I really think you're romanticizing this. I totally concede that you know far more about the Phils than I do because you lived there and was only there for 18 days. But Hindu? I've been to India and I also lived in a South Asian ghetto in England for over ten years. I know something of how that culture feels, and I detected none of it in PI.
It is not easy to see. But if you stay there for a decade and deal with people on all level and see how they act, how their attitude to things is and you will see what I mean. It is hidden and it took me decades to figure out.
Are cows sacred there...
What I mean is that deep inside Filipinos are just like the Malay race in Bali, not necessarily as the ones in India. And this stands to reason because all of that area used to be Hindu, not necessarily Indian Hindu, but Malay Hindu and for thousands of years.
Those kids queueing up at McD's and Burger King are thinly-veiled Hindus? With their love of all things American? If they have totally different values from us then why are they so keen to worship at temples of consumerism, and bow before the Gods Ayala, SM and Gaisano?
Surface things. I saw the same thing when I first arrived and after three weeks, I , just like you thought I got the place figured out and the people figured out as well. The ancient Kingdoms of Luzon were all Hindu. For millenia. But it was erased on purpose. Dig deeper and you will see. You will need to spend a decade dealing with Filipinos in their languages to understand and feel it. Watch those kids behaviors over a long time and you will realize that.
Why do so many Indians lament about being discriminated against by Filipinos, if they are close cousins?
For the same reason Poles are treated like shit in Ireland. This is a totally different topic.
The Spanish were in charge for 300 years. Three centuries of Catholic indoctrination, the effects of which were impressively evident when I went to the hugely-crowded Santo Nino church in Cebu. Those Hindus sure love Mary and Jesus!
Again, surface stuff. Think of the Philippines as a cake. You have the American icing, a Spanish cream on top and then the deep Hindu Malay body of the cake which is not seen- you need to cut it to see it. Cutting it involves learning the language fluently to the point where you can think in it and read literature in it. When you do that and spend a decade or two among them, you will agree.
Hell, you may as well say that England is still a Catholic country, even though the Reformation took place in the 16th C. But English culture is not Catholic and
There may be a substantial remnant of it in the Anglican rites and the way people act. But again I cannot comment because I did not live in it.
feels substantially different from Spain, Italy, Mexico and even France.
The above are Latin countries and may also feel differently because of the Latin flavor, not necessarily because of Catholicism. Does England feel substantially different from the Catholic Ireland or Austria?
Again, this is all based on subjective perceptions and I can only share mine.
I'm not saying there is no trace at all of Hinduism in Filipino culture, but I think you're way overstating it
Trace is a broad term. Their whole culture is implicitly Hindu. But again, this is based on my perception over decades. If you lived there that long and spoke to them in their languages, you would see that. Also you spent time
in the UK among S Asians. Those are not real ones. I have been with the untouchables in India and spent time in their villages. They do feel very similar to Visayan villages in the Philippines in the way people act in their natural environment, not as British subjects living in the UK and speaking English.
Again, you will need a decade or two to see how deeply it runs.
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