Filipino
culture
This page presents some important features of
the different regional cultures that make up the Filipino people according
to ethnolinguistic classification. This grouping, however, does not
mean that these cultures can be easily distinguished from one another.
There are more things that these groups share than things that tell
them apart.
Approximately 150 languages spoken by different
ethnolinguistic groups all over the Philippine islands. Three of
these languages serve as regional lingua francas: Ilokano in Northern
and Central Luzon; Tagalog in Southern, and parts of the Central
regions of Luzon; and Cebuano in the Visayas, Mindanao and some
areas in Palawan.
Tagalog is the basis of the national language, Filipino,
which is also one of the two official languages along with English.
It also serves as the national lingua franca.
There are eight major languages based on the number
of speakers: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano, Hiligaynon/Ilonggo, Waray,
Bikolano, Pangasinense, and Kapampangan. Apart from the ethnolinguistic
groups, a uniquely diverse culture has evolved in Northern Luzon
and in Mindanao and the southern islands of the Philippine archipelago.
The Paleolithic Culture
The story of man in the Philippines goes back
to the middle of the Ice Ages. In geologic terms this is known as
the Pleistocene Epoch which has been dated from 1 to 3 million years.
During this period the entire earth underwent great upheavals. At
least four times the climate of the world became cold and waters from
the oceans were turned to ice and became deposited in the polar regions
in the form of glaciers or sheets of ice.
The earliest evidence for the presence of people in
the Philippine archipelago appeared in Cagayan Valley. These were
in the form of stone tools found in the same rock formation as fossils
of an extinct elephas. These date back to between .9 to .7 million
years or roughly some 750,000 years ago.
Elsewhere in the world as in Indonesia and China
the Homo erectus species were dated to at about this age and older.
Later population genetics studies suggested that about 50,000 years
ago some Proto-malay populations appeared in the country: the Mamanua
of Lake Mainit; and between 30,000 to 20,000 years ago the Negrito
made their appearance. Evidences point to two streams, one - probably
older, is a movement along the eastern side of the archipelago and
going farther north along the coast, while the later one coming
through Borneo and Palawan affected the western side of the Philippines
including Luzon. The Austronesian populations of the archipelago
showed their presence between 6,000 to 7,000 years B.C. »
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