According to a news item in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on April 14, Felipe de Leon Jr., head of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), has asked the Department of Tourism and other government policymakers to promote the country’s local customs and cultural heritage to foreign tourists, rather than concentrating their efforts on promoting mainly our beautiful beaches and resorts.
De Leon Jr. gave as examples of cultural tradition and heritage our local weaving practices, handicrafts and even our local food. These are often bypassed or ignored completely by our tourism promoters.
“All over the world,” De Leon Jr. correctly pointed out, “the main tourism attractions involve culture. People go to Paris not for beaches and resorts but for culture. It’s the main attraction.”
I completely agree with Jun de Leon’s advocacy. But I would go further than his suggestion of promoting also our local cultural practices, like “the art of breaking the hard shell of the pili nuts in Bicol or the skill of cooking cashew nuts in Palawan without getting injured.”
The word “culture” is a problematic term. Normally, when people, especially academicians, speak of culture, they refer to the outward manifestations or practices of a country or society, like its language, dances, the visual arts, architecture and, yes, even its crafts.
I refer to the above as the manifestations of a country’s exoteric or outward culture, which are studied in schools of higher learning and recognized by the educated members of society.
But there is another aspect of our Philippine culture which is not normally discussed in formal educational forums, but which exerts a powerful influence on Filipino behavior and belief systems. I call this the esoteric or hidden culture of the Philippines.
Faith healing
By this I refer to such indigenous or local beliefs in elemental creatures as dwende, encanto, kapre and fairies, in spells for good or ill, in anting-anting or amulets and talismans. The esoteric culture of the Philippines also includes such indigenous healing practices as faith healing, psychic surgery.
In the 1980s, busloads of American and Canadian “tourists” flocked to the Philippines not to see our beaches, resorts and crafts but to visit our local faith healers and psychic surgeons. The influx of foreigners coming to our shores for healing went on for over a decade, until adverse publicity against the practice discouraged many foreigners from coming over. But faith healing and other esoteric practices never died. Now those who come for faith healing are mainly the Europeans, Japanese and Russians, and they do so without fanfare or publicity anymore.
These esoteric or mystical beliefs and practices antedated the coming of the Spaniards. So strong is this indigenous esoteric culture that almost 400 years of trying to Christianize the Filipinos and make them believe and think as European Christians failed miserably. But they think they succeeded.
I can’t help smiling whenever I hear that “the Philippines is the only Christian country in Asia.” Outwardly yes, but inwardly, no. Christianity, as practiced and believed in by Filipinos, is not the same Christianity as believed in and practiced in Rome and other Western Christian countries. Despite its outwardly Christian appearance, Filipino Christianity is still strongly animistic.
The reason is simple. Western Christianity is intellectual, rational and left-brain dominant. Filipino Christianity is intuitive, creative and right-brain dominant. Western Christianity speaks to one’s intellect. Filipino Christianity and other indigenous religious beliefs speak to one’s soul.
I have written, in collaboration with Helen Mirasol, a book entitled “Mystical Journey to the Philippines.” It is 90-percent complete, but it has languished on my shelf for over two years because we lack the funding to carry on a little further research on the depths of Filipino esoteric culture.
We have never submitted it to NCCA because we don’t see this topic being considered part of Filipino culture. You see, we didn’t go to the beach resorts or observe native weavers and craftsmen. We looked into the Filipino soul.
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