How Much Do You Know About Our Culture?

October 31, 2022 Post Number 235

Let me start this post with a few questions.

1. What band(s) the Filipino teens love?

2. What TV series/dramas Filipinos are watching?

3. How do Filipino teens dress?

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe there is one common answer to these three questions... Korean!

Greetings my dear readers and friends. Especially to my fellow Filipinos. Filipinos love to adopt what is popular worldwide. I remember a time when Filipino channels were full of Mexican novela. Even before that Filipinos love to look like and sound like Americans.

You would even hear some people say something that starts with the phrase...

"In America, they will..."

Filipinos love to buy "imported" shoes. Even some of those brands have their shoes made in Marikina. Filipinos love to travel and visit popular tourist destinations in other countries.

Why?

Colonial Mentality. Perhaps characteristics that we inherited since we had been colonized and controlled by Spain and other nationalities for a long period.

The Irony.

When I was working in Cebu, we had an American client with that I often chat with. When he learned I am from Capiz, he mentioned he has some friends exploring some caves somewhere in Ivisan. That's a town a few kilometers from where I live.

I commented, I never even heard of that place! Thetravelingtravelling to various places in our country because of my job, but I don't even know what was worth exploring in the places near my home town! Moreover, I learned about the place from a foreigner!

I mentioned in my last post, My 2nd Entry For Week 4 of the HivePH Art Challenge, that while researching for some information about ironwood, I found out about an ancient Filipino weapon known as the Guijo stick. I found the information from the site named, Traditional Filipino Weapons. (https://traditionalfilipinoweapons.com).

Do you know what the irony is? The site is owned and maintained by Ron Kosakowski, an American. Again I learned something about my country from a foreigner.

When it comes to food, we Filipinos love to eat pizza, spaghetti, shawarma, cheeseburger, and chap suey (which is not a Chinese food by the way). Then at the height of Korean pop-culture popularity, people craved Korean dishes. Who can blame us, Korean food is quite tasty (and spicy). I am guilty of that as well. What can I do? I love ramen and sushi... oh, those are Japanese food.

The irony is, even the world-renowned chef and Master Chef judge Gordon Ramsay prefers the Filipino-inspired Adobo burger on a pandesal bun. Who doesn't love adobo anyway?

While Filipinos are migrating to other countries and adopting their culture, foreigners are coming to the Philippines and either working here or starting a business in the country. And they say, they love Filipino Culture.

Fading Filipino Culture

Going Back To My Topic... Over the years, I have observed that some of the cultures that identify us as Filipinos are slowly fading... some are even gone.

Pagmamano.

Here is a question, do the young ones are still doing the "pagmamano?" (For my non-Filipino readers, pagmamano is the gesture of the young ones asking the hand of an elder relative and touching the back of the hand of you one's forehead). The elder will then say a blessing to the young one.

I still see some kids do that, but it's not so common these days. They rather give a kiss on the cheek.

Listening To Grandma's Tales.

I admit I did not experience this. I believe this was the practice before transistor radios reached the Philippines. At dusk, the children should be at home already, and probably after dinner, they will gather around their grandmother who sits on a rocking chair made of rattan for a story. A ghost story, perhaps?

Stopping To Pray The Angelus

The Philippines is predominantly Catholic. I remember when I was little when the church bell tolls at six in the evening, people would stop whatever they are doing and pray the Angelus. Even the vehicles would stop. I don't see that anymore.

Adopting What Is Popular

I have observed that Filipinos are quick to adopt what is popular in other countries. Halloween for example. In the Philippines, Halloween night was never celebrated. As a Catholic country, we celebrate All Saints' Day and All Souls Day on November 1 and 2 respectively. But we never celebrate Halloween night. Although I remember that there was a time we had a Halloween party at school once. We never did Trick or Tricking though.

Trivia: Did you know that Trick or Treating was initiated by a candy company to boost sales of their products?

A few years before the pandemic, I observed that kids started trick or treating... but not on the 31st of October, but rather on the eve of November 1st.

I'm not saying adopting new cultures is bad or forbidden. However, in the process of adopting new cultures, we tend to forget or discard the old culture that identifies us as Filipinos.

Funny thing is, some people have sarcastically noted that the Philippines is becoming part of China. But nobody complains when Filipinos are starting to look, eat, and speak like Koreans. In the next few years, I will not be surprised if they will start adopting Thai or Malaysian culture.

In Closing

I admit, I know little of our culture. When I realized this fact, I wanted to learn more... and I want to pass what I learn to the next generation...

Perhaps... a visit to the Museum is a good start.

Let me now leave you with a greeting for tonight's occasion...

Happy Halloween!

Thanks For Reading.

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