Western Culture in an Asian Country
@jrlcentral (2605)
Roxas, Philippines
April 23, 2020 6:31am CST
I have been thinking... is the Philippines the only Asian country whose culture and traditions were adapted from Western cultures?
Take a look at our clothing. Even our national clothes are patterned after western clothing. However, our native clothing is quite different as well.
Here's one thing that I have wondered about lately. Almost all (if not all) of our Asian neighbors use chopsticks in eating. We, Filipinos use spoon and fork.
I know that we were greatly influenced by the Spaniards for centuries, Then by the Americans.
Not that I am complaining...I'm grateful that we became a Christian country... but do we even know what the culture was before the Spanish occupation? Or were they forever lost?
5 people like this
5 responses
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
23 Apr 20
i think it has happened both ways. There are bits of the culture of other countries all around the world.
1 person likes this
@jrlcentral (2605)
• Roxas, Philippines
23 Apr 20
But if you take a look in Asia... especially in the South East... some countries have similarities, China, Japan, Korea... then Malaysia, Indonesia, and India... etc...
1 person likes this
@jrlcentral (2605)
• Roxas, Philippines
24 Apr 20
@DocAndersen Actually, it feels like we are Latino-Americans that's been relocated in South East Asia. It's not bad though, one of our strengths is we speak fluent English. At least most of the Filipinos.
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
24 Apr 20
@jrlcentral yes i agree, the western world (old) Europe has less but the western world (new) US/Canada South America has a lot more.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28846)
• Philippines
23 Apr 20
We are like Asian Latinos with English as an official language instead of Spanish ( Pilipino is our National language but English is an official language, Spanish was once also official but very few speak it now)
1 person likes this
@jrlcentral (2605)
• Roxas, Philippines
23 Apr 20
yeah.. they took Spanish out of the curriculum. I think they still teach it in the seminaries.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (169585)
• United States
23 Apr 20
I do not know a lot about your culture, but you bring up a solid question. What can you tell us?
1 person likes this
@jrlcentral (2605)
• Roxas, Philippines
23 Apr 20
The thing is... we are losing our own culture and tradition. Filipinos, especially the younger generation, tend to adopt whatever is trending in other countries.
@franxav (14597)
• India
23 Apr 20
I understand the Philippines are more westernised than India. India was under British rule for over 250 years. We picked up English language, dresses and some habits of our erstwhile rulers but basically the Indian culture has never been abandoned.
1 person likes this
@jrlcentral (2605)
• Roxas, Philippines
23 Apr 20
Thanks for sharing this. This is more or less my point. You did not totally lose your culture. Here we as the years go by, we are losing traditions and cultural heritage. But even our cultural heritages are more Spanish and American
@Butterfingers (66603)
• India
23 Apr 20
I don't know that much about your culture but maybe the Spanish influence make you adopt these things
1 person likes this
@jrlcentral (2605)
• Roxas, Philippines
23 Apr 20
That is true... but these days, even the old cultures that we inherited from the Spaniards are vanishing... being replaced by Pop-culture...
1 person likes this
