Marriage and wedding customs in the Philippines

Traditional marriage customs in the Philippines and Filipino wedding practices pertain to the characteristics of marriage and wedding traditions established and adhered to by Filipino men

Men in the Philippines

Men in the Philippines is a term referring to the male members of Filipino society, or men who belong or come from the Philippines, a country in South East Asia or the Far East...

and women

Women in the Philippines

The role of women in the Philippines is explained based on the context of Filipino culture, standards, and mindsets. The Philippines is described to be a nation of strong women, who directly and indirectly run the family unit, businesses, government agencies and haciendas.Although they generally...

in the Philippines after a period of courtship and engagement

Courtship in the Philippines

Traditional courtship in the Philippines is described as a "far more subdued and indirect" approach compared to Western or Westernized cultures. It involves "phases" or "stages" inherent to Philippine society and culture. Evident in courtship in the Philippines is the practice of singing romantic...

. These traditions extend to other countries around the world where Filipino communities exist. Kasalan is the Filipino word

Filipino language

This move has drawn much criticism from other regional groups.In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language.Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:...

for "wedding", while its root word kasal means "marriage". The present-day character of marriages and weddings in the Philippines were primarily influenced by the permutation of native, Christian, Catholic

Roman Catholicism in the Philippines

The Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, in full communion with the Pope.With 73.8 million members in 2005, it is the predominant religion, making the Philippines the third largest "Catholic" nation in the world after Brazil and Mexico, as well as one...

, Protestant, Spanish, and American models.

Historical overview

A typical ancient traditional Filipino

Pinoy

Pinoy is an informal demonym referring to the Filipino people in the Philippines and overseas Filipinos around the world. Filipinos usually refer to themselves as Pinoy or sometimes the feminine Pinay...

wedding, during pre-colonial times

Prehistory of the Philippines

Philippine prehistory covers the events prior to the written history of what would become the Philippine archipelago. The current demarcation line between this period and the early history of the Philippines is 900 AD, which is the date of the first surviving written record to come from the...

, is held for three days and was officiated by a babaylan
Babaylan
Babaylan is a Visayan term identifying an indigenous Filipino religious leader, who functions as a healer, a shaman, a seer and a community "miracle-worker"...

, a tribal priest or priestess. The house of the babaylan was the ceremonial center for the nuptial. On the first day, the couple was brought to the priest's home, where the babaylan blesses them, while their hands are joined over a container of uncooked rice. On the third day, the priest would prick their chests to draw a small amount of blood, which will be placed on a container to be mixed with water. After announcing their love for each other for three times, they were fed by the priest with cooked rice coming from a single container. Afterwards, they were to drink the water that was mixed with their blood. The priest proclaimed that they are officially wed after their necks and hands were bound by a cord or ,sometimes, once their long hairs had been entwined together. In lieu of the babaylan, the datu

Datu

Datu is the title for tribal chiefs, sovereign princes, and monarchs in the Visayas and Mindanao Regions of the Philippines. Together with Lakan , Apo in Central and Northern Luzon, Sultan and Rajah, they are titles used for native royalty, and are still currently used in the Philippines...

or a wise elder may also officiate a pre-colonial Filipino wedding.

After the ceremony, while at the just-married couple's residence, a series of gift-exchanging rituals was also done to counter the negative responses of the bride: if asked to enter her new home, if she refuses to go up the stairs of the dwelling, if she denies to participate in the marriage banquet, or even to go into her new bedroom, a room she would be sharing with her spouse.

Spanish colonialism

History of the Philippines (1521–1898)

This article covers the history of the Philippines from the arrival of European explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, up to the end of Spanish rule in 1898.-Spanish expeditions and conquest:...

brought changes to these marriage rituals because of the teachings and conversion efforts of Spanish missionaries, which occurred as early as the 18th century. As a result, the majority of current-day Filipino weddings became predominantly Christian or Catholic in character, which is also because of the mostly Catholic population, although indigenous traditions still exist today in other regions of the Philippines. Parts of Filipino wedding ceremonies have become faith-centered and God-centered, which also highlights the concept that the joining of two individuals is a "life long commitment" of loving and caring. In general, the marriage itself does not only signify the union of two persons, but also the fusion of two families, and the unification two clans.

Requirements

The following are the legal requirements that must be met in order to marry in the Philippines. To be specific, the exact wordings as stated in Philippine marriage law are presented below:

Legal capacity of the contracting parties who must be a male and a female, 18 years old and above without any impediment to get married.
Consent
Consent
Consent refers to the provision of approval or agreement, particularly and especially after thoughtful consideration.- Types of consent :*Implied consent is a controversial form of consent which is not expressly granted by a person, but rather inferred from a person's actions and the facts and...

freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer.
Authority of the solemnizing officer (only incumbent member of the judiciary
Judiciary
The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...

; priest, rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

, imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...

, or minister of any church or religious sect duly authorized by his church or religious sect and registered with the civil registrar general; ship captain or airplane chief, military commander of a unit to which a chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

is assigned, in the absence of the latter, during a military operation only in marriages at the point of death; and consul-general, consul
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...

or vice-consul only between Filipino citizens abroad are authorized by law to solemnize marriage).

Marriage law in the Philippines also requires couples to attend a seminar on family planning

Family planning

Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...

before the wedding day in order to become responsible family life and parenthood. The seminar is normally conducted at a city hall or a municipal council.

Some officiating ministers or churches require the couple to present a certificate of no marriage record (CENOMAR), on top of or together with the marriage license and the authority of the solemnizing officer. The CENOMAR can be secured from the National Statistics Office or its designated offices and branches.

Marriage proposal

The traditional marriage proposal takes the form of the pamanhikan or pamamanhikan or the "parental marriage proposal", a formal way of asking the parents of the woman for her hand. The would-be groom and his parents go to the would-bride's home, and ask the parents for their consent. Once the woman's parents accept the proposal, other matters will be discussed during this meeting include among other things, the wedding plan, the date, the finances, and the list of guests. The expenses for the wedding are generally shouldered by the groom and his family.

Pamamanhikan enforces the importance of the familial nature of the wedding, as traditionally a marriage is the formation of an alliance between two clans as well as the joining of individuals. This is sometimes further expressed in how the whole extended family goes with the groom and his parents, using the occasion as a chance to meet and greet the other clan. In this situation, there is a feast held at the bride's family home.

This event is separate from the Despedida de Soltera (Spanish: "Farewell to Single-hood") party some families have before the wedding. The local variant of the Hispanic custom normally holds it for the bride, and it is held by her family. It is similar in sentiment to the hen night, albeit a more wholesome and formal version.

Wedding announcement

After the pamamanhikan, the couple performs the pa-alam or "wedding announcement visitations". In this custom, the couple goes to the homes of relatives to inform the latter of their status as a couple and the schedule of their nuptial. It is also during this visits when the couple personally delivers their wedding invitation

Wedding invitation

A wedding invitation is a letter asking the recipient to attend a wedding. It is typically written in formal, third-person language and mailed five to eight weeks before the wedding date....

Wedding date and invitation

The typical Filipino wedding invitation contains the date and venue for the wedding ceremony and for the wedding reception, as well as the names and roles of the principal sponsors of the bride. Weddings in the Philippines are commonly held during the month of June.

Wedding attire

Bride's garment

The Filipino bride's attire is typically made of a custom-made white wedding gown. This is from the American influence of dressing the woman on her wedding day.

Groom's apparel

The Filipino groom's clothing is the Barong Tagalog

Barong Tagalog

The barong Tagalog is an embroidered formal garment of the Philippines. It is very lightweight and worn untucked , over an undershirt. In Filipino culture it is a common wedding and formal attire, mostly for men but also for women...

, a formal and traditional transparent, embroidered and button-up shirt made from jusi (also spelled as husi) fabric made from pineapple

Pineapple

Pineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...

fibers. This formal Filipino male's apparel is worn untucked with a white T-shirt beneath, and over a black pair of pants.

Wedding ceremony

Generally, the wedding ceremony proper in the Philippines includes the celebration of a one-hour long mass. The Filipino groom arrives one hour earlier than the Filipina bride for the purpose of receiving wedding guests at the church. The bride will arrive later onboard a wedding car, then gets off the vehicle to meet her waiting groom. The groom could be waiting with his parents. Afterwards, the groom and the bride performs the bridal procession or the wedding march. During the nuptial, the bride holds an heirloom rosary along with her traditional bridal bouquet.

Ceremonial sponsors, witnesses, and participants

The principal wedding sponsors also known as special sponsors, primary sponsors, counselors, or witnesses of the marriage ceremony chosen by the would-be spouses normally includes a multiple set of pairs of godparents (typically a total of 12 individual godparents composed of 6 godmothers or ninang, and 6 godfathers or ninong). Chosen secondary sponsors are made up of the bridesmaids, groomsmen, and 3 more pairs of wedding attendants. The wedding attendants are responsible for the special parts of lighting the wedding candles, placing the veil and the cords on the couple being wed. Other official ceremonial participants are children, usually males, with the role of being the coin bearer and the ring bearer.

Ceremonial paraphernalia

Ceremonial paraphernalia in Filipino weddings include the wedding rings, the wedding arrhae, the wedding candles, the wedding veils, and the wedding cord. The ring bearer acts as the holder and keeper of the rings until the exchanging of rings is performed, while the coin bearer acts as the holder and keeper of the arrhae until it is offered and given by the groom to his bride. Among the secondary sponsors or wedding attendants, three pairs each pair consists of a male and female secondary sponsors are chosen to function as lighters of the wedding candles, handlers of the wedding veils, and placers of the wedding cord.

Wedding rings and the arrhae

After the exchange of wedding rings by the couple, the groom gives the wedding arrhae to his bride. The arrhae is a symbol of his "monetary gift" to the bride because it is composed of 13 pieces of gold, or silver, coins, a "pledge" that the groom is devoted to the welfare and well-being of his wife and future offspring. Both rings and arrhae are blessed first by the priest during the wedding.

Wedding candles

The lighters of the wedding candles, known as the candle sponsors, light the pair of candles, one on each side of the couple. For Christians, this embodies the presence of God in the marital union.

Many weddings add the ritual of the "unity candle

Unity candle

The lighting of a unity candle is a relatively recent addition to the traditional wedding ceremony, most popular in the United States. The unity candle ceremony uses two taper candles with a large pillar candle in the center...

" which signifies the joining of their two families. The couple takes the two lighted candles and together lights a single candle. For Christians, lighting this single candle symbolizes the invocation of Jesus Christ into their life as a married couple. The use of the unity candle is rooted in Protestant and American culture.

Wedding veils

After the ritual of lighting candles, a pair of secondary sponsors known as the veil sponsors will pin the veil(s) on the couple. Two forms of this tradition exist, with either one long, white-coloured veil draped over the shoulder of the groom and above the bride's head, or pinning two separate veils, one on the groom's shoulder and the other on the bride. The veiling ritual signifies the clothing of two individuals who have become one due to the ceremony of marriage.

Wedding cord

After the veiling ritual, the pair of secondary sponsors, known as the cord sponsors, will then drape a cord over the shoulders of the groom and the bride. This decorative cord is called the yugal
Wedding cord
The traditional wedding cord, also known as the wedding lasso, wedding lazo cord, or yugal is a piece of wedding paraphernalia used in some Christian Catholic wedding ceremonies. This is actually a representation of a loop of rosary beads made out of white satin or silk...

and is customarily shaped or looped to form the figure 8 (or alternately, the infinity sign), to symbolise "everlasting fidelity". Each loop of the cord is placed around the invidual neck-and-shoulder area of the bride and the groom.

Apart from silk, other popular materials are used to make the wedding cord such as a string of flowers, links of coins, or a cord designed like a long rosary.

Wedding reception

During the wedding reception, it is typical to release a pair of white male and female doves, symbolising marital harmony and peace. These are placed in a cage or receptacle, which can be opened by pulling ribbons or cords or manually opened and released by the couple themselves. After their release from their cage, the person who catches them may take them home to rear as pets.

Tossing the bouquet is for the most part uncommon for the bride to do though it is increasingly being observed by younger couples. Instead, the bride traditionally offers it at a side altar or image of either the Virgin Mary, a patron saint, or leaves it at the grave of a significant deceased relative.

Filipino Muslim wedding

Filipino Muslims

Islam in the Philippines

Islam is the oldest recorded monotheistic religion in the Philippines. Islam reached the Philippines between the 12th and 14th century with the arrival of Muslim traders from Persian Gulf and the Malabar Coast in Southern India, and their followers from several sultanate governments in the Malay...

in the Mindanao

Mindanao

Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The...

region of the Philippines commonly practice pre-arranged marriages and betrothal. These marital discussions involve the agreement on the dowry

Dowry

A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...

. The Tausog people's wedding include the pangalay, a celebration or announcement performed by means of the playing of percussion instruments like as the gabbang, the kulintang
Kulintang
Kulintang is a modern term for an ancient instrumental form of music composed on a row of small, horizontally-laid gongs that function melodically, accompanied by larger, suspended gongs and drums...

, and the agong. Included in the wedding ceremony that is officiated by an Imam are readings taken from the Qur'an

Qur'an

The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

and the placement of the groom's fingerprint

Fingerprint

A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...

on the forehead of the bride.

Same sex marriage

Marriage between couples of the same sex is currently not possible under the laws of the Philippines because, according to the Filipino Family Code, both family and marriage are considered as heterosexual units. The legal concept of a family in the Philippines does not incorporate homosexual relationships. Furthermore, finding that a party to the marital union is either homosexual or lesbian is a ground for annulment of the marriage and legal separation in the Philippines, which leads to the severance of the homosexual individual's spousal inheritance, claims to any conjugal property, and the custody of offspring.

Wedding superstitions

Filipinos have also developed superstitions that are related to marriage and weddings.

Pre-colonial Filipino superstitions include the groom or the bride should avoid traveling before the nuptial to prevent accidents from happening, the bride must not wear pearls as these are similar to tears, performing a procession composed of men holding bolo knives and musicians playing agong

Agung

The agung is a set of two wide-rimmed, vertically-suspended gongs used by the Maguindanao, Maranao and Tausug people of the Philippines as a supportive instrument in kulintang ensembles...

s to drive away evil spirits. This march was also carried out after the wedding ceremony until the newly-wed couple reaches their abode. The purpose of this procession is similar to the current practice of breaking plates during the wedding reception, in order to shoo away bad luck.

During Spanish colonization, the Spaniards introduced new superstitions, such as the avoidance of activities that may cause broken marriages or sadness and regret. These include not wearing wedding gowns in advance, not wearing garments that are colored black,not offering sharp objects as gifts.

Other Filipino beliefs include that typhoons occurring on wedding days may bring bad fortune; that after the wedding ceremony the bride should walk ahead of her husband or step on his foot to prevent being dominated by the male spouse; that an extinguished candle during the ceremony served as an omen that the groom or the bride will die soon (depending on which candle was smothered by the wind, the one at the groom's side or the bride's side); and that an accidentally dropped wedding ring

Wedding ring

A wedding ring or wedding band is a metal ring indicating the wearer is married. Depending on the local culture, it is worn on the base of the right or the left ring finger. The custom of wearing such a ring has spread widely beyond its origin in Europe...

, wedding veil, or wedding arrhae

Wedding arrhae

Las arras, or Las arras matrimoniales are wedding paraphernalia used in Christian wedding ceremonies in Spain, Latin American countries, and the Philippines. The tradition is also followed, with varying names and customs, in countries and communities bearing degrees of Hispanic influence...

will cause marital misery.

Superstitious beliefs that provide good fortune include showering the married couple with uncooked rice because this wishes them a prosperous life together; the groom's arrival prior to his bride's coming at the wedding venue also diminishes dire fate. In addition, a single woman who will follow the footsteps of a newly-married couple may enhance her opportunity to become a bride herself.

External links

Filipino Wedding Ceremonies, videobabylon.ca
Kasalan Culture, weddingsatwork.com
Filipino wedding guide, Philippine wedding traditions, cultures, Philippine wedding destinations, Philippine wedding suppliers, Kasal.com
My Filipino Wedding, myfilipinowedding.com

Marriage Rites, Customs and Ceremonies of the Nations of the Universe Book, site.booksite.com

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.