The suburban citizen., 1901-08-24
SOME FILIPINO CUSTOMS
IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY DAILY IN
THE HOMES AFTER NlcHTFALL.


fall, says the Washington Star. l no
ticed 1t first in the ancient, dirty town
Of Cavite. The bell tolls in the ancient
cathedral. warning the inhabitants
that the night is on. Pedestrians gen
orally halt, remove their hats and say
their prayers aloud. From every open
door the mumbling is heard. This is
kept up until the bell ceases.
The writer was a frequent visitor to
a Filipino family Of the better class in
Cavite The family consisted of n
mother and her three daughters.
was present on several occasions when
the above ceremony was in progress.
After the bell stops tolling they would
all stop praying and Immediately pro-
ceed to their mother, the eldest first,
and each in turn, saluting her, "Bue-
nos noche" good night, kissing her
hand, which each would carry to the
forehead. They then kissed their
mothers cheeks, then turn to their
American visitors with the salute, but
emitting the kiss. The Filiplnos in
general have violent tempers.
The Filipinos, like the Chinese, are
rice eaters, and 1t forms the principal
dish at all meals. They eat with their
fingers, which is not very pleasing to
witness. They all have knives and
forks in the house, which they pro-
duce when visitors are present. Like
the Chinese, they are also fond of
fatty foods. l have on number Of
occasions witnessed young ladies eat
ing large pieces of fat that caused me
to have fears for my own stomach,
and / would be compelled to turn my
head away.
am of the belief that the longer
an American studies the Filipino char
acter the more complex it becomes.
For thirteen months | studied them
under many conditions, and when 1
left the islands l was under the i'm
preston that knew but very little Of
Il, Filipino and his ways when not
under observation. They do not un-
derstand themselves and do not care
to, apparently. In the city Of Manila
many native jargons are spoken, and
they cannot understand each other.
Every province has it's jargon, and
were it not Cor their limited knowledge
Of Spanish they would be unable to
carry on n conversation.
They resemble very much our West
ern Indian tribes, which have their
tribal language or iargon, and were it
not for the Chinook language, origin
ated and introduced by the old Hud-
son Bay Company, our noble red men
would be at a loss for conversation
when members of different tribes
meet here in Washington.
Nine out of ten children have revolt
ing sores on their bodies generally on
their legs, which leads one to believe
that leprosy and other blood diseases
are common among the natives. 1 un-
derstand the authorities have set aside
an island for lepers. similar to the one
in the Hawaiian group. The main
trouble will be in apprchending the
lepers, as there must be several thous-
and in the vicinity Of Manila. Under
Spanish rule there was q large leper
hospital in Manila, where probably
thousand of these unfOrtunate5 were
confined. The day tho Americans cap
tured the city the officials of this asy-
lum became dcmorallzed and aban-
doned the institution. BY the time
the matter was brought to the notice
of the American authorities the place
was deserted the lepers having scat
tered all over the city. Many Of them
were found begging in the streets. A
large number of them were never cap
tured.
The most interesting sights of Ma
Mia l found to he the native markets.
/ would rise about in the morning,
and after a cold shower bath would
start for a brisk walk through the ua-
tive section of Binondo which includes
the largest market in the city Dur
ing my sojourn in the city took prob
ably hundred Of these rambles alone
ard never met al American, with the
exception Of soldier occasionally, on
guard.
This market was destroyed by the
great fires started by the insurgents
in February, 1899. Just as soon as
the heat permitted the dealers opened
up for business among the ruins, max
ing a startling picture. The products
of the markets arc not tempting to
Americans, who do not patronize them
except for fruits, eggs, chickens and
one or two vegetables common to
America. They have their fsh alive
in tubs, but / would not advise any
tody to buy them, as their Gesh has q
sickening taste. This is due to the !
water being always warm.
In these markets the Cinnamon CON
duct dry goods stalls. I wondered
why there was always a half dozen |
Chinese to each of these, and upon in |
quiry they told ne they were com.
PEELED to band together to prevent rob !
berry by the natives.
An incident came to my notice one
morning at the market which assured |
me that the Chinese precautions were
necessary. Several young toughs had
taken some mangoes out of China