Visayan Culture free essay sample

The Island of the Philippines is a highly populated island located in Southeast Asia. To its North lies Taiwan and to the West, Vietnam. The Philippines are made up of islands located in what is known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. Which make it very prone to earthquakes and typhoons. It is categorized into three main divisions, Luzon, Mindino, and Visayas (which I will be discussing). With a population of about 92 million, there are a wide variety of ethnicities and cultures found throughout the islands.The region known as Visayas is broken into three different sections, Central, Eastern, and Western. These sections all have islands: Panay and the western part of Negros (Western) Leyte and Shamar (Central) and Cebu, Bohol, and the Eastern part of Negros. All of these islands have provinces as well. The people of Visayas known as Visayans and have a variety of different traditions and history in their origins. We will write a custom essay sample on Visayan Culture or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page They are influenced by many indigenous traditions of the Austronesian primitive tribes.There is a significant amount of Spanish and Mexican influence in the culture due to the Spanish colonization in 1565. They are visible in cuisine, language and religion. Since the Philippians was a territory of the U. S. ; American culture is prevalent in the Vigayaran society also. These include English language, film, and sports. Chines and Japanese cultures are prevalent as well since they have settled in this region since the colonial period.About most practice religion of the Visaya are Christians made up of Roman Catholics and East Timor. Followed by Aglipayan and Evangelicals. There is a small percentage of Muslims and people that don’t specify their religion as well. Before the Spanish and Roman Catholism emerged, many tribes practiced religions such as Animism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. There are 30 languages spoken by the Visayan. The most popular being Cebanu (with about 20 million) Hiligaynon spoken in Western Visayan and Wary-Wary, spoken in the East.These languages are broken into four subfamilies Asi, Surigaon Central, Surgaon West, and Tausug. Visayan refers to their languages as Bisaya meaning Vaysian language. The people of the Visayan region usually live in what is called Nipa Huts, using bamboo cotton, and wood. They are normally built on stilts due to all the flooding in this region. They are greatly influenced by Spanish architect. The Spaniards introduced stones as housing and building materials. They also built European style chuches which still exist today.