Bizarre Christmas and New year's Traditions and Customs
Hello lovely people of Steemit!
Christmas and New Year is always my anticipated time of the year. Who wouldn’t be, with happy christmas carols, delightful foods, presents and of course family gathering, couldn’t ask for more.
What do you think when you hear the words culture and traditions? I don’t know, but it fascinates me each time. With all our diverse culture it is somewhat interesting, bizarre and sometimes insane:)
We all have our own set of traditions and culture, and this doesn’t exempt my beloved country, The Philippines. Here are some of our common practice during holiday season.
Before New Year's eve, Filipino families is set to display 12 round fruits in the table, for 12 numbers represent each month and circle represents money. It is believed to bring Prosperity, Money, Good health and Fortune.
I also added some onions and garlic. Round fruits and vegetables during festive holidays attracts good luck.
Almost all household in the Philippines practice this tradition, It was believed to be influenced by Chinese ancestry.
Each color of fruits represents something:
1.Green and Purple - symbolize prosperity
2.Pink - symbolize good health
3.Red - symbolize happiness and luck
4.Yellow - symbolize happiness and unity
5.Orange - symbolize gold and money
Every year, I used to put plate filled with sugar, coins and cottons in it, and they stands for :
- Sugar for sweetness in life
- Coin for fortune
- Cotton for harmony, unity and purity of life.
We grew up with this traditions and beliefs, though it may sound bizarre and funny, it is part of our culture as a Filipino. As they say, there is no harm in believing. It might be even bring you good luck.
These are some common beliefs we practice during New Year's eve
Jump as high as you can when the clock strucks exactly 12 midnight: This is to become taller. (I did it every year when i was young, but it didn't change my height, I'm still 4ft 11’) Haha.
Make very loud noises during New year's eve: It is to drive away bad luck or bad spirit. (my Father do it with very loud firecrackers, I do it with trumpets and banging the pots and pans. Haha
Lights should be all open. Rice dispenser should be open: It is believed to welcome a bright New Year and abundance of food.
Wearing Polka dots clothes: It is believed to bring good fortune, polka dots resemble coins which represents money.
Throwing coins around the house: It attracts money in to the household. (My mother used to do these, she threw lots of coins in our living room, and we children are racing to pick all the coins... Believe me this is soo much fun!
Sticky rice or Glutinous rice: Its for harmony and unity in the family.
We eat Noodles: We called it pancit in tagalog (native language), The long strands of noodles represents long life.
We too, have our own family tradition, that is to pray together before christmas and new year’s eve.
We may be away for christmas and New year to the Philippines, But we make sure we carry our traditions and cheerfulness this holiday season everywhere in the world.
Its fascinating isn’t it?
What is your customs and traditions during Christmas and New Year in your country?
Thank you for reading.
Have a wonderful holidays!
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I like the jumping up one, would have loved to see if it worked on me
I like the jumping
Up one, would have loved to see
If it worked on me
- livinguktaiwan
I'm a bot. I detect haiku.
Haha, you must try @livinguktaiwan. It might work on you. I figured out it didn't worked on me so i stop, worth a try though :D
Merry christmas to you and your family. Xx
Thanks for writing abput this, enjoying reading something about Filipino customs and laughed at you jumping but not getting taller!! Have a lovely Christmas x
Posted using Partiko Android
Haha. Yes, i jumped every new year's eve but figured out it doesn't worked on me :D
Thank you for reading and have a blessed christmas. Xx
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Wow... seems like a lot of the customs are a little bit Chinese...
Indeed, it us actually influence by chinese ancestry. Interesting and fun isn't it?
Season's greetings @ackhoo. Xx
Thank you, @sherylneil... Merry Christmas and greetings of the season to you and yours too!!
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STOPWhat lovely traditions you have @sherylneil, thank you for sharing with us :)
This is so cool! I used to collect New Years customs from around the world, and use it for my English classes. My students loved it, and each year I kept adding to the list. I still have it somewhere, so I'm thinking of writing a post about them. Some of them are truly weird, others are surprisingly similar, though they are from completely different cultures. Take lentils for example: they are round, and there's always many of them in a dish, so for people in Eastern Europe they also represent money. Thanks for this fun post, @sherylneil.
Beautiful customs! I think I will incorporate the 12 fruits tradition into ours. We're already a mix of traditions from four countries ;0)