Manila culture is being exhibits in their everyday life. From the festivals and events celebrated, type of preference for sports, types of transportation and Arts and Music scenes. The culture is very much affected by the indigenous people who live in the city initially or right now.
Filipinos Etiquettes and Customs
Before visiting, many people will have the image that The Philippines is a rural area and an undeveloped country. However, when people visit the Philippines personally, they will be pleasantly surprised that English is actually spoken everywhere and that young people are dressed in jeans. Just like an American lifestyle, Philippines also have Hollywood films, fast food chains, supermarkets, five-star hotels, Christian churches and credit cards.
However, what differentiates Philippines from the western countries is their culture. The behaviour of the Filipinos is part of the intangible culture of the place.
Gift-giving Take gift-giving culture for an example, in Europe and America, it is perfectly fine when you open presents given by guests excitedly in front of them. However, for the Filipinos, it is consider being an embarrassment to the giver as he or she is placed in a situation in which the worth of the gift is seemingly displayed where other eyes may make a market assessment and compare it to those given by others.
Opening presents in front of the giver also implies that the recipient is materialistic and greedy and is more concerned with the substance of the present rather than the act of giving. What should be done is to just quietly put the present aside until the giver left. This is the time recipient can open and identify the present then verbally thank the giver again the next time they meet.
Time When a guest is invited to the local’s house for party, it is polite to be late. In fact it is not considered polite to be extremely punctual as it makes the guest seem too eager and greedy for food. It is customary to be late and the host usually expect you to be late. The safest measure is to arrive fifteen minutes after the appointed time. The more important the invited guest, the later he or she will make his or her appearance, as much as two hours later sometimes. However, punctuality in social gatherings, business and official transactions are practiced.
Ritual Gesture When a person enters the house of a Filipino employee for some cursory business and catches him eating his lunch, it is courteous for the employee to offer to share the meal with the person. However, it is expected and proper for the person to reply ‘no, thank you, I have eaten’. If he or she accepted to share the meal, the employee will be put in a state of embarrassment and confusion.
Body Language Filipinos greet each other by establishing eye contact and instantly raised their eyebrows and brought down. A smile to go with it becomes a friendly ‘hello’ without words. However, an abrupt backward toss of the head with hard eye contact symbolises a challenge, usually accompanied by the query, ‘what is it that you want?’ Staring is also considered evil and aggressive.
Minimal physical contact with members of the opposite sex should be observed. However, some women may shake hands with a man, but they have to initiate such gesture.
Filipinos are also big on smiles. They smile in almost every situation, be it good or bad. They believe that a smile is a convenient reply when a person does not want to say something unpleasant.
Dressing Appearances are important to a society that values public esteem. One must be stylish and the latest fashion is always admired. Therefore, Filipinos then to over-dress at the beach or for a picnic even if that means they have to endure discomfort and heat while trying to look immaculately attired. Non-conformity of dress will put the person in the ‘outsider’ category. Filipinos generally thinks that, one should dress in the way which reflects his or her social class.
Language and Tone
Speak softly. Speaking in harsh or loud tones could disrupt harmony, initiate disagreement and spark off a quarrel.
The Filipino likes to beat around the bush. Therefore a ‘yes’ can have several meanings. It can mean ‘yes’, ‘maybe’, ‘I don’t know’, ‘If you say so’, ‘If it would please you’, ‘I hope I have said it unenthusiastically enough for you to understand I mean no’. Therefore, an invitation for a dinner could be extended several times. The first time, the person who got invited might say ‘yes’ in the hope to stall time as he or she still have not find the proper way to say ‘no’. He or she will hope to find the right excuse when the invitation is being extended the second time.
Family Culture
It is a tradition for father to be considered the head and the provider of the family while the mother takes responsibility of the domestic needs and in charge of the emotional growth and values formation of the children.
The family is the centre of the social structure and includes the nuclear family, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and honorary relations such as godparents, sponsors, and close family friends. People usually get strength and stability from their family. As such, many children have several godparents. Concern for the extended family is seen in the patronage provided to family members when they seek employment. It is common for members of the same family to work for the same company. In fact, many collective bargaining agreements state that preferential hiring will be given to family members.
Lucky and unlucky Numbers and Dates Belief
Lucky dates of the Year
January 1, 3, 4, 5, 28, 29
February 2, 4, 5, 17, 26, 27, 28
March 2, 3, 8, 9, 10
April 2, 6, 25, 26, 27
May 1, 2, 3, 4, 12, 13, 18, 20
June 3, 5, 16, 19, 24, 30
July 4,12, 15, 19, 26
August 6, 9, 14, 19, 26, 31
September 3, 12, 20, 21, 29
October 7, 12, 17, 24, 29, 30
November 1, 2, 11, 18, 23, 28
December 5, 8, 16, 20, 24, 25
18th on March, September and August are considered unlucky.
There are also four unlucky Mondays. Each unlucky Monday is believed to the unlucky for the following reasons:
Monday of April - when God condemned the towns of Beram, Lipandas, Madama, Sodom, Gomorrah
Monday of August - when Eve gave birth to Cain
Monday of September - when Judas Escariot was born
Monday of January - when Cain killed Abel
Religion
Roman Catholicism is the main religion of Manila. It is followed by about 83% of the population. The other Manila religion includes Taoism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism. About 9% of the population follows Protestantism, 5% follows Islam and the rest 3% follows Buddhism and other religions.
People in Manila also celebrate many cultural festivals in relation to their religion.
INTRODUCTION TO MANILA'S CULTURE
Thursday, December 9, 2010, 10:38 PM