Filipina Soul

Only a few hours remain in 2007. In the Philippines, it’s already history as the country has already welcomed 2008. I looked over the posts we made this year, and picked my favorites. Here are my Top 12 picks for 2007:

The unique history of the Barong Tagalog: a symbol of colonial resistance

An Honest Look at Poverty and Paradise in the Philippines

This land of abundance

Fun Ranch at Pasig

What is the best medium of instruction - English or Filipino?

“Paraiso”: the Gawad Kalinga movie trailer

How to Iron a Barong Tagalog

Balik-’bayong’ - the comeback of reusable bags

A Travelling Carinderia in Miami

On the Desperate Housewives Issue

A Filipino-American Thanksgiving Dinner

“Pasko na Sinta Ko” - remembering Christmas from miles away

And for good measure, here are two of our most popular posts this year:

Jumong, Korea’s number 1 novela premieres on GMA

“Jumong” pictures, spoilers and reviews

***
As I look back on the past year, I feel very grateful for having the opportunity to write at this blog. Thank you to all of you who make reading Filipina Soul a part of your day.

I hope the new year is even better for you and your family!!! Happy new 2008!!!

This family video is the closest to how we used to celebrate the New Year when I was young(er). It’s complete with the fountains (I love those!), jumping, torotot, screaming, and fireworks going off in the background.

I can’t embed it here, so just click on the image to go to the video.

Don’t you just love New Year celebrations in the Philippines?

Tags: Philippine new year, Philippines, new year fireworks

Filipinos consider the round shape to bring luck for the New Year. Perhaps because it’s the shape of money/coin.

Here are some of the Filipino traditions of bringing prosperity into the new year.

Wear your polka dots. Every New Year’s day, as far as I recall, my grandmother would wear a new, crisply-starched linen dress in fine polka-dot design.

Stock up on coins. Scatter coins all over the house - everywhere, and especially inside pockets and purses. (And as Delia Atay-atayan said “huwag alisin ang swerte” so don’t sweep the floor or pick up coins from the floor.

Round fruits galore. Display thirteen different kinds of fruits on the dining table. Grapes, apples, suha, calamansi, chesa, guava, water chestnuts, lemon, limes, clementines, mangoes, rambutan, mangosteen, santol… OK that’s 14 fruits, so you get one extra blessing, free. :-0

Don’t spend anything on New Year’s day. In fact, on New Year’s eve, put all your day’s worth of salary in a piggy bank and make that your ‘investment’ for the new year.

Oh, and don’t forget to jump real high while counting down to the New Year. You just might grow an inch or two.

What traditions do you hold on, as you usher the new year?

Tags: new year, tradition, filipino, round, circle, luck, prosperity, culture

Don’t try this at home!

Tags: Philippines, new year, Philippine fireworks, new year fireworks

A whopping P63 billion pesos (US$1.5B)!!!

That’s how much Filipinos spent this Christmas season on gifts and food. Including an average remittance figure that overseas workers send for Christmas spending, that total jumps to 84 billion pesos!

This excludes the amount spent for holiday greetings through text, or pyrotechnics and fireworks for the New Year.

So who’s saying the Philippines is poor? Our Christmas economy alone could get us through some serious national debt problems!

Get how theses figures added up in “Holiday spree: Pinoys spend P63B during Xmas season“.

Tags: Philippines, christmas, economy, spending, holidays, food, gifts, filipino

More fireworks, this time at the SM Mall of Asia last year:

Tags: Philippine New Year, Philippines, new year fireworks

There’s nothing like New Year’s Day celebrations in the Philippines! It’s a firework free-for-all, with fountains, rockets, and even paper horns joining in to make NOISE!

For these last few days of 2007, I will treat you to some videos of the way the new year should be welcomed, the Pinoy way! Obviously these are from past years, but I know this year’s street-side celebrations will be just as fun.

This was Makati last year. Fireworks everywhere!

via YouTube

Tags: new year celebrations, Philippines, new year fireworks, Makati fireworks

Answers to December 17, Monday’s riddles.

Hope you got everything correct!

1. Dala mo dala ka, dala ka ng iyong dala. (you carry it, it carries you; what you carry, carries you.) - sapatos (shoes)

2. Walang gulong, walang paa, tumatakbo’t walang humihila. (It walks though no one pulls it; it runs though it has no feet.) - bangka (boat/banca)

3. May sungay, hindi hayop. Hindi tao, tumatakbo. (It’s not an animal but it has horns; it’s not a man but it can run.) - bisikleta (bicycle)

4. hindi tao, hindi hayop. Walang gulong, tumatakbo. (It’s neither man nor animal. It has feet but cannot walk.) - alon (wave)

Tags: bugtong, bugtongan, filipino riddles, philippine culture, language

I found this news to be a bit weird.

PETA, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was planning to bring inflatable sex dolls to the Philippines for use in one of their campaigns. The dolls were confiscated by customs officals upon arrival in the Philippines. Apparently, PETA wanted to use the dolls in a campaign against Kentucky Fried Chicken.

I don’t understand why they wanted to use the sex dolls in the first place. Didn’t they realize that boxes of sex toys arriving at the Philippine customs would raise eyebrows? I can just imagine the reaction of the officials who opened the boxes. LOL.

P.S. I’m not a PETA member or supporter. I eat at KFC.

via China View

Tags: Philippine customs

Most of us have heard of Yamashita’s treasure, which is supposed to be buried in various spots all over the Philippines. Whether one believes the stories or not, tales of treasure hunts, especially successful ones, will always capture the imagination. That is why droves of treasure hunters have flocked to the Philippines for decades, in the hope of unearthing of these fabled riches.

The time for such free-reign digging in the Philippines has come to an end. The Philippine government will now regulate all treasure hunts in the country, in order to “protect the country’s natural and cultural heritage”. The terms of the regulation are as follows:

* Only Filipino citizens can conduct treasure hunts.

Continue reading Treasure hunting to be regulated