Filipino CultureThe Philippines is a band of islands running north to south between the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea. The country lies to the south of Taiwan, the east of Vietnam and to the north of Indonesia. Prior to colonization by the West in the 16th century, the Philippines consisted primarily of individual tribes. With the Spanish takeover, these tribes were either conquered or converted to Catholicism and brought under the secular rule of the Spanish crown and the spiritual rule of the Roman pontiff. This paper will describe the cultural experience of what is still today Catholic Philippines and what that experience is like.
The Philippines is very much a combination of Eastern and Western cultures, as it consists of an Asian people who have been settled and colonized by Western societies for centuries. Thus, there is a major Catholic presence and culture in the Philippines that is as much a part of the dominant culture as Catholicism is in South and Central America. According to the country's 2014 census, 90% of Filipinos are Christian (Philipppines in Figures, 2014). The origin of this major Catholic group in the Philippines begins with the arrival of the Spanish...
They are the ones who brought the religion of the West to the Philippines. The Spanish ruled the region for nearly 3 centuries, introducing European art and architecture, churches, schools, and ways of life to the islands. A predominant Spanish style is still very much evident in the daily life and structures of the Philippines.
The Spanish-Catholic culture in the Philippines started with the arrival Magellan, the famous explorer who sailed East for the Spanish crown. The ruler of Cebu converted to the religion of Magellan, prompting wars among the natives. More settlers from Spain arrived and turned the Philippines into New Spain in much the same way the Englanders turned parts of North America into New England. The Spanish incorporated the feudal system into life in the Philippines. The King of Spain was considered king of the Philippines and governed via a representative of the crown. This lasted until the 20th century when the Spanish-American War brought the U.S. into control of the Philippines, which did not sit well with much of the Filipino Catholic population.
In the 20th century, the Philippines went through a cultural change as much of the world…
