My family is a bit traditional in many ways. Christmas and New Year’s Eve for us is family time spent at home, not outside in the malls nor on the streets.
Throughout the whole day of the 31st, the whole household was busy preparing for the midnight feast, consisting of several layers of chiffon cake, a traditional vegetable dish, beef steak, grilled tuna (for me), Filipino-style spaghetti, maja blanca, gelatin, some salad, and a few bottles of wine.
The lechon (roasted pig) was prepared later that night. Chicken is never included because of the Filipino belief that eating chicken will result to a hand-to-mouth existence. (Here’s how to cook lechon)
Our New Year’s Eve feast!
At 10pm, everybody went to mass. Our parents fervently hoped that Monsignor would not prolong the sermon as he did last year, because we HAD to be at home before midnight.
These had been carefully selected to provide the maximum noise.
Again, it’s a Filipino belief that whatever you are caught doing by midnight will happen to you for the rest of the year. Being at home when the clock strikes 12 ensures that one would not go out as much in the coming year ahead.
(It did not seem to work with me though, with my itchy feet and all. I had also been jumping up and down for three decades, but I’m still short!)
My brother banged a cover with gusto…
Once home, we waited and then joined the countdown on television, greeting the New Year with much noise. We banged pots and pans, shouted at the top of our lungs, honked the horn, and generally became mad lunatics for a few minutes.
Our househelp who had been with us only for a few months couldn’t stop laughing, wondering probably what kind of household she had stumbled onto!
…while my sister tried to outdo him.
Jumping up and down was not enough; we had to go to every room in the house with our pots and pans to make noise and drive away any bad spirits there.
We also did not forget to have 12 coins in our pockets (one of a kind), to make sure we have money in the new year. (I wanted to include more—I need money to travel!—but my father said 12 was the prescribed number.)
Father giving my mother a bit of fruit to eat.
Afterward, our father made us eat a bit of the 13 lucky fruits offered for the New Year. Every member of the family had to eat a bit of guava, mandarin orange, apple, tisa, caimito, chico, pear, orange, grapes, papaya, and pomelo, leaving half in the offering bowl.
I took a big chunk of the fruits I liked—apple, orange—but only nipped at some—the tisa was not ripe yet and the chico was icky! My father said it didn’t matter, as long as I ate some, and I left the rest in the bowl.
The most awaited moment, of course, was the feast! Like a lot of pinoys, majority of the dishes are meat so I only ate tuna and a bit of the salad. I couldn’t believe it when my brothers gobbled up the lechon; even seeing it already gave me cholesterol! “It’s only for the New Year,” they said. Sure.
Papa and my brother loving the roasted pig (eek!).
Holidays are always a pleasure to me, not only because I get off work, but more importantly, because I get to be with my family.
Still, I had been wondering how the New Year’s celebration is in places like New York, or, okay, maybe Boracay. Perhaps someday, I’ll find out!
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Aleah, this posting again brings back many warm and even more tender memories, which make my eyes teary with reflection. Some day I will tell you about my first fiesta in Tandag; something that I could never forget. As I was chaperoned from one barangay to the next, from the center of town to those in bundoks, the remoter that I got the more touching the celebration the more special the welcome the more profound the impact of what I experienced and the more profound lessons about life that I learned.
Your writings and your photos are so expressive and so evocative of shared moments.. and of the customs, the heart, hopes and realities of everyday life in the barangays. Your posts are a treasure trove of cultural practice, custom and celebrations — as well as a time capsule of history. I truly look forward to each of your wonderful blogs.
@ I am Max: Yeah they’re killing the pig all over again haha
@ Sining Factory: I guess so, but I’ll stick with seafood, esp grilled fish and sushi 🙂
@ Yuuki: True true! Umm…same way in celebrating NYE for 2011 and 2012 haha
so we will be waiting for another new year’s post soon…for 2012…
Filipinos are really closely knit family kaya we want to as much as possible spend Christmas and New Year with our families…
Iba rin talaga ang bagong taon sa Pinas. Hehe. Maingay, magulo pero masaya. I guess lechon symbolizes propsperity kaya naghahanda ng lechon twuing pasko at bagong taon. 🙂
i find it funny that the knife was stuck that way on the pig. btw, we do not eat lechon on christmas. i dont know why though 😐
@ Gael: Happy new year! (Very late response haha)
@ Justin Jones: Yup!
@ Sexy Pinay: Yeah, it’s nice to be with family on NYE.
I miss celebrating New Year’s Eve back in the Philippines with my love ones.
hey there traveler! Nice blog! I couldn't find a link to your email or contact info, so i'm posting there here – I'd really like to do a link exchange. send me an email at Justin [at] JustinWasHere.com if you're interested. or just check out my site – http://www.JustinWasHere.com
hope to hear from you!
mas masaya mag celebrate ng new year sa provice dahil na din sa mga tradisyong Pinoy.
Maligayang Bagong Taon Aleah! 🙂
@ Claire–it's nice to hear these are still being done in parts of the country today! 🙂
@ RedNomad–I predict you'll be traveling much in 2011! If such things came true, I'd be taller now. sigh.
@ Carla–you can have the lechon. I haven't eaten pork since 2005:)
@ Liz–it's good to be home. Hope you can go home one someday.
Al, i didn't know we have to eat some of the fruits prepared for the new year? I didn't touch any!!! 🙁 I just hope my brother has eaten some of my prepared fruits by now.
Anyways, i miss home! It's been 2 years…
LECHON!!! makes me hungrgy…filipino traditions simply the best 🙂
Your traditional celebrations sound like so much fun! Australian traditions also include eating and noise – but also with a lot of drinking!! Sadly, I was asleep at midnight (it had been a very long day) – does that mean I'll be sleeping (or maybe lazy) for the rest of the year? I hope not!
Happy 2011!!
Your post reminds me of all the rituals we do at home before the new year strikes. The thought of me jumping up and down for decades now made me smile as well as the banging of pots and pans while the tv and radio are on full blasting mode trying to get rid of the bad spirits of the previous year 🙂