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The word “culture” has many different meanings, some of which can be safely ignored in relation to the topic at hand. Let’s extract one from the Webster’s Dictionary in order to fit the purpose of this article. Webster’s define it simply as:

• an integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon man’s capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations
• the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious or social group

From this definition, it is easy to see that culture is an umbrella term under which are a host of other inter-related things including the following:

• Language and Dialects
• Beliefs and Values
• Manners and Behaviors
• Ceremonies and Rituals
• Thought Patterns and Knowledge
• Arts and Tools
• Morals and Ideals
• Myths and Legend

That’s a lot of things, you might say. The list could go on and on. But the key to have a well-adjusted life in the Philippines is to get acquainted to the most important ones — those that you will use on your day-to-day interactions with the people.

One of the most frustrating and confusing feelings one can experience in a foreign land is the so called Culture Shock, which basically results from a foreigner’s inability to adopt or adjust to another culture different from one’s own. You don’t have to experience that to the extreme.

We hope that this website be serve as a gentle introduction to learning about the Culture of the Philippines the you can come to from time to time as a reference. In the coming days, a lot of articles related to the Filipino Cultures. You will find that the Filipino Culture is rich in diverse influences of many people (with their own cultures) that once set foot in the country, including the Malays, the Chinese, the Spaniards, the Japanese and the Americans.