Filipina Soul

Zarah Grace Gagatiga is the blogger behind School Librarian in Action (SLIA). She’s a “School Librarian. Teacher. Storyteller. Writer. Reading & Literacy Advocate”.

There aren’t a lot of Pinoy blogs and bloggers who bring attention to Filipino literature. This is why I like SLIA. Zarah talks about books by Filipino authors and illustrators, and various literary events in the Philippines.
Keep it up, Zarah!
Tags: Filipino blogs, Filipino bloggers, Pinoy blogs, Pinoy bloggers, School Librarian in Action

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In my Bataan side of the family, Christmas presents are not a big thing.
Aginaldos are!!!
On Christmas day, everyone wakes up early to cook ga-bundles of food at my grandparent’s house in Bataan. There would be an abundance of Christmas dishes on the 12-seater table. We get to dress in our finest Christmas outfit and eagerly wait for the guests to come. No, us kids aren’t being benevolent… we’re waiting for guests to come… to give us our aginaldos!
Aginaldo is the Filipino tradition of asking for blessings from an elder’s hand, be it the uncle, aunt, grandparents, some distant relatives. Whoever …read more

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Here’s another piece of good news in the music world for Filipinos.
Popular band Journey has chosen Arnel Pineda, of local band The Zoo, as their new lead singer! You can read the announcement from the Journey website after this YouTube clip. Yep, you gotta watch this first, because YouTube was where Arnel was first discovered by Journey guitarist Neal Schon. Wasn’t there recently a Filipino star found on YouTube?
Here’s Arnel and The Zoo with Journey’s Faithfully:

And here’s part of Journey’s announcement on their site, telling the story of the YouTube discovery:

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Filipinos, avid-movie goers that we are, will have a blast at the movies this season (as we do every year).
It’s the Metro Manila Film Festival again, and our favorite celebrities are out in full-force promoting their flicks o’ the year.
Six movies are opening on Christmas day, and 3 more on New Year’s. Check out this listing from Click The City.
DECEMBER 25:

Bahay Kubo. A poor family turned-millionaires find out what being rich is all about.
Enteng Kabisote 4. Yes, Enteng is (still) alive, and now travels through time!
Katas ng Saudi. An OFW comes back to a home that’s a foreigner to him.
Resiklo. …read more

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May this season bring joy, peace and hope.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you and your loved ones!!!
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I can feel the love of the season in this song!
Sing with the vid as we celebrate the Christmas spirit.
“Sa Paskong Darating” sang by Celeste Legaspi

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Sa araw ng pasko, huwag na’ng malulumbay (Don’t be sad on Christmas)
Ipagdiwang ang araw habang nabubuhay (Let’s celebrate the day while we’re still alive)
Santa Claus nyo’y ako rin (I’m your Santa Claus)
Pagka’t kayong lahat ay mahal sa akin (Coz you’re all dear to my heart)
Tags: pasko, christmas, sa paskong darating, song, celeste legaspi, filipino, pinoy

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“Pasko na Sinta Ko“
“Sana Ngayong Pasko“
Two of the saddest Christmas songs ever… They bring tears to everyone who sings or hears it sang. It’s about love lost, being miles apart, missing that person so bad.
For everyone who are far away from their families this season… this one’s for you… sang by Lea Salonga.

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(click on the songs above for lyrics)
Tags: pasko na sinta ko, sana ngayong pasko, song, christmas, lea salonga, gary valenciano

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It’s two days before the Filipinos’ favorite holiday of the year… CHRISTMAS – PASKO!

In our culture, this 3-month event is a big huge thing!
Yep, it starts in September, way before the air gets cold. Christmas lights, lanterns (parols), and decors are up. Christmas songs rock the radio and mall stores.
It doesn’t end until the Three Kings get celebrated, come mid-January.
So, even if it’s only two days to Christmas, you’re not too late to catch up and get into the spirit of a PINOY CHRISTMAS.
Here’s how to celebrate Pasko, the traditional Filipino Christmas:

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Here is a totally neat website that focuses on getting more Filipino women ‘face’-time online -

The site recently had a 13-weeks long Filipina Group Writing Project, which ended in November and I missed. The project was both a writing and SEO campaign to “share in the ongoing efforts to bring relevant results to search engine and topple those that exploits the Filipina.”
That was really cool, and very much similar to the “Yan ang Pinay” campaign that aims to resurrect the image of a true Filipina online.
Check the W30 blog once in a while and find out what else this blog …read more

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