Seeing as how it’s another New Year (2009 went by so fast!), I thought I’d write about some Filipino customs that we practice in the Philippines during New Year’s eve. I think a lot of it came from other countries like China and Spain, so it would be interesting to know if something similar exists in Mexico or India.

Firecrackers

No New Year’s eve is complete in a Filipino home without firecrackers. It is a custom we got from the Chinese that is supposed to scare away the bad spirits for the coming year.

Money in Your Wallet

We were told to make sure we have money in our wallets before the new year arrives, so that we are sure we will have enough money for the coming year.

Round Fruits on the Table

Always part of the New Year’s eve feast are round fruits, preferable seven different kinds (like oranges, grapes, apples, etc.). The round shape is supposed to symbolize financial blessings for the coming year as well.

Keeping Lights and Windows Open

We made sure all lights and windows in the house were open, in order to “welcome” the good blessings for the coming year.

Jumping at Midnight

As kids, we were told to jump up and down at the stroke of midnight. This was supposed to make us grow higher in the coming year. (didn’t really work for me )

And of course, being surrounded by loved ones at the stroke of midnight. We have a saying that whatever you were doing at the stroke of midnight, that will be what you will be doing for the rest of the new year. So if you are caught eating at midnight–well, you have a lot of exercising to do

Since Lent just passed and Easter was this past Sunday, I thought I’d write something about how Easter is celebrated in the Philippines. Easter being a Christian–not just Catholic–holiday, it is observed by hundreds of million of people around the world. Since it signifies the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is the basis of the Christian faith. However, different cultures have, over the years, influenced how it is celebrated in different countries.

Over the years as an immigrant in the U.S., one thing that I’ve noticed in how Americans celebrate Easter is that it is celebrated a lot like Christmas. People wear their best clothes to church, families get together for a sumptuous meal (that usually includes ham, I believe), and children even get presents. In fact, I think if you replace the Easter Bunny with Santa Claus it might well be Christmas!

This got me a little disoriented at first, because in the Philippines, Easter is celebrated, but not as heavily as Christmas. Maybe because workers don’t get an “Easter bonus” or maybe because during Lent the weather is scorching hot, but either way Christmas would be the farthest thing from Filipinos’ minds during Easter. One tradition that is done is what’s called “Salubong” (”Welcoming”). This tradition is meant to reenact the Resurrection of Christ and his meeting with his mother. At dawn of Easter, two groups of parishioners, one all-male and bearing the statue of Jesus and one all-female and bearing the statue of the Virgin Mary, set out to meet at an agreed meeting point. At this meeting point, a girl dressed as an angel is lowered from a platform. After this meeting, the Easter mass is started.

A photo of the Salubong tradition as shown in http://flickr.com/photos/cannlvr/464073072/

In the Philippines, Easter is the culmination of not just Lent but also of what is called the Holy Week, which is the week in between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. Since this is an integral part of Filipino belief and culture, time is set aside to enable people to practice their belief. Thursday (Maundy Thursday) and Friday (Good Friday) are non-working holidays, and Wednesday afternoon (sometimes the whole day) are usually declared as holidays as well. Workers usually take Monday and Tuesday off too, and use this week for vacation with the family, since during this time school is also out.

It is a sort of bittersweet experience to be in the Philippines during Easter. Since the Holy Week meant fasting for most Filipinos, Easter is usually greeted with enthusiasm because we can eat meat again But then because the holiday week is now over, everybody has to go back to work on Monday.

Known worldwide as having the longest Christmas Season, the Philippines as expected would have lots of events during the holidays. Some of the major highlights:

Misa de Gallo or Simbang Gabi (rooster’s mass). A remnant of our Spanish heritage, the Simbang Gabi heralds the official start of the Christmas season. For nine consecutive days starting on the dawn of December 16, Filipinos would brave the early morning cold (around 4 am) to hear mass. It is believed that whoever completes the nine masses will get their Christmas wish, although completing the nine masses is easier said than done, what with all the Christmas parties lined up during this time. A bonus that comes with the Simbang Gabi are the foods that are available outside the church once the mass is done: the Puto Bumbong and Bibingka. Puto Bumbong is a purple-colored Philippine delicacy made from glutinous rice using bamboo tubes. It was believed to have been brought to the Philippines from Mexico by the Spaniards. Bibingka is another delicacy made from rice flour that resembles a thick pancake and is usually topped with salted egg. It may have been brought to the Philippines from India, where it is a dessert known as bebinca in the province of Goa. Both delicacies are topped with butter, sugar and grated coconut prior to eating. Some people wake up early just to be able to eat them!

Caroling. Starting around December, children would form small groups and would go from house to house around their neighborhood and sing Christmas carols outside houses, hoping for the homeowners to reward them with coins for their efforts. Children would typically use makeshift musical instruments such as tambourines made from flattened aluminum bottle caps strung together by a piece of wire.

Bisperas ng Pasko or Christmas Eve. At around 10 pm of December 24, Filipinos would flock to the churches to hear the midnight mass. After hearing mass, families would go home and partake of the Noche Buena (Christmas Eve Midnight Dinner), which would traditionally include hot chocolate, queso de bola (ball of edam cheese), and hamon (ham). Children would also open their presents at this time, and before sleeping would hang their socks by the window which will be filled with goodies by Santa Claus by the time they wake up in the morning.

Pasko or Christmas Day. Christmas Day is usually spent by families attending the morning mass (Misa de Aguinaldo), then visiting the grandparents and the ninongs and ninangs (godfathers and godmothers). Children are usually given their aguinaldos (presents) in the form of crisp, freshly minted money bills placed in ampaos (red envelope).

Bisperas ng Bagong Taon or New Year’s Eve. By nightfall of December 31, you will definitely know it is the last day of the year just by listening: you will start to hear firecrackers more often, sometimes non-stop, and will culminate as midnight approaches. The use of firecrackers is a remnant of our Chinese heritage, with the belief that by creating loud noises we are chasing away the bad spirits so that the coming year will be safe, healthy and bountiful. Firecrackers and fireworks of different shapes and sizes are used, and although beautiful and entertaining, have been year after year the main cause of New Year’s Eve injuries. Similar to Christmas Eve, Filipinos would also attend the midnight mass, then come home to partake of the Media Noche, or New Year’s Eve dinner.

A typical cemetery in the Philippines

November 1 is a special day in the Philippines. Along with the rest of Christendom, Filipinos observe (some would say celebrate–I’ll get into that later) All Saints’ Day, our yearly trek to the cemeteries to visit and remember dead relatives. Technically, the visit should occur on November 2, All Souls’ Day, which would be the more appropriate day to visit the dead. However the overwhelming majority of Filipinos do visit on the first, even though both November 1 and 2 (and sometimes the afternoon of October 31) are national holidays in the Philippines.

When I was growing up, a typical All Saints’ Day would involve waking up early to prepare for the long day ahead, in order to leave early because traffic would be worse than usual. Once outside the cemetery, navigating to my grandparents’ tombstones is like an obstacle course; aside from trying to avoid all the other people moving in a thousand different directions, we constantly have to remember exactly where the tombstone is (things change a lot in a year), and more often than not a typhoon would’ve visited Manila a few days before in which case we’d have to wade through ankle-deep brown water. We would light candles and lay flowers on the tomb/s. On some years we would do this twice: one for visiting dead relatives on my father’s side and then another one for my mother’s side.

In some ways All Saints’ Day is similar to Thanksgiving in America. It’s the one day outside of Christmas that relatives who seldom see each other the rest of the year get to see and catch up each other. Even “cemetery neighbors”–people whose relatives are beside yours in the cemetery–start to feel like pseudo-relatives because you see them every year, get to talk to them and, especially for the kids, watch them grow.

Some families take it a little further: they would stay the night before (the 31st), and basically have a party–play cards, have some food and drinks and basically be merry. The whole concept I guess is to keep the dead company–however weird that might sound.