New Year in the Philippines: More Than A Celebration

Philippine Flag on New Year's day / Photo: Manila Bulletin

And just like that, Christmas is done and over with. If I were in the Philippines right now, I probably would be beyond giddy like a little girl who can't wait for New Year to get here - soon and quick! If you were from the Philippines, guaranteed, you would be too! Well, it's no secret that New Year in the Philippines is like the equivalent of July 4th in the intensity of fireworks and over the top celebrations. It surpasses every major holiday celebrated in the country. New Year is the biggest bang bar none. It is afterall, the "last" hurrah for the current year and the first for the incoming year!

However, it's not just all about the fireworks that makes New Year in the Philippines the most anticipated party of the year. There's more to it than meets the eye...

Christmas in the Philippines: The Things I Miss

Traditional Filipino Parol with lights / Photo source: AMS Daily

Christmas is about done in the Philippines as I write this. For us, it's today. During this time, I time travel - back into those days when I was young, in the country where I was born and raised, enjoying the days and nights with my brothers and sisters and friends leading to Christmas day.

Culture Buzz: In What Language Do You Think In Your Head?

The Thinker / Photo: WikiCommon

English is not my first language. Not a shocker there. But it is for some people who couldn't tell - and I will tell you, I've got a few many fooled without meaning to. Tap on my shoulder. "heck, got you fooled!" I can't help it. I was born and raised in Asia but I'm pretty fluent with the language and I can gab my way through a conversation without sounding soooo foreign and soooo fresh off the boat - which most "judgmental", ignorant, people think I am- just by looking at me. Tough. "Do you know English?". "Can you speak in English?" 

Right. Of course I do. Bitch.

To which I would get this "Oh wow. Your English is good!" 

I've rolled my eyes so many times, I've got the roll down to a science.

Bitch.

But you probably don't know this - but I'm telling you anyway -  that I also speak three dialects and semi-fluent with 2 other languages. I can hold 4 different conversations in 4 different languages and dialects at the same time. I have no problem keeping up and drives people nuts! Awesome right? Well, kind of.

5 Most Popular Superstitions Filipinos Do To Ring In New Year

                                                                                                                                                                  BULLIT MARQUEZ/AP

In 14 hours (as I write this), Philippines will be celebrating New Year - the biggest holiday celebration the country ever do every year! To give you an idea how big of a deal this holiday is, a tongue in cheek remark from this blogger says it best:

"For those of you that love homemade fireworks displays, the kind that are sure to blow off a few fingers, the Philippines sets off an inferno every NYE. While we hoard holiday hams and champagne, Filipinos ready themselves for the fiery celebration by stocking their homes with explosives..."

Filipino Champorado - The Breakfast of Champions (Recipe)

We have a family breakfast favorite that is exclusively eaten during the Winter months. One that was also a family favorite in my house growing up in the Philippines. Champorado! Dubbed as the breakfast of champions then and might as well be! Now, our version of the traditional Filipino Champorado is quite different though. It is made up of heartier ingredients and we certainly love it hot! Best breakfast food when it's chilly outside.

Top 5 Must-Have Filipino Food To Welcome New Year

All these Holidays flying by is making my head spin. It's dizzying as a roller coaster ride with tons of loop-de-loops! But I'm happy to welcome new year with open arms (or legs even) because it's one of my favorite holidays. It's the biggest and most celebrated holidays in the Philippines and one, as a child, we totally love growing up! It's noisy, loud, alive and smokin' with firecrackers of all shapes and sizes and a day of jubilant celebration! But it's also a day filled with superstitions - especially with food!

To celebrate New Year right, the way we Filipinos do it, you should start with the right food.

Here are the top 5 Must-Have foods at Media Noche:

1. Pancit - All-time favorite. This is our traditional noodle dish. Noodles with their lengthy strings represents long life. Thus, if you have noodles and eat them on New Year, it is believed to guarantee that you will be blessed with long life for the upcoming years. Imagine the life span you'll gain every year just by eating noodles!

My Filipino Heritage: Vegetarian Pancit aka "Maricris Noodles" Recipe

In my culture, rice is not the only staple food in our diet. As with most Asians, noodles and different varieties at that, dominates our dining tables. One of our traditional noodle dishes is Pancit, which is made of  rice noodles. It is usually cooked during special occasions like birthdays and holidays, but not in my home. I cook it at any given time since it has become a family favorite. On my daughter's birthday, I cooked it.  A mom friend's young daughter tried it and fell in love with it. She loved it so much she would frequently ask her mom to make it [the noodle dish] and say, "I want Maricris' Noodles". And that is how an ancient dish I love got renamed! And in honor of her renaming it, I'm sharing the recipe.

Filipino Dish: Veggie and Tofu Lumpia Vegetarian Recipe

VEGGIE AND TOFU LUMPIA
A traditional Filipino dish I modified for vegetarians. Easy to prepare and great meal option anytime. Prep and cooking time approx. 45 mins.

Turkey Paksiw - Excellent Leftover Recipe Solution Filipino Style!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, you are probably left with enough Turkey meat to last a week! And those Turkey Sandwiches? I know, they can grow old quick!  

Here's a simple recipe solution that might just do the trick.

A simple recipe that also works great with leftover Turkey and tastes as yummy!

And if you love rice, you're in luck! This is served with hot rice.

Other Unheard of Way to Eat Avocado!

I have been in so many avocado-licious chats online and whenever I drop the "this is how I eat my Avocado" line, more often than not, I instigate reactions of disbelief. Like as if I was a Martian telling them how aliens eat avocados! But it might as well be. Eating the Avocado the way I do is not a common way of consuming the Avocado in the US (or so I was made to believe). So how do I eat Avocado?

Welcome the New Year with Traditional Filipino Dishes

New Year as I've earlier stated is the ultimate holiday in the Philippines. An event filled with so many fun memories and experiences for me growing up. One so ingrained in my humanity, that once in a while I would get awfully nostalgic of time's past, I would end up in a bawling fit just like this year's New Year (pardon the segway to drama but I needed to share that!). Now onto the dishes...

Pancit - Traditional dish identified with New Year and Birthdays

All Soul's Day - Philippines' Halloween Version

The great thing about being multi-cultural is being able to celebrate different versions of Holidays in different ways. Like Halloween, it has it's own version in the Philippines -where I was born - and usually celebrated on Nov 1 and 2. It is an influence handed-down to the country by Spanish colonizers where they celebrate the Day of the dead, of which is also a time-honored tradition in Mexico. In the Philippines, it is called All Soul's day. And if you must know, the big celebration takes place inside the cemetery! Now THAT is what you call spooky!

Typical Scenes inside cemeteries during All Soul's day
in the Philippines

Photo courtesy of Inquirer.net

Photo courtesy of World News

To my Fellow Filipino and of Spanish heritage brothers and sisters,

Happy All Soul's day or Happy Day of the Dead!

Are you originally from another Country? Do you have any holidays that's similar to US holidays? How is it celebrated?

Psst! Check my guest post featuring  FALL at the QUEEN CITY !!!

Super Bowl XLIII made me proud of my color!

Photo Courtesy of NFL.com

You're probably wondering how Super Bowl XLIII could make me proud of my color. How is that even related you say! Football + Super Bowl = color?! Mystery of Physics, Law of Math or I've simply lost my mind?

Actually, I almost did when I saw who the pre-game performers were! Mind you, I wasn't really paying attention to the pre-game until I heard them say "Journey!" - It was like an ON switch -my head instantly jerked up and immediately zeroed-in on the TV. Yes! Journey was performing! I almost fell out of the couch as I jumped up! - well, some beads flew up in the air and spilled onto the floors in the process - I was busy making bunch of jewelries for special orders - and that mere announcement jogged me out of my creative cocoon!

I was sqealing like a retarded "ah ah aaah! It's him! It's him!" - much to my husbands confusion looking at me puzzled. I must have looked like a lunatic waving pliers in both hands while pointing at the TV. "aaahhh! It's hiiimmmm!"

Arnel Pineda, the lead singer of Journey is Filipino - true and true. I'm Filipino. Needless to say, It made me so proud watching him performing live on national TV with not just a legendary band but SUPERBOWL! From Ellen DeGeneres show to SuperBowl! He definitley made his country and fellow Filipinos proud that day!

He, from yesterday and today, is the most popular topic in the blogosphere, Twitter and even on youtube! How Journey discovered him was also a unique journey all by itself! Karaoke anyone?Mabuhay ka Arnel! Mabuhay ang Pilipino!!!

Filipino Encounter of the rare kind

Sometimes I wish I live in California - or Cali, if you wanna call it the hip way. Why ? well, it is a haven for Filipinos. And here's a proof that verify that: Asian Explosion . The figure is just astounding but I'm not surprised since Cali is the closest US state to the Philippines, globally speaking.

I have lived in NC for about 5 years now and meeting or even seeing Filipinos in this area is a miracle! Ewan ko ba, mukhang di yata kaya ng powers ng aking kapwa pilipino ang tumira dito. Dahil kaya sa malamig dito ? My mom lives in Cali (thrives in the warm (or hot) weather in the west ) and visited me this year during Spring. As you guessed, her body did not totally appreciate the cooler weather here down east. Nagkasakit si Lola. Wawa! but she recovered and is now back to her home sweet home enjoying the warm weather of the west coast again ( hindi ko sya makumbinsi tumira dito ever! )

Charlotte only have .7% Filipinos in the entire population. Which is why most of the time, I feel like a filipino from a lonely planet (hikbi). But somehow luck was in my favor since the past 2 weeks. Lo and behold! Filipino presence has flocked into my domain- not this domain- I mean at work ! (",) But hey, I would be so flattered if I do get Filipinos to drop by my site and actually say Hi !

So anyway, I was pretty ecstatic including people who know me at work. Like I said, Filipino encounters are very rare and you just learn to appreciate it when they do come along. I met Mimi, a filipina doctor married to an american, who lives in Fort Mill SC and currently enrolled in TaiChi . Then there's the Filipino teenager, Kenneth who was born in Mindanao and was adopted by her american parents when he was 9 months old. His mom is just so hungry to connect to his heritage that she was so happy to meet me (so do I ). He now takes Shaolin. Good for him! Then just today, I got a phone call from someone whose adoptive father is a filipino who lives just outside of Charlotte's City limits. Talk about encounters! I do hope to meet more. The only filipino friend I have unfortunately is not even as fluent with her native language anymore and has sort of lost touch with her "Filipino-ness". In her defense, she's almost old enough to be my mom and have lived here like forever! My daughter adores her, she's a filipino and that's all that matters!

Kumusta na mga kababayan ko ?

Census Originally posted in Toasty Brown (site dedicated to my Filipino-ness).