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,[3] 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 da hil sa iyo.

Culture of the United States

The culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years ago with the migration of Paleo-Indians from Asia into the region that is today the continental United States. It has its own unique social and cultural characteristics such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, cuisine, and folklore. The United States of America is an ethnically and racially diverse country as a result of large-scale immigration from many different countries throughout its history.
Its chief early European influences came from English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish settlers of colonial America during British rule. British culture, due to colonial ties with Britain that spread the English language, legal system and other cultural inheritances, had a formative influence. Other important influences came from other parts of western Europe, especially Germany, France, and Italy.[citation needed]
Original elements also play a strong role, such as the invention of Jeffersonian democracy.[3] Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia was perhaps the first influential domestic cultural critique by an American and a reactionary piece to the prevailing European consensus that America's domestic originality was degenerate. Prevalent ideas and ideals that evolved domestically, such as national holidays, uniquely American sports, military tradition, and innovations in the arts and entertainment give a strong sense of national pride among the population as a whole.
American culture includes both conservative and liberal elements, scientific and religious competitiveness, political structures, risk taking and free expression, materialist and moral elements. Despite certain consistent ideological principles (e.g. individualism, egalitarianism, and faith in freedom and democracy), American culture has a variety of expressions due to its geographical scale and demographic diversity. The flexibility of U.S. culture and its highly symbolic nature lead some researchers to categorize American culture as a mythic identity; others see it as American exceptionalism.
It also includes elements that evolved from Indigenous Americans, and other ethnic cultures—most prominently the culture of African Americans, cultures from Latin America, and Asian American cultures. Many American cultural elements, especially from popular culture, have spread across the globe through modern mass media.
The United States has often been thought of as a melting pot, but beginning in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it trends towards cultural diversity, pluralism and the image of a salad bowl instead. Due to the extent of American culture, there are many integrated but unique social subcultures within the United States. The cultural affiliations an individual in the United States may have commonly depend on social class, political orientation and a multitude of demographic characteristics such as religious background, occupation and ethnic group membership

Art

After the Declaration of Independence in 1776, which marked the official beginning of the American national identity, the new nation needed a history, and part of that history would be expressed visually. Most of early American art (from the late 18th century through the early 19th century) consists of history painting and especially portraits. As in Colonial America, many of the painters who specialized in portraits were essentially self-taught; notable among them are Joseph Badger, John Brewster, Jr., and William Jennys. The young nation's artists generally emulated the style of British art, which they knew through prints and the paintings of English-trained immigrants such as John Smibert (1688–1751) and John Wollaston (active 1742–75). Robert Feke (1707–52), an untrained painter of the colonial period, achieved a sophisticated style based on Smibert's example. Charles Willson Peale, who gained much of his earliest art training by studying Smibert's copies of European paintings,[4] painted portraits of many of the important figures of the American Revolution. Peale's younger brother James Peale and four of Peale's sons—Raphaelle Peale, Rembrandt Peale, Rubens Peale and Titian Peale—were also artists. Painters such as Gilbert Stuart made portraits of the newly elected government officials, which became iconic after being reproduced on various U.S. Postage stamps of the 19th century and early 20th century, while John Singleton Copley painted emblematic portraits for the increasingly prosperous merchant class, including a portrait of Paul Revere (ca. 1768–70). The original version of his most famous painting, Watson and the Shark (1778), is in the collection of The National Gallery of Art while there is another version in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and a third version in the Detroit Institute of Arts. Benjamin West painted portraits as well as history paintings of the French and Indian War. West also worked in London where many American artists studied under him, including Washington Allston, Ralph Earl, James Earl, Samuel Morse, Charles Willson Peale, Rembrandt Peale, Gilbert Stuart, John Trumbull, Mather Brown, Edward Savage and Thomas Sully. John Trumbull painted large battle scenes of the Revolutionary War. When landscape was painted it was most often done to show how much property a subject owned, or as a picturesque background for a portrait.

Music

The music of the United States reflects the country's multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles. Among the country's most internationally-renowned genres are hip hop, blues, country, rhythm and blues, jazz, barbershop, pop, techno, and rock and roll. After Japan, the United States has the world's second largest music market with a total retail value of 3,635.2 million dollars in 2010[1] and its music is heard around the world. Since the beginning of the 20th century, some forms of American popular music have gained a near global audience.
Native Americans were the earliest inhabitants of the land that is today known as the United States and played its first music. Beginning in the 17th century, immigrants from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany and France began arriving in large numbers, bringing with them new styles and instruments. African slaves brought musical traditions, and each subsequent wave of immigrants contributed to a melting pot.
Much of modern popular music can trace its roots to the emergence in the late 19th century of African American blues and the growth of gospel music in the 1920s. The African American basis for popular music used elements derived from European and indigenous musics. The United States has also seen documented folk music and recorded popular music produced in the ethnic styles of the Ukrainian, Irish, Scottish, Polish, Hispanic and Jewish communities, among others.
Many American cities and towns have vibrant music scenes which, in turn, support a number of regional musical styles. Along with musical centers such as Philadelphia, Seattle, New York City, San Francisco, New Orleans, Detroit, Minneapolis, Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville, Austin, and Los Angeles, many smaller cities such as Asbury Park, New Jersey have produced distinctive styles of music. The Cajun and Creole traditions in Louisiana music, the folk and popular styles of Hawaiian music, and the bluegrass and old time music of the Southeastern states are a few examples of diversity in American music.

Folk music

Folk music in the US is varied across the country's numerous ethnic groups. The Native American tribes each play their own varieties of folk music, most of it spiritual in nature. African American music includes blues and gospel, descendts of West African music brought to the Americas by slaves and mixed with Western European music. During the colonial era, English, French and Spanish styles and instruments were brought to the Americas. By the early 20th century, the United States had become a major center for folk music from around the world, including polka, Ukrainian and Polish fiddling, Ashkenazi Jewish klezmer and several kinds of Latin music.
The Native Americans played the first folk music in what is now the United States, using a wide variety of styles and techniques. Some commonalities are near universal among Native American traditional music, however, especially the lack of harmony and polyphony, and the use of vocables and descending melodic figures. Traditional instrumentations uses the flute and many kinds of percussion instruments, like drums, rattles and shakers. Since European and African contact was established, Native American folk music has grown in new directions, into fusions with disparate styles like European folk dances and Tejano music. Modern Native American music may be best known for powwow gatherings, pan-tribal gatherings at which traditionally styled dances and music are performed.

"Bice'waan Song"
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This is an 1897 recording of a traditional Omaha courtship song.
"On the Old Kissimmee Prairie"
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This is a British tune recorded in Florida in 1940
"The Old Grey Mare"
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This is old-time Appalachian folk music from 1925.
"Dollar Mamie"
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This is a work song for hoeing, recorded at Mississippi State Penitentiary in 1939.
"Caminode San Antonio"
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This is a corrido, recorded near Brownsville, Texas in 1939.
"Cotton-Eyed Joe"
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Cotton-Eyed Joe is a traditional folk song and a line dance mostly known in the Southern United States
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The Thirteen Colonies of the original United States were all former English possessions, and Anglo culture became a major foundation for American folk and popular music. Many American folk songs are identical to British songs in arrangements, but with new lyrics, often as parodies of the original material. American-Anglo songs are also characterized as having fewer pentatonic tunes, less prominent accompaniment (but with heavier use of drones) and more melodies in major. Anglo-American traditional music also includes a variety of broadside ballads, humorous stories and tall tales, and disaster songs regarding mining, shipwrecks and murder. Legendary heroes like Joe Magarac, John Henry and Jesse James are part of many songs. Folk dances of British origin include the square dance, descended from the quadrille, combined with the American innovation of a caller instructing the dancers. The religious communal society known as the Shakers emigrated from England during the 18th century and developed their own folk dance style. Their early songs can be dated back to British folk song models. Other religious societies established their own unique musical cultures early in American history, such as the music of the Amish, the Harmony Society, and of the Ephrata Cloister in Pennsylvania.
The ancestors of today's African American population were brought to the United States as slaves, working primarily in the plantations of the South. They were from hundreds of tribes across West Africa, and they brought with them certain traits of West African music including call and response vocals and complexly rhythmic music, as well as syncopated beats and shifting accents. The African musical focus on rhythmic singing and dancing was brought to the New World, and where it became part of a distinct folk culture that helped Africans "retain continuity with their past through music". The first slaves in the United States sang work songs, field hollers and, following Christianization, hymns. In the 19th century, a Great Awakening of religious fervor gripped people across the country, especially in the South. Protestant hymns written mostly by New England preachers became a feature of camp meetings held among devout Christians across the South. When blacks began singing adapted versions of these hymns, they were called Negro spirituals. It was from these roots, of spiritual songs, work songs and field hollers, that blues, jazz and gospel developed.

Education

Education in the United States is mainly provided by the public sector, with control and funding coming from three levels: local, state, and federal, in that order. Child education is compulsory, and there are also a large number and wide variety of higher education institutions throughout the country that one can choose to attend, both publicly and privately administered.
Public education is universally available. School curricula, funding, teaching, employment, and other policies are set through locally elected school boards with jurisdiction over school districts with many directives from state legislatures. School districts are usually separate from other local jurisdictions, with independent officials and budgets. Educational standards and standardized testing decisions are usually made by state governments.
The ages for compulsory education vary by state. It begins from ages five to eight and ends from ages fourteen to eighteen. Compulsory education requirements can generally be satisfied by educating children in public schools, state-certified private schools, or an approved home school program. In most public and private schools, education is divided into three levels: elementary school, middle school (sometimes called junior high school), and high school (sometimes referred to as secondary education).
In almost all schools at these levels, children are divided by age groups into grades, ranging from kindergarten (followed by first grade) for the youngest children in elementary school, up to twelfth grade, the final year of high school. The exact age range of students in these grade levels varies slightly from area to area.
Post-secondary education, better known as "college" in the United States, is generally governed separately from the elementary and high school system, and is described in a separate section below.


Holidays/Celebrations

US Administrative divisions

Political divisions of the United States describes the various subnational entities that together form the United States. The primary division is the state. The United States Federal and State governments operate within a system of parallel sovereignty, so states are not technically "divisions" created from the United States, but rather units that, together with the federal district and other territories administered by the Federal government, compose the United States.
States are typically subdivided into counties. Louisiana uses the term parish and Alaska uses the term borough for what the Census terms county-equivalents in those states.
Counties and county equivalents may be further subdivided into townships. Towns in New York and New England are treated equivalent to townships by the United States Census Bureau. Towns or townships are used as subdivisions of a county in 20 states, mostly in the Northeast and Midwest.[1]
Population centers may be organized into incorporated cities, towns, villages, and other types of municipalities. Municipalities are typically subordinate to a county government, with some exceptions. Certain cities, for example, have consolidated with their county government as consolidated city-counties. In Virginia, cities are completely independent from the county in which they would otherwise be a part. In some states, particularly New England, towns form the primary unit of local government below the state level, in some cases eliminating the need for county government entirely.
Outside of the states, other divisions include the federal district, insular areas administered by the Federal government, and American Indian reservations. The Federal government also maintains exclusive jurisdiction over the military installations, and American embassies and consulates located in foreign countries. Other special purpose divisions exist separate from those for general governance, examples of which include conservation districts and Congressional districts.


US Geography

The United States is a country in the Northern Hemisphere, Western Hemisphere, and the Eastern Hemisphere. It consists of forty-eight contiguous states in North America, Alaska, a peninsula which forms the northwestern most part of North America, and Hawaii, an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. There are several United States territories in the Pacific and Caribbean. The term "United States", when used in the geographical sense, means the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands of the United States. The country shares land borders with Canada and Mexico and maritime (water) borders with Russia, Cuba, and The Bahamas in addition to Canada and Mexico.

United States of America 

The Star Spangled Banner 

Oh, say! can you see by the dawn's early light 

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming; 

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, 

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there: 

Oh, say! does that star-spangled banner yet wave 

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? 

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, 

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, 

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, 

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? 

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, 

In fully glory reflected now shines in the stream: 

'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh, long may it wave 

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! 

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore 

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion 

A home and a country should leave us no more? 

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution! 

No refuge could save the hireling and slave 

From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave: 

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave 

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand 

Between their loved home and the war's desolation! 

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land 

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! 

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, 

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust": 

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave 

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

Submitted By:

Desiree Barsobia

Diana Espinola

Mathew Gibson Jetajobe

Adrian Detera