Cultural Adaptation of other Nationalities

in the Context of Filipino Courtship

Raphaella Ericka J. Concepcion1, Harvey Kendall M. Cruz2, Liea Alexi B. de la Torre3, Danielle Vivienne

Zhantea B. Laño4, Cherrylyn L. Marquez5 and Mike Joshua O. Mirador6

INTRODUCTION answer the question, how you can honor God and

recognize if the person you are with is destined as

Courtship is the process a man and a
your lifelong time partner. If courtship is the stage
woman go through before being officially in a
wherein the people involved are mature enough to
relationship. The couple may come to an agreement
know their limits or to distinguish what they
wherein their relationship could lead to an
should or should not do, then dating is the complete
engagement and eventually, marriage. During
opposite of it, as it shows or acts as an exclusive
courtship, the couple would spend some time
relationship that is independent of others’ influence
together and get to know each other better. It
or counsel. (Institute in Basic Life Principles,
usually involves gifts like flowers and chocolates.
2014.)
The man would also ask the woman out on a date,

and the couple mostly eat dinner in a fancy One good example of courtship is the

restaurant. (Endland, P. & Conley, D. (n.d.) courtship in the Philippines which is “harana”.

“Harana” is the courtship practice that is usually

Most people mistake dating from
done in the country wherein the man would go to
courtship, since there is quite a similarity of the
the woman’s house and sing a romantic song for her
two. It is a choice to avoid temptation, experience
while playing the guitar. But nowadays, the
the blessings of purity, to trust on God’s plan and to
prominent courtship is through the use of social
walk by faith. People who choose to date every time
media sites such as Facebook, Messenger and the
often have no commitment to consider marrying the
like. Due to these social media sites, Filipinos are
person or just prefer to have fun and enjoy
able to communicate with people from other
romantic attachments. Dating tries to answer the
counties which could then lead to a deeper kind of
question, how to find the person that will make you
relationship; this is otherwise known as online

dating. (Lykes, A. M., 2013)

happy and on the other hand, courtship tries to
 Another example of courtship is among the As stated by Colleen Crawford of Health

Ibaloy of Benguet, their traditional way of Guidance Organization (2017), different countries

courtship is called "kalon", wherein the man would have their own practices when it comes to

ask an older person to visit the woman and ask her courtship. In Australia, courtship has proven that

hand in marriage. If the woman accepts the the ladies are the one who make the first step on

proposal, the wedding will then proceed. Another asking a guy and they also take the responsibility

way of courtship is called "kaising" – still in of paying their expenses for their date. In Europe,

Benguet , wherein the parents of the man and the courtship is done by two individuals concerned

woman will be the one to decide if the young couple wherein both sides asking each other and both are

will get married. To conclude the marriage, the responsible for the expenses. People in countries

parents will butcher one or two four-legged animals like Finland, Italy, Switzerland, Spain and United

and then the religious practitioners, also called Kingdom first go out as a group until they meet

panglakayen or mambunong, will bless the someone they’re interested with. In Middle East

animals, and also the ceremony which is performed and Africa, courtship is very strict due to marriages

for everyone in the community to know that the arranged by the parents. Like in Afghanistan, their

couple will get married once they reach the age of way of courtship is quite similar to the courtship in

maturity. (Province of Benguet. (n.d.)) Iran wherein in order for one to court another, they

should have the consent of the parents and usually,

From the Dai people of southwest China,
the parents are the ones who arrange the dates of
the women will sit around the bonfire while
the young. In Central and South America,
wearing billowing skirts, quietly turning their
teenagers are allowed to date when they reached
spinning wheels. Men wearing in red blankets will
the age of at least 15 years old. In Asia, young
visit them by surrounding and serenading them
people do not leave their house they grew up in
with various instruments. If a man likes a girl, he
until they are marries. People in countries like
will go to her being accompanied with a song. If a
Japan and Korea do not start dating until they
woman wants to attract a guy, she will offer him a
reach college and they choose to spend more time
stool in which she keeps stuck under her skirt,
studying than going on a date. (Crawford, C. 2017)
inviting him to sit down. Then the men will wrap

their dates in blankets, and they will quietly talk. The different courtships from different

(Nastasi, 2012) countries show how diverse the world of courting is.
And despite the differences of courtships, there are This study will conduct a gathering of

still similarities which can be applied to different information through disseminating questionnaires

races. asking about the different matters regarding their

own courtship practices. The people or respondents

*more RRL related to cultural adaptation
involved in this study are the foreigners who have

According to the theory of Willard Waller experienced courting a Filipina or been courted by

(1973), an American sociologist, courtship is the a Filipino. Also, the foreigners that will be asked

"formal code" of the culture to walk to before finally only must be a pure blooded foreigner. This study is

deciding to marry the other person. He also sees only limited to those who are currently living

the community departing from these formal within the area of San Juan, La Union throughout

traditions way of courting, especially things like the gathering of information.

having sex and so on.

This study aims to serve as a link and

Questionnaires
connection to the courtship of the Filipinos from the

different courtships of foreigners as to how they

deal with each other in terms of courting or their

- Validity Test
relationship. - Data Gathering using it
in interviewing the
respondents
This study will focus on the different

culture of foreigners in courtship. Specifically, it

To come up with an
aims to answer the following question:
analysis regarding other
nationalities’ perception
1. What are the different courtship practices of courtship in the
Filipino Context.
of the other nationalities?

2. How are the different foreign courtship

practices affect the way of courting of

Courtship is a matter that is usually done
Filipinos?
whenever someone is really interested in knowing
3. What form of courtship practices have
the opposite sex. With the different culture or
been adapted by other nationalities from
nationality that exists, different ways are or may
Filipinos?
also be applied regardless of the results.
 The research design used in this study is The questionnaires were prepared by the

phenomenology method. This method helps the researchers in which it underwent a validity tests

researchers in determining the different courtship before it were distributed to the respected

practices applied and been adapted by the other respondents.

nationalities respondents.
The data gathering procedure of the

The phenomenology method of research is research was conducted through conducting

used to describe a “lived experience” of a interviews using the questionnaires relevant with

phenomenon. Its purpose is to describe or point out the study considering the respondents reachable for

the experiences a person is committing. Otherwise, the procedure.

it is known as the meaning of the experience,

Some of the questions provided were the following:
behaviour, what is may cause further and the like.

(Waters, J., 2017) 1. What is your nationality?

2. How do you define courtship in your

Research Instrument
country?

The main instrument used in the 3. What specific courtship practices do you

gathering of data needed was through an interview usually do/observe in your country?

that involves a set of questions that was personally

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
prepared by the researchers.
Results

Population and Setting This study mainly focuses on other

nationalities’ adaptation to the courtship practices

This research study was conducted at
under the Filipino Context.
Urbiztondo, San Juan, La Union. It was conducted

there considering the fact that foreign tourists are In relationship to the conduction of

usually spotted there. interview among the respondents, the following

results were accumulated. The participants

Random sampling was used in the study in
considered courtship as an act of asking someone
having the ten (10) other nationalities as the
either a lady or a young man to be his or her
respondents of the study.
girlfriend or boyfriend, somehow finding your soul

Data Gathering Procedure mate, or an action intended to seduce a person for

romantic purposes almost always performed by

male against female persons. Some of the most concluded by some respondent, some nationalities

mentioned courtship practices are the act of giving prefer to be more straightforward when trying to

letters as a symbolism of admiration, asking them court or know the person they like but keeping the

to go out for dinner or asking for their contact passion and sincerity of what they feel, some also

number. One of the most extraordinary kind of say that Filipinas are easier to court since they are

courtship practice that was mentioned is the really approachable considering limits to it, others,

preparation of Turkish coffee to be given by the specifically female foreigners say it would be great

person courting, if it tastes sweet or okay then it to experience once in a while the romantic way of

means the lady approves, if it tastes salty, it means courting of Filipinos such as the “Harana”, but

the lady disapproves of the person. Some since the traditional way has been modernized they

nationalities also prefer gender equality, either the are contented with the chatting, invitations of

boy or girl is the one to court the person they like. going out to dinner and the like.

One of the adjustments the other  Use out of 10,

nationalities have mentioned is the use of the  Among the 10

language, specifically Tagalog. They indicated that  Particpants not respondents

it is better to speak in the language in the context 

itself since better understanding is developed which 

results in a much closer relationship. Another CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

respondent gave his opinion that he made use of Conclusion

the efficient way in courting the opposite sex. While

Recommendations
the rest of the respondents did not really adjust

much since Filipinos were educated even before to  Community

speak in the English language that could be better

The primary goal of the study was to
understood by other nationalities. Some of the
provide a link and understanding on how the
respondents realized that the difference between
different courtship practices of Filipinos and other
courtship practices among different nationalities is
nationalities differ from one another. With these, it
quite big. And some of these differences are the
is recommended that even though we sometimes
following: that Filipinos are more observant
criticize something that is different from us, we
although they’re interested with someone as
should open our minds for innovations,
modernizations or changes to phenomenon such as

these.
References:

 Future Researchers
Endland, P. & Conley, D. (n.d.). Reading:

This study was a set of a qualitative type Marriage and Courtship Patterns. Retrieved from

of research in which a descriptive approach was https://courses.lumenlearning.com/alamo-

manifested, hence, made the study to focus mainly sociology/chapter/reading-marriage-and-courtship-

on the specific details regarding the different patterns/

courtship practices of other nationalities. For the Institute in Basic Life Principles. (2014).

future researchers, it is recommended that a How is courtship different than dating?. Retrieved

precise statistical data on the topic shall be from https://iblp.org/questions/how-courtship-

provided to add specific number. In addition to different-dating

that, future researchers should also consider on

Lykes, A. M. (2013 June 01). Pinoy
focusing on one nationality to make the study more
Courtship: From Harana To Sms. Planet
reliable.
Philippines. Retrieved

fromhttp://planetphilippines.com/lifestyle/pinoy-

courtship-from-harana-to-sms/

Province of Benguet. (n.d.). Courtship and

Marriage|Tuba Retrieved from

http://www.benguet.gov.ph/index.php/11-

municipalities/475-courtship-and-marriage-tuba

Crawford, C. (2017). Dating Customs

Around the World. Retrieved from

http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/15127/1/Datin

g-Customs-Around-the-World.html

Waller, W (1973). The Cultural Adaptation

of Internet Dating: Attitudes Towards Online

Relationship Formation . Retrieved from

http://scholarworks.uno.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?art

icle=2316&context=td
 Waters, J., (2017). Phenomenological

Research Guidelines Retrieved from

https://www.capilanou.ca/psychology/student-

resources/research-guidelines/Phenomenological-

Research-Guidelines/