Why is Catholicism in the Philippines influenced by the early beliefs of Filipinos?

Answer 1

WHY WOULDN'T THE PRE-CHRISTIAN BELIEFS OF THE DIFFERENT PEOPLES WHO MAKE UP THE POPULATION OF THE PHILIPPINES INFLUENCE THEIR PRACTICE OF CATHOLICISM? Obviously, these Pre-Christian beliefs meant something to the Filipino peoples. Would you simply give up your beliefs if you were forced, against your will, to convert to a different, foreign religion?

The Spanish, who claimed the Philippines as their colony in the 16th century, imposed Catholicism on the peoples of these islands. The Spanish, as a feature of the process of imposing their control over the Filipinos, forced the Filipinos to convert to Christianity, a foreign religious faith. Naturally, like anyone else, the Filipino peoples did not want to simply give up their former beliefs - a major part of their cultural identity.

One way to retain some of these beliefs was to camouflage them in the trappings of Christianity, so that they could continue to practice their traditional religions while appearing to be practicing Christianity. Conversely, the Catholic Church had a long tradition of converting 'Pagan' (essentially, non-Christian) peoples, both in Europe and, beginning with the European 'Age of Exploration', throughout the globe. It was common practice for Catholic Missionaries to 'Christianize' aspects of the Pre-Christian religions practiced by the people they were working to convert. Churches were built on the holy sites of Pre-Christian religions, the worship of a Catholic Saint would be substituted for an equivalent local god (the Virgin Mary for a local goddess, for instance), festivals held on Pre-Christian holy days would become Christian festivals, etc...

In both of these ways - through both the efforts of the Filipino peoples themselves and through the strategies used by Catholic Missionaries for conversion, features of traditional, Pre-Christian Filipino religions were incorporated into the practice of Catholicism in the Philippines.