Philippine Society and Culture

St. Joseph Parish Church It's already been over a hundred years had passed since the liberation of the Filipinos from the rule of foreign invaders, yet the latter's influence still evident in the daily life of the Filipinos today.    In this special post, we will find out what are the influences of the colonizers that are still observed and practiced by the Filipinos today and how do young generation of Filipino Catholics view these religious influences brought and introduced to the Filipinos by the Spaniards.   Palm Sunday Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday is a Holy Week religious activity where Catholic parishioners and faithful will go to the church to hear mass, bringing with them Palm fronds. These Palm fronds are then blessed by priests with Holy water. At home, these crucifix-shaped Palm leaves will be placed on doorsteps or any conspicuous areas of the house. According to Catholic beliefs these Palm fronds are believed to drive away bad spirits. These Crucifixes ...

  SM City Cebu "We for Gender Equality and Inclusive Society" is this year's theme for International Women's Month which truly reflects women's roles and responsibilities in today's society.  Women's tasks used to be limited to maternal roles and responsibilities. But times have changed and so have their roles and responsibilities in 21st Century society.  If women's roles then were just limited to taking care and raising children and doing household chores, in today's society, their responsibilities and obligations are beyond these maternal tasks. SM City Cebu Women have become catalysts for economic progress. They hold varying positions in both local and international companies. Data show that women's percentage in the workforce is almost equal to that of men.  In the Philippines, women have been part of the country's workforce. They have made significant contributions to the Philippine economy. Millions of Filipino women are working in b...

  Parian Monument  Of the 12 months, February may have the least number of days but to Filipinos, the month of February is one of a few months with many events of national importance.  February, aside from being the love month, it's also a month to commemorate because of other events happening in the country of national importance such as the commemoration of People Power Revolutions I, a revolution widely known as the Philippine revolution without a single shot fired from the two opposing forces.  This 4-day revolution took place along EDSA in Manila Philippines on February 22, 23, 24, and 25, 1986 where millions of rosaries and flower-waving Filipinos converged on EDSA and prevented what could be a potentially bloody revolution. Unlike revolutions in other countries where violence and bloodshed are inevitable, the Philippines' f irst People Power Revolution I was marked by peace and unity for which the country has gained prominence and admiration around the world...

  Undeniably, the advent of modern technology has shaped our social life. Buying food at a restaurant, banking transactions, paying electric and water bills, shopping for your favorite dress or shoes personally are the things of the past.  In today's digital age, we can now do all these which were not possible several decades ago. But aside from the aforementioned, there is also another aspect of our social life that has been changed by modern technology and this is the manner of courtship among the Filipinos.  In this love month of February, we'll talk about the factors that changed the Filipino courtship from the traditional to modern courtship. Below are some of the traditional courtship practices of the Filipinos. We will also tackle factors that could have contributed to the shift of Filipino courtship from traditional to modern.  Love letter  Sending a love letter to a woman is a popular and effective means of relaying a man's feelings. It's really fascina...

Dr. Jose Rizal  Regardless of gender and race, heroes are supposed to be appreciated and emulated for their deeds that made them heroes. Unfortunately, for no apparent reason, this is not the case .  The Filipino heroes, for example, are not getting the appreciation and recognition they deserve, particularly from the young generation of Filipinos. Even Dr. Jose Rizal, the country's national hero is hardly recognized by the youth to which his hope pins upon them. On Rizal day, when asked what national event they are celebrating, many new generations of Filipino don't even have an idea about the event they are celebrating. Despite possessing exemplary qualities and values such as his being intelligence, his being a polyglot/linguist, brave person, being a medical doctor, his being a novelist/poet, his patriotism and his qualities that made him the Filipinos' national hero have been slowly forgotten. It sadden us Filipinos that Dr. Jose Rizal is just one of the country's h...

Undeniably, modern technology has significantly shaped our social life. In today's digital age, almost everything is done through the use of modern technology. Online shopping, ordering of food, paying water and electricity bills are just some of the numerous transactions done online.  But how does modern technology play a role in today's modern courtship among Filipino suitors? In this post, let's discuss some of the Filipino courtship traditions, particularly the "Paninilbihan" or "Servitude" in the English language, and if these Filipino long-embraced courtship customs are still effective in today's courtship. One of the courtship customs of Filipinos is the " Paninilbihan." For  a very long time, this particular courtship tradition had been used by Filipino suitors. Paninilbihan used to be part of Filipino courtship, but sadly it has slowly lost its appeal and popularity among the young generation of suitors. What is Paninilbihan?  Pani...

Lomboy Leaves  The high inflation rates in the Philippines have aggravated the economic life of Filipinos even further. Prices of basic products like rice, canned goods, sugar, coffee, milk, and other basic necessities have increased significantly. Aside from the aforementioned, prices of cigarettes, liquor, and other products deemed unnecessary are also increasing. In this blog post, we'll discuss how do Filipino smokers cope with the soaring prices of nonessential products like cigarettes. Despite the scary graphics on the label of cigarettes, Filipino smokers are undaunted. In an attempt to reduce smoking-related diseases, the Philippine government obliged cigarette manufacturers to put horrible graphics on the labels, but to no avail. Millions of Filipinos still hook on cigarette smoking and they are getting younger.  Increasing the prices of cigarettes has pushed cigarette smokers to look for an alternative. They have found an alternative to cigarettes:  Dried Lomboy...