Filipinos Culture

Hundreds of boys and girls and their parents paraded around the lake at Cerritos Regional Park on Saturday to mark the Santacruzan, an annual Filipino cultural and religious festival. The event, sponsored locally by the Philippine Society of Southeast Los Angeles, climaxed with a feast and dancing.

The current American tour by the popular and influential Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company returns audiences to the age of innocence in adapted folklore. Founded in 1957 by Helena Z. Benitez, the company has always specialized in hyper-accessible hands-across-the-sea sampler programs, with the incredibly rich and varied resources of Philippine traditional cultures presented as a collection of glossy souvenirs.

A phone call to "Auntie Helen's" library was all it took a San Diego singer to get the words to an old Filipino ballad, sung by farmers planting rice. Four visits to the library helped a UCLA graduate student complete his research on the Filipino American community of the 1920s and 1930s.

They streamed into the modest living room and made the sign of the cross to the statue of the Virgin Mary that stands regally on a mantle draped with white cloth. Then the 50 or so people knelt on the floor as they sang hymns, prayed and recited the rosary, never taking their eyes off the Blessed Mother. With the rites finished, the entourage ferried the statue to another house to recite another set of prayers and welcome the Blessed Mother into the home.

Growing up in California, Joel Jacinto and his wife, Ave, knew little about the music and dance of their Filipino ancestors. But as UCLA students, they began researching the islands' culture, poring over books and traveling to the Philippines to talk to experts. "We had to find some way not only of retaining, but rediscovering, our culture," Joel Jacinto said.

For many Filipino Americans, the two-day "Fiesta Filipiniana" celebration at Knott's Berry Farm over the weekend was a welcome break from the frenetic pace of life. They sampled bibingka and puto (both rice cakes) to freshen palates that during the rest of the year are dulled by too many hamburgers and hot dogs. They listened to the kundiman, the melodic Filipino love songs that never could be confused with rap.

Filipino Americans from throughout Southern California gathered at Knott's Berry Farm on Saturday to celebrate Philippine Independence Day. Park officials said they expected about 25,000 Filipino Americans to visit the park over the weekend to join thousands of other visitors in celebrating a "fiesta Filipiniana." The two-day festival continues today and features Filipino food, music and entertainment.

As the sophistication of computers accelerates the race toward the future, Hector Santos uses his to rescue a piece of the Philippines' rich past. Santos has completed a design of computer-generated fonts, or typefaces, to print the ancient Tagalog script, which was in danger of being lost and forgotten because it could be written only by hand. Tagalog, an indigenous language spoken in the Philippines, is rendered in print today using the Roman alphabet.

They streamed into the modest living room and made the sign of the cross to the statue of the Virgin Mary that stands regally on a mantle draped with white cloth. Then the 50 or so people knelt on the floor as they sang hymns, prayed and recited the rosary, never taking their eyes off the Blessed Mother. With the rites finished, the entourage ferried the statue to another house to recite another set of prayers and welcome the Blessed Mother into the home.

When Helen Brown unlocks the narrow sliver of a room tucked inside the Filipino Christian Church she opens a door to Philippine history and nearly a century of family memories. Brown is the founder and director of the Pilipino-American Reading Room and Library. The library is a repository of materials documenting the history, culture and politics of Filipinos in the Philippines and the United States.

A phone call to "Auntie Helen's" library was all it took a San Diego singer to get the words to an old Filipino ballad, sung by farmers planting rice. Four visits to the library helped a UCLA graduate student complete his research on the Filipino American community of the 1920s and 1930s.

For many Filipino Americans, the two-day "Fiesta Filipiniana" celebration at Knott's Berry Farm over the weekend was a welcome break from the frenetic pace of life. They sampled bibingka and puto (both rice cakes) to freshen palates that during the rest of the year are dulled by too many hamburgers and hot dogs. They listened to the kundiman, the melodic Filipino love songs that never could be confused with rap.

Filipino Americans from throughout Southern California gathered at Knott's Berry Farm on Saturday to celebrate Philippine Independence Day. Park officials said they expected about 25,000 Filipino Americans to visit the park over the weekend to join thousands of other visitors in celebrating a "fiesta Filipiniana." The two-day festival continues today and features Filipino food, music and entertainment.

As the sophistication of computers accelerates the race toward the future, Hector Santos uses his to rescue a piece of the Philippines' rich past. Santos has completed a design of computer-generated fonts, or typefaces, to print the ancient Tagalog script, which was in danger of being lost and forgotten because it could be written only by hand. Tagalog, an indigenous language spoken in the Philippines, is rendered in print today using the Roman alphabet.

When Helen Brown unlocks the narrow sliver of a room tucked inside the Filipino Christian Church she opens a door to Philippine history and nearly a century of family memories. Brown is the founder and director of the Pilipino-American Reading Room and Library. The library is a repository of materials documenting the history, culture and politics of Filipinos in the Philippines and the United States.

Theater and pageantry dominated the four-part installment devoted to Filipino culture in the "Voices in Motion" series Sunday afternoon at the New Ivar Theatre in Hollywood--to the detriment, some might say, of the promise in the series title.

Theater and pageantry dominated the four-part installment devoted to Filipino culture in the "Voices in Motion" series Sunday afternoon at the New Ivar Theatre in Hollywood--to the detriment, some might say, of the promise in the series title.

The current American tour by the popular and influential Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company returns audiences to the age of innocence in adapted folklore. Founded in 1957 by Helena Z. Benitez, the company has always specialized in hyper-accessible hands-across-the-sea sampler programs, with the incredibly rich and varied resources of Philippine traditional cultures presented as a collection of glossy souvenirs.

Hundreds of boys and girls and their parents paraded around the lake at Cerritos Regional Park on Saturday to mark the Santacruzan, an annual Filipino cultural and religious festival. The event, sponsored locally by the Philippine Society of Southeast Los Angeles, climaxed with a feast and dancing.

Growing up in California, Joel Jacinto and his wife, Ave, knew little about the music and dance of their Filipino ancestors. But as UCLA students, they began researching the islands' culture, poring over books and traveling to the Philippines to talk to experts. "We had to find some way not only of retaining, but rediscovering, our culture," Joel Jacinto said.