

Methods of Measuring Time: