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Hello! ✨
This is Kim from Tama Plaza Amity. I would like to tell everyone about how we celebrate New Year's in the Philippines. ⋆*✩

New Year's day is very important for Filipinos. It marks a new chapter in everyone's lives and symbolizes new beginnings. On the 31st of December, everyone is busy preparing for "Media Noche" (New Year's Eve dinner). 🍴 You can smell roasted chicken and barbeque in every house you'd pass by. Others might be rushing to the fruits market to buy 12 kinds of round fruits because we believe that 12 round fruits means good luck all trough out the year.🍇 We also take time to buy "tikoy" -a special new year's Chinese fried rice cake in the belief that eating sticky food will make families closer together. 👪 At the stroke of midnight, all the kids are asked to jump very high because it is said to make them taller. Parents would throw coins from the door because they said it will bring the family prosperity.💰 Almost every house has fire crackers and kids blow on their trumpets to scare the bad luck away. New Year's in the Philippines is always loud and fun. 🎆

May this new year be a happy and prosperous one for everybody!
Stay safe!

New Years is a huge celebration in western countries, like the USA or the UK🌟

December 31st, New Years Eve, is not counted as a public holiday,
so most adults will live their normal life and go to work🚗

January 1st is a public holiday, but in the UK we say Bank Holiday, so we don't usually go to work. Most stores and companies will close for this holiday, and there are almost no trains and buses running so people will usually stay home or go to parties🎊

Nearly all British people love to see the old year out and welcome the New Year come with
big parties, lots of loud noise and showing love for the people around us❤

It is our tradition to have a party with a lot of finger foods, meaning small food that you can
easily pick up and eat without needing to cook dinner for everyone.
We eat sausage rolls🥖, fried shrimp🍤, chips🍟(but you say French fries), mini burgers🍔, mini hotdogs🌭, cheese and pineapple on a stick🧀🍍, mini pies🥧, English tea sandwiches🥪, crisps🥔(but you say potato chips), and a lot more.

We stay up until after midnight (00:00) to set off fireworks, dance, sing and ring in the New Year🎆
We usually turn on our TV's to watch the news, which shows our giant clock tower, Big Ben, count down to the New Year. We all shout together;
"TEN, NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN, SIX, FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE, HAPPY NEW YEAR!"🎉
When the clock strikes midnight, we will hug our family and give a midnight kiss to someone special, like your husband or wife💋

We have some old superstitious traditions;
・New Years Resolutions: We set a goal for what we want to do and what we want to achieve in the New Year.
・Open the Door: We open our homes front door to let out the old year and bring in the New Year.
・First Footing: We say that the first person to enter your home in the New Year will bring lots of luck with them, and people with dark hair are luckier.

✨WELCOME TO 2024 EVERYONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR! MAKE A NEW YEARS RESOLUTION AND I WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK!✨

New Year is one of the biggest holidays celebrated in the Philippines!🎆

New Year's Eve (Bisperas ng Bagong Taon) is a special non-working holiday, and Filipinos usually celebrate in the company of family or close friends.👨‍👨‍👧‍👦

On the 31st of December, we start the day early preparing the food🍲. We have a lot of food that we cook for New Year's Eve.
So usually the parents go to supermarket, or wet markets to do some shopping 🛒 for the food. One of our traditions as well, is we have to have 12 round fruits 🍈🍒🍊on the table, 12 symbolizes the 12 months of the year, and round fruits is believed to bring prosperity, good health, and fortune on the coming year.

The kids are usually responsible for cleaning the house, and decorating for the party🎉.
New Year is a major holiday for Filipinos, so we try to make the most out of it. We play loud music🎶, set up the karaoke 🎤 at our house, light up firecrackers and fireworks 🎆, believing it will scare evil spirits away.

The following are common Filipino New Year traditions:
Making loud noise to drive away evil spirits – we play loud music, do karaoke, also car horn and torotot 🎺 (hornpipe), as well as frying pans , pots, and tin cans.
Media Noche – It’s a midnight meal on New Year’s Eve to welcome the New Year.
Filling your pockets with coins – Filling pockets with coins, or putting coins in tin cans and shaking them when the clock strikes 12 🕛 is believed to bring good fortune.
Wearing polka dots – Wearing clothes 👗 with polka dots print is common during New Year’s Eve to attract money 💰 and fortune.
Opening doors and windows 🏘️ , turning on all the lights – this is believed for good fortune and positive vibes.
Eat pancit – Pancit, spaghetti, and other long noodles 🍝 symbolizes good health and long life.
Jump high at midnight – Commonly applicable to children, old folks believe that children should jump as high as they can when the clock strikes 12 helps them grow taller.

As midnight approaches, everyone gets excited, we play the music louder, we turn on the TV to watch the countdown, and as we hit the new year we blow our hornpipes 🎺, jump, and go outside to watch fireworks 🎆 that are basically everywhere!

Spending New Year in the Philippines is truly amazing, and a memorable experience with family and friends!❤️