ASPECTS AND LAYERS OF CULTURE

HOW DOES CULTURE SHAPE

OUR WORLD?

Culture can shape our view of the world. It sounds way to obvious to even be an argument. Many studies have shown that people from different cultures see and perceive things differently and that is probably due to how their culture shaped the way they view the world.

If the brain is, as it seems to be, responsive to cultural influences, and people are exposed to different cultures, then particular individuals may well not fit the "ethnic" generalizations. 

WHAT IS THE FILIPINO

CULTURE?

The culture of the Philippines reflects the country's complex history. It is a blend of the Malayo-Polynesian and Hispanic cultures, with influences from Indian and Chinese.

RELIGION

he Philippines is one of two predominantly Roman Catholic nations in Asia-Pacific, the other being East Timor. From a census in 2000, Catholics constitute 80.9%, with Aglipayan followers at 2%, Evangelical Christians at 2.8%, Iglesia Ni Cristo at 2.3%, and other Christian denominations at 4.5%. Islam is the religion for about 5% of the population, while 1.8% practice other religions. The remaining 0.6 did not specify a religion while 0.1% are irreligious.Before the arrival of the Spaniards and the introduction of Roman Catholicism and Western culture in the 16th century, the indigenous Austronesian people of what is now called the Philippines were adherents of a mixture of shamanistic Animism, Islam, Hinduism and Vajrayana Buddhism.

FILIPINO ARTSArts of the Philippines cover a variety of forms of

entertainment. Folk art and ethnographic art consist of classic and modern features that flourished as a result of European and Indigenous influences.

LITERATUREThe 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 Spanish, English, Tagalog, and/or other native Philippine languages.

EDUCATIONEducation 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 nursery school up to kindergarten. At about seven years of age, students enter elementary 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 include private school, 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.

TRADITIONAL FILIPINO GAMESOne Traditional Filipino game is luksong tinik. A very popular game to Filipino children where one has to jump over the tinik and cross to the other side unscathed.[18] Other traditional Filipino games include yo-yo, piko, patintero, bahay kubo, pusoy, and sungka. 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.[19] 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.[20

MUSICThe early music of the Philippines featured a mixture of Indigenous, Islamic and a variety of Asian sounds that flourished before the European and American colonization in the 16th and 20th centuries. Spanish settlers and Filipinos played a variety of musical instruments, including flutes, guitar, ukelele, violin, 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 Bayanihan, 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.

INDIGENOUS GROUPSThe Indigenous peoples of the Philippines consist of a large number of Austronesian 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. The highland peoples are a primitive ethnic group like other Filipinos, although they did not, as a group, have as much contact with the outside world. These peoples 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 peoples 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.

CUISINEFilipinos cook a variety of foods influenced by Western and Asian cuisine. The Philippines is considered a melting pot of Asia. Eating out is a favorite Filipino pastime. 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 the Filipino diet, and is usually eaten together with other dishes. 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 (a noodle dish), and lechón (roasted pig) are served on plates. Other popular dishes brought from Spanish and Southeast Asian influences 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 of salt), pescado frito (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 may seem unappetizing to the Western palate include balut (boiled egg with a fertilized duckling inside), longanisa (sweet sausage), and dinuguan (soup made from pork blood).

DEEP AND SURFACE LEVEL OF

CULTURE

Some “surface culture” attributes of my Mexican-American background includes kissing family and close “Latino” friends on the cheek as a greeting, eating tamales during Christmas, and cracking eggs shells on family members heads during Easter. I guess the surface culture is more reflective during holiday celebrations. In “mainstream” America, we hand-shake someone if we don’t really know them and hug them if they are close friends. One of the challenging experiences I faced as a foreigner in Argentina was kissing students on the cheek, though I do it with my family and close “Latino” friends; I would never do it with the students I teach. In addition, they would always want to kiss me (all 13 of them) as they walked into the classroom, whereas I was focused on getting the props ready for my lesson and each time I had to kiss one of them I had to stop what I was doing. Eventually, I made sure I was prepared before they came and would “make time” to kiss them with a greeting.

Some “deep culture” attributes of my Mexican-American background are interesting because they include a “Latino” side and an “American” side. For instance, being part of a close-knit Mexican family we are very warm and welcoming with “anybody” that any member of the family brings to our home (whether its my home, my grandmas, or my uncles). Its not something we’re explicit about we are just that way. Another unspoken attribute of American culture is that we say what we mean and we mean what we say, along with being somewhat punctual. For instance, when I was in Ecuador visiting my husbands family (his other half) we planned a dinner-date with his cousin and wife at 8PM.

EXPLICIT AND

IMPLICIT CULTURE

Within each culture are sub-cultures, which form in response to the dominant culture as a means of distinguishing themselves within the context of the larger group. Members of a sub-culture have an even more specific set of shared traits which they use to identify themselves, and thus their culture is made more explicit in relation to the dominant culture. Although every American citizen is part of American society, ethnic sub-cultures exist as a result of people from all over the world immigrating to this country in order to find prosperity. These sub-cultures are explicitly different from the dominant American culture based on their language or dress, whereas the more implicit facets of the sub-culture include a specific ethnic cuisine or religious tradition they practice as part of their sub-cultural identification.

Some of the more explicit facets of a specific sub-culture are often displayed as discrete aspects of an individual's identity. For example, having a concept of privacy varies widely from each culture, and the formation of a sub-culture often reinforces that need for discretion amongst the wider, more homogenous dominant culture. Creating diversions through art, games or jokes is another explicit facet of sub-cultural universals. Each human society fills a need for entertainment through these methods, and fills that need in accordance with the cultural specificities of a given society, culture or sub-culture. They are explicit in nature because they are often the most pronounced aspects of a sub-cultural

A PPESENTATION IN MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION

(ELECTIVE 1)SUBMITTED TO:

PROF. MARK LLANTOSUBMITTED BY:

BANGCAS, GIE ANNBANGCAS, JOANNAH ROSE

BUYOC, ANGEMELCANONEO, GEY MARRIE

DALUMATAN, ALDREN JADERHEA OF BIO-SCI

BSED- TLE 3