Culture of the Philippines
Encyclopedia
Philippine culture is related to Micronesian
, Bornean, Mexican
and Spanish
cultures. The people today are mostly of Malayo-Polynesian origin, although there are people with Spanish, Mexican, Austro-Melanesian and Chinese blood. Geographically, the Philippines is considered part of Southeast Asia. However, the Philippine culture has many differences with other Asian cultures, and has similarities with the cultures of the Pacific Islands
and Latin America, such as in language, food, religion, traditions and ethnicity. The Philippine culture differentiates from other cultures in Asia.
The indigenous culture is related to those of Melanesia
and the later Malayo-Polynesian culture has similarities to Pacific Island cultures. These similarities include the Filipino language and ethnicity; most common with that of Guam
and the Northern Mariana Islands
.
The Spanish colonization heavily influenced the culture. The most significant influence is the religion - Roman Catholicism, plus, Spanish is spoken in some parts of the Philippines, and there are even some descendants of the Spanish colonizers today. As well as the Spanish culture, the Native Mexican
culture was introduced as the Philippines was governed from Mexico. In Filipino, there are many borrowed words from Native Mexican languages, and some people also have Native American origins.
Today, many people do not acknowledge the Philippine's relations with Latin America, Spain and the Pacific Islands. Instead, because of the country's location, it is common to notice the similarities with other Asian countries.
The indigenous population in the Philippines, known as the Negritos, has many similarities with the people of Melanesia and Papua New Guinea
. Some of these people wear traditional clothes such as grass skirts, live in isolated villages in the mountains and rainforest and practice traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyles. After the Negritos, Groups of Malayo-Polynesians came to the Philippines, coming from Taiwan (Filipinos are not descendants of the Han-Chinese Taiwanese people who inhabit Taiwan today, but the Taiwanese aborigines, who have a very small population.) and spreading as far as Madagascar
, Hawaii
, New Zealand
and Easter Island
. Today you can see similarities in language, ethnicity and traditions between the Philippines and Pacific Island cultures, as they have common origins. Later, a small number of people coming from Malaysia and Indonesia
also settled the islands.
Spanish colonization in the Philippines
lasted from 1565 to 1898. Most of that time the islands were governed from Mexico
and later directly from Spain. As a result, there is a significant amount of Spanish and Mexican influence in Philippine customs and traditions. Hispanic influences are visible in traditional Philippine folk music
and dance
, cuisine, festivities, religion
, ethnicity and language
. In Filipino, there are many Native American words that were introduced by the Mexicans in the Philippines. The most visible example of Spanish are the Spanish names of Filipinos, which were given through a tax law (see: Alphabetical Catalog of Surnames), the thousands of Spanish loanwords in native languages such as Tagalog
and Cebuano
, the Spanish speaking parts of the Philippines, and the majority Catholic
religion.
Later, the Philippines was a territory of the United States
from 1898 until 1946. American influences are widely evident in the use of the English language
, and in contemporary pop culture
, such as music
, film
, fast-food, and basketball
.
There are also strong similarities with the Pacific islands, Mexico, and Spain. There are some similarities with Islamic Malaysian and Indonesian cultures, and Chinese
and Japanese
.
areas, while three-fifths of the people live in rural
areas, although the proportion of people living in towns and cities is steadily increasing. The majority of the people follow age-old traditions as well as contemporary lifestyles and trends.
The Philippines is one of two predominantly Roman Catholic nations in Southeast Asia
, the other being East Timor
. Over 90% of the Philippine population are Christians. About 5% Muslims and another 5% either practice Pagan religions, Buddhism, Hinduism or practice no religion at all.
in the 16th century, the indigenous Polynesian people of what is now called the Philippines were adherents of a mixture of Animism
, Islam
, Hinduism
and Vajrayana Buddhism.
Indigenous gods and goddesses include "Araw" (Sun) and "Buwan" (moon), who are people who appear to remove tumors and diseased tissue by sticking their hands into a patient's body and extracting human flesh and blood, but leaving the patient scar free. Some see this performance as a sleight of hand
false interpretation. Believers accept it as true, and accept it as an alternative healing method, and a way to take advantage of the placebo effect
.
and Primitive art consist of classic and modern features that flourished as a result of European and Indigenous influences.
, Filipino
, Tagalog, English and other native Philippine languages
.
, Filipinescas, Barangay-Barrio, Hariraya , the Karilagan Ensemble, and groups associated with the guilds of Manila, and Fort Santiago theatres. Many Filipino musicians have risen prominence such as the composer and conductor Antonio J. Molina, the composer Felipe P. de Leon, known for his nationalistic themes and the opera singer Jovita Fuentes.
Modern day Philippine music features several styles. Most music genres are contemporary such as Filipino rock, Filipino hip hop
and other musical styles. Some are traditional such as Filipino folk music
, These are similar to Latin American and Polynesian
music.
Philippine folk dances include the Tinikling
and Cariñosa
. In the southern region of Mindanao, Singkil is a popular dance showcasing the story of a prince and princess in the forest. Bamboo poles are arranged in a tic-tac-toe
pattern in which the dancers exploit every position of these clashing poles.
Guide to Philippine Cultural and Folk Dances
.Evidence of Philippine pottery-making dated as early as 6000 BC has been found in Sanga-sanga Cave, Sulu and Laurente Cave, Cagayan. It has been proven that by 5000 BC, the making of pottery was practiced throughout the country. Early Filipinos started making pottery before their Cambodian neighbors and at about the same time as the Thais as part of what appears to be a widespread Ice Age development of pottery technology. Further evidences of painting are manifested in the tattoo tradition of early Filipinos (which is similar to Polynesian tattoos), whom the Portugese explorer referred to as Pintados or the 'Painted People' of the Visayas. Various designs referencing flora and fauna with heavenly bodies decorate their bodies in various colored pigmentation. Perhaps, some of the most elaborate painting done by early Filipinos that survive to the present day can be manifested among the arts and architecture of the Maranao
who are well known for the Nāga
Dragons and the Sarimanok
carved and painted in the beautiful Panolong of their Torogan or King's House.
It was Alzina, in his monograph “Historias de las Islas el Indios de Bisaias…1668” who termed tattooing as “paint”. But it is only one chronicler’s word against the others:
"The Bisayans are called Pintados because they are in fact so, not by nature although they are well-built, well-featured and white, but by painting their entire bodies from head to foot as soon as they are young men with strength and courage enough to endure the torture of painting. In the old days, they painted themselves when they had performed some brave deed. They paint themselves by first drawing blood with pricks from a very sharp point, following the design and lines previously marked by the craftsmen in the art, and then over the fresh blood applying a black powder that can never again be erased. They do not paint the whole body at one time, but part by part, so that the painting takes many days to complete. In the former times they had to perform a new feat of bravery for each of the parts that were to be painted. The paintings are very elegant, and well proportioned to the members and parts where they are located. I used to say there, captivated and astonished by the appearance of one of these, that if they brought it to Europe a great deal of money could be made by displaying it. Children are not painted. The women paint the whole of one hand and a part of the other."2
1Alzina, Francisco S.J., “Historias de las Islas y Indios de Bisaias…1668”
2Ib id., Legaspi
Filipinos began creating paintings in the European tradition during 17th century Spanish period. The earliest of these paintings were Church frescoes, religious imagery from Biblical sources, as well as engravings, sculptures and lithographs featuring Christian icons and European nobility. Most of the paintings and sculptures between the 19th, and 20th century produced a mixture of religious, political, and landscape art works, with qualities of sweetness, dark, and light. Early modernist
painters such as Damián Domingo was associated with religious, and secular paintings. The art of Juan Luna
and Felix Hidalgo
showed a trend for political statement. Artist such as Fernando Amorsolo
used post-modernism to produce paintings that illustrated Philippine culture, nature and harmony. While other artist such as Fernando Zóbel
used realities and abstract
on his work. In early 80s other unique folk artist exist one of these is Elito Circa
as amangpintor the famous Filipino folk painter. He uses his own hair to make his paintbrushes, and signs his name with his own blood on the right side of his paintings. He developed his own styles without professional training or guidance from masters.
production. The binakol is a blanket which features optical illusion designs. Weavings of the Ga'dang tribe usually have bright red tones. Their weaving can also be identified by beaded ornamentation. Other tribes such as the Ilongot make jewelry from pearl, red hornbill beak, plants and metals.
The tribes of Mindanao such as the B'laan, Mandaya, Mansaka and T'boli became skilled in art of dyeing abaca fibre. Abaca is a plant, and its leaves are used to make fibre known as Manila hemp. The fibre is dyed by a method called ikat. Ikat textiles are woven into geometric patterns with human, animal and plant pictorial themes.
. This is a common style of art. Also wood carvings like Tiki and flower garlands. Many decorations and sculptures are made from sea shells.
, similar to the Middle Eastern Islamic art. This style is associated with men. The other style is geometric tapestries, and is associated with women. The Tausug and Sama–Bajau exhibit their okir on elaborate markings with boat-like imagery. The Marananaos make similar carvings on housings called torogan. Weapons made by Muslim Filipinos such as the kampilan
are skillfully carved.
The advent of the Cinema of the Philippines
can be traced back to the early days of filmmaking
in 1897 when a Spanish theater owner screened imported moving pictures.
The formative years of Philippine cinema, starting from the 1930s, were a time of discovery of film as a new medium of expressing artworks. Scripts and characterizations in films came from popular theater shows and Philippine literature.
In the 1940s, Philippine cinema brought the consciousness of reality in its film industry. Nationalistic films became popular, and movie themes consisting primarily of war and heroism and proved to be successful with Philippine audiences.
The 1950s saw the first golden age of Philippine cinema with the emergence of more artistic and mature films, and significant improvement in cinematic techniques among filmmakers. The studio system produced frenetic activity in the Philippine film industry as many films were made annually and several local talents started to gain recognition abroad. Award-winning filmmakers and actors were first introduced during this period. As the decade drew to a close, the studio system monopoly came under siege as a result of labor-management conflicts. By the 1960s, the artistry established in the previous years was in decline. This era can be characterized by rampant commercialism in films.
The 1970s and 1980s were considered turbulent years for the Philippine film industry, bringing both positive and negative changes. The films in this period dealt with more serious topics following the Martial law era. In addition, action, western, drama, adult and comedy films developed further in picture quality, sound and writing. The 1980s brought the arrival of alternative or independent cinema in the Philippines.
The 1990s saw the emerging popularity of drama, teen-oriented romantic comedy, adult, comedy and action films.
The Philippines, being one of Asia's earliest film industry producers, remains undisputed in terms of the highest level of theater admission in Asia. Over the years, however, the Philippine film industry has registered a steady decline in movie viewership from 131 million in 1996 to 63 million in 2004. From a high production rate of 350 films a year in the 1950s, and 200 films a year during the 1980s, the Philippine film industry production rate declined in 2006 to 2007. The 21st century saw the rebirth of independent filmmaking through the use of digital technology and a number of films have once again earned nationwide recognition and prestige.
(Bahay Kubo) is the mainstream form of housing. It is characterized by use of simple materials such as bamboo and coconut as the main sources of wood. Cogon grass
, Nipa palm leaves and coconut fronds are used as roof thatching. Most primitive homes are built on stilts due to frequent flooding during the rainy season. Regional variations include the use of thicker, and denser roof thatching in mountain areas, or longer stilts on coastal areas particularly if the structure is built over water. The architecture of other indigenous tribes may be characterized by an angular wooden roofs, bamboo in place of leafy thatching and ornate wooden carvings and sea shells.
Some furniture in the Philippines include windows made from Capiz shells, decorations made from sea shells such as chandeliers, native wood carvings and Spanish-style cabinets and sofas.
In almost every town in the Philippines, is a Neo-Baroque style Spanish Church. Some are made from stone, wood and coral. As well as Baroque churches, there are many colonial style houses and buildings in lots of towns. Some of these towns include Vigan and Intramuros, both with Baroque churches and cathedrals, and old town centers with Spanish colonial style buildings and cobble stone streets.
The Coconut Palace
is an example of Philippine Architecture.
Contemporary architecture has a distinctively Western style although pre-Hispanic housing is still common in rural areas. American style suburban-gated communities are popular in the cities, including Manila, and the surrounding provinces.
Eating out is favorite Filipino past time. A typical Pinoy diet consists at most of six meals a day; breakfast, snacks, lunch, snacks, dinner and again a midnight snack before going to sleep. Rice is a staple in Filipino diet, it is usually eaten together with other dishes. Consumption of rice is not limited to single serve, thus the popularity of extra rice in restaurants. Filipinos regularly use spoons together with forks and knives. Some also eat with their hands, especially in informal settings, and when eating seafood. Rice, corn, and popular dishes such as adobo
(a meat stew made from either pork or chicken), lumpia
(meat or vegetable rolls), pancit
(noodle dish) and lechón
(roasted pig) are served on plates.
Other popular dishes include: afritada, asado, chorizo, empanadas, mani (roasted peanuts), paksiw (fish or pork, cooked in vinegar and water with some spices like garlic and pepper), pan de sal (bread rolls), Pescado frito|pescado (fried or grilled fish), sisig, torta (omelette), kare-kare (ox-tail stew), kilawen, pinakbet (vegetable stew), pinapaitan, and sinigang (tamarind soup with a variety of pork, fish or prawns). Some delicacies eaten by some Filipinos but may seem unappetizing to the Western palate include Balut (egg) balut (boiled egg with a fertilized duckling inside), longanisa (sweet sausage) and dinuguan (soup made from pork blood).
Popular snacks and desserts such as chicharon (deep fried pork or chicken skin), halo-halo
(crushed ice with evaporated milk, flan, and sliced tropical fruits), puto
(white rice cakes), bibingka
(rice cake with butter or margarine and salted eggs), ensaymada (sweet roll with grated cheese on top), polvoron (powder candy) and tsokolate (chocolate
) are usually eaten outside the three main meals. Popular Philippine beverages include San Miguel Beer, Tanduay Rhum, lambanog and tuba
.
Every province has its own specialty and tastes vary in each region. In Bicol
, for example, foods are generally spicier than elsewhere in the Philippines. Patis, suka, toyo, bagoong and banana catsup are the most common condiments found in Filipino homes and restaurants. Western fast food chains such as McDonald's, Wendy's, Pizza Hut are a common sight in the country.
, similar to how Silat
describes the martial arts practiced in Asia. Filipino martial arts include Panantukan
(empty-handed techniques), Eskrima
, Kali, Arnis de Máno (blade and stick fighting), which is very similar to Micronesian stick fighting, and Pananjakman (kicking) Martial arts in the Philippines have similarities to Lua
a Hawaiian martial art.
up to Kindergarten
. At about seven years of age, students enter grade school (6 to 7 years). This is followed by high school (5 years). Students then take the College Entrance Examinations (CEE), after which they enter college or university (3 to 5 years). Other types of schools includes Private school
, University-preparatory school
, International school
, Laboratory high school
and Science High School
. Of these schools, private Catholic schools are the most famous. Catholic schools are preferred in the Philippines due to their religious beliefs. Most Catholic schools are unisex. The uniforms of Catholic schools usually have an emblem along with the school colors.
The school year in the Philippines starts in June and ends in March, with a two-month summer break from April to May, two-week semestral break in October and Christmas' and New Year's holidays.
In 2005, the Philippines spent about US$138 per pupil compared to US$1,582 in Singapore
, US$3,728 in Japan
, and US$852 in Thailand
.
chako, a form of martial arts is the national sport
in the Philippines. Other popular sports include basketball
, boxing
, association football, billiards
, chess
, ten-pin bowling
, volleyball
, horse racing
and cockfighting. Dodge ball and badminton
are also popular.
Filipinos have gained international success in sports. These are boxing
, football (soccer)
, billiards
, ten-pin bowling
and chess
. Popular sport stars include Manny Pacquiao
, Flash Elorde
and Francisco Guilledo
in boxing, Paulino Alcántara
in football (soccer), Carlos Loyzaga
, Robert Jaworski
and Ramon Fernandez
in basketball, Efren Reyes
, and Francisco Bustamante
in billiards, Rafael Nepomuceno
in ten-pin bowling, Eugene Torre in chess, and Mark Munoz
in MMA.
The Palarong Pambansa
, a national sports festival, has its origin in an annual sporting meet of public schools that started in 1948. Private schools, and Universities eventually joined the national event, which became known as the "Palarong Pambansa" in 1976. It serves as a national Olympic Games
for students, competing at school and national level contests.
The year 2002 event included football (soccer), golf, archery
, badminton, baseball
, chess, gymnastics
, tennis
, softball
, swimming
, table tennis
, taekwondo
, track and field
, and volleyball.
, piko, patintero, luksong tinik, bahay kubo, pusoy and sungka. Luksong tinik is a still popular game where children jump over hands and feet (thorns) of playmates. tong-its
is a popular gambling game. Individuals play the game by trying to get rid of all the cards by choosing poker hands wisely.
Sungka is played on a board game using small sea shells in which players try to take all shells. The winner is determined by who has the most shells at the point when all small pits become empty.
Filipinos have created toys using insects such as tying a beetle to string, and sweeping it circular rotation to make an interesting sound. The "Salagubang gong" is a toy described by Charles Brtjes, an American entomologist, who traveled to Negros and discovered a toy using beetles to create a periodic gong effect on a kerosene can as the beetle rotates above the contraption.
The Indigenous peoples
of the Philippines
consist of a large number of Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian ethnic groups. They are the descendants of the original Austronesian
inhabitants of the Philippines, that settled in the islands thousands of years ago, and in the process have retained their Indigenous customs and traditions.
In 1990, more than 100 highland tribes constituted approximately 3% of the Philippine population. Over the centuries, the isolated highland tribes have retained their Indigenous cultures. The folk arts of these groups were, in a sense, the last remnants of Indigenous traditions that flourished throughout the Philippines before the Islamic and Spanish contacts.
The highland tribes are a primitive ethnic group like other Filipinos, although they did not, as a group, have as much contact with the outside world. These tribes displayed a variety of native cultural expressions and artistic skills. They showed a high degree of creativity such as the production of bowls, baskets, clothing, weapons and spoons. These tribes ranged from various groups of Igorot
people, a group that includes the Bontoc, Ibaloi, Ifugao, Isneg, Kalinga and Kankana-ey, who built the Rice Terraces thousands of years ago. They have also covered a wide spectrum in terms of their integration and acculturation with Christian Filipinos. Other Indigenous tribes include the Bukidnons. These groups have remained isolated from Western and Eastern influences.
Lots of the tribes wear traditional clothing such as grass skirts, elaborate headdresses and animal fur. They live in native huts built in isolation over the sea, in the rainforest or on mountains. They live a hunter-gatherer lifestyle using bows and arrows, spears and blowpipes to hunt.
There are about 11 million overseas Filipinos living worldwide, equivalent to about 11% of the total population of the Philippines.
Each year, thousands of Filipinos migrate to work abroad through overseas employment agencies and other programs. Other individuals emigrate
and become permanent residents
of other nations. Overseas Filipinos often work as doctors, nurses, accountants, IT professionals, engineers, architects, entertainers, technicians, teachers, military servicemen, students, caregivers, domestic helpers and household maids.
International employment includes an increasing number of skilled Filipino workers taking on unskilled work overseas, resulting in what has been referred to as brain drain
, particularly in the health and education sectors. Also, the employment can result in underemployment
, for example, in cases where doctors undergo retraining to become nurses and other employment programs. This is because some Filipinos realize that a nurse in the United States or Western Europe, for example, can earn practically as much as a doctor in the Philippines, but live a higher quality of life.
In almost every town, there are carnivals and festivals reflecting on the town or region's history, religion, nature, people and wildlife. In Kalibo, the Ati Atihan festival is when people wear the native Melanesian costumes of the region, paint themselves black and dance through the city with bows and arrows and spears in commemoration of the pact made by Malays and Aetas. In Panglao, Bohol people dress up as tropical fish. There are many more exciting festivals in the Philippines, these are only two. Celebrations around towns showcase crops, food and delicacies. One of the most celebrated festivity is the "Pahiyas", a colorful festival in Lucban, Quezon where houses are decorated mainly with dried rice papers in different shapes and colors. Crops also accentuate these houses in artistic shapes, and styles.
Micronesian
Micronesian may refer to:* Something of, from, or related to Micronesia, a subregion of Oceania composed of hundreds of small islands in the Pacific Ocean...
, Bornean, Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
cultures. The people today are mostly of Malayo-Polynesian origin, although there are people with Spanish, Mexican, Austro-Melanesian and Chinese blood. Geographically, the Philippines is considered part of Southeast Asia. However, the Philippine culture has many differences with other Asian cultures, and has similarities with the cultures of the Pacific Islands
Pacific Islands
The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands are also sometimes collectively called Oceania, although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago....
and Latin America, such as in language, food, religion, traditions and ethnicity. The Philippine culture differentiates from other cultures in Asia.
The indigenous culture is related to those of Melanesia
Melanesia
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
and the later Malayo-Polynesian culture has similarities to Pacific Island cultures. These similarities include the Filipino language and ethnicity; most common with that of Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
and the Northern Mariana Islands
Northern Mariana Islands
The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , is a commonwealth in political union with the United States, occupying a strategic region of the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines...
.
The Spanish colonization heavily influenced the culture. The most significant influence is the religion - Roman Catholicism, plus, Spanish is spoken in some parts of the Philippines, and there are even some descendants of the Spanish colonizers today. As well as the Spanish culture, the Native Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
culture was introduced as the Philippines was governed from Mexico. In Filipino, there are many borrowed words from Native Mexican languages, and some people also have Native American origins.
Today, many people do not acknowledge the Philippine's relations with Latin America, Spain and the Pacific Islands. Instead, because of the country's location, it is common to notice the similarities with other Asian countries.
The indigenous population in the Philippines, known as the Negritos, has many similarities with the people of Melanesia and Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
. Some of these people wear traditional clothes such as grass skirts, live in isolated villages in the mountains and rainforest and practice traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyles. After the Negritos, Groups of Malayo-Polynesians came to the Philippines, coming from Taiwan (Filipinos are not descendants of the Han-Chinese Taiwanese people who inhabit Taiwan today, but the Taiwanese aborigines, who have a very small population.) and spreading as far as Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
. Today you can see similarities in language, ethnicity and traditions between the Philippines and Pacific Island cultures, as they have common origins. Later, a small number of people coming from Malaysia and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
also settled the islands.
Spanish colonization in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
lasted from 1565 to 1898. Most of that time the islands were governed from Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and later directly from Spain. As a result, there is a significant amount of Spanish and Mexican influence in Philippine customs and traditions. Hispanic influences are visible in traditional Philippine folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and dance
Folk dance
The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes:*They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music....
, cuisine, festivities, religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, ethnicity and language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
. In Filipino, there are many Native American words that were introduced by the Mexicans in the Philippines. The most visible example of Spanish are the Spanish names of Filipinos, which were given through a tax law (see: Alphabetical Catalog of Surnames), the thousands of Spanish loanwords in native languages such as Tagalog
Tagalog language
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...
and Cebuano
Cebuano language
Cebuano, referred to by most of its speakers as Bisaya , is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines by about 20 million people mostly in the Central Visayas. It is the most widely spoken of the languages within the so-named Bisayan subgroup and is closely related to other Filipino...
, the Spanish speaking parts of the Philippines, and the majority Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
religion.
Later, the Philippines was a territory of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from 1898 until 1946. American influences are widely evident in the use of the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, and in contemporary pop culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
, such as music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, fast-food, and basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
.
There are also strong similarities with the Pacific islands, Mexico, and Spain. There are some similarities with Islamic Malaysian and Indonesian cultures, and Chinese
Culture of China
Chinese culture is one of the world's oldest and most complex. The area in which the culture is dominant covers a large geographical region in eastern Asia with customs and traditions varying greatly between towns, cities and provinces...
and Japanese
Culture of Japan
The culture of Japan has evolved greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period to its contemporary hybrid culture, which combines influences from Asia, Europe and North America...
.
Way of life
About two-fifths of the Philippines live in urbanUrban area
An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
areas, while three-fifths of the people live in rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
areas, although the proportion of people living in towns and cities is steadily increasing. The majority of the people follow age-old traditions as well as contemporary lifestyles and trends.
Religion in the Philippines
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, the other being East Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
. Over 90% of the Philippine population are Christians. About 5% Muslims and another 5% either practice Pagan religions, Buddhism, Hinduism or practice no religion at all.
Superstition
Before the arrival of the Spaniards, and the introduction of Roman Catholicism and Western cultureWestern culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
in the 16th century, the indigenous Polynesian people of what is now called the Philippines were adherents of a mixture of Animism
Animism
Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....
, Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and Vajrayana Buddhism.
Indigenous gods and goddesses include "Araw" (Sun) and "Buwan" (moon), who are people who appear to remove tumors and diseased tissue by sticking their hands into a patient's body and extracting human flesh and blood, but leaving the patient scar free. Some see this performance as a sleight of hand
Sleight of hand
Sleight of hand, also known as prestidigitation or legerdemain, is the set of techniques used by a magician to manipulate objects such as cards and coins secretly....
false interpretation. Believers accept it as true, and accept it as an alternative healing method, and a way to take advantage of the placebo effect
Placebo effect
Placebo effect may refer to:* Placebo effect, the tendency of any medication or treatment, even an inert or ineffective one, to exhibit results simply because the recipient believes that it will work...
.
Arts of the Philippines
Arts of the Philippines cover a variety of forms of entertainment. Folk artFolk art
Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic....
and Primitive art consist of classic and modern features that flourished as a result of European and Indigenous influences.
Literature
The literature of the Philippines illustrates the Prehistory and European colonial legacy of the Philippines, written in both Indigenous and Hispanic writing system. Most of the traditional literatures of the Philippines were written during the Mexican and Spanish period. Philippine literature is written in SpanishSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Filipino
Filipino language
This move has drawn much criticism from other regional groups.In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language.Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:...
, Tagalog, English and other native Philippine languages
Philippine languages
The Philippine languages are a 1991 proposal by Robert Blust that all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi—except Sama–Bajaw and a few languages of Palawan—form a subfamily of Austronesian languages...
.
Music
The early music of the Philippines featured a mixture of Indigenous Polynesian, Islamic and a variety of Asian sounds that flourished before the European and American colonization in the 16th and 20th century. After the Spanish colonization, Mexican and Latin music was introduced. Spanish settlers and Filipinos played a variety of musical instruments, including flutes and pipes similar to the Quena and Sampoña, harps, guitars, mandolins, ukuleles, violins, trumpets and drums, They performed songs and dances to celebrate festive occasions. By the 21st century, many of the folk songs and dances have remained intact throughout the Philippines. Some of the groups that perform these folk songs and dances are the BayanihanBayanihan
Bayanihan is a Filipino term taken from the word bayan, referring to a nation, country, town or community. The whole term bayanihan refers to a spirit of communal unity or effort to achieve a particular objective...
, Filipinescas, Barangay-Barrio, Hariraya , the Karilagan Ensemble, and groups associated with the guilds of Manila, and Fort Santiago theatres. Many Filipino musicians have risen prominence such as the composer and conductor Antonio J. Molina, the composer Felipe P. de Leon, known for his nationalistic themes and the opera singer Jovita Fuentes.
Modern day Philippine music features several styles. Most music genres are contemporary such as Filipino rock, Filipino hip hop
Filipino hip hop
Filipino hip-hop or Pinoy hip hop is hip-hop music performed by musicians of Filipino descent, both in the Philippines, and overseas, especially by Filipino-Americans...
and other musical styles. Some are traditional such as Filipino folk music
Filipino folk music
Traditional Music in the Philippines, like the traditional music of other countries, reflects the life of common folk, mainly living in rural areas rather than urban ones. Like its counterparts in Asia, a lot of traditional songs from the Philippines have a strong connection with nature...
, These are similar to Latin American and Polynesian
Polynesian culture
Polynesian culture refers to the indigenous peoples' culture of Polynesia who share common traits in language, customs and society. Chronologically, the development of Polynesian culture can be divided into four different historical eras:...
music.
Dance
The dance in the Philippines has similarities with Latin American dance. Also hula dancing is popular, and taught in schools - The Philippines has many relations with the Pacific Islands, hula dancing is common in both places. Traditional dances are similar to those of Latin America and Spain.Tinikling
The tinikling is one of the most popular and well-known of traditional Philippine dances. The tinikling is a pre-Spanish dance from the Philippines that involves two people beating, tapping, and sliding bamboo poles on the ground and against each other in coordination with one or more dancers who...
and Cariñosa
Cariñosa
Cariñosa is a Philippine dance of Hispanic origin from the Maria Clara suite of Philippine folk dances, where the fan or handkerchief plays an instrumental role as it places the couple in romance scenario.- History and Emergence as a national folk dance:...
. In the southern region of Mindanao, Singkil is a popular dance showcasing the story of a prince and princess in the forest. Bamboo poles are arranged in a tic-tac-toe
Tic-tac-toe
Tic-tac-toe, also called wick wack woe and noughts and crosses , is a pencil-and-paper game for two players, X and O, who take turns marking the spaces in a 3×3 grid. The X player usually goes first...
pattern in which the dancers exploit every position of these clashing poles.
Guide to Philippine Cultural and Folk Dances
Painting
Early Filipino painting can be found in red slip (clay mixed with water) designs embellished on the ritual pottery of the Philippines such as the acclaimed Manunggul JarManunggul Jar
The Manunggul Jar is a secondary burial jar excavated from a Neolithic burial site in Manunggul cave of Lipuun dating from 890-710 B.C...
.Evidence of Philippine pottery-making dated as early as 6000 BC has been found in Sanga-sanga Cave, Sulu and Laurente Cave, Cagayan. It has been proven that by 5000 BC, the making of pottery was practiced throughout the country. Early Filipinos started making pottery before their Cambodian neighbors and at about the same time as the Thais as part of what appears to be a widespread Ice Age development of pottery technology. Further evidences of painting are manifested in the tattoo tradition of early Filipinos (which is similar to Polynesian tattoos), whom the Portugese explorer referred to as Pintados or the 'Painted People' of the Visayas. Various designs referencing flora and fauna with heavenly bodies decorate their bodies in various colored pigmentation. Perhaps, some of the most elaborate painting done by early Filipinos that survive to the present day can be manifested among the arts and architecture of the Maranao
Maranao
Maranao is the term used for the people of Lanao, a predominantly Muslim region in the Philippines island of Mindanao. They are famous for their artwork, sophisticated weaving, wood and metal craft, and their epic literature...
who are well known for the Nāga
Naga
Naga or NAGA may refer to:* Nāga, a group of serpent deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.-People:* Nayan / Nayar/Nair people of Kerala Society* Naga people, a diverse ethnic identity in Northeast India...
Dragons and the Sarimanok
Sarimanok
The Sarimanok is a legendary bird of the Maranao people who originate from Mindanao, a major island in the Philippines. It comes from the words "sari" and "manok." "Sari" means cloth or garment, which is generally of assorted colors...
carved and painted in the beautiful Panolong of their Torogan or King's House.
It was Alzina, in his monograph “Historias de las Islas el Indios de Bisaias…1668” who termed tattooing as “paint”. But it is only one chronicler’s word against the others:
"The Bisayans are called Pintados because they are in fact so, not by nature although they are well-built, well-featured and white, but by painting their entire bodies from head to foot as soon as they are young men with strength and courage enough to endure the torture of painting. In the old days, they painted themselves when they had performed some brave deed. They paint themselves by first drawing blood with pricks from a very sharp point, following the design and lines previously marked by the craftsmen in the art, and then over the fresh blood applying a black powder that can never again be erased. They do not paint the whole body at one time, but part by part, so that the painting takes many days to complete. In the former times they had to perform a new feat of bravery for each of the parts that were to be painted. The paintings are very elegant, and well proportioned to the members and parts where they are located. I used to say there, captivated and astonished by the appearance of one of these, that if they brought it to Europe a great deal of money could be made by displaying it. Children are not painted. The women paint the whole of one hand and a part of the other."2
1Alzina, Francisco S.J., “Historias de las Islas y Indios de Bisaias…1668”
2Ib id., Legaspi
Filipinos began creating paintings in the European tradition during 17th century Spanish period. The earliest of these paintings were Church frescoes, religious imagery from Biblical sources, as well as engravings, sculptures and lithographs featuring Christian icons and European nobility. Most of the paintings and sculptures between the 19th, and 20th century produced a mixture of religious, political, and landscape art works, with qualities of sweetness, dark, and light. Early modernist
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
painters such as Damián Domingo was associated with religious, and secular paintings. The art of Juan Luna
Juan Luna
Juan Luna y Novicio was an Ilocano Filipino painter, sculptor and a political activist of the Philippine Revolution during the late 19th century...
and Felix Hidalgo
Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo
Félix Resurrección Hidalgo y Padilla was a Filipino artist. He is acknowledged as one of the great Filipino painters of the late 19th century, and is significant in Philippine history for having been an acquaintance and inspiration for members of the Philippine reform movement which included José...
showed a trend for political statement. Artist such as Fernando Amorsolo
Fernando Amorsolo
Fernando Amorsolo y Cueto is one of the most important artists in the history of painting in the Philippines. Amorsolo was a portraitist and painter of rural Philippine landscapes. He is popularly known for his craftsmanship and mastery in the use of light...
used post-modernism to produce paintings that illustrated Philippine culture, nature and harmony. While other artist such as Fernando Zóbel
Fernando Zobel
Fernando Zóbel de Ayala , is a Filipino businessman, from the prominent Ayala-Zóbel family. Zóbel graduated from Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1982. He also completed a program in International Management at INSEAD in France....
used realities and abstract
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
on his work. In early 80s other unique folk artist exist one of these is Elito Circa
Elito Circa
Elito Villaflor Circa , better known as "Amangpintor", is a Filipino painter and was recognized in his hometown as a folk painter...
as amangpintor the famous Filipino folk painter. He uses his own hair to make his paintbrushes, and signs his name with his own blood on the right side of his paintings. He developed his own styles without professional training or guidance from masters.
Ethnic and Mindanao Tribal art
The Itneg tribes are known for their intricate weavingWeaving (knitting)
In knitting, weaving is a family of techniques for introducing extra yarn into a knitted fabric without knitting them. The extra yarns almost always follow the horizontal rows of knitting and, if visible, resemble a woven texture. Thus, with sufficient force, a woven yarn can be pulled out of a...
production. The binakol is a blanket which features optical illusion designs. Weavings of the Ga'dang tribe usually have bright red tones. Their weaving can also be identified by beaded ornamentation. Other tribes such as the Ilongot make jewelry from pearl, red hornbill beak, plants and metals.
The tribes of Mindanao such as the B'laan, Mandaya, Mansaka and T'boli became skilled in art of dyeing abaca fibre. Abaca is a plant, and its leaves are used to make fibre known as Manila hemp. The fibre is dyed by a method called ikat. Ikat textiles are woven into geometric patterns with human, animal and plant pictorial themes.
Kut-kut art
A technique combining ancient Oriental and European art process. Considered lost art and highly collectible art form. Very few known art pieces existed today. The technique was practiced by the indigenous tribe of Samar Island between early 1600 and late 1800 A.D. Kut-kut is an exotic Philippine art form based on early century techniques—sgraffito, encaustic and layering. The merging of these ancient styles produces a unique artwork characterized by delicate swirling interwoven lines, multi-layered texture and an illusion of three-dimensional space.Ifugao art
The Ifugao tribe in the mountains of Luzon, weave bright red, black and white blankets, fabrics and clothes. These textiles look similar to Mexican and Andean style textiles. The Ifugao also make beautiful headdresses out of horn bill and chicken feathers, with beads, shells and buffalo horns. There woodcarving is also famous, dark and rich wood is used and figures of warriors and animals are carved.Polynesian art
In the Philippines, it is common to see clothes with hibiscus designs like in HawaiiHawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. This is a common style of art. Also wood carvings like Tiki and flower garlands. Many decorations and sculptures are made from sea shells.
Islamic art
Islamic art in the Philippines have two main artistic styles. One is a curved-line woodcarving and metalworking called okirOkir
Okkir or okkil is the term for geometric and flowing designs and folk motifs that can be usually found in Maranao and Muslim-influenced artwork, especially in the southern Philippines, and in some parts of Southeast Asia...
, similar to the Middle Eastern Islamic art. This style is associated with men. The other style is geometric tapestries, and is associated with women. The Tausug and Sama–Bajau exhibit their okir on elaborate markings with boat-like imagery. The Marananaos make similar carvings on housings called torogan. Weapons made by Muslim Filipinos such as the kampilan
Kampilan
The kampílan is a type of single-edged long sword of the Filipino people. Being ancient origin, it has been used in the Philippine islands of Mindanao, Visayas, and Luzon for centuries, used for head-chopping....
are skillfully carved.
Cinema and television
Cinema of the Philippines
Cinema of the Philippines started with the introduction of the first moving pictures to the country on January 1, 1897 at the Salón de Pertierra in Manila. The following year, local scenes were shot on film for the first time by a Spaniard, Antonio Ramos, using the Lumiere Cinematograph...
can be traced back to the early days of filmmaking
Filmmaking
Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program...
in 1897 when a Spanish theater owner screened imported moving pictures.
The formative years of Philippine cinema, starting from the 1930s, were a time of discovery of film as a new medium of expressing artworks. Scripts and characterizations in films came from popular theater shows and Philippine literature.
In the 1940s, Philippine cinema brought the consciousness of reality in its film industry. Nationalistic films became popular, and movie themes consisting primarily of war and heroism and proved to be successful with Philippine audiences.
The 1950s saw the first golden age of Philippine cinema with the emergence of more artistic and mature films, and significant improvement in cinematic techniques among filmmakers. The studio system produced frenetic activity in the Philippine film industry as many films were made annually and several local talents started to gain recognition abroad. Award-winning filmmakers and actors were first introduced during this period. As the decade drew to a close, the studio system monopoly came under siege as a result of labor-management conflicts. By the 1960s, the artistry established in the previous years was in decline. This era can be characterized by rampant commercialism in films.
The 1970s and 1980s were considered turbulent years for the Philippine film industry, bringing both positive and negative changes. The films in this period dealt with more serious topics following the Martial law era. In addition, action, western, drama, adult and comedy films developed further in picture quality, sound and writing. The 1980s brought the arrival of alternative or independent cinema in the Philippines.
The 1990s saw the emerging popularity of drama, teen-oriented romantic comedy, adult, comedy and action films.
The Philippines, being one of Asia's earliest film industry producers, remains undisputed in terms of the highest level of theater admission in Asia. Over the years, however, the Philippine film industry has registered a steady decline in movie viewership from 131 million in 1996 to 63 million in 2004. From a high production rate of 350 films a year in the 1950s, and 200 films a year during the 1980s, the Philippine film industry production rate declined in 2006 to 2007. The 21st century saw the rebirth of independent filmmaking through the use of digital technology and a number of films have once again earned nationwide recognition and prestige.
Architecture
The Nipa hutNipa Hut
The nipa hut also known as bahay kubo, is an indigenous house used in the Philippines. The native house has traditionally been constructed with bamboo tied together and covered with a thatched roof using nipa/anahaw leaves....
(Bahay Kubo) is the mainstream form of housing. It is characterized by use of simple materials such as bamboo and coconut as the main sources of wood. Cogon grass
Cogon grass
Imperata cylindrica, commonly known as blady grass, cogon grass , kunai grass , or Japanese bloodgrass, is a species of grass in the genus Imperata...
, Nipa palm leaves and coconut fronds are used as roof thatching. Most primitive homes are built on stilts due to frequent flooding during the rainy season. Regional variations include the use of thicker, and denser roof thatching in mountain areas, or longer stilts on coastal areas particularly if the structure is built over water. The architecture of other indigenous tribes may be characterized by an angular wooden roofs, bamboo in place of leafy thatching and ornate wooden carvings and sea shells.
Some furniture in the Philippines include windows made from Capiz shells, decorations made from sea shells such as chandeliers, native wood carvings and Spanish-style cabinets and sofas.
In almost every town in the Philippines, is a Neo-Baroque style Spanish Church. Some are made from stone, wood and coral. As well as Baroque churches, there are many colonial style houses and buildings in lots of towns. Some of these towns include Vigan and Intramuros, both with Baroque churches and cathedrals, and old town centers with Spanish colonial style buildings and cobble stone streets.
The Coconut Palace
Coconut Palace
The Coconut Palace, also known as Tahanang Pilipino , is the official residence and principal workplace of the Vice President of the Philippines. Located at the CCP Complex, in Pasay, south of the centre of Manila, it was commissioned by former First Lady Imelda Marcos for Pope John Paul II's visit...
is an example of Philippine Architecture.
Contemporary architecture has a distinctively Western style although pre-Hispanic housing is still common in rural areas. American style suburban-gated communities are popular in the cities, including Manila, and the surrounding provinces.
Cuisine
Food in the Philippines includes wide varieties of seafood: Parrot fish, angel fish, stingray, manta ray, giant clam and sea turtles are some of the most exotic types found in the Philippines. Lots of meat: such as chicken, beef and pork which is sometimes cooked underground similar to Hawaiian Luau. There is Spanish food, such as empanadas and paella. There are also some dishes introduced from China.Eating out is favorite Filipino past time. A typical Pinoy diet consists at most of six meals a day; breakfast, snacks, lunch, snacks, dinner and again a midnight snack before going to sleep. Rice is a staple in Filipino diet, it is usually eaten together with other dishes. Consumption of rice is not limited to single serve, thus the popularity of extra rice in restaurants. Filipinos regularly use spoons together with forks and knives. Some also eat with their hands, especially in informal settings, and when eating seafood. Rice, corn, and popular dishes such as adobo
Adobo (Filipino cuisine)
Adobo is the name of a popular dish and cooking process in Philippine cuisine that involves meat or seafood marinated in a sauce of vinegar and garlic, browned in oil, and simmered in the marinade....
(a meat stew made from either pork or chicken), lumpia
Lumpia
Lumpia are pastries of Chinese origin similar to fresh popiah or fried spring rolls popular in Southeast Asia. The term lumpia derives from Hokkien lunpia , which is an alternate term for popiah...
(meat or vegetable rolls), pancit
Pancit
Pancit or pansit is the term for noodles in Filipino cuisine. Noodles were introduced into the Philippines by the Chinese and have since been adopted into local cuisine. The term pancit is derived from the Hokkien pian i sit which means "something conveniently cooked fast." Different kinds of...
(noodle dish) and lechón
Lechon
Lechón is a pork dish in several regions of the world, most specifically Spain and its former colonial possessions throughout the world. The word lechón originated from the Spanish term leche ; thus lechón refers to a suckling pig that is roasted...
(roasted pig) are served on plates.
Popular snacks and desserts such as chicharon (deep fried pork or chicken skin), halo-halo
Halo-halo
Halo-halo is a popular Filipino dessert that is a mixture of shaved ice and evaporated milk to which are added various boiled sweet beans and fruits, and served in a tall glass or bowl....
(crushed ice with evaporated milk, flan, and sliced tropical fruits), puto
Puto
Puto is Philippine steamed rice cake, eaten as is or with butter and/or grated fresh coconut or as accompaniment to a number of savory dishes for breakfast .-Preparation:...
(white rice cakes), bibingka
Bibingka
Bibingka is a type of rice cake from the Philippines. It is traditionally eaten during Christmas season.-Preparation:Bibingka is made with rice flour and coconut milk or water. Other ingredients can vary greatly, but the most common secondary ingredients are eggs and milk. The traditional...
(rice cake with butter or margarine and salted eggs), ensaymada (sweet roll with grated cheese on top), polvoron (powder candy) and tsokolate (chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
) are usually eaten outside the three main meals. Popular Philippine beverages include San Miguel Beer, Tanduay Rhum, lambanog and tuba
Palm wine
Palm wine also called Palm Toddy also called "Kallu" written in Malayalam and கள்ளு in Tamil or simply Toddy is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the palmyra, and coconut palms...
.
Every province has its own specialty and tastes vary in each region. In Bicol
Bicol Region
The Bicol Region or Bicolandia is one of the 17 regions of the Philippines. Its regional center is Legazpi City...
, for example, foods are generally spicier than elsewhere in the Philippines. Patis, suka, toyo, bagoong and banana catsup are the most common condiments found in Filipino homes and restaurants. Western fast food chains such as McDonald's, Wendy's, Pizza Hut are a common sight in the country.
Martial arts
Filipino martial arts is a term used to describe the numerous martial art forms that originated in the PhilippinesPhilippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, similar to how Silat
Silat
Silat Melayu is a blanket term for the types of silat created in peninsular Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei and Singapore. The silat tradition has deep roots in Malay culture and can trace its origin to the dawn of Malay civilization, 2000 years ago...
describes the martial arts practiced in Asia. Filipino martial arts include Panantukan
Panantukan
Panantukan is the boxing component of Filipino martial arts, and is known in the Visayas as pangamot. It consists of upper-body striking techniques such as punches, elbows, headbutts and shoulder strikes...
(empty-handed techniques), Eskrima
Eskrima
Eskrima is the umbrella term for the traditional martial arts of the Philippines, which emphasize weapon-based fighting with sticks, knives and other bladed weapons, and various improvised weapons...
, Kali, Arnis de Máno (blade and stick fighting), which is very similar to Micronesian stick fighting, and Pananjakman (kicking) Martial arts in the Philippines have similarities to Lua
Lua
Lua may refer to:* Lua , a Roman goddess* Lua , a traditional Hawaiian martial art* Lua , a lightweight, extensible programming language* Lua , a single by the folk rock band Bright Eyes...
a Hawaiian martial art.
Education in the Philippines
Education in the Philippines has been influenced by Western and Eastern ideology and philosophy from the United States, Spain and its neighbouring Asian countries. Philippine students enter public school at about age four, starting from NurseryNursery school
A nursery school is a school for children between the ages of one and five years, staffed by suitably qualified and other professionals who encourage and supervise educational play rather than simply providing childcare...
up to Kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
. At about seven years of age, students enter grade school (6 to 7 years). This is followed by high school (5 years). Students then take the College Entrance Examinations (CEE), after which they enter college or university (3 to 5 years). Other types of schools includes Private school
Private school
Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...
, University-preparatory school
University-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...
, International school
International school
An International school is loosely defined as a school that promotes international education, in an international environment, either by adopting an international curriculum such as that of the International Baccalaureate or Cambridge International Examinations, or by following a national...
, Laboratory high school
Laboratory school
A laboratory school or demonstration school is an elementary or secondary school operated in association with a university, college, or other teacher education institution and used for the training of future teachers, educational experimentation, educational research, and professional...
and Science High School
Science High School
-Located in Japan:*Chienkan High School, Saga City*Mizusawa High School, Mizusawa-Located in South Korea:*Busan Science High School, Busan*Chungbuk Science High School, Cheongwon*Changwon Science High School, Changwon*Chonnam Science High School, Naju...
. Of these schools, private Catholic schools are the most famous. Catholic schools are preferred in the Philippines due to their religious beliefs. Most Catholic schools are unisex. The uniforms of Catholic schools usually have an emblem along with the school colors.
The school year in the Philippines starts in June and ends in March, with a two-month summer break from April to May, two-week semestral break in October and Christmas' and New Year's holidays.
In 2005, the Philippines spent about US$138 per pupil compared to US$1,582 in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, US$3,728 in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and US$852 in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
.
Sports in the Philippines
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
in the Philippines. Other popular sports include basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, association football, billiards
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
, chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
, ten-pin bowling
Ten-pin bowling
Ten-pin bowling is a competitive sport in which a player rolls a bowling ball down a wooden or synthetic lane with the objective of scoring points by knocking down as many pins as possible.-Summary:The lane is bordered along its length by semicylindrical channels Ten-pin bowling (commonly just...
, volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
and cockfighting. Dodge ball and badminton
Badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...
are also popular.
Filipinos have gained international success in sports. These are boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, football (soccer)
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
, billiards
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
, ten-pin bowling
Ten-pin bowling
Ten-pin bowling is a competitive sport in which a player rolls a bowling ball down a wooden or synthetic lane with the objective of scoring points by knocking down as many pins as possible.-Summary:The lane is bordered along its length by semicylindrical channels Ten-pin bowling (commonly just...
and chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
. Popular sport stars include Manny Pacquiao
Manny Pacquiao
Emmanuel "Manny" Dapidran Pacquiao, PLH is a Filipino professional boxer and politician. He is the first eight-division world champion; having won six world titles, as well as the first to win the lineal championship in four different weight classes. He was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the...
, Flash Elorde
Gabriel Elorde
Gabriel "Flash" Elorde was a Filipino professional boxer. He was born and raised in the town of Bogo, Cebu....
and Francisco Guilledo
Francisco Guilledo
Francisco Guilledo , more commonly known as Pancho Villa, was a Filipino boxer. Villa, who stood only 5 feet and 1 inch tall and never weighed more than 114 pounds , rose from obscurity to win the World Flyweight boxing championship in 1923, earning acclaim in some quarters as "the...
in boxing, Paulino Alcántara
Paulino Alcántara
Paulino Alcántara Riestrá was a Filipino–Spanish footballer and manager. He spent most of his playing career at Barcelona and was the first Filipino and Asian player to play for a European club. He also played for Catalonia, the Philippines and Spain...
in football (soccer), Carlos Loyzaga
Carlos Loyzaga
Carlos M. Loyzaga is a former Filipino basketball player and coach. He led the Philippine National team to a Bronze Medal finish in the 1954 FIBA World Championship. The Philippines third place finish remains the highest rank of any Asian team in the history of the tournament...
, Robert Jaworski
Robert Jaworski
Robert Salazar Jaworski , also known as Sonny Jaworski, Bobby Jaworski, Robert Jaworski, Sr. or simply Jawo, is a former Philippine senator, basketball coach and Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association and PBA basketball player.Known as The Big J and called The Living Legend...
and Ramon Fernandez
Ramón Fernández
Ramon S. Fernandez is generally regarded as the greatest basketball player produced by the Philippine Basketball Association. Fernandez won four Most Valuable Player awards and a record of 19 PBA championships bagged...
in basketball, Efren Reyes
Efren Reyes
Efren Manalang Reyes is a Filipino professional pool player and a two-time world champion. Reyes is considered by many to be the greatest all-around pool player in the history of the game. He is affectionately nicknamed "Bata" and "the Magician".-Early life:Reyes was born in Pampanga in 1954...
, and Francisco Bustamante
Francisco Bustamante
Francisco Bustamante is a Filipino professional pocket billiards player from Tarlac, and the 2010 World Nine-ball Champion., nicknamed "Django", after the lead character of the film of the same name, and sometimes also called "Bustie", especially in the United States.-Early life:Bustamante is the...
in billiards, Rafael Nepomuceno
Rafael Nepomuceno
Rafael "Paeng" Nepomuceno is a six-time World Bowling Champion Filipino bowler. He has won the World Cup of Bowling four times...
in ten-pin bowling, Eugene Torre in chess, and Mark Munoz
Mark Munoz
Mark Muñoz is an American mixed martial artist of Filipino descent currently fighting in the middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.Muñoz is known for his wrestling ability and his relentless ground-and-pound...
in MMA.
The Palarong Pambansa
Palarong Pambansa
The Palarong Pambansa is an annual multi-sport event involving participants from the different regions of the Philippines....
, a national sports festival, has its origin in an annual sporting meet of public schools that started in 1948. Private schools, and Universities eventually joined the national event, which became known as the "Palarong Pambansa" in 1976. It serves as a national Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
for students, competing at school and national level contests.
The year 2002 event included football (soccer), golf, archery
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
, badminton, baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, chess, gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
, table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
, taekwondo
Taekwondo
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
, track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, and volleyball.
Traditional Filipino games
Traditional Filipino games include yo-yoYo-yo
The yo-yo in its simplest form is an object consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a length of twine looped around the axle, similar to a slender spool...
, piko, patintero, luksong tinik, bahay kubo, pusoy and sungka. Luksong tinik is a still popular game where children jump over hands and feet (thorns) of playmates. tong-its
Tong-its
Tong-its is a three-player rummy type of game that gained popularity in the 1990s in Luzon, the largest island of the Philippines.This game is played using the standard 52 deck of cards. Its origin remains unknown but the game rules and the very name can be associated with the American card game,...
is a popular gambling game. Individuals play the game by trying to get rid of all the cards by choosing poker hands wisely.
Sungka is played on a board game using small sea shells in which players try to take all shells. The winner is determined by who has the most shells at the point when all small pits become empty.
Filipinos have created toys using insects such as tying a beetle to string, and sweeping it circular rotation to make an interesting sound. The "Salagubang gong" is a toy described by Charles Brtjes, an American entomologist, who traveled to Negros and discovered a toy using beetles to create a periodic gong effect on a kerosene can as the beetle rotates above the contraption.
Tribal groups
The Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
consist of a large number of Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian ethnic groups. They are the descendants of the original Austronesian
Austronesian people
The Austronesian-speaking peoples are various populations in Oceania and Southeast Asia that speak languages of the Austronesian family. They include Taiwanese aborigines; the majority ethnic groups of East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, Madagascar, Micronesia, and Polynesia,...
inhabitants of the Philippines, that settled in the islands thousands of years ago, and in the process have retained their Indigenous customs and traditions.
In 1990, more than 100 highland tribes constituted approximately 3% of the Philippine population. Over the centuries, the isolated highland tribes have retained their Indigenous cultures. The folk arts of these groups were, in a sense, the last remnants of Indigenous traditions that flourished throughout the Philippines before the Islamic and Spanish contacts.
The highland tribes are a primitive ethnic group like other Filipinos, although they did not, as a group, have as much contact with the outside world. These tribes displayed a variety of native cultural expressions and artistic skills. They showed a high degree of creativity such as the production of bowls, baskets, clothing, weapons and spoons. These tribes ranged from various groups of Igorot
Igorot
Cordillerans are the people of the Cordillera region, in the Philippines island of Luzon. The word, Igorot is a misnomer term invented by the Spaniards in mockery against the Nortnern Luzon tribes. The word ‘Igorot’ also as coined and applied by the Spaniards means a savage, head-hunting and...
people, a group that includes the Bontoc, Ibaloi, Ifugao, Isneg, Kalinga and Kankana-ey, who built the Rice Terraces thousands of years ago. They have also covered a wide spectrum in terms of their integration and acculturation with Christian Filipinos. Other Indigenous tribes include the Bukidnons. These groups have remained isolated from Western and Eastern influences.
Lots of the tribes wear traditional clothing such as grass skirts, elaborate headdresses and animal fur. They live in native huts built in isolation over the sea, in the rainforest or on mountains. They live a hunter-gatherer lifestyle using bows and arrows, spears and blowpipes to hunt.
Philippine diaspora
An Overseas Filipino is a person of Philippine origin, who lives outside of the Philippines. This term is applied to people of Filipino ancestry, who are citizens or residents of a different nation. Often, these Filipinos are referred to as Overseas Filipino Workers.There are about 11 million overseas Filipinos living worldwide, equivalent to about 11% of the total population of the Philippines.
Each year, thousands of Filipinos migrate to work abroad through overseas employment agencies and other programs. Other individuals emigrate
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
and become permanent residents
Permanent residency
Permanent residency refers to a person's visa status: the person is allowed to reside indefinitely within a country of which he or she is not a citizen. A person with such status is known as a permanent resident....
of other nations. Overseas Filipinos often work as doctors, nurses, accountants, IT professionals, engineers, architects, entertainers, technicians, teachers, military servicemen, students, caregivers, domestic helpers and household maids.
International employment includes an increasing number of skilled Filipino workers taking on unskilled work overseas, resulting in what has been referred to as brain drain
Brain drain
Human capital flight, more commonly referred to as "brain drain", is the large-scale emigration of a large group of individuals with technical skills or knowledge. The reasons usually include two aspects which respectively come from countries and individuals...
, particularly in the health and education sectors. Also, the employment can result in underemployment
Underemployment
Underemployment refers to an employment situation that is insufficient in some important way for the worker, relative to a standard. Examples include holding a part-time job despite desiring full-time work, and overqualification, where the employee has education, experience, or skills beyond the...
, for example, in cases where doctors undergo retraining to become nurses and other employment programs. This is because some Filipinos realize that a nurse in the United States or Western Europe, for example, can earn practically as much as a doctor in the Philippines, but live a higher quality of life.
Nationwide holiday
- August 21 - Ninoy Aquino Day
- November 1 - All Saints Day
- December 31 - New Year's Eve
Traditional holiday
- January 9 - The Black NazareneBlack NazareneThe Black Nazarene, known to devotees as in English, is a life-sized, dark-coloured, wooden sculpture of Jesus Christ, believed to be miraculous by many Filipino devotees...
procession in QuiapoQuiapo, ManilaQuiapo is a district and city square of Manila. Referred as the "Old Downtown", Quiapo in known for where cheap buys or goods are being sold at rock-bottom prices and was the home of the Quiapo Church, where the feast for the Black Nazarene is held, with over millions of people attending...
, and ManilaManilaManila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
. - Third Sunday of January - The Fiesta del Santo Niño de Cebu (Festival of the Child Jesus of Cebu), Sinulog in CebuCebu CityThe City of Cebu is the capital city of Cebu and is the second largest city in the Philippines, the second most significant metropolitan centre in the Philippines and known as the oldest settlement established by the Spaniards in the country.The city is located on the eastern shore of Cebu and was...
, Ati-Atihan Festival in Kalibo, AklanAklanAklan is a province of the Philippines located in the Western Visayas. Its capital is Kalibo. It is located at the northwest portion of Panay Island, bordering Antique Province to the southwest, and Capiz Province to the east...
. - Last Sunday of January - The Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo.
- March or April - Semana Santa (Holy WeekHoly WeekHoly Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter...
). - May - Flores de Mayo. A festival celebrated by farmers as they welcome the fertile season.
In almost every town, there are carnivals and festivals reflecting on the town or region's history, religion, nature, people and wildlife. In Kalibo, the Ati Atihan festival is when people wear the native Melanesian costumes of the region, paint themselves black and dance through the city with bows and arrows and spears in commemoration of the pact made by Malays and Aetas. In Panglao, Bohol people dress up as tropical fish. There are many more exciting festivals in the Philippines, these are only two. Celebrations around towns showcase crops, food and delicacies. One of the most celebrated festivity is the "Pahiyas", a colorful festival in Lucban, Quezon where houses are decorated mainly with dried rice papers in different shapes and colors. Crops also accentuate these houses in artistic shapes, and styles.
- Last week of May - Pintados-KasadyaanPintados-KasadyaanThe Pintados Festival is a cultural-religious celebration in Tacloban based on the body-painting traditions of the ancient tattooed "pintados" warriors. In 1986, the Pintados Foundation, Inc. was formed by the people of Tacloban to organized this festival in honor of Sr. Santo Niño. Years...
Festival (A Festival honoring Santo Niño de Leyte) in Tacloban City, Leyte - Third Saturday and Sunday of September - The Peñafrancia Festival in Naga City, Camarines Sur, Bicol Region. During the festivities, people attend church services, followed by parades on the streets, fireworks and feasting. The Peñafrancia Festival is also celebrated by a fluvial procession in the Bicol River.
- October 31 to November 2 - "Araw ng mga Patay", "Día de los Muertos" (Day of the DeadDay of the DeadDay of the Dead is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in many cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it attains the quality...
, All Saints Day, and All Souls DayAll Souls DayAll Souls' Day commemorates the faithful departed. In Western Christianity, this day is observed principally in the Catholic Church, although some churches of Anglican Communion and the Old Catholic Churches also celebrate it. The Eastern Orthodox Church observes several All Souls' Days during the...
). Also known as "Undas". During All Saints, and Souls Day, friends and families visit the cemeteries, and pay homage to their dearly departed. The cemeteryCemeteryA cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
becomes a party atmosphere, rather than a solemn celebration. - December 24 - Noche BuenaNochebuenaNochebuena, , is a Spanish word referring to the night of Christmas Eve. In Spain, Cuba, Latin America, and the Philippines, the evening consists of a traditional dinner with family....
(Christmas EveChristmas EveChristmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
). - December 25 - Araw ng Pasko, Navidad (ChristmasChristmasChristmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
). - January 1 - Bagong Taon, Año Nuevo (New Year).