Before you filter through your one million and one suggestions from well meaning friends and relatives, here are some Filipino traditions that you might want to consider performing with your fiance/e.
Whether you want to do them because you genuinely believe they’re cool or you think your parents / grandparents / others think they’re essential to your future, here are some important things to remember about them:
PAMAMANHIKAN or PAMANHIKAN
From the Tagalog root word panhik which literally means to go up the stairs. Figuratively, it means to have the courtesy to go to another person’s house to present one’s self. In this tradition, the groom-to-be brings his family to meet the family (mainly the parents) of his bride-to-be. The two sets of parents may or may not have met each other before but the PAMANHIKAN signifies the formalization of the groom-to-be’s intent to marry his bride-to-be by asking for her hand in marriage from her parents in front of his.
In early Philippine architecture, especially in the provinces, living areas are usually located on a second level that need to be accessed by stairs. The ground level is reserved for pets or poultry or warehouse of sorts. Thus, the gesture of visiting other homes and going up the stairs carry with it a cultural significance as it denotes a certain amount of courtesy from the visiting party and a corresponding degree of welcome from the other.
Meet & Greet
For most, it will be the first time that the parents of both bride and groom will meet each other personally. Thus, it is considered a significant formality for the two sets of parents to meet and greet. After all, in the Philippines, like in other cultures, marriage is not just of two individuals but of two families.
