Filipino families often express resilience and togetherness, gathering to share meals, stories, and traditions. The Filipino diaspora is spread across the world, considered one of the largest and most widespread, with at least 10% of the population of the Philippines working or living abroad.
Whether you’re a second or third-generation Filipino, researching your family tree can help you feel more connected to your identity and heritage. While genealogy provides a roadmap to follow your ancestors through history, it’s customs and traditions that make being Filipino part of your daily life.
MyHeritage helps streamline your family history research by giving you access to over 11 million vital records from the Philippines. In this article, we’re exploring the Filipino traditions that are being kept alive across the world by immigrant families and how you can search for Filipino family members in our archives.
Key Takeaways
- Spanish colonization, Chinese migration, and American influence mean Filipino genealogy is richly diverse.
- The 1849 Claveria Decree standardized Spanish surnames throughout the Philippines.
- DNA testing can expand your family tree by uncovering your ethnic origins and identifying potential relatives.
- Filipino naming conventions mean most children are given their mother’s maiden name as their middle name, making it easier to trace your maternal ancestry.
Filipino Home and Family Life
Extended family households are the norm in Filipino communities. It’s not unusual for everyone, including grandparents, aunts, and uncles, to live under one roof or in nearby homes. This multigenerational living arrangement showcases the focus on community and collective experience, allowing family members to maintain independence, while taking mutual care of each other.
Godparents, known as ‘ninogs’ and ‘ninangs’, are considered part of a child’s immediate family. Similarly, uncles and aunts, known as ‘titos’ and ‘titas’, are seen as second parents.
Three key Filipino values feed into everyday life. “Utang na loob”, meaning debt of gratitude, is the sense of obligation that individuals have for those who help them. The second, “Pakkisama”, reflects the need for social harmony and is why Filipinos often avoid conflict by respecting their elders and supporting family members. Finally, “hiya” means modesty and requires families to act with respect and humility.
The Philippines has one of the largest overseas worker populations in the world. Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) may spend years away from home to help support their families financially. It’s one of the reasons why connection is so important in Filipino culture, with families prioritizing staying in touch, no matter how far apart they are.
Faith and Festivities in the Philippines
Indigenous customs and Catholic influences are evident in almost every aspect of Filipino culture. One of the most unique aspects of Filipino culture is that it has the longest Christmas season, running from early September to January.
There are 9 dawn masses held in the lead up to Christmas Eve, known as ‘simbang gabi’, and families will often make star-shaped lanterns to look like the Star of Bethlehem. Families will also host a Christmas Eve dinner with traditional Filipino cuisine, such as rice cake (bibingka), cheese ball (queso de bola), and roast pig (lechon).
Similarly, Holy Week, known locally as ‘Semana Santa’, is widely celebrated, and fiestas are held throughout the year for patron saints. These celebrations include street parades, masses, processions, and wearing traditional costumes. New Year’s Eve, known as ‘Bisperas ng Bagong Taon’, is another celebration with common rituals, including wearing polka dots to attract prosperity in the new year and displaying 12 round fruits for good luck.
Traditional Filipino Cuisine
The kitchen table is often where immigrants feel most connected to their culture, and the Philippines is no exception. Food acts as a type of living memory, allowing generations to pass down their knowledge to each other and remember life ‘back home’, even if they live thousands of miles away.
Cooking is a way to keep traditions alive, but also to introduce children to cultural vocabulary and share stories about older family members. Some of the most popular Filipino dishes include adobo, considered the national dish, sinigang, a tamarind-based soup, and kare-kare, a peanut-based stew. Many regions of the Philippines, and by extension immigrant families from them, adapt these recipes using different ingredients to make them their own.
Filipino families and immigrant communities often host potluck-style gatherings, known as a ‘salu-salo’, where everyone brings a traditional dish or a family specialty.
Reconnecting with Your Filipino Heritage Through Genealogy
Reconnecting with your ancestral roots can help you feel more confident in your identity and create a sense of belonging by helping you understand and appreciate your family’s story. Researching Filipino family history can be challenging due to colonial and linguistic complexities, but there are ways to overcome these.
Naming conventions that help trace maternal ancestry
Many Filipinos have Spanish surnames that come from the Claveria Decree of 1849, when Filipinos were required to adopt standardized surnames. Uniquely, Filipino children traditionally inherit their mother’s maiden name as their middle name, often making it easier to research your maternal lineage.
Start your genealogy research by interviewing older family members and gathering confirmed dates, birthplaces, and locations. You can use MyHeritage to search marriage records to expand your search and start building the branches of your family tree. It’s worth noting that there are only limited documents available online, so it’s also worth exploring the National Archives of the Philippines and local church records for more clues about your family tree.
DNA testing is one of the most popular options for expanding your research, especially as historical patterns of migration mean that many Filipino family trees are multiethnic. The MyHeritage DNA test provides insights into your ethnic origins and helps identify new relatives through DNA Matches.
Connect with Your Filipino Heritage by Tracing Your Family Tree with MyHeritage
Feel more connected to your Filipino heritage than ever before by following your family’s footsteps through history with genealogy research. At MyHeritage, we’re here to streamline your research with a 360-degree approach to genealogy research, from DNA testing to access to vital records and Smart Matching
. Sign up for a free trial today and discover your Filipino roots with MyHeritage.
FAQs About Being Filipino and Genealogy Research Tips
How can I start researching my Filipino family tree?
Begin with what you know. Talk to older relatives and collect a list of confirmed dates, locations, and places of interest. This information will form the basis of your family tree and make it easier to search vital records.
What ethnic backgrounds make up typical Filipino ancestry?
Most Filipino family trees are multi-ethnic, containing a mixture of American, Spanish, Chinese, and Malay heritage.
What are Filipino traditions that immigrant families incorporate into daily life?
Most Filipino immigrant families will honor their heritage by making traditional Filipino food and following customs for celebrations like Christmas, Holy Week, and New Year’s Eve.
I’m Filipino, but my surname sounds Spanish, why?
Under Spanish colonial rule, the Claveria Decree of 1849 assigned many Filipinos with Spanish-style surnames. A Spanish-sounding surname does not immediately imply Spanish heritage.
How can I pass my Filipino culture onto my children?
Incorporate popular Filipino traditions into your daily life, from sharing stories about older relatives to cooking together and connecting with other relatives, while following Filipino values.
The post Being Filipino: Exploring Traditions and Family History appeared first on MyHeritage Blog.
Source: My Heritage
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