The Visayans make up a quarter of the Philippine people. The term Visayan comes from 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 Samarano. These languages ​​come from the Malayo-Polynesian family. Most Visayans are Roman Catholics, but some belong to other religions with this denomination. They make up 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 life of the Visayan people is ritual life. The Visayans have a larger religious life than we have in the United States. The Roman Catholic religion helps them focus on the kinship system. Visayans also have a family unit, which pushes them to engage more in religion. Unlike our culture, in Visayan culture, the Roman Catholic faith plays a central role. In the United States, religion does not play such a central role in culture. Their religion influences their rituals, festivals and celebrations. One of the rituals practiced 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 has the right characteristics. It gives comfort to farmers knowing that rice will grow successfully because God is in control. Arens states: “In the Christianized ritual the invocations are directed to God and the amulets or talismans used now are the symbolic expression of a prayer by... by means of paper...). The children are afraid of the asuang spirits. Both tamawos and asuang spirits can take any form, whether human or animal. The Visayan people have many different rituals practiced by their culture. These rituals are what makes the Visayan culture unique from others. Without rituals, human development in this culture would suffer. The structure of Visayan culture is partly made up of their rituals. Their ritual life is the central focus of their culture. Works Cited Arens, Richard. “The Rice Ritual in the Eastern Visayan Islands, Philippines.” Studies in folklore. 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. “Philippine (Visayan) Superstitions.” The Journal of American Folklore. 19.74 (1906): 205-11. Print