Steemit Philippines Community Photography Contest Week 3 Theme: Filipino Culture (09-02-2021)_ "Buwan Ng Wika"-

Hello everyone! The theme for this week is rather vague in nature the fact that we have adopted the different cultures and traditions in the Philippines yet it had moulded us together as one being as a true Filipino in any sense of word.

Surprisingly, the traditional costumes of each region which gave that distinction has not been forgotten. More often than not, we tend to present our ethnic outfits on special occasions such as Foundation Day in our schools or other important occasions. By virtue of Presidential Act Proclamation 1041 on January 15, 1997, was duly signed by the then President Fidel V. Ramos, declaring the month of August as Buwan Ng Wika (Language month). It was a mandate for the government employees to wear the customers of each region per week for the whole month. At the same time, the government schools held their respective costumes in each level in their colourful attires.

As you can see on the above photo, the students of Jose B. Cardenas Memorial High School recently held a program bearing their respective traditional costumes in respect to the commemoration of Buwan Ng Wika . You can easily distinguish which region they represent by their outfits.

The Filipiniana dress or often called a Mestiza dress with its distinctive butterfly sleeves, was declared as the National costume of the Philippines. Filipino is the wider variety of the Tagalog language and was designated as the national language under the 1987 Proclamation out of the 188 various spoken dialects of the Filipino people. The Philippines has 8 major spoken dialects which was also encrypted in our Phillipine national flag which reflected the 8 rays of the sun.

Maranao is widely spoken in the place I grew up with though Tagalog is often used as the means of communication for them to be easily understood especially in business transactions outside their place.

This noble act is a good and relevant move for the coming generation for them to know their heritage because it is something to be proud of and it gives us that sense of belongingness. The Philippines had been under the Spanish rule for more than a Century hence we have adopted many characteristics that was patterned from their culture. It is high time for the Filipino people to have their own distinction as an independent nation.

This is all for now, thank you for reading. Likewise, I am inviting my mentor and dear friend @mers to take part on this contest as well as @hae-ra, and @jewel. Mabuhay!

@Sarimanok