Culture

The culture of the Philippines reflects the intricacy of the the past of the Philippines through the combination of many varied fixed Malay heritage mixed with Spanish, American and other Asian cultures.

Pre-Hispanic, and non-Christian Philippine cultures are derived from many native civilization of the Austronesian prehistoric tribes called Malayo-Polynesian or the Malay people. The prehistoric Philippine myths and Philippine indigenous culture was later influenced by the Malay cultures of Southeast Asia, accompanied by a mixture of Western-Christianity, Eastern-Islamic, Hinduism and Buddhism tradition.

Muslim Filipinos also enjoy yourself their own background and traditions. These groups follow a Philippine Islamic culture, and other Muslim recreation such as the Kali, Kulintang and Gamelan, are used by Islamic groups in the southern islands of Mindanao and Sulu archipelago.

Spanish immigration in the Philippines lasted from 1565 to 1898. Most of that time the islands were governed from Mexico and later straight from Spain. As a effect, there is a significant amount of Spanish and Mexican influence in Philippine customs and traditions. Hispanic influences are visible in traditional Philippine folk music and dance, cuisine, festivities, religion, and language, though usually integrated with other influences. The most visible illustration of this are the Spanish names of Filipinos which were given through a tax law (see: Alphabetical Catalog of Surnames), the thousands of Spanish loanwords in native languages such as Tagalog and Cebuano, and the majority broad religion.

Later, the Philippines was a subject of the United States from 1898 until 1946. American influences are evident in the use of the English language, and in contemporary pop culture, such as fast-food, music, film and basketball.

Other Asian ethnic groups such as the Chinese and Japanese have been settling in the Philippines since the royally period and their influence is also at hand in the fame of making a bet games such mahjong, jueteng, Eskrima and other Asian cuisine