The area I currently live in is called the San Luis Valley. When Zebulon Pike first saw the landscape, he wrote “[t]he great and lofty mountains . . . seemed to surround the luxuriant vale, crowned with perennial flowers, like a terrestrial paradise, shut out from the view of man” (Encyclopedia Staff, 2020, par. 12)
It is a large high-altitude desert valley about the size of Connecticut (roughly 8,000 square miles) in south-central Colorado, extending into the northernmost areas of New Mexico (Encyclopedia Staff, 2020). The arid, cold conditions with the extremities of high altitudes make the San Luis Valley’s climate a sharp contrast to the humid, lush, and tropical climate of the Philippines (Borlaza, 2020).
The Valley is and isolated place, bordered in nearly 360 degrees of mountains (Encyclopedia Staff, 2020). It is a very rural area, with tiny towns spread out across the Valley, typically in multiples of 7 miles – as the steam trains which brought developments to the area needed to stop every 7 miles to refill their water tanks. The land originally was occupied as sacred hunting grounds for at least 10,000 years by at least 13 different indigenous tribes, with the strongest recent presence being the Ute and the Navajo, whose sacred mountain of the east is a prominent feature on our landscape. Agriculture and ranching of sheep and cattle are the major industries. The Philippines also is primarily agricultural (Borlaza, 2020). The San Luis Valley is poverty-ridden, with some families lacking electricity and running water even today – which is almost unheard of in the United States today. The Philippines poverty is comparably more severe, with an estimation that 1 out of 4 residents of the city of Manila is a squatter, living on the banks of rivers or in garbage dumps (Baringer, n.d.).
Spanish Conquistadors invaded the Valley in 1598, wrestling for control with the indigenous peoples, enslaving them, until 1821 (Encyclopedia Staff, 2020). The Spanish ‘claimed’ the valley for King Phillip II – just as it was for the Philippines (David & Nadal, 2013). In 1821, after Mexico gained its independence from Spain, the Valley became Mexican territory, and land grants were established (Encyclopedia Staff, 2020). Conflicts with Native Americans continued. In 1848, the United States took control of the San Luis Valley in the Mexican-American War. With the coming of the railway, more European Americans moved into the area, which created conflicts and skirmishes with the Latino and Native American populations due to a clash of cultures. Embedded historical trauma from colonialism impacts both the San Luis Valley and the Philippines (David & Nadal, 2013)
The largest town in the San Luis Valley is Alamosa (Encyclopedia Staff, 2020). I live in Sanford, about 20 miles away from Alamosa, with a population of around 800 people. Sanford is a significantly Mormon town, and predominantly white (EchoHawk, 2012). The Amish and Mennonite also have a strong presence in the area (Schrader, 2010). This is in stark contrast to another Valley town I lived in 5 years ago, Antonito, which is heavily Native American, Latino and Mestizo (mixed Aztec and Spanish) (Bonilla et al., 2004). The Spanish language here is unchanged 1500s Spanish, a dialect unique in the modern world (Lozano, 1994).
Most of these small towns are highly protective of each other, and extremely resistant to trusting outsiders. Change is extremely slow (Encyclopedia Staff, 2020). High-speed internet only became available a few years ago, for example, but is still not available in some communities. Each town has its own unique personality This can be compared to the differences in culture in different islands and geographic regions of the Philippines, which have some distinctions, but also are united under a broader culture (Baringer, n.d.), as it also is in the San Luis Valley.
The Latino community in the San Luis Valley is for the most part Catholic, as it is also in the Philippines (Montiel & Teh, 2004). However, I can only assume that the ‘flavor’ of the religious beliefs are different between these places, as they have very different cultural worldviews. However, a similarity to the Philippines is that the family is the central support system and are tightly knit (Maria, 2012). Oral storytelling was predominant for most of the settled history of the San Luis Valley, often concerning witchcraft and treasure hidden in the mountains (Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area, 2019). Stories were passed down from fathers to sons. These stories often re-enforce traditional values based on Catholicism, but portrayed through the lens of Mexican, Native American, and Spanish frames. Strange occurrences are common, such as cattle mutilations, people disappearing under mysterious circumstances, and sightings of UFOs, which were even referenced by the Utes (O’Brien, 2014).
Art is also a part of the culture in the San Luis Valley. Murals depicting historical scenes, Native Americans, and wildlife are painted on buildings and silos in every town (Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area, 2019). Sculptures are also prominent, mostly depicting religious figures. Weaving and fiber arts are also a strong tradition, passed down from Native American styles and traditions. The Philippines also have a history of weaving and oral storytelling (Cole, 1916).
Indigenous culture also influences the Philippines, with a modern-day population of around 12 million, or around 14% of the population (De Vera, 2007). However, some indigenous peoples of the Philippines maintain their cultural practices as they live primarily in the mountainous regions which had little encroachment from Spanish and later, American, colonization (Valdeavilla, 2018), and the indigenous peoples of the San Luis Valley, Colorado have been forced off their lands onto reservations and undergone cultural ethnic cleansing. The Lumad tribes in the Southern Philippines are known for their music, and the instruments which they make for it (Valdeavilla, 2018).
It is quite interesting to see how many similarities there are between the culture of the rural San Luis Valley in Colorado, U.S. to the culture of the Philippines. That being said, it would be faulty to consider that these cultures are in themselves similar, but rather carry some similar traits.
References
Baringer, S.E. (n.d.) The Philippines. Countries and Their Cultures. https://www.everyculture.com/No-Sa/The-Philippines.html
Bonilla, C., Parra, E. J., Pfaff, C. L., Dios, S., Marshall, J. A., Hamman, R. F., Ferrell, R. E., Hoggart, C. L., McKeigue, P. M., & Shriver, M. D. (2004). Admixture in the Hispanics of the San Luis Valley, Colorado, and its implications for complex trait gene mapping. Annals of human genetics, 68(Pt 2), 139–153. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1529-8817.2003.00084.x
Borlaza, G.C. (October 23, 2020). Philippines. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Philippines
Cole, M.C. (1916). Philippine Folk Tales. A.C. McClurg & Co.
David, E. R., & Nadal, K. L. (2013). The colonial context of Filipino American immigrants’ psychological experiences. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 19(3), 298-309. doi:10.1037/a0032903
De Vera, D.E. (2007). Indigenous peoples in the Philippines: A country case study. Presented at the RNIP Regional Assembly, Vietnam. http://www.iapad.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/devera_ip_phl.pdf
EchoHawk, D. (2012). Struggling to find Zion: Mormons in Colorado’s San Luis Valley. University of Colorado Denver.
Encyclopedia Staff. (2020, March 13). San Luis Valley. Colorado Encyclopedia. https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-luis-valley
Lozano, A. (1994). San Luis Valley Lexicon: Relics and Innovations. Confluencia, 9(2), 121-127. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27922222
Maria, M. (2012). The Philippines. In J. Arnett (Ed.). Adolescent psychology around the world (pp. 133-148). New York, NY US: Psychology Press.
Montiel, C. J. & Teh, L. A. (2004). Psychology in the Philippines. In Stevens, M. J. & Wedding, D. (Eds.), The Handbook of International Psychology, 443-456.
O’Brien, C. (2014). Enter the Valley: UFO’s, Religious Miracles, Cattle Mutilation, and Other Unexplained Phenomena in the San Luis Valley. St. Martin’s Publishing Group.
Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area. (2019). Cultural Arts. https://www.sangreheritage.org/cultural-arts/
Schrader, A. (August 14, 2010). Amish settle in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, diversifying to support families. The Denver Post. https://www.denverpost.com/2010/08/14/amish-settle-in-colorados-san-luis-valley-diversifying-to-support-families/
Valdeavilla, R. (April 25, 2018). A guide to the indigenous tribes of the Philippines. Culture Trip. https://theculturetrip.com/asia/philippines/articles/a-guide-to-the-indigenous-tribes-of-the-philippines/