Conquest and colonization of the archipelago was not an easy task for the ruling Spaniards as they have made not a few enemies who were intent of sabotaging their efforts. Not only are the enemies limited within the country but outside powers like other European colonizers were lusting to expand as well.

The idea of burying one’s dead and the attendant rites and rituals are not new to pre-hispanic Filipinos as there were already burial practices in place before the coming of the Spaniards. The remains were usually located in caves or cliffs. When Catholicism was introduced, it was not hard for the natives to accept the introduced system which was now done in one place, the cemetery.

Simbahan. What originated as a word connoting a place of adoration, a temporary structure or refurbishment made in honor of anitos, (lesser deities), during feasts in pre-Hispanic Philippines has, with the conversion of its inhabitants to Christianity during the Spanish colonization period, come to mean a permanent place of worship, a church.