six facts about filipinos

One thing I love about traveling the most is understanding and getting to know different cultures. Cultures are the roots that hold everyone together to stay connected and if you dig deep enough, you’ll be able to understand everyone’s values and beliefs. The Philippines, like America, is surprisingly a very diverse country. The Philippines is made up of over 7,000 islands including their own cultural differences among the different regions (17) themselves. Before coming here, I didn’t know a lot about the filipino culture so upon arrival to the country and my host community, I was soaking up all the information I could about the culture. This weeks challenge was to describe the cultural differences that we see in our host countries, so here are my top six things you should know about the filipino culture!

language – Nagahambal ako sa kinaray-a (I speak kinaraya).  Karay-a or Kinaray-a is the official language of my province, Antique.  That being said the people who live here are the ONLY ones who know and speak kinaray-a, and this is very common in the Philippines. As Tagalog (Filipino) is noted as the national language it is mainly only spoken in Manila and some other regions in the north.  Every filipino knows how to speak Tagalog but here in the Visayas, it is not used.  In some regions people will actually not talk to you or ignore you if you speak in Tagalog because they believe their language is better! Fortunately, kinaray-a is similar to some other languages spoken on or near my island (Ilonggo, Ilokano, Cebuano or all similarly known as Visayas) so I am still able to communicate when traveling.

The size of my province compared to the rest of the Philippines

greetings – Everyone greets one another here, even if you don’t know them.  The traditional greetings in my municipality/province begin with “mayad” which means good/fine so the mornings are welcomed with “mayad nga aga” the afternoons “mayad nga hapon” and the evenings “mayad nga gabie”.  In the states you wouldn’t dare say hi or give a smile to a stranger  when your walking down the street because its just not something that is done, honestly, you’ll probably get looked at funny.  People also greet one another with a kiss on the cheek.  If its your birthday or you haven’t seen a friend or co-worker for a while, be prepared for kisses!

time – I’ve done a post about this before but the way time is viewed here is at a much slower pace.  It forces you to slow down and appreciate the little things of your day instead of rushing through trying to get from one place to the next. If theres an event at 8, show up at 9 or 9:30 and you’ll be lucky if it starts by 10!

food – Kaon Na! Is a phrase that is heard a lot, it means “lets eat!”  Food (more specifically rice) is a huge part of filipino culture.  Rice is a staple food and shows up at every meal, and sometimes even for merienda. Meat is also a big part of the food culture here, especially pork or lechon if the occasion is special.  Those of you who know me know I am a vegetarian, coming to the Philippines where meat surrounds a lot of their dishes, I had a hard time finding and figuring out what to eat.  I also am against the norm again and don’t eat rice (indi ko gusto..sakit ang buso ko) so you can only imagine the weird looks that I get from filipinos when I tell them I don’t eat meat OR rice.  But then I explain to them how in America we don’t eat rice and its mostly common when we make indian or mexican dishes, and the meat industry in America is horrible its never fresh, I usually spare my personal reasons for not eating meat because with the language barrier, it’s quite hard to explain.  So you’ll just hear me say laswa lang (vegetables only).

rice, rice & more rice

family – The Philippines is part of a collectivist country so they value being with one another, unlike America where we have a individualistic culture and value our independence, people are always together.  Family here is a very important part of the culture and everyone is somehow related.  The sizes of families here are large, everyone usually has multiple siblings (my nanay is one of 10) and they all live close, or with one another.  It is also very common to have multiple generations living in the household as the lola (grandmother)  or lolo (grandfather) will be taken care of by their children.

hospitality – No matter where you are in the Philippines, you will always feel welcomed.  Filipinos are known for their hospitality and kindness not only to one another but to foreigners as well.  If you need help, someone will be there to help you.  Lost? Don’t worry because you’ll be pointed in the right direction and maybe even be joined by a kasama.  The hospitality that I have witnessed in my host community has been amazing and makes me feel like I am no longer a stranger, but a part of the community.

The Filipino culture, like any other, has its quirks that I don’t quite understand yet but as the days go by I’m learning new things about this culture, and my own culture too.

This post is part of Blogging Abroad’s 2017 New Years Blog Challenge, week three: Cultural Differences.