essay about the culture of the philippines

Culture In The Philippines Essay

The culture of the Philippines reflects the country’s complex history. It is a blend of the Malayo-Polynesian and Hispanic cultures, with influences from Indian and Chinese. The Philippines was first settled by Melanesians; today, although few in numbers, they preserve a very traditional way of life and culture. After them, the Austronesians or more specifically, Malayo-Polynesians, arrived on the islands. Today the Austronesian culture is very evident in the ethnicity, language, food, dance and almost every aspect of the culture.

These Austronesians engaged in trading with China, India, Japan, the Ryukyu islands, the Middle East, Borneo, and other places. As a result, those cultures have also left a mark on Filipino culture. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] The Spanish colonized the islands and after more than three centuries of colonization have heavily impacted the culture. The Philippines being governed from both Mexico and Spain, had received a fair bit of Hispanic influence.

Mexican and Spanish influence can be seen in dance and religion as well as many other aspects of the culture.

After being colonized by Spain, the Philippines became a U. S. territory for about 40 years. Influence from the United States is seen in the wide use of the English language, and the modern pop culture. Philippine has a rich heritage of history, tribal culture and religion that gets reflection in its festivals and traditions. The Philippine Festivals are the true representatives of that richness.

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Almost every city and region have its own local festivals and they like to celebrate it with all grandeur.

Philippine Culture Essay

However, the most important of them is the Christmas, but festivities such as Feast of the Black Nzarene, Biniray, Ati-Atihan are a just a few to name. A celebration like Caracol Sa Makati represents love and respect for Mother Nature and its conservation. Sinulog is a grand fiesta of Cebu city whereas; the week long Vigon Town Fiesta is celebrated in the memory of Saint Paul, the Apostle. Almost every month of the year and its every week are marked with a festival full of zeal. Tourist visiting Philippine, any time of the year can enjoy and participate in those festivals.

Philippine is also popular for its special Filipino traditions and customs that cover almost every aspect of human life. From greeting each other or to take blessing of our elders they have their own special ways. Mano po, Po, Kamayan (eating with hands), Balikbayan Boxes (coming back home from abroad with gift items) are some of customary practices to name here. The balikbayan tradition is very special for Pilipino people because it represents the bonding, love and affection for the family. Filipino New Year New Year’s Eve is also an occasion celebrated with high spirits.

Like Christmas, the tables are filled with different dishes. Families make it a point to place twelve kinds of round fruits on their table. This practice supposedly ushers in good fortune and happiness for the whole year. Many believe that misfortune, misery and bad luck knocks at the door of the families who fail to follow this tradition. All over the world, the arrival of the New Year is welcomed by loud horns, colourful fireworks displays and noisy firecrackers. Nowadays, the creation of silent, colourful, and big pyrotechnics have pushed loud firecrackers to the backseat.

Yet, some Filipinos still appreciate the noisy explosives and light them up on twelve midnight every January 1st. Another New Year tradition is placing coins inside the pockets of the shirt or the pants. Filipinos do this to attract money for the whole year. Round objects symbolize prosperity and fortune. Polka dots are a favourite pattern during welcoming the new year. Almost all family members have coins in their pockets or polka dots to have a great year. Filipino Christmas The Philippines is a country known for its rich culture, history and heritage.

Through the years, Filipinos have created and passed down important values and traditions to the next generation. These traditions are celebrations, part of the celebration or simple family practices. Filipinos and their families respect traditions, a reason why traditions are still being practiced today. Filipinos are fond of the holidays especially christmas and new year’s day. During these days, spirits are up and excitement can be felt. A few days before christmas, catholics observe the simbang gabi or the nine day novena mass.

Families can be seen, with children in tow, even at 4 in the morning, hustling to churches. After the mass, the staple foods bought outside the church are puto and pandesal. These are paired with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate to start the mornings. Families get together during christmas eve. They prepare a special dinner and sit around the table, celebrating the special occasion. An indispensable item on the table during christmas is the queso de bola. Translated, it means a ball of cheese, covered with a red wax and serve it with bread.

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Philippine society is a unique blend of diversity and homogeneity . Although geographically part of Southeast Asia , the country is culturally strongly Euro-American. Forces of assimilation have constantly worked to overcome cultural differences between the various ethnic groups that are scattered—sometimes in relative isolation—throughout the archipelago. Nearly four centuries of Western rule, however, have left an indelible imprint on the Philippines, serving as a conduit for the introduction of Western culture and as the catalyst for the emergence of a sense of Philippine political and cultural unity. While the Christian churches built by the Spanish and the mosques built by the Muslims provided a spiritual anchor, the educational system established by the United States and expanded by the Filipinos has become emblematic of cultural unity and socioeconomic progress. Nonetheless, through the persistence of strong family ties, the revival of the barangay as the smallest unit of government, increased attention to Asian history and literature, and subsequent revival of dormant traditions, the Philippines has strengthened its Asian heritage without abandoning its Western cultural acquisitions.

Life in the Philippines generally revolves around the extended family , including parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins (up to several times removed), and other relatives. For Catholic families, godparents—those to whom care of children is entrusted should the parents die or otherwise be incapacitated—also figure prominently in the kinship network. Members of extended families typically gather for major life events such as baptisms and confirmations (for Catholic Filipinos), circumcisions (for Muslim Filipinos), and marriages, as well as for major religious and other national holidays. Among the religious holidays officially observed in the Philippines are Christmas and Easter, as well as Eid al-Fitr , which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan . Other major holidays include New Year’s Day, Labor Day (May 1), and Independence Day (June 12).

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Whether festival fare or everyday food, major meals in most Filipino societies are built around boiled or steamed rice or rice noodles. Small amounts of meat, including chicken, pork (in non-Muslim communities), goat, or fish complement the rice or noodle core, along with an assortment of fruits and cooked vegetables. Assorted alcoholic drinks are made from coconut sap, sugarcane, and rice. Balut , a parboiled embryonic duck still in the egg, is a popular street food in the Manila area.

Although slacks, shirts, skirts, and dresses based on European designs are common throughout the Philippines, some garments are unique to particular groups or regions. The malong , a colourful woven tube of cloth that can be worn in a variety of ways by both men and women, is characteristic of Muslim communities in Mindanao . In the urban areas, many men wear an intricately embroidered shirt, the barong , for casual and formal events. On special occasions, urban women may wear the terno , a long dress characterized by broad “butterfly” sleeves that rise slightly at the shoulders and extend about to the elbow. Many of the smaller ethnic groups have characteristic attire for events of special cultural significance.

Early Spanish chroniclers testified that the Filipinos carved the images of their anitos (gods and goddesses) and ancestors in wood. They also played a variety of musical instruments, including end-blown flutes, nose flutes, jew’s harps, gongs, drums, and lutes, among others. Various seasonal celebrations (e.g., harvest) and life rituals (e.g., courtship and marriage) called for certain instrumental music, songs, and dances. For instance, in some of the Muslim communities of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago , the kulintang ensemble, consisting of a set of gongs suspended horizontally and vertically and a single-headed drum, can still be heard at festive events.

Although the community of practitioners of rural performing arts has been diminishing, efforts have been under way to revive as well as recontextualize some of the indigenous traditions so that they resonate with an increasingly cosmopolitan Philippine society. Some of the local dance traditions have been preserved or reinterpreted by contemporary performing groups such as Bayanihan (the national folk dance company of the Philippines), established in the mid-20th century, as well as by the Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group and Ballet Philippines. A growing number of world music artists, such as Joey Ayala, have been creating innovative syntheses of indigenous Philippine traditions—such as kulintang —and popular music form.

Many Filipino musicians have risen to prominence in the Western classical music tradition, including the composer and conductor Antonio J. Molina, the composer Felipe P. de Leon (known for his nationalistic themes), and the opera singer Jovita Fuentes. The Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Folk Arts Theater, and the restored Manila Metropolitan Theatre (all in Manila) provide homes for the performing arts, featuring local and foreign opera and ballet. To encourage the development of arts, the government gives awards of recognition and maintains a National Arts Center (established 1976), which includes the Philippine High School for the Arts in Los Baños , south of Manila.

Filipino painters have included Juan Luna, whose agitated works helped inspire a sense of Filipino nationalism in the late 19th century; Fernando Amorsolo, who is known for his traditional rural scenes; the muralists Carlos V. Francisco and Vicente Manansala; and the modernists Victorio Edades and Arturo Rogerio Luz. Among sculptors, Guillermo Tolentino and Napoleon Abueva are prominent. Rural artists from mountainous regions in northern Luzon and craftsmen living northwest of Manila and in Paete on the eastern shore of Laguna de Bay are known for wood carvings. Romblon and other nearby islands are noted for their marble sculptures. Notable Filipino architects include Juan F. Nakpil, Otilio Arellano, Fernando Ocampo, Leandro Locsin, Juan Arellano, Carlos Arguelles, and Tomas Mapua.

The outspoken political novels of nationalist leader José Rizal were Philippine literary landmarks of the late 19th century, and the work of Nick Joaquin has been among the most highly acclaimed Philippine literature since the mid-20th century. The diverse cultural heritage of the country not only animates most of Joaquin’s fiction writing, but it is also central to his nonfiction work. Among the most celebrated of Joaquin’s works are his play A Portrait of an Artist as a Filipino (1966) and his biography of assassinated presidential candidate Benigno Aquino , The Aquinos of Tarlac: An Essay on History as Three Generations (1983). Spanish was the prinicipal literary medium until the end of the 19th century, before yielding to English after U.S. occupation. Since independence an increasing number of writers have been composing their works in Filipino or Tagalog .

Filipinos have a tradition rich in local and regional lore. Myths and legends deal with such subjects as the origin of the world, the first man and woman on earth, why the sky is high, why the sea is salty, and why there are different races. Other tales are associated with the Spanish conquest. On the island of Mindanao an epic known as the Darangen (“To Narrate in Song”) depicts the historical and mythological world of the Maranao community, while in northern Luzon the Ilocano epic Biag ni Lam-ang (“Life of Lam-ang”) recounts the exploits of a traditional folk hero.

The Philippines has produced a handful of internationally acclaimed films, including Himala (1982), which recounts the adventures of a young miracle worker; Oro, Plata, Mata (1982), the story of two noble families on the island of Negros during World War II; and Small Voices (2002), the tale of a teacher in an impoverished rural community who, through music, inspires her students to shed their cynicism . Despite its successes, the film industry in the Philippines has remained small, its growth hindered by escalating production costs, high taxes, uncontrolled piracy of videotapes and CDs, and the popularity of foreign films over local productions.

The National Museum in Manila, which houses a substantial ethnographic collection, is the principal government vehicle for preservation and conservation of the country’s tangible and intangible cultural property. Many of the provinces have established their own museums dedicated to local history and tradition. A few institutions of higher education—such as the University of Santo Tomas, Silliman University in eastern Negros, Mindanao State University in Lanao del Sur, and the University of the Philippines at Diliman—likewise have added museums to their campuses. The National Library serves as a repository for Philippine literary materials and supervises public libraries throughout the country.

A number of locations in the Philippines have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites . These include four 16th-century churches built by the Spanish in Manila, Santa Maria, Paoay, and Miag-ao (collectively designated in 1993), the 16th-century trading town of Vigan (1999) in northwestern Luzon, and the ancient rice terraces of the northern Luzon cordilleras (1995). Local nongovernmental organizations such as the Heritage Conservation Society and some historical groups have also sought to preserve the local heritage.

Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — National Identity — I Am Proud To Be Part Of The Filipino Culture

I Am Proud to Be Part of The Filipino Culture

• Categories: National Identity Philippines

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Words: 997 |

Published: Sep 19, 2019

Words: 997 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Table of contents

What is it like to be a part of filipino culture, final thoughts, works cited.

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• Haas, J. S., Lee, L. B., Kaplan, C. P., Sonneborn, D., Phillips, K. A., Liang, S. Y., & Pasick, R. J. (2005). The Association of Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Health Insurance Status with the Prevalence of Overweight Among Children and Adolescents. American Journal of Public Health, 95(4), 660–667.
• He, F. J., & MacGregor, G. A. (2009). A comprehensive review on salt and health and current experience of worldwide salt reduction programmes. Journal of Human Hypertension, 23(6), 363-384.
• Palaganas, R. T., Eusebio, R. A., Lu, K. V., Labrague, L. J., & Ulep, V. G. (2019). Influence of Filipino culture on health-related quality of life of Filipino immigrants in New Zealand: a mixed-methods study. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 17(1), 120.
• Santos, R., & Hu, F. B. (2004). Prevention of Hypertension and Cardiovascular Diseases: A Comparison of Lifestyle Factors in Westerners and East Asians. Journal of Hypertension, 22(5), 963-970.
• Yusuf, S., Hawken, S., Ôunpuu, S., Dans, T., Avezum, A., Lanas, F., ... & Gerstein, H. (2004). Effect of potentially modifiable risk factors associated with myocardial infarction in 52 countries (the INTERHEART study): case-control study. The Lancet, 364(9438), 937-952.

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• Countries and Their Cultures
• Culture of The Philippines

The Philippines

Culture name, orientation.

Identification. The Republic of the Philippines was named the Filipinas to honor King Philip the Second of Spain in 1543. The Philippine Islands was the name used before independence.

Location and Geography. The Republic of the Philippines, a nation of 7,107 islands with a total area of 111,830 square miles (307,055 square kilometers), is located on the Pacific Rim of Southeast Asia. Two thousand of its islands are inhabited. Luzon, the largest island with one-third of the land and half the population, is in the north. Mindanao, the second largest island, is in the south. The Philippines are 1,152 miles (1,854 kilometers) long from north to south. The width is 688 miles (1,107 kilometers). There are no land boundaries; the country is bordered on the west by the South China Sea, on the east by the Philippine Sea, on the south by the Celebes Sea, and on the north by the Luzon Strait, which separates the country from its nearest neighbor, Taiwan. The closest nations to the south are Malaysia and Indonesia. Vietnam and China are the nearest neighbors on the mainland of Asia.

The islands are volcanic in origin. Mount Mayon in southern Luzon erupted in 2000. Mount Pinatubo in central Luzon erupted in 1991 and 1992. Both eruptions caused destruction of villages and farms and displaced thousands of people from their tribal homelands. Because the country is volcanic, the small islands have a mountainous center with coastal plains. Luzon has a broad central valley in the northern provinces along the Cagayan River and plains in the midlands near Manila, the capital. Mindanao and Panay also have central plains. Northern Luzon has two major mountain ranges: the Sierra Madres on the eastern coast and the Cordilleras in the center. The highest peak is Mount Apo in Mindanao at 9,689 feet (2,954 meters).

The weather is hot because of the country's closeness to the equator. The temperatures are constant except during typhoons. The dry season is from January to June; the wet season with monsoon rains is from July to December. Temperatures are cooler in November through January, dropping below 30 degrees Celsius (85 degrees Fahrenheit). The summer months of April and May have temperatures in excess of 39 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit). Typhoons occur from June through November.

Demography. The estimated population in July 2000 was eighty-one million. The average life expectancy is sixty-seven years. Four percent of the population is over age sixty-five. The most populous area is Metropolitan Manila, where eight million to ten million people live.

Linguistic Affiliation. The official languages are Filipino, which is based on Tagalog with words from other native languages, and English. Since only 55 percent of residents speak Filipino fluently, English is used in colleges, universities, the courts, and the government. The country's seventy to eighty dialects are derived from Malay languages. Three dialects are of national importance: Cebuano in the southern islands, Ilocano in the north, and Tagalog, the language of the National Capital Region. When Tagalog was chosen as the basis for a national language, Cebuanos refused to use Filipino. "Taglish," a mixture of Filipino and English, is becoming a standard language. Filipinos are proud that their country has the third largest number of English speakers in the world. Filipino English includes many Australian and British terms. It is a formal language that includes words no longer commonly used in American English. Spanish was taught as a compulsory language until 1968 but is seldom used today. Spanish numbers and some Spanish words are included in the dialects.

The dependence on English causes concern, but since Filipino does not have words for scientific or technological terms, English is likely to remain in common use.

Symbolism. National symbols have been emphasized since independence to create a sense of nationhood. The Philippine eagle, the second largest eagle in the world, is the national bird. Doctor Jose Rizal is the national hero. Rizal streets and statues of Rizal are found in most towns and cities. Several municipalities are named for Rizal. The most prominent symbol is the flag, which has a blue horizontal band, a red horizontal band, and a white field. The flag is flown with the blue band at the top in times of peace and the red band at the top in times of war. Flag ceremonies take place once a week at all governmental offices. Schools have a flag ceremony each morning. All traffic stops while the flag is being honored. The national anthem is sung, a national pledge is recited in Filipino, and the provincial hymn is sung.

History and Ethnic Relations

Emergence of the Nation. Early inhabitants are believed to have reached the area over land bridges connecting the islands to Malaysia and China. The first people were the Negritos, who arrived twenty-five thousand years ago. Later immigrants came from Indonesia. After the land bridges disappeared, immigrants from Indo-China brought copper and bronze and built the rice terraces at Benaue in northern Luzon. The next wave came from Malaysia and is credited with developing agriculture and introducing carabao (water buffalo) as draft animals. Trade with China began in the first century C.E. Filipino ores and wood were traded for finished products.

In 1380, the "Propagation of Islam" began in the Sulu Islands and Mindanao, where Islam remains the major religion. The Muslim influence had spread as far north as Luzon when Ferdinand Magellan arrived in 1521 to claim the archipelago for Spain. Magellan was killed soon afterward when a local chief, Lapu-Lapu, refused to accept Spanish rule and Christianity. Miguel Lopez de Legazpi landed in the Philippines in 1564 and consolidated Spanish power, designating Manila as the capital in 1572. Roman Catholic religious orders began Christianizing the populace, but the Sulu Islands and Mindanao remained Muslim. The Spanish governed those areas through a treaty with the sultan of Mindanao. The Spanish did not attempt to conquer the deep mountain regions of far northern Luzon.

The occupation by Spain and the unifying factor of Catholicism were the first steps in creating a national identity. Filipinos became interested in attaining independence in the middle of the nineteenth century. In the 1890's, the novels of José Rizal, his exile to a remote island, and his execution by the Spaniards created a national martyr and a rallying point for groups seeking independence. Armed attacks and propaganda increased, with an initial success that waned as Spanish reinforcements arrived. The Spanish-American War of 1898 and the defeat of the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay led the Filipino leader Emilio Aguinaldo to declare independence from Spain. The United States paid twenty million dollars to the Spanish for the Philippines under the Treaty of Paris. Aguinaldo did not accept United States occupation and fought until the Filipino forces were defeated. In 1902, the Philippines became an American territory, with the future president William Howard Taft serving as the first territorial governor. Over the next two decades, American attitudes toward the Philippines changed and the islands were given commonwealth status in 1933. Independence was promised after twelve years, with the United States retaining rights to military bases.

The Japanese invaded the Philippines early in 1942 and ruled until 1944. Filipino forces continued to wage guerrilla warfare. The return of U.S. forces ended the Japanese occupation. After the war, plans for independence were resumed. The Republic of the Philippines became an independent nation on 4 July 1946.

The new nation had to recover economically from the destruction caused by World War II. Peasant groups wanted the huge land holdings encouraged by the Spanish and Americans broken apart. In 1955, Congress passed the first law to distribute land to farmers.

Ferdinand Marcos governed from 1965 to 1986, which was the longest period for one president. From 1972 to 1981, he ruled by martial law. Marcos was reelected in 1982, but a strong opposition movement emerged. When the leader of the opposition, Benigno Aquino, was murdered after his return from exile in the United States, his wife, Corazon Aquino, entered the presidential race in 1986. Marcos claimed victory but was accused of fraud. That accusation and the withdrawal of United States support for Marcos led to "People Power," a movement in which the residents of Manila protested the Marcos regime. The Filipino military supported Aquino, who was declared president, and the Marcos family went into exile in Hawaii.

The Aquino years saw the passage of a new constitution with term limits and the withdrawal of U.S. military forces in 1991, when the government did not grant a new lease for United States use of military bases.

Fidel Ramos, the first Protestant president, served from 1991 to 1998. Major problems included a fall in the value of the peso and the demands of Muslim groups in Mindanao for self-determination and/or independence. The government offered self-governance and additional funds, and the movement quieted.

Joseph "Erap" Estrada was elected for one six-year term in 1999. The demands of the Muslim rebels escalated, culminating with the kidnaping of twenty-nine people by the Abu Sayyaf group in April 2000. Late in the year 2000, impeachment proceedings were brought against Estrada, who was charged with financial corruption.

National Identity. Filipinos had little sense of national identity until the revolutionary period of the nineteenth century. The word "Filipino" did not refer to native people until the mid-nineteenth century. Before that period, the treatment of the islands as a single governmental unit by Spain and the conversion of the population to Catholicism were the unifying factors. As a desire for independence grew, a national flag was created, national heroes emerged, and a national anthem was written. A national language was designated in 1936. National costumes were established. The sense of a national identity is fragile, with true allegiance given to a kin group, a province, or a municipality.

Ethnic Relations. Ninety-five percent of the population is of Malay ancestry. The other identifiable group is of Chinese ancestry. Sino-Filipinos are envied for their success in business. They have maintained their own schools, which stress Chinese traditions.

Seventy to eighty language groups separate people along tribal lines. Approximately two million residents are designated as cultural minority groups protected by the government. The majority of those sixty ethnic groups live in the mountains of northern Luzon. People whose skin is darker are considered less capable, intelligent, and beautiful. Descendants of the Negritos tribe are regarded as inferior.

Urbanism, Architecture, and the Use of Space

Traditional houses in rural areas are nipa huts constructed of bamboo and roofed with leaves from palm trees or corrugated metal. Cinder blocks are the most commonly building material used. The blocks are plastered and painted on the inside and outside when funds permit. Plasterers add decorative touches to the exterior. Older houses have a "dirty" open-air kitchen for food preparation. Newer, larger houses designate a room as a dirty kitchen in contrast to the "clean" kitchen, which has an eating area where utensils are stored. Enclosed kitchens provide a roof over the cook and keep dogs and chickens from wandering into the cooking area. The roof is pitched so that rain will run off. Middle-class houses and commercial buildings have tiled roofs.

Food and Economy

Food in Daily Life. Filipinos do not consider it a meal if rice is not served. Plain steamed rice is the basis of the diet. Three crops a year are harvested to provide enough rice for the population, and the government keeps surpluses stored for times of drought. Salt water and freshwater of fish and shellfish are eaten daily, served either fresh or salted. Fish, chicken and pork are usually fried, although people are becoming more health-conscious and often choose alternative methods of cooking. Garlic is added to food because it is considered healthful. Filipino food is not spicy. All food is cooked on gas burners or wood or charcoal fires and is allowed to get cold before it is eaten. Rice is cooked first, since it takes longer. When it is ready, rice will be placed on the table while the next items of the meal are prepared and served.

Table knives are not used. Forks and spoons are used for dining. The food is eaten from a spoon. The traditional method of placing food on a banana leaf and eating with one's hands is also used throughout the country. It is acceptable to eat food with one's hands at restaurants as well as in the home.

Breakfast is served at 6 A.M. and consists of food left over from the night before. It is not reheated. Eggs and sausage are served on special occasions. Small buns called pan de sol may be purchased from vendors early in the morning.

At midmorning and in the afternoon, people eat merienda. Since Filipinos are fond of sweet foods, a mixture of instant coffee, evaporated milk, and sugar may be served. Coca-Cola is very popular. Sweet rolls, doughnuts, or a noodle dish may be available. Lunch is a light meal with rice and one other dish, often a fish or meat stew. Fish, pork, or chicken is served at dinner with a soup made of lentils or vegetables. Fatty pork is a favorite. Portions of small cubes of browned pork fat are considered a special dish.

Fruits are abundant all year. Several kinds of banana are eaten, including red and green varieties. Mangoes, the national fruit, are sweet and juicy. A fruit salad with condensed milk and coconut milk is very popular on special occasions.

Vegetables are included as part of a soup or stew. Green beans and potatoes are commonly eaten foods. The leaves of camote, a sweet potato, are used as a salad and soup ingredient. Ube, a bland bright purple potato, is used as a colorful ingredient in cakes and ice cream. Halo-halo, which means "mixture," is a popular dessert that consists of layers of corn kernels, ice cream, small gelatin pieces, cornflakes and shaved ice. Patis, a very salty fish sauce, is placed on the table to be added to any of the dishes.

Fast food has become part of the culture, with national and international chains in many towns. All meals at fast-food restaurant include rice, although French fries also tend to be on the menu. Banana ketchup is preferred, although the international chains serve tomato ketchup. A national chain, Jollibee, has entered the U.S. market with a restaurant in California, where many Filipino immigrants live. The company plans to expand to other cities with Filipino populations.

Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions. Léchon, a suckling pig that has been roasted until the skin forms a hard brown crust, is served at important occasions. The inside is very fatty. Strips of the skin with attached fat are considered the best pieces. The importance of the host and the occasion are measured by the amount of léchon. served. Blood drained from the pig is used to make dinuguan

Sticky rice prepared with coconut milk and sugarcane syrup is wrapped in banana leaves. Glutinous rice is grown especially for use in this traditional dessert.

Gin and beer are available for men and are accompanied by balut, a duck egg with an embryo. Dog meat is a delicacy throughout the country. It is now illegal to sell dog meat at markets because cases of rabies have occurred when the brains were eaten.

Basic Economy. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing are the occupations of 40 percent of the thirty million people who are employed. Light manufacturing, construction, mining and the service industries provide the remainder of employment opportunities. The unemployment rate is over 9 percent. Fifty percent of the population lives below the poverty line. The Asian financial crisis resulted in a lack of jobs, and the drought period of the El Niño weather cycle has reduced the number of agricultural positions. It is not uncommon for people to "volunteer" as workers in the health care field in hopes of being chosen to work when a position becomes available. People work seven days a week and take additional jobs to maintain or improve their lifestyle or pay for a child's education. Eight hundred thousand citizens work overseas, primarily as merchant seamen, health care, household, or factory workers in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Over Seas Workers (OSWs) have a governmental agency that looks after their interests. Laws govern hours of work, insurance coverage, and vacation time, but workers may be exploited and mistreated. Recruitment centers are found in all large municipalities. OSWs send $7 billion home each year, providing 4 percent of the gross domestic product.

Land Tenure and Property. Nineteen percent of the land is arable and 46 percent consists of forests and woodlands. Deforestation by legal and illegal loggers with no tree replacement has reduced the number of trees. Large amounts of arable land remain in the hand of absentee landowners who were given land grants during the Spanish colonial period. Although land reform legislation has been passed, loopholes allow owners to retain possession. Those responsible for enacting and enforcing the legislation often come from the same families that own the land. Peasant groups such as the HUKs (People's Liberation Army, or Hukbong Magpapayang Bayan ) in the 1950s and the NPA (New People's Army) at the present time have resorted to guerrilla tactics to provide land for the poor. There is an ongoing demand to clear forests to provide farmland. The clearing technique is slash and burn. Environmentalists are concerned because timber is destroyed at random, eliminating the homes of endangered species of plants and animals.

Major Industries. Metropolitan Manila is the primary manufacturing area, with 10 percent of the population living there. Manila and the adjacent ports are the best equipped to ship manufactured goods. Manufacturing plants produce electrical and electronic components, chemicals, clothing, and machinery. The provinces produce processed foods, textiles, tobacco products, and construction materials. Manufacturing in the home continues to be common in remote areas.

Trade. Rice, bananas, cashews, pineapple, mangoes, and coconut products are the agricultural products exported to neighboring countries. Exported manufactured products include electronic equipment, machinery, and clothing. The United States, members of the European Union, and Japan are the major trading partners. Imports consists of consumer goods and fuel. The country has mineral and petroleum reserves that have not been developed because of the mountainous terrain and a lack of funding.

Transportation of products is difficult since the highway system beyond metropolitan Manila consists of two-lane roads that are under constant repair and sometimes are washed out by typhoons. Interisland shipping costs add to the expense of manufacturing. Congress, governmental agencies, and the financial community are attempting to find solutions to these problems. The rate of road construction is accelerating and a light rail system is planned. Filipino membership in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), a regional trade organization, is an important factor in the development of trade policies.

Division of Labor. In rural areas, lack of mechanization causes the entire family to work in the rice fields. Planting rice seedlings, separating them, replanting, and changing water levels in the fields are done by hand and are labor-intensive. Crops such as tobacco, corn, and sugarcane demand full family participation for short periods during the planting and harvest seasons.

In the cities, traditional roles common to industrialized countries are followed. Men perform heavy physical tasks, while women work as clerks and teachers and in health care.

Social Stratification

Classes and Castes. Filipinos believe in the need for social acceptance and feel that education can provide upward mobility. Color of skin, beauty, and money are the criteria that determine a person's social position. Light coloring is correlated with intelligence and a light-skinned attractive person will receive advancement before his or her colleagues. Family position and patron-client associations are useful in achieving success. Government officials, wealthy friends, and community leaders are sponsors at hundreds of weddings and baptisms each year. Those connections are of great importance.

There is a gap between the 2 percent of the population that is wealthy and the masses who live in poverty. The middle class feels too obligated to those in power to attempt to make societal changes.

The people of the Philippines enjoy watching professional basketball played by American professional teams and teams in Filipino professional leagues. Basketball courts are the only sport-site found in every barangay and school. Cockfights are a popular sport among men. Cocks have metal spurs attached to the leg just above the foot. The contest continues until one of the cocks is unable to continue fighting or runs away. Cuneta Astrodome in metropolitan Manila is used for both professional basketball and cockfights. Mah-jongg, a Chinese game played with tiles, is very popular, especially with women.

Symbols of Social Stratification. Money to buy consumer goods is an indicator of power. Wealthy people lead western lifestyles. They travel abroad frequently and pride themselves on the number of Westerners they have as friends. Since few people outside Manila have a family car, owning a vehicle is a clear statement of a high social level. Houses and furnishings show a person's social position. Upholstered furniture instead of the traditional wooden couches and beds, rows of electrical appliances that are never used and area rugs are all important.

Women above the poverty level have extensive wardrobes. Sending one's children to the best schools is the most important indicator of social position. The best schools often are private schools and are quite expensive.

Political Life

Government. The country has a republican form of government that was developed during the commonwealth period. It contains three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The first constitution, based on the United States Constitution, was written in 1935. When President Marcos declared martial law in 1972, that constitution was replaced by another one providing for a head of state, a prime minister, and a unicameral legislature. The president had the power to dissolve the legislature, appoint the prime minister, and declare himself prime minister. A new constitution was approved in a national referendum in 1987. It was similar to the 1935 constitution but included term limitations. The 221 members of the House may serve three consecutive three-year terms, which is also the case for provincial governors. The twenty-four senators, who are elected at large, may serve two consecutive six-year terms. The president serves one six-year term, but the vice president may serve two consecutive six-year terms. The president and vice president do not run on the same ticket and may be political opponents.

The seventy provinces have governors but no legislative bodies. Over sixty cities have been created by legislation. Cityhood is desirable since cities are funded separately from the provinces so that additional federal money comes into the area. Each province is divided into municipalities. The smallest unit of government is the barangay, which contains up to two hundred dwellings and an elementary school. The barangay captain distributes funds at the local level.

Leadership and Political Officials. Charges of corruption, graft, and cronyism are common among government officials at all levels. People accept cronyism and the diversion of a small percentage of funds as natural. Rewriting the constitution to eliminate term limits and establishing a strong two-party system are the reforms that are discussed most often. Politicians move from party to party as the needs of their constituencies dictate because the political parties have no ideologies.

Social Problems and Control. The formal system of law mirrors that of the United States. A police force, which has been part of the army since 1991, and a system of trials, appeals, and prisons are the components of the apparatus for dealing with crime. Theft is the most common crime. Because the Philippines has a cash economy, thieves and pick-pockets can easily gain access to thousands of pesos. Petty thieves are unlikely to be apprehended unless a theft is discovered immediately. Another common crime is murder, which often is committed under the influence of alcohol. Guns are readily available. Incest is punished severely if the victim is younger than fifteen years old. Capital punishment by lethal injection was restored during the Ramos administration. Six executions of men convicted of incest have taken place since 1998. Illicit drugs are found throughout the archipelago but are more common in the capital area and the tourist centers. Marijuana and hashish are exported.

An ongoing concern is the desire for autonomy among tribal groups. Mindanoao and the Cordilleras Autonomous Region, where indigenous groups are located, are allowed a greater degree of local control and receive additional funds from the government. Muslim Mindanao has a strong separatist movement. Terrorist groups have developed in support of the movement. In the year 2000, terrorists engaged in acts of kidnaping for ransom, a crime that is common in the country. The government deployed additional military forces to attack terrorist strongholds.

Military Activity. The armed forces consist of an army, a navy, a coast guard, and an air force. The army includes the Philippines National Police; the navy includes the marines. Military service is voluntary. Public respect for the military is high. Military expenditures account for 1.5 percent of the gross domestic product. Current military activity is focused on terrorist activity in Mindanao. The oil-rich Spratly Islands in the South China Sea are an area of concern that is monitored by the navy. The Spratlys belong to the Philippines but are claimed by several other countries, and the Chinese have unsuccessfully attempted to establish a base there. In 1998, the Philippines signed a visiting forces agreement that allows United States forces to enter the country to participate in joint training maneuvers.

Social Welfare and Change Programs

Land reform has been a concern since independence. Spanish and American rule left arable land concentrated in the hands of 2 percent of the population and those owners will not give up their land without compensation. Attempts made to provide land, such as the resettlement of Christian farmers in Mindanao in the 1950s, have not provided enough land to resolve the problem. Until land reform takes place, poverty will be the nation's primary social problem. Eighty percent of the rural population and half the urban population live in poverty. Governmental organizations provide health clinics and medical services, aid in establishing micro businesses such as craft shops and small factories, and offer basic services for the disabled. The number of beggars increases in times of high unemployment. People consider it good luck to give money to a poor person, and so beggars manage to survive.

Nongovernmental Organizations and Other Associations

While nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) work throughout the country to solve social problems, they are most visible in metropolitan Manila, where they work with squatters. The rural poor gravitate to urban areas, cannot find a place to live, and settle in public areas, riverbanks and garbage dumps. It is estimated that one of every four residents of metropolitan Manila is a squatter. Shanty towns are so large that in 2000, when rains from two successive typhoons made garbage dumps collapse, over two hundred people were buried alive as their homes were swept away. Nongovernmental organizations exert pressure on the government for land on which squatters can build permanent housing. Forced evictions are another target of NGOs, since an alternative place to live is not provided.

Volunteer agencies from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Japan work with NGOs and governmental agencies. Projects to help children and meet environmental needs are the focus of volunteer efforts. Volunteer agencies are supervised by the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency.

Gender Roles and Statuses

Division of Labor by Gender. Traditional roles prevail in rural areas, where men cultivate the land but the entire family is involved in planting and harvesting the crops. Women work in gardens and care for the house and children as well as barnyard animals. In urban areas, men work in construction and machine upkeep and as drivers of passenger vehicles. Women work as teachers, clerks, owners of sari-sari stores, marketers of produce and health care providers. Occupational gender lines are blurred since men also work as nurses and teachers. In the professions, gender lines are less important. Women attorneys, doctors and lawyers are found in the provinces as well as in urban areas.

The Relative Status of Women and Men. While families desire male children, females are welcomed to supply help in the house and provide a home in the parents' old age. Women's rights to equality and to share the family inheritance with male siblings are firmly established and are not questioned. The oldest daughter is expected to become an OSW to provide money for the education of younger siblings and for the needs of aging family members. Women are the familial money managers. The wedding ceremony can include the gift of a coin from the groom to the bride to acknowledge this role.

Since personal relationships and wealth are considered the road to success, women have an equal opportunity to achieve. Winners of beauty pageants are likely to succeed in the business and professional world, especially if the pageant was at an international level.

Marriage, Family and Kinship

Marriage. Marriage is a civil ceremony that is conducted city offices. A religious ceremony also is performed. The ceremony is similar to those in the United States with the addition of sponsors. Principal sponsors are friends and relatives who have positions of influence in the community. The number of principal sponsors attests to the popularity and potential success of a couple. It also reduces a couple's expenses, since each principal sponsor is expected to contribute a substantial amount of cash. Members of the wedding party are secondary sponsors who do not have to provide funds.

Arranged marriages have not been part of Filipino life. However, men are expected to marry and if a man has not married by his late twenties, female relatives begin introducing him to potential brides. The median age for marriage is twenty-two. Young professionals wait until their late twenties to marry, and engagements of five to seven years are not uncommon. During this period, the couple becomes established in jobs, pays for the education of younger siblings, and acquires household items. A woman who reaches the age of thirty-two without marrying is considered past the age for marriage. Women believe that marriage to a wealthy man or a foreigner will guarantee happiness. Divorce is illegal, but annulment is available for the dissolution of a marriage. Reasons for annulment include physical incapacity, physical violence, or pressure to change one's religious or political beliefs. Interfaith marriages are rare.

Domestic Unit. The extended family is the most important societal unit, especially for women. Women's closest friendships come from within the family. Mothers and daughters who share a home make decisions concerning the home without conferring with male family members. One child remains in the family home to care for the parents and grandparents. This child, usually a daughter, is not necessarily unmarried. The home may include assorted children from the extended family, and single aunts and uncles. Several houses may be erected on the same lot to keep the family together. Childcare is shared. Fathers carry and play with children but are unlikely to change diapers. Grandparents who live in the home are the primary care givers for the children since both parents generally work. Preschool grandchildren who live in other communities may be brought home for their grandparents to raise. Indigent relatives live in the family circle and provide as household and childcare help. Young people may work their way through college by exchanging work for room and board. Family bonds are so close that nieces and nephews are referred to as one's own children and cousins are referred to as sisters and brothers. Unmarried adult women may legally adopt one of a sibling's children.

Inheritance. Inheritance laws are based on those in the United States. These laws provide that all children acknowledged by a father, whether born in or out of wedlock, share equally in the estate. Females share equally with males.

Kin Groups. Because of the closeness of the immediate family, all familial ties are recognized. Anyone who is remotely related is known as a cousin. Indigenous tribes live in clan groups. Marriage into another clan may mean that the individual is considered dead to his or her clan.

People have a strong sense of belonging to a place. A family that has lived in metropolitan Manila for two generations still regards a municipality or province as its home. New Year's Day, Easter, and All Saint's Day are the most important family holidays. Bus traffic from Manila to the provinces increases dramatically at these times, with hundreds of extra buses taking people home to their families.

Socialization

Infant Care. Infants are raised by family members. Young children are sent to live with their grandparents or aunts for extended periods. People who live outside the country leave their children with the family for the preschool years.

Infants spend their waking time in someone's arms until they can walk. They are part of every activity and learn by observation. Someone will remain in the room with them when they sleep. Infant mortality is high, and so great care is taken of babies. Helpers and older sisters assist with the dayto-day care of babies.

Filipinos regard education as the path to upward mobility. Ninety percent of the population over ten years of age is literate. The Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) is the largest governmental department. Approximately twelve million elementary school pupils and five million secondary students attended school in 1999 and 2000. Education is compulsory until age twelve. Statistics indicate that children from the poorest 40 percent of the population do not attend school. Elementary education is a six-year program; secondary education is a four-year program. Pre-schools and kindergartens are seldom available in public schools but are in private schools. Children are grouped homogeneously by ability. First grade students begin being taught in Filipino; English is added after two months. In elementary and secondary schools, reading, science, and mathematics are taught in English while values, social studies, and health are taught in Filipino. Children learn some Filipino and English words from the media. "Linga franca" is an experimental approach in which students are taught in the native dialect and Filipino for the first two years and English in the third grade. This program came about as a response to concerns that English was being used more than were the native languages.

Elementary school, secondary school, and college students are required to wear uniforms. Girls wear pleated skirts and white blouses. Public school pupils wear dark blue skirts. Each private school has its own color. Boys wear white shirts and dark pants. Women teachers are given a government allowance to purchase four uniforms to wear Monday through Thursday. Men wear dark pants and a barong, a lightweight cotton shirt, or a polo shirt. Female teachers are addressed as ma'am (pronounced "mum"). Male teachers are addressed as sir. These titles are highly prized and are used by teachers in addressing one another.

Class sizes range from twenty to more than fifty in public schools. The goal is to keep class size below fifty. Pupils may have to share books and desks. Schools may lack electricity and have dirt floors or be flooded in the rainy season. The walls may not be painted. The Japanese, Chinese, and Australians have provided new classrooms, scientific supplies, and teacher training for the public schools. Private schools charge fees but have smaller class sizes. They have a reputation of providing a better education than do the public schools.

Computers are not readily available in elementary or secondary schools although DECS is stressing technology. President Estrada met with Bill Gates of Microsoft to procure computers and software for use in the schools.

Classrooms in both public and private schools have a picture of the Virgin Mary and the president at the front of the room. Grottoes to the Virgin Mary or a patron saint are found on school campuses. School days begin and end with prayer.

The school year runs from June to March to avoid the hot months of April and May. School starts at seven-thirty and ends at four-thirty with a break of one and a half hours for lunch. No meals are served at the school, although the parent-teacher association may run a stand that sells snacks for break time.

Dropping out is a serious concern. In 1999 and 2000, the high school dropout rate increased from 9 percent to 13 percent. The increase is attributed to the need to provide care for younger siblings or to get a job to enable the family to survive the high inflation and the currency devaluation that followed the Asian financial crisis. The DECS has a Non-Formal Education Division to meet the needs of out-of-school youth as well as the needs of uneducated adults. Programs include adult literacy, agriculture and farm training, occupational skills, and training in health and nutrition. Programs for at-risk youth are being added at the high school level. The Open High School System Act of 2000 is designed to provide distance learning via television for youths and uneducated adults.

Higher Education. A college degree is necessary to obtain positions that promise security and advancement. Approximately two million students attend colleges and universities. Each province has a state college system with several locations. The University of the Philippines, located in Manila, is a public university that is regarded as the best in the country. Private colleges are found in the major municipalities. The University of Santo Tomas in Manila is a private school that was established in 1611; it is the oldest site of higher education in the country. English is the primary language of instruction at the college level. Colleges and universities have large enrollments for advanced degrees since a four year degree may not be sufficient to work in the higher levels of government service.

People believe that it is one's duty to keep things operating smoothly. It is very important not to lose face. Being corrected or correcting another person in public is not considered acceptable behavior. People want to grant all requests, and so they often say yes when they mean no or maybe. Others understand when the request is not fulfilled because saying no might have caused the individual to lose face. When one is asked to join a family for a meal, the offer must be refused. If the invitation is extended a second time, it is permissible to accept. Time consciousness and time management are not important considerations. A planned meeting may take place later, much later, or never.

Filipinos walk hand in hand or arm in arm with relatives and friends of either sex as a sign of affection or friendship. Women are expected not to cross their legs or drink alcohol in public. Shorts are not common wear for women.

People pride themselves on hospitality. They readily go out of their way to help visitors or take them to their destination. It is of the highest importance to recognize the positions of others and use full titles and full names when introducing or referring to people. Non-verbal language, such as pointing to an object with one's lips, is a key element in communication. One greets friends by lifting the eyebrows. A longer lift can be used to ask a question.

Religious Beliefs. The Philippines is the only Christian nation in Asia. More than 85 percent of the people are Roman Catholic. The rosary is said in the home at 9 P.M. , just before the family retires for the night. Children are introduced to the statue of "Mama Mary" at a very early age.

Protestant missionaries arrived in 1901 and followed the Catholic example of establishing hospitals, clinics, and private schools. The Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) is currently the most active missionary group.

Sunni Muslims constitute the largest non-Christian group. They live in Mindanao and the Sulu Islands but have migrated to other provinces. Muslim provinces celebrate Islamic religious holidays as legal holidays. Mosques are located in large cities throughout the country. In smaller communities, Muslims gather in small buildings for services. Animism, a belief that natural objects have souls, is the oldest religion in the country, practiced by indigenous peoples in the mountains of Luzon.

Freedom of religion is guaranteed by the constitution. The disagreement between the Muslim population of the southern provinces and the federal government is not so much about religion as it is about political goals. Non-Catholics do not object to Catholic symbols or prayer in public venues.

Each barangay has a patron saint. The saint's day is celebrated by a fiesta that includes a religious ceremony. Large amounts of food are served at each house. Friends and relatives from other barangays are invited and go from house to house to enjoy the food. A talent show, beauty contest, and dance are part of the fun. Carnival rides and bingo games add to the festivities.

Religious Practitioners. Religious leaders are powerful figures. Business and political leaders court Cardinal Jaime Sin because of his influence with much of the population. Local priest and ministers are so highly respected that requests from them take on the power of mandates. A family considers having a son or daughter with a religious career as a high honor. Personal friendships with priests, ministers, and nuns are prized. Clerics take an active role in the secular world. An example is Brother Andrew Gonzales, the current secretary of DECS.

Faith healers cure illness by prayer or touch. "Psychic" healers operate without using scalpels or drawing blood. The several thousand healers are Christians. They believe that if they ask for a fee, their power will disappear. Patients are generous with gifts because healers are greatly respected.

Rituals and Holy Places. The major rituals are customary Christian or Muslim practices. Sites where miracles have taken place draw large crowds on Sundays and feast days. Easter is the most important Christian observance. On Easter weekend, the entire Christian area of the country is shut down from noon on Maundy Thursday until the morning of Black Saturday. International flights continue and hospitals are open, but national television broadcasts, church services, and shops and restaurants are closed and public transportation is sparse. People stay at home or go to church. Special events take place on Good Friday. There are religious processions such as a parade of the statues of saints throughout the community.

Death and the Afterlife. A twenty-four-hour vigil is held at the deceased person's home, and the body is escorted to the cemetery after the religious ceremony. The tradition is for mourners to walk behind the coffin. A mausoleum is built during the lifetime of the user. The size of the edifice indicates the position of the builder.

Mourning is worn for six weeks after the death of a family member. It may consists of a black pin worn on the blouse or shirt of the mourner or black clothing. Mourning is put aside after one year. A meal or party is provided for family members and close friends one year after the burial to commemorate recognize the memory of the deceased.

All Saint's Day (1 November) is a national holiday to honor the dead. Grave sites are cleared of debris and repaired. Families meet at the cemetery and stay throughout the twenty-four hours. Candles and flowers are placed on the graves. Food and memories are shared, and prayers are offered for the souls of the dead. When a family member visits a grave during the year, pebbles are placed on the grave to indicate that the deceased has been remembered.

Medicine and Health Care

Regional public hospitals provide service to everyone. People who live far away ride a bus for hours to reach the hospital. Funds for ambulances are raised by lotteries within each barangay or are provided by congressmen and are used only for the people who live in that area. Private hospitals are considered superior to public hospitals. Paying patients are not discharged from hospitals until the bill is paid in full. Patients have kasamas (companions) who remain with them during the hospital stay. Kasamas assist with nursing chores by giving baths, getting food trays, taking samples to the nurses' station and questioning the doctor. A bed but no food is provided for the kasama in the hospital room.

The infant mortality rate is 48.9 percent, and one-third of the children are malnourished. Over 13 percent of preschool and elementary school children are underweight. A government program provides nutritious food for impoverished pupils at the midmorning break. This is only offered to schools in the poorest areas. National test scores are examined to see if improvement has occurred. If the scores are better, the program is expanded.

The most prevalent health problem is "high blood" (hypertension). One in ten persons over the age of fifteen has high blood pressure. Tuberculosis is another health concern; The country has the fourth highest mortality rate in the world from that disease. Malaria and dengue fever are prevalent because there is no effective program for mosquito control. The number of deaths attributed to dengue increased in the late 1990s.

Herbal remedies are used alone or in conjunction with prescribed medications. A dog bite treated with antibiotics and rabies shots also may be treated with garlic applied to the puncture. The study of herbal remedies is part of the school health curriculum. Many elementary schools have herb gardens that are planted and cared for by the students.

Secular Celebrations

New Year's Day is more of a family holiday than Christmas. It is combined with Rizal Day on 30 December to provide time for people to go home to their province. Midnight on New Year's Eve brings an outburst of firecrackers and gunfire from randomly aimed firearms.

Other national secular holidays are Fall of Bataan Day, an observation of the Bataan Death March in 1942 on 9 April. Labor Day is celebrated on 1 May. Independence Day on 12 June celebrates freedom from Spanish rule. It is celebrated with fiestas, parades, and fireworks. Sino-Filipinos celebrate the Chinese New Year, which is not a national holiday, in January or February. In Manila, fireworks and parades take place throughout Chinatown. Muslims celebrate Islamic festivals.

Arts and Humanities

Support for the Arts. The government provides support for institutions such as the National Museum in Manila. Libraries exists in colleges and universities. The best collections are in Manila. Museums are located in provincial capitals and in Manila. The Cultural Center of the Philippines in Manila is a center for the performing arts that opened in 1970. It is a multibuilding complex created under the direction of former first lady Imelda Marcos, who encouraged musicians to enter the international community and receive additional training. Nongovernmental organizations preserve the folk heritage of the indigenous groups.

Literature. Literature is based on the oral traditions of folklore, the influence of the church and Spanish and American literature. Filipino written literature became popular in the mid-nineteenth century as the middle class became educated. The greatest historical literature evolved from the independence movement. José Rizal electrified the country with his novels. During the early years of American control, literature was written in English. The English and American literature that was taught in the schools was a factor in the kind of writing that was produced. Writing in Filipino languages became more common in the late 1930s and during the Japanese occupation. Literature is now written in both Filipino and English. Textbooks contain national and world literature.

Graphic Arts. The Filipino Academy of Art, established in 1821, shows early art reflecting Spanish and religious themes. Juan Luna and Felix Hidalgo were the first Filipino artists to win recognition in Europe at the end of the nineteenth century. Contemporary artists use a variety of techniques and mediums to reflect social and political life. Crafts reflect the national culture. Each area of the country has specialties that range from the batik cotton prints of the Muslim areas to the wood carvings of the mountain provinces of Luzon. Baskets and mats are created from rattan. Textiles are woven by hand in cooperatives, storefronts, and homes. Banana and pineapple fiber cloth, cotton, and wool are woven into textiles. Furniture and decorative items are carved. Silver and shell crafts also are created

Sex and violence are major themes in films, which are often adaptations of American screen productions. American films are popular and readily available, and so high-quality Filipino films have been slow to develop.

Performance Arts. Drama before Spanish colonization was of a religious nature and was intended to persuade the deities to provide the necessities of life. The Spanish used drama to introduce the Catholic religion. Filipino themes in drama developed in the late nineteenth century as the independence movement evolved. Current themes are nationalistic and reflect daily life.

Dance is a mixture of Filipino and Spanish cultures. Professional dance troupes perform ballet, modern dance, and folk dance. Folk dances are performed at meetings and conferences and reflect a strong Spanish influence. Indigenous dances are used in historical pageants. An example is a bamboo dance relating a story about a bird moving among the reeds. People enjoy ballroom dancing for recreation. Dance instructors are available at parties to teach the waltz and the cha-cha.

Music performance begins in the home and at school. Amateur performances featuring song and dance occur at fiestas. Popular music tends to be American. Guitars are manufactured for export; folk instruments such as the nose flute also are constructed.

The State of the Physical and Social Sciences

The physical sciences focus on the needs of the country. Aquaculture, the development of fish and shellfish farms in coastal areas, is a rapidly growing field. Centuries of fishing and dynamiting fish have changed the balance of nature. Hormonal research to stimulate the growth of fish and shellfish is a priority. Control of red tide, an infestation that makes shellfish unsafe to eat, is another area of concentration. Agricultural research and research into volcano and earthquake control are other areas of study. The development of geothermal and other energy sources is ongoing. Other environmental research areas of importance are waste resource management, water resource management, and forest management. The social sciences are focused on the needs of the country with the primary emphasis on resolving the problems of poverty and land reform.

Bibliography

Department of Education, Culture and Sports. Fact Sheet, 2000.

Europa World Factbook, 1999.

Goodno, James R. Philippines: The Land of Broken Promises, 1991.

Karnow, Stanley. In our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines, 1989.

Oleksy, Walter. The Philippines, 2000.

Peters, Jens. Philippines, 1997.

Roces, Alfredo. Culture Shock: Philippines, 1999.

Schirmer, Daniel B., ed. The Philippines: A History of Colonialism, 1987.

Sonneborn, Liz. The Philippines, 1988.

Sullivan, Margaret W. The Philippines: Pacific Crossroads, 1993.

Thompson, W. Scott. The Philippines in Crisis, 1992.

Timberman, David G. Philippines Today: The Challenge, 1996.

Tope, Lily Rose. Philippines, 1991.

U.S. Department of the Army. Philippines: A country study, 1991.

Country Watch Philippines, 2000, http://www.countryside.com

National Statistics Office, Income and Employment Statistics. Annual Poverty Indication Survey, 1999, http://www.nso.census.gov.ph

U.S. Department of Health. Health Care Law of 1995, 1999, http://www.doh.gov.ph

U.S. Department of State. Background Notes: Philippines, 1998.

U.S. Department of State, Central Intelligence Agency. World Factbook 2000, http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/rp.html

U.S. Library of Congress. Philippines: A country study, 1999, http://lcweb2.loc.gov

—S ALLY E. B ARINGER

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Religion, Customs, and Tradition of the Philippines: A Tapestry of Spiritual and Cultural Diversity

Religion, Customs, and Tradition of the Philippines – Cultural Heritage of Philippines

The Philippines, known for its stunning natural beauty, is also home to a rich tapestry of religious diversity. The spiritual landscape is woven with threads of indigenous beliefs, colonial influences, and contemporary faiths. This article unravels the intricate layers of religion, customs, and traditions in the Philippines, exploring the significance of sacred spaces, customs, and the fusion of spiritual practices that shape the nation’s cultural heritage.

Indigenous Beliefs: Ancestral Spirits and Nature Worship

Anito worship: connecting with ancestors.

Before the arrival of foreign influences, indigenous communities in the Philippines practiced animism. Anito worship involved connecting with ancestral spirits through rituals and ceremonies. Sacred spaces, such as ancient trees or natural formations, served as altars for communing with the spirit world. Despite the impact of later religions, elements of animistic beliefs persist in Filipino culture.

Bathala: The Supreme Deity

Bathala, considered the supreme deity in pre-colonial Tagalog mythology, represented the creator of all things. Worship of Bathala involved rituals expressing gratitude for nature’s bounty. Although the prominence of Bathala waned with the introduction of new religions, the concept of a supreme being remains ingrained in the Filipino psyche.

Colonial Influences: The Arrival of Christianity

Spanish colonization and the spread of christianity.

The 16th century marked a transformative period in Philippine history with the arrival of Spanish colonizers, bringing Christianity to the archipelago. The Spanish introduced Roman Catholicism, leaving an indelible mark on the religious landscape. The fusion of indigenous beliefs with Catholicism gave rise to a unique syncretic form of worship.

Baroque Churches: Architectural Testaments of Faith

The Spanish colonial era left a profound architectural legacy with the construction of Baroque churches across the Philippines. These architectural marvels, such as the San Agustin Church in Manila, stand as testaments to the enduring faith of the Filipino people. Intricate carvings, ornate altars, and religious artworks within these churches reflect the fusion of Spanish and indigenous influences.

Roman Catholicism: Pillar of Filipino Spirituality

Feast of the black nazarene: a symbol of devotion.

The Feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila, is an iconic religious event that draws millions of devotees. The Black Nazarene, a dark-skinned statue of Jesus Christ, is venerated for its supposed miraculous powers. The annual procession, marked by devotees participating barefoot and pulling the carriage of the Black Nazarene, is an expression of deep devotion and penance.

Santo Niño: Child Jesus as Patron

The veneration of the Santo Niño, or the Child Jesus, is widespread in the Philippines. The Sinulog Festival in Cebu, dedicated to the Santo Niño, is a grand celebration featuring a colorful parade and street dancing. The devotion to the Santo Niño reflects the Filipinos’ enduring childlike faith and resilience amid challenges.

Islamic Heritage in the Philippines

Islam in the southern philippines.

In contrast to the predominantly Christian regions, the southern part of the Philippines has a significant Muslim population. Islam was introduced by Arab traders before Spanish colonization. The Marawi Grand Mosque in Mindanao stands as a symbol of Islamic heritage, showcasing the architectural influence of the Middle East.

Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr: Celebrating Islamic Traditions

Muslims in the Philippines observe Ramadan, a month of fasting, prayer, and reflection. The culmination of Ramadan is celebrated with Eid al-Fitr, marked by communal prayers, feasting, and acts of charity. These traditions highlight the cultural diversity within the Philippines, where different religious communities coexist.

Chinese Traditions and Buddhism

Chinese influence in filipino culture.

The Philippines has a significant Chinese community that has contributed to the cultural mosaic. Chinese traditions, including ancestral veneration, the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Lunar New Year, are celebrated alongside local customs. The blending of Chinese and Filipino cultures is evident in practices like feng shui influencing architectural design and city planning.

Buddhism in the Philippines: A Minority Presence

While Buddhism is a minority religion in the Philippines, there are communities that practice Theravada Buddhism. The presence of Buddhist temples, such as the Seng Guan Temple in Manila, reflects the multicultural landscape of the country. Buddhists engage in meditation, rituals, and the observance of Buddhist festivals.

Iglesia ni Cristo: A Homegrown Faith

Iglesia ni cristo: an indigenous christian church.

Founded in 1914, the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) is a homegrown Christian denomination with a significant following in the Philippines. Known for its unique doctrines and architectural landmarks like the INC Central Temple, this indigenous Christian church has played a prominent role in the country’s religious landscape.

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Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Philippines: A Tapestry of Tradition

Food and Cuisine of the Philippines: A Gastronomic Journey Through Cultural Heritage

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11 Things You Should Know About Filipino Culture

What is it about the Philippines that makes it different from the rest of the world? Well, for one thing, it is all about their culture and their local traditions. Here are 11 things you should know about Filipino culture that sets them apart from any other nation on the planet. These should not be taken as stereotypes, but rather as individual characteristics that are common amongst the Filipino people.

Filipinos value tradition and culture.

Historical Landmark, Forest

For Filipinos, traditions in their home and in their family are important. They usually set aside a specific day for a certain celebration like festivals, birthday parties, reunions, etc. And of course, every gathering is dedicated to keeping up with each other over sumptuous food. If, like us, good food is what makes you get up in the morning, then you might be interested in our gourmet destinations such as Bologna and Puglia , bookable now through Culture Trip.

Filipinos love art and architecture

Just look at the massive and tall buildings everywhere. Filipinos have a penchant for bringing art and architecture to a whole new level. They love to design creatively, to think intuitively, and have a passion for anything different and unique. Talking of which, so do we. So much so in fact, that we’ve created a collection of small-group getaways that celebrate the unexpected – from street food, to local customs and traditions.

Filipinos are very religious

In all corners of a Filipino house, you can find brazen images of crosses and other religious paraphernalia. It is a common Filipino custom to go church every Sunday, or sometimes even twice or three times a week.

Filipinos love to party

Yes, Filipinos love to hold celebrations and fiestas. Bacolod has its MassKara Festival, Davao has its Kadayawan Festival, and Marinduque has its Moriones Festival.

Filipinos love to eat

Aside from breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Filipinos manage to squeeze in a little meal in between, too. Whether they eat every hour or every three hours, they savour every bite. Oh, and they do love going to buffets!

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Filipinos are very resilient

In times of calamities and catastrophes, Filipinos always manage to rise above the challenge. Instead of wallowing, they manage to pick themselves up and smile. You can often find them saying beautiful Filipino words to each other and motivating each other.

Filipinos take pride in their families

In the Philippines , it is family first. So whether you are part of the immediate family or you belong to the third or fourth generation, you are treated as a family member. Sometimes, even the closest of friends are considered family, too.

Filipinos are very respectful

From the moment they are born into this world, they are already taught how to be respectful by using these simple catchphrases— po and opo , words that end sentences when addressing elders. They have a culture of pagmamano , which is where they raise the backs of the hands of their elders to their foreheads as a sign of respect. When it comes to what not to say in the Phillippines you should definitely consider wether your words are respectful to the Filipino people, especially since they have a deep language history.

Filipinos help one another

More popularly known as bayanihan , Filipinos help one another—without expecting anything in return—so that undertaking their tasks and responsibilities become much easier. Sometimes this is called “community spirit.”. So if you learn some travel phrases to get around the Phillippines, they will extend their effort and do their best to help you.

Filipinos have the longest Christmas celebrations—ever

Local and major traditional events are a must experience in the Phillipines. Even as early as August, you can hear Christmas songs and jingles being played in the malls or in the restaurants in the Philippines. The mood becomes festive, with many people shopping and in good spirits. Christmas celebrations last until around the first or second week of January. We love the yuletide time of year, and the Christmas festival is one of the many Filipino festivals that are worth experiencing once in your lifetime.

Filipinos love to sing

This is the reason why karaoke has become so prevalent. As part of their recreation, Filipinos spend some quality time with their families or friends singing or belting out new and old songs.

Overall there are few places to avoid in the Phillipines, as the Filipino people are very respectful and welcoming to tourists.

Learn more about the local culture with our guide to Filipino superstitions and indigenous tribes, or brush up on the most famous Filipino artists .

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Filipino Culture

Philippines

Core Concepts

• Hospitality

Located between the South China Sea and Philippine Sea, the Republic of the Philippines contains a diverse set of landscapes, languages and cultures. Various countries – such as Spain, China and the United States – have interacted with and impacted Filipino culture. A sense of national identity and pride emerged out of struggles for Philippine independence. However, loyalties remain foremost with one’s family and place of birth. Key values such fellowship, respect and acceptance are found throughout the culture, with many Filipinos displaying a warming and hospitable demeanour.

Geographic and Linguistic Diversity

The Philippines is made up of over 7,000 islands, of which approximately 2,000 are inhabited. The islands are categorised into three main clusters – namely Luzon in the north, Visayas in the centre and Mindanao in the south. The island clusters vary in terms of cuisine, languages and culture. One of the main distinctions is in respect to religion. The population in the northern islands generally identify as Christian while it is much more common to find those who identify as Muslim in the southern parts of the Philippines.

The country is also linguistically diverse, with eight major dialects and over 170 languages spoken throughout the inhabited islands. The official language of the Philippines is Filipino, which is mainly Tagalog (the dialect from central and southern Luzon) combined with words from various other languages. For example, English is widely spoken throughout the Philippines, and it is common to hear Filipinos use a mixture of English and Tagalog (known informally as ‘Taglish’) in everyday conversations. Depending on their location, Filipinos may not speak the national language. As a way to retain their local identities, many Filipinos will often choose to speak in their regional languages and dialects. Indeed, it is common to find Filipinos who are from different parts of the Philippines conversing in English rather than in Filipino.

National and Local Identity

Given the diversity of the Philippines, the unifying element of Filipino culture is a complex matter. A sense of national identity emerged out of the long standing struggle for independence. In contemporary Philippines, many Filipinos are acutely aware of the colonial history of their country. For example, José Rizal, a national hero in the struggle for Philippine independence, is a highly revered and well-known figure whom many Filipinos look up to as a role model of a virtuous person.

However, the sense of a national identity is fragile, with loyalty residing firstly to their kin group, province or municipality. The Philippines is a collectivist society and individuals tend to understand themselves as a part of a group . For Filipinos, the interests of the collective often override the interests of the individual. Filipinos generally feel a strong sense of pride towards their group and will celebrate their pride through sharing stories or facts about their family, barangay (village) or town.

The long history of contact with Spain and the United States continues to have a significant impact on the Filipino identity. One example is the influence of American standards of beauty, which are often measured in the Philippines by the possession of Western physical traits – such as fair skin and curly hair. Another example is the prominence of Christian ideology since the introduction of Christianity by the Spanish. Indeed, when compared to other countries on the Asian continent, the Philippines has one of the highest Christian populations.

Social Interactions and ‘Hiya’

Social hierarchy in the Philippines is determined according to age and social status. Nearly all Filipinos are taught from an early age about the importance of the underpinning social hierarchy . Gestures, terms of address and communication styles vary depending on who one interacts with and their relative positions in the social hierarchy . For example, it is expected that, if you are referring to someone who is older than you but within the same generation, you use the terms kuya for males and ate for females (for example, ‘Ate Jess’). Failing to do so is considered highly disrespectful and a lack of acknowledgment of the established hierarchy .

Kapwa (fellowship or togetherness) is a core value that explains Filipinos’ interpersonal behaviour. The term generally refers to a shared identity whereby people bond together despite differences in wealth or social status. Kapwa is related to the collectivistic nature of Filipino society. It is believed that what is good for one person will be good for the collective and ought to be shared with fellow people. Being branded as not having any kapwa is an insult as it implies that the person does not belong to a community.

The concept of ‘ hiya ’ is also one of the underpinning factors influencing how Filipinos behave and interact with others. While hiya translates roughly into English as ‘shame’ or ‘embarrassment’, on a deeper level it refers to one’s sense of self, propriety and respect. Filipinos may be more motivated to succeed by a fear of shame rather than fear of failing the task at hand. To avoid experiencing shame, they may try to give face to those around them through complimenting them and avoiding direct criticism. Individuals will often try to be generous and hospitable to avoid hiya and to maintain kapwa .

Warmth and Acceptance

Filipinos are usually very warm and friendly people who enjoy conversing with those around them. It is common to find strangers engaging in conversation or sharing stories to family, friends or foreigners about their hometown, family or country. Filipinos are often expressive and sentimental while maintaining a light-hearted demeanour. For example, the word ‘ hugot ’ (‘to pull out’) is often used to describe someone drawing out deep sentimental memories or experiences. Indeed, Filipinos are often willing to share stories of their past that may be considered personal.

Alongside their warming and light-hearted demeanour, the general approach to life is of acceptance. ‘ Bahala na ’ (come what may) captures the strong belief among many Filipinos that whatever may happen is a part of God’s will. Any individual or group success is often attributed to fate or God rather than efforts. This indicates a fatalistic attitude throughout society whereby Filipinos are generally accepting of theirs and others circumstances. However, this does not mean Filipinos are passive. Rather, they are hardworking and will often do their best to help themselves and their family.

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Life in the Philippines: Contextual Essays on Filipino Being

This collection of essays comprises the ideas that fueled the author’s work on Philippine society and Filipino worlds of thought. The ideas concerned have been conceived in a comparative context that, on the one hand, draws on general social science and the humanities, and, on the other, on the analogies with the praxis of life in both Thailand and on Java (Indonesia). Whereas the focus of the essays is on life in the Philippines, Jose Rizal’s demonio de las comparaciones firmly situates Filipino being in Southeast Asia, or at least among the commonalities of life along the littoral of the South China cum Java Sea. Because of this, and after this position has been clarified in essay 2, Javanese and Thai data will steadily be juxtaposed to similar observations on Filipino being. After this, and similar to the analysis of the Filipino condition in essay 1, the spotlight will be on the mentality informing the public world in the Philippines.

Upon these analytical essays, we step down to earth with sketches of everyday happenings and observations that should convey the flavor of life in the islands such as experienced and interpreted by the non-native denizen.

Niels Mulder has the rare ability to be both scholarly and entertaining – Ian Buruma in God’s Dust

In Inside Philippine Society, Mulder is particularly good at showing the contradictions in Philippine society and culture. The chapter on Filipino self-images is extremely revealing – Raul Pertierra in Review of the Asian Studies Association of Australia

For some fifty years, cultural anthropologist Niels Mulder (1935; Dutch) has been actively engaged with the mental world of members of the urban middle classes, first in Jogjakarta on Java (Indonesia), then in Chiang Mai in Thailand, and, since 1983, also in Lucena City in the Southern Tagalog Region of the Philippines.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Niels Mulder, 1935, Dutch, obtained his MA in Human Geography cum Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam in 1964, and has since been actively engaged with the world of thought of urban middle classes in Jogjakarta and Jakarta, Indonesia; in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand; in Lucena City and Metro Manila, Philippines. His fifteen years of field work among the Javanese, Thai, and Filipinos, and his fifteen years of writing and intermittent academic engagements at Northern Illinois University, the University of Amsterdam, several universities in Germany (Bielefeld; Passau; Berlin; Bonn) and virtually all the main centers of academic learning in the Scandinavian countries (among others, Copenhagen; Lund; Uppsala; Bergen; Turku) resulted in some fifteen academic titles on his work in Southeast Asia, two of which attained the status of classics, viz., Mysticism in Java//Ideology in Indonesia (Kanisius, 2005), originally defended as Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Amsterdam in 1975. With revisions and additions, this work has been in print ever since its earliest Singapore University Press edition of 1978 and has, to date, sold 28,000 copies; Inside Thai Society: Religion, Everyday Life, Change (Silkworm Books, 2006), originally published as Everyday Life in Thailand: An Interpretation with Editions Duang Kamol in 1979. Through six revised editions, this work has been in print ever since and has, to date, sold 22,000 copies. Among his books, the following are relevant to the Philippines: Inside Southeast Asia: Culture, Everyday Life, Social Change (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2000); Inside Philippine Society: Interpretations of Everyday Life (Quezon City: New Day, 1997); Filipino Images: Culture of the Public World (Quezon City: New Day, 2000); Southeast Asian Images: Towards Civil Society? (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2003); Sanaysay sa Kabihasnang Pilipino (Mamala 1, Sariaya: Dr. Niels Mulder Scholarships Foundation, 2009); Life in the Philippines: Contextual Essays on Filipino Being. (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2016). During his retirement on the slope of Mt. Banahaw (since 2003), he has been reflecting on his field research and evolution from human geographer to full-fledged cultural analyst, such as recorded in Doing Java: An Anthropological Detective Story. Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 2006; Doing Thailand: The Anthropologist as a Young Dog in Bangkok in the 1960s. Bangkok: White Lotus, 2008; Professional Stranger: Doing Thailand during Its Most Violent Decade. Bangkok: White Lotus, 2009; Beroepsvreemdeling: Antropoloog in het Veld (Professional Stranger: The Anthropologist in the Field). Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam Press, forthcoming.

Essay on Philippines

Students are often asked to write an essay on Philippines in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Philippines

Geography of the philippines.

The Philippines is a country in Southeast Asia. It is made up of over 7,000 islands. It is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, South China Sea, Celebes Sea, and the Philippine Sea. The country’s capital is Manila.

Climate of the Philippines

The Philippines has a tropical climate. It has two seasons: the rainy season from June to November, and the dry season from December to May. The country often experiences typhoons, especially during the rainy season.

People and Culture

The Philippines is known for its rich culture. The people are called Filipinos. They speak Filipino and English. The country is known for its festivals, music, and dance. Filipinos are also known for their hospitality.

Economy of the Philippines

The Philippines’ economy is growing. It is based on agriculture, industry, and services. The country is known for its production of rice, coconuts, and fish. It also has a booming tourism industry.

Wildlife in the Philippines

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250 Words Essay on Philippines

Introduction to the philippines.

The Philippines is a beautiful Southeast Asian country. It is an archipelago, which means it’s made up of many islands. In fact, there are more than 7,000 islands in the Philippines! The country is famous for its stunning beaches, vibrant culture, and friendly people.

Geography and Climate

The Philippines is located in the Pacific Ocean, near countries like Vietnam and Indonesia. The country has a tropical climate. This means it is warm all year round. Sometimes, the Philippines experiences typhoons, which are powerful storms.

Culture and People

Filipinos, the people of the Philippines, are known for their warm hospitality. They love to celebrate and have many festivals throughout the year. One of the biggest is Sinulog, a colorful event with music and dance. The main language is Filipino, but English is also widely spoken.

Food and Cuisine

Filipino food is a mix of many influences. Rice is a staple, often served with meat, vegetables, or seafood. A popular dish is adobo, which is meat marinated in vinegar and soy sauce.

Wildlife and Nature

The Philippines is home to many unique plants and animals. You can find tarsiers, small primates with big eyes, and the Philippine eagle, one of the largest eagles in the world. The country also has beautiful coral reefs, perfect for diving and snorkeling.

In conclusion, the Philippines is a fascinating country with a rich culture, diverse wildlife, and stunning landscapes. It’s a place full of adventure and beauty, waiting to be explored.

500 Words Essay on Philippines

The Philippines is a beautiful country in Southeast Asia. It is made up of more than 7,000 islands. These islands are home to many people and different types of plants and animals. The capital city of the Philippines is Manila. The country is known for its beautiful beaches, rich history, and delicious food.

The Philippines is located in the Pacific Ocean, near the equator. This means it has a tropical climate. It is hot and humid all year round. The country is divided into three main parts: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Luzon is the biggest island and it is where Manila, the capital city, is located. The country is surrounded by water and has many mountains, forests, and rivers.

The Philippines has a mix of different cultures because of its history. It was a Spanish colony for over 300 years, then it was ruled by the United States. Today, the Philippines is an independent country.

Filipinos are known for their hospitality and friendliness. They love to celebrate and have many festivals throughout the year. The official language is Filipino, but many people also speak English.

Food and Festivals

The Philippines is also known for its colorful festivals. These festivals often include parades, dances, and lots of food. Some popular festivals are Sinulog in Cebu, Ati-Atihan in Aklan, and Pahiyas in Quezon.

The economy of the Philippines is growing. It is based on agriculture, manufacturing, and services. The country is one of the world’s biggest producers of coconuts, rice, and fish. Many Filipinos also work overseas and send money back to their families. This is a big part of the country’s income.

In conclusion, the Philippines is a fascinating country with a lot to offer. Whether you’re interested in its geography, culture, food, or economy, there’s something for everyone to learn and enjoy.

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Culture of the philippines & nacirema essay examples & outline.

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Examples of Culture Essays Below

Culture of the philippines sample essay & outline, the nacirema essay & outline.

A The national identity of the Filipinos comes out visibly in the cultural sophistication and diversity that is common among the population in Philippines. Cities designs that the people employ in their construction are the ultimate expressions of the desire of the people to express them. Urbanism is evident in Manila the capital city of Philippines. Manila qualifies to be viewed as a dangerous city for its own citizens. With millions of people living in the city, there is heightened pollution and other vices that make the city risky for the people. However, the notion held by many people that the city is a death trap is a fallacy. The city also acts as an incubator for the culture of the people. Urban culture is divergent from the conventional village culture. The views of the urbanites lean towards the western influences. Melanesian culture is also evident in the Philippines (Rodell, 2002). The people are distinct in their looks in that they have blond hair that is mostly found in Europe. This distinct ethnic group adds to the diversity of the Filipinos. The other group of people that adds to the diversity in the area includes the Austronesians. They are among the minority tribes in Philippines (Rodell, 2002).

B Philippines are made up of 7107 islands found on the Pacific Rim in Southeast Asia. The major islands account for the greatest share of inhabitants with most of the islands uninhabited. The volcanic nature of most of the islands makes them uninhabitable. The country borders china, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Indonesia. There are over 175 listed languages in Philippines. Four of them do not have any known speakers. However, there are few known speakers of the indigenous language. This factor coupled by the difficulty in difficulty in determining the exact language to use led to the adoption of English as the official language. Filipino is also used in most of the urban areas. This language is a standard version of Tagalog (Rodell, 2002). The population of the Philippines is eighty one million as per 2000 census. Life expectancy in the nation is 67 years. The most important symbols for the Filipinos include the national flower, the flag and the heraldic code. However, the most significant symbol is the national flag that has white, red and blue colors. Flag ceremonies take place daily in schools and once per week in governmental offices (Rodell, 2002).

D Social classes exist in the Filipino society . The ranking of a person into any of the classes depends on the economic power that he, or she bears. Education is also relevant in determining the class of a person (Rodell, 2002). The political system has some influences from the western nations. However, the democracy in the country is always under attack since the country has witnessed many conflicts in the past that pit the government against the guerrillas and the military. The common trend of war made the country develop codes on the flag that indicates the times of peace and war. This aspect tellingly points towards the precarious nature of the government military relations. The representative government accords a lot of respect to the military class as it is evident in the government spending (Rodell, 2002).

E Like most of the nations in Asia, the gender roles in Philippines are distinctive. Men play different roles from their female counterparts. The traditional role of the men is to fend for their families. The women take care of families by playing the general yet crucial role of homemakers. The traditional roles of either gender are under constant changes. The changes are indicative of the extent of the western culture influence on the people (Rodell, 2002).

F The primary job demands make most of the people living in towns to leave the children with their parents in the rural areas. This approach to infant care places the burden on all the family members. The fact that the children stay with their parents makes it imperative that the children have to attend the preschool years with their elder relatives. The Filipinos lay a lot of emphasis on education since it is the surest way of gaining upward mobility. This approach to education is the main reason behind the high literacy levels among children under the age of ten years. The education system displays both eastern and western influences. The children from the poorest families do not attend school despite education being compulsory to all until the attainment of 12 years. The elementary education takes six years while secondary education takes four years. It is rare for public schools to have kindergartens and preschools. The language used in the schools includes Filipino and English (Rodell, 2002).

H The ruling classes have provided the people with means of accessing medical care with ease. This feat was made attainable by the use of subsidies to enable all the people access medical care at no cost irrespective of the economic power of the people. This is the main driver behind the high life expectancy. The males have a life expectancy of 64 years while the females have life expectancy of 70 years (Rodell, 2002).

I There are different secular holidays that the Filipinos celebrate. Happy New Year is a holiday that the people celebrate with their families this day is combined with the Rizal Day on 30 December. Happy New Year is celebrated by use of firecrackers and gunfire sounds. The fall of Bataan Day is the other significant holiday in the Philippines. This is an observation of the death of Bataan. The people also celebrate Labor Day. The other holiday that has a lot of significance among the Philippines is the Independence Day that celebrates liberation of people from the Spanish rule. The Filipinos of Chinese descent observe the New Year in the Chinese calendar. However, this is not a national holiday. Islamic festivals are also relevant for the Filipinos that profess Islam (Rodell, 2002).

Rodell, P. (2002). Culture and customs of the Philippines. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.

The Nacirema

The Nacirema community has several rituals and practices that can only be described as primitive at best and barbaric at worst. Among some of their practices that are particularly revolting include their fixation with the mouth which they, apparently believe plays a dominant role in their social relationships. As such, they believe that the mouth should be taken care of which is well and good, but the activities that they engage in to "take care" of the mouth include rubbing bundles of hog hairs mixed with other magical powders (toothpaste) in the mouth. Additionally, they have mouth rites where mouth men (dentists) dig holes in their patients' teeth to exorcise evil spirits that are believed to exist in the mouth (Miner, 1956).

In other instances, women bake their heads (blow dry) for extended periods of time as part of ritualistic practices which for the uninitiated seems much more like sadomasochistic tendencies rather than spiritual experiences meant to soothe and ease the pain of their patients. In fact, in some cases, these rituals are believed to contribute to the high mortality rate witnessed among the Nacirema to the extent that small children object to visiting latipso temples (hospital). Among the Nacirema, nudity is a highly private matter, and even copulation between couples happens without their nudity being exposed, but during some of these rituals, the neophytes are forced to be naked while in the temple. The import of these practices are hard to fathom, but we can only conclude that Miner's prognosis of these practices as masochistic and even sadistic (Miner, 1956).

Most of these habits are useless, and cruel because they don't have value. For example, how does baking someone's head make a person well? The issue of having a sick person walking naked in places where they are supposed to be getting get healed and cured of their illnesses is retrogressive and insensible.

Many cultures have habits and values that sometimes we are at a loss to explain their merit and logic. This paper has covered several practices among the Nacirema that we feel are archaic and primitive and have no logical basis. However, the same can be said for most cultures and, for example, in the United States the issue of racism continues to pervade the whole society yet anthropologists opine that race is a societal creation which was meant to justify the excesses of the dominant segment of the population (Boas, 2013). We might even question the ethical values of the American society when in the 21st century it still hasn't found a way to appreciate diversity (Lassiter, 2009; Wolff, Moore, & Marcuse, 1965).

I think what Miner is expounding in this article are the fallacies of cultural habits that characterize human existence. The twist is that while we can vilify the cultural practices among the Nacirema, we might fail to see the common denominator in some of our beliefs and value systems. The word Nacirema is ‘American' written backward, and Miner might have been illuminating the American society and how some of the activities we engage in are vanity (Miner, 1956).

Another body ritual among the Nacirema that is weird involves sick people visiting ootat shrines to have their bodies riddled with concoctions of dyes and subjected to prolonged strenuous hours lying on hard cold surfaces with the ootat specialist diligently splashing copious amounts of these colors into the skins of their patients. It sounds ironical that even after being subjected to such kind of torturous experiences, the ootat specialist demands free tokens in the form of gifts.

This article is a satire – it depicts the culture of American society in a manner that's not directly implied but which on deeper scrutiny reveals close symbolic representation between what is not obvious to us but which would seem odd to an outsider. Miner tactfully employs satire to expose some of the peculiar habits of the American society.

Reference Boas, F. (2013). The Methods of Ethnology. Boise, ID: Angell Press. Lassiter, L. E. (2009). Evolution and the Critique of Race: A Short Story. In Invitation to Anthropology (pp. 1-31). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Miner, H. (1956). Body Ritual among the Nacirema. American Anthropologist,, 1-5. Wolff, R. P., Moore, B. J., & Marcuse, H. (1965). A Critique of Pure Tolerance. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

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