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For many Filipinas in Hong Kong, the lack of personal space makes it hard to practice religion in their homes, whereas this was very important to them in the Philippines.

As one interviewee put it, “If you asked most of us Filipinos to explain our faith, we would say instead, ‘Come to church with me, and experience it.’”

Filipinas say that the biggest cultural difference between Hong Kong and the Philippines is the “right now,” driven, work-focused ethic of Hong Kong Chinese. They compare this to a culture at home that is more “manana”-focused and far less rushed.1 They often speak with admiration of the way that the Hong Kong economy can provide for its people, in contrast to the corruption and ineptitude that they see at home, and which has driven educated people to have to seek lower-status forms of employment 1Interviews with Filipina househelp in Hong Kong, conducted by Thomas M. Landy, June 2013.

Hong Kong, a British colony until 1997, is a mixing place of Western (primarily British) and Chinese cultures. Hong Kong is a highly modernized, very densely populated global banking and business center, and also a place with glimpses of peasant culture in alley shops and stalls. Chinese will sometimes say that old Hong Kong culture is a legacy from rough and tumble seafaring and port life, but Hong Kong is also a global crossroads. Cantonese, the local Chinese dialect, is the dominant language, but English is tremendously important as well, as it has been for a century. Locals describe how

Some 144,000 Filipina women, most of whom are Catholic, work in Hong Kong, mainly as househelp. Many spend hours of their one day off a week in church and prayer meetings.

In San Salvador especially, the design of churches is quite varied. Because the region is in an earthquake zone, few churches date back more than 100 years. Churches typically are designed in painted concrete, whether as variations on traditional Italian and Spanish designs, or modernist alternatives.

The grotto inside the ruins of the original Nuestra Señora de la Asunción church in Izalco, El Salvador marks the graves of thousands of peasants killed by the army in reprisal for the indigenous peasant uprising in 1932.

Salvadorans are a warm and welcoming people, but their country is plagued by a history of violence. As a result, Salvadoran Catholicism often values remembrance of martyrdom, whether in the form of traditional religious piety or remembrance of martyrs of the 1980s civil war.

Most music in Salvadoran churches features guitars and stringed instruments. Organ music is rare. Salvadorans tend to move very little and not to gesticulate much at Mass, though they do move around to one another at the kiss of peace.

Faith is commonly advertised in public, whether through murals, bumper stickers, rosaries in cars, and crèche scenes. Religious jewelry, however, is not as common.