Philippine Culture

The culture of the Philippines reflects the country's complex history. It is a blend of the Malayo-Polynesian and Hispanic cultures, with influence from Chinese.

The Philippines was first settled by Melanesians; today they preserve a very traditional way of life and culture, although their numbers are few. After them, the Austronesians or more specifically, Malayo-Polynesians, arrived on the islands. Today the Austronesian culture is very evident in the ethnicity, language, food, dance and almost every aspect of the culture. These Austronesians engaged in trading with China, India, Japan, the Ryukyu islands, the Middle East, Borneo, and other places. As a result, those cultures have also left a mark on Filipino culture.

When the Spanish colonized the islands, after more than three centuries of colonization, they had heavily impacted the culture. The Philippines being governed from both Mexicoand Spain, had received a little bit of Hispanic influence. Mexican and Spanish influence can be seen in the dance and religion many other aspects of the culture. After being colonized by Spain, the Philippines became a U.S. territory for about 40 years. Influence from the United States is seen in the wide use of the English language, and the modern pop culture.

Philippine Art

Throughout the early Spanish era, Philippines art took its inspiration from religion with ornate altarpieces or scenes from the Bible or the lives of the saints. It was only in the 18th century that secular themes began to become popular. -In 1884, Filipino art broke into the international mainstream when Juan Luna won the gold medal at the National Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid, Spain. Compatriot FelixResurreccion Hidalgo won the silver medal. In the early 20th century Fernando Amorsolo, Fabian de la Rosa and Jorge Pineda concentrated on romantic landscapes, and in the 1920s Victorio Edades introduced modernism to the Philippines. This has produced a healthy crop of modern artists, from Lee Aguinaldo and Fernando Zobel in the 1960s and 70s to Bernardo Cabrera (BenCab) and Manny Garibay today.

The leading sculptor of the American era was Guillermo Tolentino, whilst Napoleon Abueva brought modernism in the 1950s. Eduardo Castrillo heads modern names with his monumental metal sculptures (including the Heritage of Cebu Monument in Cebu City). Others include Solomon Saprid and Abdulmari Imao who interprets Islamic traditional designs for the modern era.

Phillipine Education

The system of education in the Philippines was patterned both from the educational systems of Spain and the United States. However, after the liberation of the Philippines in 1946, the system have changed radically

The Department of Education (or DepEd) administers the whole educational system, which also includes the allocation of funds utilized for school services and equipment (such as books, school chairs, etc.), recruitment of teachers for allpublic schools in the Philippines, and the supervision and organization of the school curricula.

The former education system of the Philippines is composed of 6 years ofelementary education starting at the age of 6 or 7, and 4 years of high school education starting at the age of 12 or 13. In this system, education is not compulsory.

However, since June 4, 2012, DepEd started to implement the new K-12 educational system, which includes the new curricula for all schools (see the section). In this system, education is now compulsory.

All public and private schools in the Philippines must start classes from a date mandated by the Department of Education (usually every first Monday of June for public schools only), and must end after each school completes the mandated 200-day school calendar of DepEd (usually around the third week of March to the second week of April).

Philippine Festivals

In Honor of A Patron Saint

·         Ati-atihan Festival - Kalibo, Aklan (in honor of Santo Niño)

·         Dinagyang Festival - Iloilo City (in honor of Santo Niño)

·         Kinabayo festival - Dapitan City (in honor of Saint James the Great)

·         Higantes Festival - Angono, Rizal (in honor of Saint Clement)

·         Longganisa Festival - Vigan City (in honor of St. Paul)

·         Kasadyaan sa Iligan - Iligan City (in honor of Saint Michael the Archangel)

·         Mammangui Festival - May 30, Ilagan City

·         Moriones Festival - Marinduque

·         Pintados-Kasadyaan - Leyte

·         Sangyaw - Tacloban City

·         Sinulog Festival - Cebu (in honor of Santo Niño)

·         Zamboanga Hermosa Festival - Zamboanga City (in honor of Our Lady of the Pillar)

 Indigenous Influence/Non-Religious Festival

·         Kadayawan Festival - Davao City

·         Lanzones Festival - Camiguin

·         Pav-vurulun Festival - Tuguegarao City

·         Masskara Festival - Bacolod City

·         Ibalong Festival - Legazpi City

·         Sandugo Festival - Bohol

·         Bangus Festival - Dagupan City

·         Sinukwan Festival - San Fernando City.

·         Frog Festival - San Fernando City.

·         Binatbatan Festival of the Arts - Vigan City

·         Sampaguita Festival-San Pedro,Laguna

·         Halamang Dilaw Singkaban Festival - Marilao, Bulacan

Film Festival

·         Cinemalaya

·         Metro Manila Film Festival

Flower Festival

·         Panagbenga Festival - (Feb 26- Feb 27), Baguio City

Religious Festivals

January

·         Feast of the Three Kings - 2, Gasan, Marinduque

·         Bailes de Luces - 5, La Castellana, Negros Occidental

·         Lingayen Gulf Landing Anniversary - 9, Lingayen, Pangasinan

·         Feast of The Black Nazarene - 9, Quiapo, Manila

·         Biniray Festival - 9, Romblon

·         Hinugyaw Festival (Araw ng Koronadal) - 10, Koronadal City

·         Binanog Festival - 10-16, Lambunao, Iloilo

·         Sinulog (Kabankalan) Festival - 10-16, Kabankalan City

·         Coconut "Coco" Festival - 15 (week long), San Pablo City, Laguna

·         Makato Santo Niño Festival - 15, Makato, Aklan

·         Pasungay Festival - 15, San Joaquin, Iloilo

·         Batingaw Festival - 16, Cabuyao City

·         Kahimunan Festival - 16, Butuan City

·         Pangisdaan Festival - 16, Navotas City

·         Kinaradto Festival - 16, Buenavista, Guimaras

·         Batan Ati-Ati Malakara Festival - 16, Batan, Aklan

·         Fire Works Display and Contest - 16, Iloilo City

·         Caracol Festival - 16, Makati City

·         Bansudani Festival (Feast of The Divine Savior) - 17, Bansud, Oriental Mindoro

·         Sadsad sa Kalye - 19, Janiuay, Iloilo

·         Pandot sa Bacolod - 20, Bacolod City

·         Binuligay Festival - 20, Jamindan, Capiz

·         Feast of the Santo Niño - 3rd Sunday, Nationwide

·         Ati-Atihan Festival - 3-16, Kalibo, Aklan

·         Dinagyang Festival - 22-23, Iloilo City

·         Longganisa Festival - 22, Vigan City

·         Sinulog festival - Cebu City

·         Sto Niño de Malolos Festival - 30, Malolos City

·         Pintauo Festival - 21, Ibarra, Maasin City

·         Altavas Santo Niño Festival - 21-22, Altavas, Aklan

·         Feast of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage - 24, La Carlota City

·         Ibajay Ati-Ati Municipal and Devotional Fiesta - 24-25, Ibajay, Aklan

·         Dinagsa Ati-Atihan Festival - 24-30, Cadiz City

·         Sana-aw Festival - 28, Jordan, Guimaras

·         Hinirugyaw Festival - 30-February 6, Calinog, Iloilo

·         Balot sa Puti Festival - 31, Pateros

·         The Boracay International Funboard Cub - 31-February 5, Boracay Island

·         Boling-Boling Festival - 28 Catanuan Quezon

February

·        Salakayan Festival - 1-6, Miag-ao, Iloilo

·        Pabirik Festival - 1-2, Paracale, Camarines Norte

·        Bicol Arts Festival - 1-28, Legazpi City

·        Festival of Hearts - 1-14, Tanjay City

·        National Arts Month - 1-28, Nationwide

·        Lavandero Festival - 1-6, Mandaluyong City

·        Suroy sa Surigao - 1-28, Surigao City

·        Feast of Our Lady of Candles - 2, Iloilo City

·        Pamulinawen - 2-10, Laoag City

·        The International Bamboo Organ Festival - 3-11, Las Piñas City

·        Guling-Guling Festival - 5, Paoay, Ilocos Norte

·        Kali-Kalihan Harvest Festival - 6, Salvador Benedicto, Negros Occidental

·        Fiesta Tsinoy - 6, Legazpi City

·        Tinapay Festival - 7-13, Cuenca, Batangas

·        Fistahan - 9-15, Davao City

·        Chinese New Year - Nationwide

·        Bulang-Bulang Festival - 9, San Enrique, Negros Occidental

·        Davao Chinese New Year - 9-17, Davao City

·        Pabalhas sa Tablas - 11, Candoni, Negros Occidental

·        Spring Festival (Chinese Lunar New Year) - 11, Baguio City

·        Tinagba Festival - 11, Iriga City

·        Tiburin Horse Race - 12, Pasay City

·        Pamaypay ng Caloocan Festival - 12, Caloocan City

·        Sambalilo Hat Festival - 13, Parañaque City

·        Feast Day of Santa Clara - 13, Pasay City

·        Local Media Familiarization Festival - 13-19, Cagayan de Oro City

·        Serenata - 14, Pasay City

·        Harana: Karantahan nin Pagranga (Music Festival) - 14, San Jose, Camarines Sur

·        Suman Festival (Aurora Day) - 14-19, Baler, Aurora

·        Apayao Province Foundation - 14, Apayao

·        Kalinga Province Foundation - 14, Kalinga

·        Philippine Military Academy Alumni Homecoming - 18-19, Baguio City

·        Kapayapaan Festival - 18-20, Jose Abad Santos, Davao del Sur

·        Bicol Regional Tourism Councils Assembly - 18-19, Naga City

·        Pasayaw Festival - 19, Canlaon City

·        Babaylan Festival - 19, Bago City

March

·         Kaamulan Tribal Festival - 1-6, Malaybalay City

·         Rodeo Masbateño - 1-April 2, Masbate City

·         Araw ng Island Garden City of Samal - 1-7, Island Garden City of Samal

·         Pasig Summer Music Festival - 1-31, Pasig City

·         Parade of Festivals - 1, Muntinlupa City

·         Payvanuvanuan Festival - 1-31, Mahatao, Batanes

·         Zamboanga Peninsula Summer Event - 1-31, Zamboanga City

·         Sugbahan - 2-14, Davao City

·         Pacto de Sangre de New Washington, Aklan (Blood Compact of New Washington, Aklan) - 3, New Washington, Aklan

·         Puerto Princesa Foundation Day - 4, Puerto Princesa City

·         Bangkero Festival - 6-10, Pagsanjan, Laguna

·         Arya! Abra Festival - 7-11, Bangued, Abra

·         Tinguan Festival - 7-11, Bangued, Abra

·         Panagtagbo Festival - 7, Tagum City

·         Vis-Min Travel and Lifestyle Show - 7-9, SM City Cebu Trade Hall

·         National Women's Month Celebration Exhibit - 8-12, Manila

·         Birth Anniversary of The Late President Jose P. Laurel - 9, Tanauan City

·        Tinagba Festival - 11, Iriga City

·        Tiburin Horse Race - 12, Pasay City

·        Pamaypay ng Caloocan Festival - 12, Caloocan City

·        Sambalilo Hat Festival - 13, Parañaque City

·        Feast Day of Santa Clara - 13, Pasay City

·        Local Media Familiarization Festival - 13-19, Cagayan de Oro City

·        Serenata - 14, Pasay City

·        Harana: Karantahan nin Pagranga (Music Festival) - 14, San Jose, Camarines Sur

·        Suman Festival (Aurora Day) - 14-19, Baler, Aurora

·        Apayao Province Foundation - 14, Apayao

·        Kalinga Province Foundation - 14, Kalinga

·        Philippine Military Academy Alumni Homecoming - 18-19, Baguio City

·        Kapayapaan Festival - 18-20, Jose Abad Santos, Davao del Sur

·        Bicol Regional Tourism Councils Assembly - 18-19, Naga City

·        Pasayaw Festival - 19, Canlaon City

·        Babaylan Festival - 19, Bago City

Administrative divisions

-The Philippines is divided into three island groups: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. As of March 2010, these were divided into 17 regions, 80 provinces, 138 cities, 1,496 municipalities, and 42,025barangays.[79] In addition, Section 2 of Republic Act No. 5446 asserts that the definition of the territorial sea around the Philippine archipelago does not affect the claim over Sabah

The Philippines is divided into, from the highest division to the lowest: 

Autonomous regions

Regular administrative regions are not elected and are considered arms of the national governments, not governments in their own right.

Provinces and independent cities

Municipalities and component cities

Barangays

Each division at each level from the provinces down to the barangays is a local government unit (LGU). For administrative purposes, the provinces and cities are grouped into regions. The President has the prerogative to create, abolish and determine the composition of regions, which is done so most often in consultation with the local government units affected; with the exception of autonomous regions, where the residents of the local government units have to ratify in a plebiscite their inclusion in such a setup.

Other political divisions exist for the other branches of government

Provinces

All regions except one (Metro Manila) are subdivided into provinces. Each province is headed by a governor. Its legislative body is the Sangguniang Panlalawigan composed of the different members from Sanggunian districts, which in most cases are contiguous to the congressional districts.

Cities and municipalities

Regions, aside from having provinces may also have independent cities. Independent cities, classified either as highly urbanized or independent component cities, are cities which are not under the jurisdiction of a province. These cities are not administered by their mother provinces, do not share their tax revenues with the province, and in most cases their residents are not eligible to elect or be elected to provincial offices.

Cities that are politically a part of a province are called component cities. The voters in these cities are allowed to vote and run for positions in the provincial government.

Municipalities are always components of a province, except Pateros, Metro Manila, which is independent.

Cities and municipalities are headed by a mayor. The legislative arm of these units are the Sangguniang Panlungsod for cities and Sangguniang Bayan for municipalities, which are composed of councilors elected at-large or in some cases, by Sanggunian district.

Barangays

Cities (both component and independent ones) and municipalities are further divided into barangays. The barangay is the smallest political unit. In some populous cities, barangays are grouped into zones and/or into districts for administrative purposes. In rural areas, sitios or puroks are the preferred ways of subdividing barangays for administrative purposes. Each barangay is headed by a barangay captain.

Gated communities may either be a part of a barangay or a barangay itself. An example of a barangay coextensive with a gated community is Forbes Park, Makati City.

Sitios and Puroks

Below barangays are smaller communities known as sitios and puroks. Not all baranagays are so sub-divided. They leadership is not a recognized Local Government Unit and are not elected in regular general elections. Sitios and puroks are most common in less populated, rural barangays where you might have several pockets of population spread out over a wider area and surrounded by farms or undeveloped mountainsides, or even on different islands.

Geography

The Philippines is an archipelago comprising 7,107 islands with a total land area of 300,000 km2. The 11 largest islands contain 94% of the total land area. The largest of these islands is Luzon at about 105,000 km2. The next largest island isMindanao at about 95,000 km2. The archipelago is around 800 km from the Asianmainland and is located between Taiwan and Borneo.

The islands are divided into three groups: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The Luzon islands include Luzon Island itself, Palawan, Mindoro, Marinduque, Masbateand Batanes Islands. The Visayas is the group of islands in the central Philippines, the largest of which are: Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte and Samar. The Mindanao islands include Mindanao itself, plus the Sulu Archipelago, composed primarily of Basilan, Sulu Island, and Tawi-Tawi.

The Philippine archipelago lies in Southeast Asia in a position that has led to its becoming a cultural crossroads - a place where Malays, Hindus, Arabs, Chinese, Spaniards, Americans, and others had interacted to forge a unique cultural and racial blend. The archipelago numbers some 7,107 islands; and the nation claims an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 200 nautical miles (370 km) from its shores. The Philippines occupies an area that stretches for 1,850 kilometers from about the fifth to the twentieth parallels north latitude. The total land area is slightly more than 300,000 square kilometers. Only approximately 1,000 of its islands are populated, and fewer than one-half of these are larger than 2.5 square kilometers. Eleven islands make up 95 percent of the Philippine landmass, and two of these — Luzon and Mindanao — measure 105,000 and 95,000 square kilometers, respectively. They, together with the cluster of islands in Visayas in between them, represent the three principal regions of the archipelago that are identified by the three stars on the Philippine flag. Topographically, the Philippines is broken up by the sea, which gives it one of the longest coastlines of any nation in the world.

Off the coast of eastern Mindanao is the Philippine Trench, which descends to a depth of 10,430 meters. The Philippines is part of a western Pacific arc system characterized by active volcanoes. Among the most notable peaks are Mount Mayon near Legazpi City, Taal Volcano south of Manila, and Mount Apo in Mindanao. All of the Philippine islands are prone to earthquakes. The northern Luzon highlands, or Cordillera Central, rise to between 2,500 and 2,750 meters, and, together with the Sierra Madre in the northeastern portion of Luzon and the mountains of Mindanao, boast rain forests that provide refuge for numerous upland tribal groups. The rain forests also offer prime habitat for more than 500 species of birds, including the Philippine eagle (or monkey-eating eagle), some 800 species of orchids, and some 8,500 species of flowering plants.

The country's most extensive river systems are the Pulangi River, which flows into the Mindanao River (Rio Grande de Mindanao); the Agusan, in Mindanao which flows north into the Mindanao Sea; the Cagayan in northern Luzon; and the Pampanga, which flows south from east Central Luzon into Manila Bay. Laguna de Bay, east of Manila Bay, is the largest freshwater lake in the Philippines. Several rivers have been harnessed for hydroelectric power.

To protect the country's biological resources, the government has taken a first step of preparing a Biodiversity Action Plan to address conservation of threatened species.

    National Anthem of The Philippines

Tagalog Lyrics

Lupang Hinirang

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, at sa langit mong bughaw,

May dilag ang tula,

At awit sa paglayang minamahal. 

Ang kislap ng wata wat mo'y

Tagumpay na nagniningning,

Ang bituin at araw niya

Kailan pa ma'y di magdidilim. 

Lupa ng araw, ng luwalhatit pagsinta,

Buhay at langit sa piling mo.

Aming li gaya na pag may mangaapi

Ang mamatay nang dahil sa iyo.

Culture of France

The culture of France and of the French people has been shaped by geography, by profound historical events, and by foreign and internal forces and groups. France, and in particular Paris, has played an important role as a center of high culture and of decorative arts since the 17th century, first in Europe, and from the 19th century on, world wide. From the late 19th century, France has also played an important role in cinema, fashion and cuisine. The importance of French culture has waxed and waned over the centuries, depending on its economic, political and military importance. French culture today is marked both by great regional and socioeconomic differences and by strong unifying tendencies.

Wherever one comes from, "culture" consists of beliefs and values learned through the socialization process as well as material artifacts. "Culture is the learned set of beliefs, values, norms and material goods shared by group members. Culture consists of everything we learn in groups during the life course-from infancy to old age."
The conception of "French" culture however poses certain difficulties and presupposes a series of assumptions about what precisely the expression "French" means. Whereas American culture posits the notion of the "melting-pot" and cultural diversity, the expression "French culture" tends to refer implicitly to a specific geographical entity (as, say, "metropolitan France", generally excluding its overseas departments) or to a specific historico-sociological group defined by ethnicity, language, religion and geography. The realities of "Frenchness" however, are extremely complicated. Even before the late 18th-19th century, "metropolitan France" was largely a patchwork of local customs and regional differences that the unifying aims of the Ancien Régime and the French Revolution had only begun to work against, and today's France remains a nation of numerous indigenous and foreign languages, of multiple ethnicities and religions, and of regional diversity that includes French citizens in Corsica, Guadeloupe, Martinique and elsewhere around the globe.
The creation of some sort of typical or shared French culture or "cultural identity", despite this vast heterogeneity, is the result of powerful internal forces — such as the French educational system, mandatory military service, state linguistic and cultural policies — and by profound historic events — such as the Franco-Prussian war and the two World Wars — which have forged a sense of national identity over the last 200 years. However, despite these unifying forces, France today still remains marked by social class and by important regional differences in culture (cuisine, dialect/accent, local traditions) that many fear will be unable to withstand contemporary social forces (depopulation of the countryside, immigration, centralization, market forces and the world economy).
In recent years, to fight the loss of regional diversity, many in France have promoted forms of multiculturalism and encouraged cultural enclaves (communautarisme), including reforms on the preservation of regional languages and the decentralization of certain government functions, but French multiculturalism has had a harder time of accepting, or of integrating into the collective identity, the large non-Christian and immigrant communities and groups that have come to France since the 1960s.
The last 50 years has also seen French cultural identity "threatened" by global market forces and by American "cultural hegemony". Since its dealings with the 1993 GATT free trade negotiations, France has fought for what it calls the exception culturelle, meaning the right to subsidize or treat favorably domestic cultural production and to limit or control foreign cultural products (as seen in public funding for French cinema or the lower VAT accorded to books). The notion of an explicit exception française however has angered many of France's critics.
The French are often perceived as taking a great pride in national identity and the positive achievements of France (the expression "chauvinism" is of French origin) and cultural issues are more integrated in the body of the politics than elsewhere (see "The Role of the State", below). The French Revolution claimed universalism for the democratic principles of the Republic. Charles de Gaulle actively promoted a notion of French "grandeur" ("greatness"). Perceived declines in cultural status are a matter of national concern and have generated national debates, both from the left (as seen in the anti-globalism of José Bové) and from the right and far right (as in the discourses of the National Front).
According to Hofstede's Framework for Assessing Culture, the culture of France is moderately individualistic and high Power Distance Index.
Now, the interracial blending of some native French and newcomers stands as a vibrant and boasted feature of French culture, from popular music to movies and literature. Therefore, alongside mixing of populations, exists also a cultural blending (le métissage culturel) that is present in France. It may be compared to the traditional US conception of the melting-pot. The French culture might have been already blended in from other races and ethnicities, in cases of some biographical research on the possibility of African ancestry on a small number of famous French citizens. Author Alexandre Dumas, père possessed one-fourth black Haitian descent, and Empress Josephine Napoleon who was born and raised in the French West Indies from a plantation estate family. We can mention as well, the most famous French singer Edith Piaf whose grandmother was a North African from Kabylie.
For a long time, the only objection to such outcomes predictably came from the far-right schools of thought. In the past few years, other unexpected voices are however beginning to question what they interpret, as the new philosopher Alain Finkielkraut coined the term, as an "Ideology of miscegenation" (une idéologie du métissage) that may come from what one other philosopher, Pascal Bruckner, defined as the "Sob of the White man" (le sanglot de l'homme blanc). These critics have been dismissed by the mainstream and their propagators have been labelled as new reactionaries (les nouveaux réactionnaires),even if racist and anti-immigration sentiment has recently been documented to be increasing in France at least according to one poll


Religion
France is a secular country where freedom of thought and of religion is preserved, by virtue of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The Republic is based on the principle of laïcité, that is of freedom of religion (including of agnosticism and atheism) enforced by the Jules Ferry laws and the 1905 law on the separation of the State and the Church, enacted at the beginning of the Third Republic (1871–1940). A January 2007 poll found that 61% of the French population describe themselves as Roman Catholics, 21% as Atheists, 4% as Muslims, 3% as Protestants, 1% as Buddhists, and 1% as Jews. France guarantees freedom of religion as a constitutional right and the government generally respects this right in practice. A long history of violent conflict between groups led the state to break its ties to the Catholic Church early in the last century and adopt a strong commitment to maintaining a totally secular public sector
Catholicism

The Roman Catholic Church has always played a significant role in French culture and in French life. Most French people are Roman Catholic Christians, however many of them are secular but still place high value on Catholicism.
The Roman Catholic faith is no longer considered the state religion, as it was before the 1789 Revolution and throughout the various, non-republican regimes of the 19th century (the Restoration, the July Monarchy and the Second Empire). The Official split of Catholic Church and State ("Séparation de l'Eglise et de l'Etat") took place in 1905, and this major reform emphazises the Laicist and anti-clericalist mood of French Radical Republicans in this period.
At the beginning of the 20th century, France was a largely rural country with conservative Catholic mores, but in the hundred years since then, the countryside has become depopulated, and the population has largely become more secular. A December 2006 poll by Harris Interactive, published in The Financial Times, found that 32% of the French population described themselves as agnostic, a further 32% as atheist and only 27% believed in any type of God or supreme being
Islam
After Catholicism, Islam is the second largest faith in France today, and the country has the largest Muslim population (in percentage) of any Western European country. This is a result of immigration and permanent family settlement in France, from the 1960s on, of groups from, principally, North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia) and, to a lesser extent, other areas such as Turkey and West Africa.[11] While it is prohibited in France for the government census to collect data on religious beliefs, estimates and polls place the percentage of Muslims at between 4% and 7%
Buddhism
Buddhism is widely reported to be the fourth largest religion in France, after Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. France has over two hundred Buddhist meditation centers, including about twenty sizable retreat centers in rural areas. The Buddhist population mainly consists of Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants, with a substantial minority of native French converts and “sympathizers.” The rising popularity of Buddhism in France has been the subject of considerable discussion in the French media and academy in recent years

Education

The French educational system is highly centralised, organised, and ramified. It is divided into three different stages: primary education (enseignement primaire); secondary education (collège and lycée); and higher education (l'université)(or les Grandes écoles).
Primary and secondary education is predominantly public (private schools also exist, in particular a strong nationwide network of primary and secondary Catholic education), while higher education has both public and private elements. At the end of secondary education, students take the baccalauréat exam, which allows them to pursue higher education. The baccalauréat pass rate in 1999 was 78.3%.
In 1999–2000, educational spending amounted to 7% of the French GDP and 37% of the national budget.
France's performance in math and science at the middle school level was ranked 23 in the 1995 Trends in International Math and Science Study.[20]
Since the Jules Ferry laws of 1881-2, named after the then Minister of Public Instruction, all state-funded schools, including universities, are independent from the (Roman Catholic) Church. Education in these institutions is free. Non-secular institutions are allowed to organize education as well. The French educational system differs strongly from Northern-European and American systems in that it stresses the importance of partaking in a society as opposed to being responsibly independent.
Secular educational policy has become critical in recent issues of French multiculturalism, as in the "affair of the Islamic headscarf"


French Art

The first paintings of France are those that are from prehistoric times, painted in the caves of Lascaux well over 10,000 years ago. The arts were already flourishing 1,200 years ago, at the time of Charlemagne, as can be seen in many hand made and hand illustrated books of that time.

Classic painters of the 17th century in France are Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain. During the 18th century the Rococo style emerged as a frivolous continuation of the Baroque style. The most famous painters of the era were Antoine Watteau, François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard. At the end of the century, Jacques-Louis David was the most influential painter of the Neoclassicism.
Géricault and Delacroix were the most important painters of the Romanticism. Afterwards, the painters were more realistic, describing nature (Barbizon school). The realistic movement was led by Courbet and Honoré Daumier. Impressionism was developed in France by artists such as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Camille Pissarro. At the turn of the century, France had become more than ever the center of innovative art. The Spaniard Pablo Picasso came to France, like many other foreign artists, to deploy his talents there for decades to come. Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin and Cézanne were painting then. Cubism is an avant-garde movement born in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century.
The Louvre in Paris is one of the most famous and the largest art museums in the world, created by the new revolutionary regime in 1793 in the former royal palace. It holds a vast amount of art of French and other artists, e.g. the Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, and classical Greek Venus de Milo and ancient works of culture and art from Egypt and the Middle East.

French Music

France boasts a wide variety of indigenous folk music, as well as styles played by immigrants from Africa, Latin America and Asia. In the field of classical music, France has produced a number of legendary composers, like Gabriel Faure, while modern pop music has seen the rise of popular French hip hop, French rock, 
The Fête de la Musique was created in France (first held in 1982), a music festival, which has since become worldwide. It takes place every June 21, on the first day of summer.

Holidays

Despite the principles of laïcité and the separation of church from state, public and school holidays in France generally follow the Roman Catholic religious calendar (including Easter, Christmas, Ascension Day, Pentecost, Assumption of Mary, All Saints Day, etc.). Labor Day and the National Holiday are the only business holidays determined by government statute; the other holidays are granted by convention collective (agreement between employers' and employees' unions) or by agreement of the employer.
The five holiday periods of the public school year[41] are:
the vacances de la Toussaint (All Saints Day) - one and a half weeks starting near the end of October.
the vacances de Noël (Christmas) - two weeks, ending after New Years.
the vacances d'hiver (winter) - two weeks in February and March.
the vacances de printemps (spring), formerly vacances de Pâques (Easter) - two weeks in April and May.
the vacances d'été (summer), or grandes vacances (literally: big holidays) - two months in July and August.
On May 1, Labour Day (La Fête du Travail) the French give flowers of Lily of the Valley (Le Muguet) to one another.
The National holiday (called Bastille Day in English) is on the 14 of July. Military parades, called Défilés du 14 juillet, are held, the largest on the Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris in front of the President of the Republic.
On November 2, All Souls Day (La Fête des morts), the French traditionally bring chrysanthemums to the tombs of departed family members.
On November 11, Remembrance Day (Le Jour de la Commémoration or L' Armistice) is an official holiday.
Christmas is generally celebrated in France on Christmas Eve by a traditional meal (typical dishes include oysters, boudin blanc and the bûche de Noël), by opening presents and by attending the midnight mass (even among Catholics who do not attend church at other times of the year).
Candlemas (La Chandeleur) is celebrated with crêpes. The popular saying is that if the cook can flip a crêpe singlehandedly with a coin in the other hand, the family is assured of prosperity throughout the coming year.
The Anglo-Saxon and American holiday Halloween has grown in popularity following its introduction in the mid-1990s by the trade associations. The growth seems to have stalled during the following decade.

French Republic 

La Marseillaise 

by 

Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle. 

Allons enfants de la patrie, 

Le jour de gloire est arriv? 

Contre nous de la tyrannie 

L'?tendard sanglant est lev? 

Entendez vous dans les campagnes, 

Mugir ces f?roces soldats? 

Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras 

Egorger nos fils, nos compagnes! 

Refrain 

Aux armes, citoyens! 

Formez vos bataillons! 

Marchons! Marchons! 

Qu'un sang impur 

Abreuve nos sillons! 

Amour sacr? de la patrie, 

Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs! 

Libert?, Libert? cherie, 

Combats avec tes defenseurs! 

Sous nos drapeaux, que la victoire 

Accoure ? tes males accents! 

Que tes ennemis expirants 

Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire! 

Refrain 

Nous entrerons dans la carri?re 

Quand nos ain?s n'y seront plus; 

Nous y trouverons leur poussi?re 

Et la trace de leurs vertus. 

Bien moins jaloux de leur survivre 

Que de partager leur cercueil, 

Nous aurons le sublime orgueil 

De les venger ou de les suivre! 

Refrain 

English: 

Ye sons of France, awake to glory! 

Hark! Hark! the people bid you rise! 

Your children, wives, and grandsires hoary 

Behold their tears and hear their cries! 

(repeat) 

Shall hateful tyrants, mischief breeding, 

With hireling hosts a ruffian band 

Affright and desolate the land 

While peace and liberty lie bleeding? 

CHORUS 

To arms, to arms, ye brave! 

Th'avenging sword unsheathe! 

March on, march on, all hearts resolved 

On liberty or death. 

Oh liberty can man resign thee, 

Once having felt thy gen'rous flame? 

Can dungeons, bolts, and bar confine thee? 

Or whips thy noble spirit tame? 

(repeat) 

Too long the world has wept bewailing 

That falsehood's dagger tyrants wield; 

But freedom is our sword and shield 

And all their arts are unavailing. 

CHORUS 

Submitted By: 

Rowena Esternon

Promise Mae Federio

Rhegell Arcos