Western Influences on Filipino Families

The Philippines was already engaged in a thriving cultural and commercial exchange with China, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia before the Spaniards arrived.

 Filipinos have a most diverse culture. The complexity of the country's history makes it hard to pinpoint which traditions are authentically Filipino. Western influences have been a part of Filipino families for centuries

 The colonists found a culture whose family structure, diet, outlook and language was already formulated within the Asian context.
Ferdinand Magellan claimed Philippines in the name of Spain and the ruler at that time, King Philip, and thus begun 400 years of Spanish influence and domination.

 History stated that in the sixteenth century, Pope Alexander VI, in an effort to quell the feuding between the major world powers, -- at this time, Spain and Portugal -took a map of the known world and drew a line down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

 All that lay east of the line was given to Portugal and all that lay west of the line was given to Spain. Portugal sphere and influence encompassed the eastern-most tip of South America what is now part of Brazil all of Africa, and eastern Asia. Spains influence extended to most of South America, all of North and Central America and most of the land bordering on the Pacific Ocean including the Philippines.

 Further, historians also noted that although Spain received more land, it was most unexplored, while Portugal gained control of trade routes and bases that were already established.

 This division of the world explains why the people of Brazil speak Portuguese while the rest of South America speaks Spanish. Although the Philippines is part of Asia, Filipino language and its regional ethnic dialects are heavily studded with Spanish words and phrases.

 It is predominantly from the Spanish culture since the Philippines was occupied by the Spain for over 300 years, from 1565 to 1898. After the United States colonization from 1898 to 1946, the American influence became very evident and remains strong today.

Family Past Times

When you visit today's Filipino homes, especially in the big cities like Manila, you will see almost everything that you see in a Western households, such as video games, flatscreen television, computer and many other things.
Watching Hollywood movies, surfing the Internet and playing video games are now the family pastimes. You do not see the traditional family game "sungka" (mancala game) anymore.

 Even in rural places, it is very seldom to see children play "patintero" with neighbors and cousins while the parents are interacting with one another. The convenience of electronic games and entertainments from the Western world changed the way the whole family interacts with each other and with other families.

Parent-Child Relationship
Children in a traditional Filipino family are trained not to answer back when parents are reprimanding them. Filipino children today are learning to reason with their parents just like what they see on Western movies and television programs. Most Filipino parents still consider it disrespectful for their children to answer back or reason with them. As a result, it creates tension and conflicts in their relationships.

 Many Filipino parents have learned to accept the fact that they cannot stop the Western cultural influence on their children, so they find a way to let their children speak up and yet do it in a respectful way. They make sure that their authority as parents is not diminished despite the new way of interaction with their children.

Family Faith and Religion

Traditionally, the religion of the Filipino parents becomes the religion of the children. No one is supposed to change faith as a respect to the parents. There are many cases of conflicts among family members because one of them changed his or her religion. Most of the time, whoever walked away from the family's faith would be considered bad luck and cause heartache to the rest of the family.

 The American freedom of religion influenced the younger generation to choose what to believe and help the parents to be more open-minded when it comes to their children's choice of faith.

Lifestyle and Values

It is not surprising to see a Filipino teenager boy with either long or spiked hair. He dances and sings to the tune of rap music. Many Filipino teenage girls dress up like the popular Hollywood celebrities. It is also very common to those in the upper class to speak the English language inside their homes instead of their native tongue. Education is always a high priority, whether they are rich or poor.

 In almost every aspect of the family life, the influence of Western culture can be seen. One thing that did not change despite the modernization of the Filipino families is that they remain closely knit. They still believe that it is their responsibility to take care of their old parents. Their homes are still open to extended families.

Music
The symphony, concerto, sonata, opera and oratorio have their origins in Italy. Many important musical instruments used by cultures all over the world were also developed in the West.

Music
violin, piano, pipe organ, saxophone, trombone, clarinet, and the theremin. Folk, choral, classical, country, rock and roll, hip-hop, and electronica.

 These include jazz, blues and rock music (that in a wider sense include the rock and roll and heavy metal genres), rhythm and blues, funk, Hip-Hop, techno as well as the ska and reggae genres from Jamaica. Several other related or derived styles were developed and introduced by western pop culture such as pop, metal and dance music

Dance and performing arts

The ballet is a distinctively Western form of performance dance. The ballroom dance is an important Western variety of dance for the elite. The soap opera, a popular culture dramatic form originated in the United States first on radio in the 1930s, then a couple of decades later on television. The music video was also developed in the West in the middle of the twentieth century.

Sport
Ping Pong tennis Football Football (also known as soccer ) Netball Rugby Baseball Basketball

Scientific and technological inventions and discoveries

It was the West that first developed steam power and adapted its use into factories, and for the generation of electrical power. The electrical motor, dynamo, transformer, and electric light, and indeed most of the familiar electrical appliances, were inventions of the West.

 The Otto and the Diesel internal combustion engines are products whose genesis and early development were in the West.

Communication devices and systems including the telegraph, the telephone, radio, television, communication and navigation satellites, mobile phone, and the Internet were all invented by Westerners.The pencil, ballpoint pen, CRT, LCD, LED, photograph, photocopier, laser printer, ink jet printer, plasma display screen and world wide web were also invented in the West.

 Ubiquitous materials including concrete, aluminum, clear glass, synthetic rubber, synthetic diamond and the plastics polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC and polystyrene were invented in the West. Iron and steel ships, bridges and skyscrapers first appeared in the West. Nitrogen fixation and petrochemicals were invented by Westerners. Most of the elements, were discovered and named in the West, as well as the contemporary atomic theories to explain them.

 The transistor, integrated circuit, memory chip, and computer were all first seen in the West. The ship's chronometer, the screw propeller, the locomotive, bicycle, automobile, and aeroplane were all invented in the West. Eyeglasses, the telescope, the microscope and electron microscope, all the varieties of chromatography, protein and DNA sequencing, computerised tomography, NMR, x-rays, and light, ultraviolet and infrared spectroscopy, were all first developed and applied in Western laboratories, hospitals and factories.

 In medicine, vaccination, anesthesia, and all the pure antibiotics were created in the West. The method of preventing Rh disease, the treatment of diabetes, and the germ theory of disease were discovered by Westerners. The eradication of that ancient scourge, smallpox, was led by a Westerner, Donald Henderson.

Radiography Computed tomography, Positron emission tomography Medical ultrasonography Clinical Chemistry Spectrophotometry electrophoresis immunoassay Stethoscope Electrocardiograph Endoscope Vitamins hormonal contraception,

 Hormones insulin Beta blockers and ACE inhibitors, along with a host of other medically proven drugs were first utilised to treat disease in the West. The double-blind study and evidence-based medicine are critical scientific techniques widely used in the West for medical purposes.

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Themes and traditions

The Catholic and Protestant Christian cultural tradition and ethic.