Albiet the Filipino culture is a fusion of many cultures but the predominant culture is Hispanic, they seem to confuse geography and race with Culture when if fact Hispanics can be of any race and region of the world.. Thoughts?
I think it is a matter of pride that makes it hard for some Filipinos to accept that Filipino Culture is predominantly Hispanic.
Religion alone plays a vital role in one’s culture and I would find it hard not to associate Catholicism with Filipino Culture. That would mean no Simbang Gabi (Misa de Gallo), Mahal na Araw (Semana Santa), Pabasa ng Pasyon (Pasión), Nazareno, Santo Niño, Virgen Maria, Sinulog Festival, Mascara Festival, Todos los Santos, Flores de Mayo, Santacruzan, Fiesta (in honor of a town’s patron saint), and anything associated with Catholicism. Religion serves as your way of life. Apparently, about 80% of Filipinos are Catholics.
Cuisine also plays a vital role in ones culture. No Hispanic influence would mean all Filipino recipe books would be thinner by about a half. That means no more adobo, pan de sal, caldereta, mechado, menudo, afritada, relleno, leche flan, tocino, longaniza, chorizo, arroz valenciana, sopas, sarsiado, torta, pastillas de leche, yema, and anything that resembles latin american cooking. This would also mean no chuchara and tenedor hanging on the kitchen’s wall.
Another important part of ones culture is the language. Although Spanish is not widely spoken in the Philippines, about 30% of words in conversational Tagalog is Spanish, or at least words were derived from Spanish. Surely, no other culture have more influence to the Filipino language than Hispanic except for the Austronesian language which is by default. No Hispanic influence would mean Tagalog would have other terms for months:
enero, pebrero (febrero), marso (marzo), abril, mayo, hunyo (junio), hulyo (julio), agosto, setyembre (septiembre), octubre (octubre), nobyembre (noviembre), and desyembre (diciembre)
as well as for the days of a week:
lunes, martes, miyerkules (miércoles), huebes (jueves), biyernes (viernes), sábado, and linggo (domingo)
and telling time in Spanish would be nonexistent: ika-apat at kalahati or alas-cuatro y media? Which of the two is more commonly used in conversational tagalog?
More than half of the words about home living were derived from Spanish words:
Living area: sala, lamesita (la mesita), telebisyon (televisión)
Kitchen: kusina (cocina), aparador, kutsilyo (cuchillo),
Dining area: lamesa/mesa (la mesa), silya (silla), kutsara (cuchara), tinidor (tenedor), plato, platito
Bedroom: kwarto (cuarto), kama (cama), tokador, (tocador)
Bathroom: banyo (baño)
and a lot more.
The national garment "barong tagalog" is originally Filipino but the current design is heavily Hispanic. That goes for Baro’t Saya as well.
A lot of Filipino folk dances have strong Hispanic undertones: Alcamfor, Andaluz, Aray, Balse, Chotis, Estudiantina, Habanera, Imunan, La Jota (and all its regional variants), Jovencita, Lanceros de Negros, Panderetas, Paseo de Iloilo, Paso Doble, Polkabal, Putritos, Rigodon de Honor, Saguin-Saguin, Timawa, etc. Even the rural dances like tinikling, itik-itik, binasuan, pandango sa ilaw have some Hispanic tones in their music.
Filipino culture is no doubt closer to Hispanic culture than any Asian culture. If this is not true; then Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, and other Dharmic religions would be the major religion in the Philippines. Most Filipinos would then eat with chopsticks or by bare hands.
Denying all these facts is like saying they don’t exist. Maybe they just can’t see the bigger picture or just blinded by pride.
Hmmm, let’s see. In our ethnic group, our way of life includes:
Planting rice and crops: not introduced by any Hispanic
Raising animals: not introduced by any Hispanic
Worshiping nature: not introduced by any Hispanic
Tattooing: not introduced by any Hispanic
Our house structure: not influenced by any Hispanic
Our dialect: not taught by any Hispanic
Close family ties: not introduced by any Hispanic
Use of woven materials: not introduced by any Hispanic
Use of porcelain: introduced by the Chinese
Gambling: introduced by the Chinese
Our last names: not Hispanic
Our first names: traditional name and most are English names
Hardwork: definitely not from any Hispanic
Can I say then that my culture is primarily Hispanic?
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To reply with your msg that 90% of Filipinos have Spanish last name, that may be true but don’t you know that they didn’t have that Spanish last name because of inter-racial marriages. Dude, Filipinos were forced by the Spaniards to adapt Spanish last names.
Spanish eat rice so does Filipinos and that is a fact but do you believe the Spaniards brought rice seeds to the Philippines? The rice terraces existed centuries before the first Spanish set foot in the Philippines. I don’t deny that Filipino cuisine is influenced by many cultures which includes Spanish but IMO, the Chinese have more influence on our dishes.
It is not only hard, but even absurd to conclude that our culture is primarily Hispanic. It is correct to say there are shades of Spanish culture among the Filipinos, but that is the farthest we can go. Definitely not "primarily".
300 years under Spain did not result in our assimilation of the culture of our "masters". That is because they ruled the Philippines primarily as just a possession, not as part of Spain. That is why there rose the social segments called the insulares, the peninsulares, and the indios.
I completely agree with the previous answerer, who I thought gave an excellent dissertation on this subject. Makes it crystal clear why our culture is NOT PRIMARILY Hispanic.
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the filipino word for work is ‘trabajo’, just like spanish. so what did they do before the spaniards came?
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It is not hard to accept. It’s just we don’t have anything to accept.
Aside from my last name there is zero, 0, nada, sef, awan, wala, nothing, ничего, rien, nichts, niente Hispanic about me..
Our town don’t celebrate fiesta(waste of money) or dont go to sabong(its bad, gambling).
Guess what? Its a GOOD thing…
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…I’m not Filipino, just have many Filipino friends.
Well, you’re right, they confuse geography and race with culture. And with all the other Asians telling Filipinos that they’re not fully Asian, well, many small countries would go on the defensive at that.
Isn’t "Olay" a Hispanic last name? I know a Filipino family with that name.
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Filipino friends
Six nations is a stranger.
Filipino culture is primarily Hispanic. Women in the Philippines accentuates the gracefulness of Queen Isabella I.
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YOU ARE WRONG,YOU HAVE A HISPANIC MENTALITY.
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I think it is a matter of pride that makes it hard for some Filipinos to accept that Filipino Culture is predominantly Hispanic.
Religion alone plays a vital role in one’s culture and I would find it hard not to associate Catholicism with Filipino Culture. That would mean no Simbang Gabi (Misa de Gallo), Mahal na Araw (Semana Santa), Pabasa ng Pasyon (Pasión), Nazareno, Santo Niño, Virgen Maria, Sinulog Festival, Mascara Festival, Todos los Santos, Flores de Mayo, Santacruzan, Fiesta (in honor of a town’s patron saint), and anything associated with Catholicism. Religion serves as your way of life. Apparently, about 80% of Filipinos are Catholics.
Cuisine also plays a vital role in ones culture. No Hispanic influence would mean all Filipino recipe books would be thinner by about a half. That means no more adobo, pan de sal, caldereta, mechado, menudo, afritada, relleno, leche flan, tocino, longaniza, chorizo, arroz valenciana, sopas, sarsiado, torta, pastillas de leche, yema, and anything that resembles latin american cooking. This would also mean no chuchara and tenedor hanging on the kitchen’s wall.
Another important part of ones culture is the language. Although Spanish is not widely spoken in the Philippines, about 30% of words in conversational Tagalog is Spanish, or at least words were derived from Spanish. Surely, no other culture have more influence to the Filipino language than Hispanic except for the Austronesian language which is by default. No Hispanic influence would mean Tagalog would have other terms for months:
enero, pebrero (febrero), marso (marzo), abril, mayo, hunyo (junio), hulyo (julio), agosto, setyembre (septiembre), octubre (octubre), nobyembre (noviembre), and desyembre (diciembre)
as well as for the days of a week:
lunes, martes, miyerkules (miércoles), huebes (jueves), biyernes (viernes), sábado, and linggo (domingo)
and telling time in Spanish would be nonexistent: ika-apat at kalahati or alas-cuatro y media? Which of the two is more commonly used in conversational tagalog?
More than half of the words about home living were derived from Spanish words:
Living area: sala, lamesita (la mesita), telebisyon (televisión)
Kitchen: kusina (cocina), aparador, kutsilyo (cuchillo),
Dining area: lamesa/mesa (la mesa), silya (silla), kutsara (cuchara), tinidor (tenedor), plato, platito
Bedroom: kwarto (cuarto), kama (cama), tokador, (tocador)
Bathroom: banyo (baño)
and a lot more.
The national garment "barong tagalog" is originally Filipino but the current design is heavily Hispanic. That goes for Baro’t Saya as well.
A lot of Filipino folk dances have strong Hispanic undertones: Alcamfor, Andaluz, Aray, Balse, Chotis, Estudiantina, Habanera, Imunan, La Jota (and all its regional variants), Jovencita, Lanceros de Negros, Panderetas, Paseo de Iloilo, Paso Doble, Polkabal, Putritos, Rigodon de Honor, Saguin-Saguin, Timawa, etc. Even the rural dances like tinikling, itik-itik, binasuan, pandango sa ilaw have some Hispanic tones in their music.
Filipino culture is no doubt closer to Hispanic culture than any Asian culture. If this is not true; then Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, and other Dharmic religions would be the major religion in the Philippines. Most Filipinos would then eat with chopsticks or by bare hands.
Denying all these facts is like saying they don’t exist. Maybe they just can’t see the bigger picture or just blinded by pride.
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we do not deny the hispanic influences in our culture but to say that it is PRIMARILY hispanic is a s-t-r-e-t-c-h.
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