I am Filipino and I will not answer this question with the all too familiar “they are hardworking, creative, fun loving, lazy people, etc” which has become at the very least too clichè, because these traits can be attributed to external factors like the economy, quality of life, and social status. Which has little or no influence on the more intrinsic traits of a typical Filipino
So what are the typical traits my countrymen could have? Here are a few examples (Hopefully you will get a clearer picture of the average Filipino)
- “Mano Po” - Our way of greeting our elders. It is done by putting their hand gently on our foreheads. It is basically a sign of respect. No one else on the planet does that so that makes it a unique trait.
- Family Oriented - If you marry a Filipino/Filipina, You will have a very high chance of getting a whole battalion of new ‘relatives’. Attributed to our ancestors who are already clan oriented before the Spanish came.
- Being Partly Spanish - We are the Spain of the Orient. Spanish Architecture, Spanish Words mixed in with our dialect,Spanish surnames, Spanish influenced cuisine, being Catholic (excluding our Muslim Brothers who comprise 5% of the population), etc. I mean where else can you find numerous oriental looking men named Gonzalez, Jose, Juan, etc.
- Being Partly American - After the Spanish, came the Americans. They brought with them their love for burgers, hot dogs and most importantly their language. We are arguably the most fluent English Speakers in the Eastern Hemisphere.
- Being Partly American-Spanish - So its a mix. One good example is the names. Leo Valdez, Russel De La Cerna, etc.
- Having an openness vibe - Being colonized for hundreds of years makes us more trusting and friendlier to foreigners especially those from the west. So much so that most of us think that working in the west provides better opportunities, in turn creating a worldly people (Filipinos being among the worlds largest diasporas).
- Socially Conscious - Being in a family oriented culture makes us be more dependent on what others see us especially to our social circles.
- Old Meets Modern - Most are very religious and conservative people and very dependent on social media. An attribute to being Family Oriented and Socially Conscious.
Being Filipino is like being in a melting pot of cultures derived from hundreds of years of colonization and ‘westernization’ and before that a society more akin to our Malay brothers in Southeast Asia. These traits are essentially a combination of East and West.
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