Barrio Fiesta in Austria
Filipino Culture & Festival/ Barrio Fiesta in Austria!
There are many types of Filipino in Austria with different dialects from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The major annual gathering for the Filipino community in Austria is the Barrio Fiesta, a Filipino festival in Vienna, the capital of Austria.
They also gather not only at the festival, but also in the Christmas season where many of the Filipino community celebrate Christmas in every bundesland of Austria.
Filipinos in Austria are either migrants from the Philippines or descendants of Philippine citizens who live in Austria, and are part of a broader pattern of migration from the Philippines.
Everyone who migrates to Austria needs to learn the German language, which is the main language spoken in the country. This is very important if you live in Austria, so that you can communicate with people and also work, as many Austrians don't speak English. According to Wikipedia, roughly 30,000 Filipinos reside in Austria. Many are Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs.
Twenty thousand Filipinos, a majority of them women, are employed as nurses in Austrian hospitals, mostly in Vienna. A couple hundred Filipinos also work as maids and domestic workers. As of 2008, there were about 53 Filipino organisations in Austria.
The Philippines Culture and Tradition
The Republic of the Philippines was named to honor King Philip II of Spain in 1543. But before the Spanish colonization, Many native tribes already existed. In the mountainous regions, there are still native tribes in existence today.
Filipinos who live abroad adopt the western culture and integrate into society wherever they live, as they like to “go with the flow” and get along with everyone.
Filipino families always help each other no matter what happens, whether the family members do right or wrong. Family members must be given attention and should never be abandoned. Filipinos stick together and help each other no matter what happens for the better or worse.
Filipino people always love to smile no matter what happens, even in the time of calamities and other challenges in life, they try to stay positive. Most of them love to make jokes and try to make fun of it. They always find something to be happy about, a reason to celebrate.
Pintor: ©Fernando Amorsolo
Hospitality & Compassion
A Filipino trait is being receptive and generous to guests. They love to cook and provide many foods to the guest.
Pintor: ©Fernando Amorsolo
Filipinos are very sympathetic to others even if the person is a stranger. They always like to provide for those in need. Filipinos often say "kawawa naman or nakakaawa" when they see people suffering in the streets. Filipinos like to help without expecting any remuneration.
Pintor: ©Fernando Amorsolo
Though they always like to help and give others, many often have a feeling of obligation to repay someone especially when someone does good to you. They call this “utang na loob”.
Pintor: ©Fernando Amorsolo
Bahay Kubo
Bahay kubo is a traditional house and one of the trademarks of the Philippines. Its roof is made from woven coconut or nipa leaves. Its walls are made of bamboo. It usually stands on stilts to protect the dwellers from wild animals. Bahay is the Tagalog word for house kubo is translated into Hut The Bahay Kubo is one of the most illustrative and recognized icons of the Philippines. The name of the primitive Nipa hut is actually based on the Spanish phrase Cubo, meaning cube, probably because of its rectangular appearance and Bahay is the Filipino word for house."Bahay Kubo" also is the famous children's folk song in the Philippines.
Pintor: ©Fernando Amorsolo
Religion
Most Filipinos are Christian with the majority being catholic, along with protestants, adventists, evangelicals etc. There are also a number of Filipino muslims, and people from tribal backgrounds who believe in ancient Gods and shamanism. But no matter what type of religion, they all hold very strong religious beliefs.
Domain
Many often retreat from certain undertakings and believe in leaving everything to God, saying “what will be, will be” which is known as the “bahala na” attitude.They believe that everything in their life is “kapalaran” or foredestined.
Respect to Elders
When it comes to respect, Filipinos are very respectful to one another especially to their elders. The young never discuss to their parents, aunts, uncles or grandparents. They are taught well with discipline.
Photo: ©Fernando Amorsolo & RoniloAbayan
Music, Arts and Literature
Filipinos are very fond of music. They use various materials to create sound. They love performing dances (Tiniking and Carinosa) and group singing during festive celebrations. Settlers from Spain introduced to them a variety of musical instruments like the ukulele, trumpet, drums and violin. Most of their music is contemporary and they have also learned to write their own songs based on real life events. People are also fond of folklore, which was influenced by the early church and Spanish literature. Jose Rizal, the country's national hero, is famous for his literature and novels inspired from the independence story of the country
Traditional dance Tinikling
Harana
Harana is an old Filipino courtship tradition of serenading women. It is mostly practiced in rural areas and small towns. The man, usually accompanied by his close friends, goes to the house of the woman he is courting and plays music or dance and sings love songs to her
Pintor: ©Fernando Amor
Tinikling
The dance involves two people beating, tapping, and sliding bamboo poles on the ground and against each other in coordination with one or more dancers who step over and in between the poles in a dance. It is traditionally danced to rondalla music, a sort of serenade played by an ensemble of stringed instruments which originated in Spain during the Middle Ages. The dance originated in Leyte, an island in the Visayas in the central Philippines. It imitates the movement of the tikling birds as they walk between grass stems, run over tree branches, or dodge bamboo traps set by rice farmers. Dancers imitate the tikling bird's legendary grace and speed by skillfully maneuvering between large bamboo poles.
Pintor: ©Fernando Amorsolo
Carabao
The Carabao is the national animal of the Philippines. Carabao is a water buffalo that is endemic in Southeast Asia. Aside from helping our farmers plow the fields, this animal is symbolizes, strength, power, efficiency, perseverance and most of all, hardwork. The farmers would have to rely on the carabao’s hard work and patience to get the job done. The carabao is very important for the farmers because it helps them to provide everything in the farm always given its best for the Filipino farmers.
Photo: ©Pablo S.
Filipino Foods
Filipinos can't go a day without including rice in their meals. They love plain rice with vegetables matched with salted fish/bagoong, chicken, other meat, or fish. They serve rice first followed by the various viands they have grown to eat and cook. Filipinos have a very regular eating schedule: morning, mid-morning, lunch, afternoon (merienda) and dinner.
They enjoy a variety of sweet foods adopted from other countries which encouraged them to make their own desserts like "spaghetti" "mahablanca" a dessert made of coconut milk, corn, sugar, or "puto" and "palitaw" "suman", bibingka "biko" which are also made with coconut milk. They also enjoy eating bananacue/grilled/cooked banana and their favorite "halo-halo" for their afternoon snack which means "mixture," a popular dessert that consists of layers of cornflakes, ice cream, small pieces of gelatin, milk and shaved ice.
Aling Pusing
During special occasions like a town's big event in celebration of their saint's feast, a favorite food Valenciana and "lechon," a suckling pig/duck/chicken that has been roasted until the skin turns crusty is served. They cook plenty of foods like caldereta, adobo, and grilled meat and fish.
During special occasions like a town's big event in celebration of their saint's feast, a favorite food Valenciana and "lechon," a suckling pig/duck/chicken that has been roasted until the skin turns crusty is served. They cook plenty of foods like caldereta, adobo, and grilled meat and fish.
Cebu Lechon
Some street foods are also common in the country like the famous barbecue meat and fish, "balut," a boiled duck egg with an embryo, and fish and squid balls on a stick that are dipped on spicy and sweet sauces. They love to use vinegar and soja sauce most of them love to eat sour mango/santol/tamarind/guava/papaya or any sort of sour with match vinegar and salted fish or bagoong.
Some street foods are also common in the country like the famous barbecue meat and fish, "balut," a boiled duck egg with an embryo, and fish and squid balls on a stick that are dipped on spicy and sweet sauces. They love to use vinegar and soja sauce most of them love to eat sour mango/santol/tamarind/guava/papaya or any sort of sour with match vinegar and salted fish or bagoong.
©Analie R.
Conclusion
The Philippines has a very unique culture and has a total of 171 different languages which are spoken in the country, Tagalog is the mother language used to understand each other. Filipino people are very hardworking and strive to make life better for the next generation of their family. No matter what tribe they are, they are all still Filipino people who share common traits.
Pintor: ©Fernando Amorsolo
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