The Visayans represent a quarter of the Philippine population. The term Visayan comes from the people who live around the islands surrounding the Visayan Sea. Some islands where Visayans live are: Luzon, Mindanao and Manila. Many Visayans have also migrated to other parts of the Philippines. Visayans speak one of three languages. The three different languages ​​are: Cebuano, Panayan or Samaran. These languages ​​belong to the Malayo-Polynesian family. The majority of Visayans are Catholic but some belong to other religions with this denomination. They constitute a large part of the Christian population. Visayans are known for their religious festivals. Some festivals they celebrate are: Ati-atihan, Sinulog, Dinagyang, Sandugo and MassKara. A large part of the lives of the Visayan people is their ritual life. Visayans have a greater religious life than that of the United States. The Roman Catholic religion helps them focus on the kinship system. Visayans also have a nuclear family, which makes them more involved in religion. Unlike our culture, in Visayan culture, the Roman Catholic faith plays a central role. In the United States, religion does not play as central a role in culture. Their religion influences their rituals, festivals and celebrations. One of the rituals performed by the Visayan people is the rice ritual. The name of their rice ritual is a Christianized ritual. They pray to God and hope that the rice will have the right characteristics. This gives farmers peace of mind knowing that the rice will grow successfully since God is in control. Arens states: "In Christianized ritual, the invocations are directed to God and the amulets or charms used now are the symbolic expression of a prayer to ...... middle of paper ......). Children are afraid of asuang spirits. Tamawos and asuang spirits can take any form, whether human or animal. The Visayan people practice many different rituals in their culture. These rituals are what makes the Visayan culture unique from others. Without rituals, human development would suffer in this culture. The structure of Visayan culture is partly made up of their rituals. Their ritual life is at the center of their culture. Works Cited Arens, Richard. “The Rice Ritual in the Eastern Visayan Islands, Philippines.” Folkloric studies. 16. (1957): 268-90.Print.Madigan, Francis. “The Harvest Ritual in North-Central Mindanao.” Sociological analysis. 25.4 (1964): 231-37.Print.Maxfield, Berton. Millington, W. “Filipino (Visayan) Superstitions.” The Journal of American Folklore. 19.74 (1906): 205-11.Print