Philippine National Anthem

The Philippine National Anthem was composed by Julian Felipe, a Filipino music teacher and composer of Cavite. He completed it on June 11, 1898, and showed it to General Aguinaldo, who right away liked it because of its inspiring melody. The following day the music band of San Francisco de Malabon performed it for the first time during the unfolding of the Filipino flag at Kawit during the Independence Day ceremony.
For more than a year the anthem remained without words. Towards the end of August of 1899, a young poet-soldier named Jose Palma wrote the poem entitled Filipinas. This poem expressed in elegant Spanish verses the devoted patriotism and fighting spirit of the Filipino people. It became the words of the anthem and today the anthem is sung in Pilipino, its official lyrics interpreted by Felipe de Leon, from the original Spanish lyrics in the early 1900s. There are also English translations, thought by many to be inaccurate, due to the fact that some English versions were translated from the Tagalog version, and other English versions were translated from the original Spanish. One version was translated by Camilo Osias and A. L. Lane.

"Lupang Hinirang"

Composed by Julian Felipe on June 12, 1898

Bayang magiliw, perlas ng silanganan.

Alab ng puso, sa dibdib mo'y buhay.

Lupang hinirang, duyan ka ng magiting

Sa manlulupig, di ka pasisiil.
Sa dagat at bundok, sa simoy atsa langit mong bughaw,

may dilag ang tula at awitsa paglayang minamahal.
Ang kislap ng watawat mo'ytagumpay na nagniningning.

Ang bituin at araw niyakailan pa may di magdidilim.
Lupa ng araw, ng lualhati't pagsinta,buhay ay langit sa piling mo.

Aming ligaya na pag may mang-aapi,

ang mamatay ng dahil sa iyo.

Philippine Hymn

(English Version)

By Camilo Osias and A. L. Lang
> Land of the morning

Child of the sun returning

With fervor burning

Thee do our souls adore.
Land dear and holy,

Cradle of noble heroes,

Ne'er shall invaders

Trample thy sacred shores.
Ever within thy skies and through thy clouds

And o'er thy hills and seas;

Do we behold thy radiance, feel the throb

Of glorious liberty.
Thy banner dear to all heartsIts sun and stars alight,

Oh, never shall its shining fields

Be dimmed by tyrant's might.
Beautiful land of love, O land of light,

In thine embrace 'tis rapture to lie;

But it is glory ever, when thou art wronged

For us, thy sons to suffer and die

Tinikling Folk Dance

Tinikling is widely thought of as the national dance of the Philippines. But according to the Philippine government, the cariñosa dance is. The Tinikling is a dance from the Philippines which includes two people hitting bamboo poles or piece of wood, using them to beat, tap, and slide on the ground and against each other in harmonization with one or more dancers who will step over and dance in between the poles. When the bamboo closes, the dancers must be fast enough to not get their foot or feet caught. As the tinikling dance continues the banging of the bamboo becomes faster and harder, the sound of clashing bamboo excites the crowd and the quickness of feet demonstrated by the dancers awes them. The tinikling name came from birds locally known as Tikling. The term tinikling literally means "tikling-like".

Philippines National Animal

Carabaos (water buffalo) are typically associated with farmers, being the farm animal of choice for pulling the plow and the cart used to haul farm produce to the market. Although there is no law that decrees the carabao to be a national symbol in the Philippines it is generally considered by most Filipinos to be their national animal. Government agencies have come together to improve the marketability of the species.
Water buffalo have been domesticated in the Philippines as far back as pre-Hispanic times and are often used by farmers in the Philippines to plow the fields and as a means of transportation. The carabao is one of the most important animals in the country, especially in agriculture.

Nipa Hut

Philippines have many national symbols, one of this is the nipa hut. The Nipa hut (bahay-kubo) is considered as the national house of the Philippines. It is, as the name implies, a hut, raised a few feet above the ground and constructed out of bamboo tied together, with a thatched roof using dried grass. It provides basic shelter from the most available and inexpensive of materials, and works well as protection against the average wind or rainfall, aside from providing good ventilation. However, the downside to these houses is that they are not stable enough to withstand the gale-force winds during the typhoons that ravage the country every year. These huts are iconic symbols of what a house is in the country, the countryside, and as a part of the most recognized symbol of the concept of bayanihan(spirit of communal unity or effort to achieve a particular objective). The usage of the nipa hut as a device to refer to bayanihan stems from the fact that moving the hut on two large poles requires a lot of people, including the neighbors, thus demonstrating the spirit of bayanihan.