Traditional Courtship

by Gee Yap
(Philippines)

Courtship is a traditional dating period before engagement and marriage. It is the "getting-to-know you" stage and a time for a man to know the parents and family members. Sometimes you have to court the family members first before you can go out on a friendly date..

There are several ways on how to express his interest to a woman. Singing love songs, writing letters, reciting poems and the most common now a days is gift giving not only to the woman but also to her family members.

A traditional Filipina is expected to play "hard-to-get" as if she's not interested. She has to maintain modesty, shyness, be demure and reserved, even if she has feelings for her admirer in order for her to see and know whether he's sincere and serious about his feelings for her. This characteristic is somewhat referred to as Maria Clara(the character in Jose Rizal's book "Noli Me Tangere").