New Years Eve is most probably the most celebrated day in Philippines; it is an incredible experience to be here during the time when the New Year is coming.
Like most families we were with friends but just to get there was a mission, not because they live so far away, but we didn’t know that the route we wanted to take is actually going through a street maket, just before our destination, so what should have been a 1 and a half hour ride turned out to be over three hours……. On the way home we did the same in one hour, taking in consideration that we drove very slow, too dangerous to speed at night, especially a night like this.
As usual, we were getting this wonderful hospitality the Philippines is well known for. There is plenty of food, and of course we brought some too (the crispy pata). We all had a wonderful dinner and even so still hours away, it started getting noisier outside. More and more fire cracker were exploding and at about 20 to midnight we went outside and it was just amazing to see all the rockets going up in the air, the sparkles everywhere and of course the noise of these huge fire crackers, it is really all about the noise.
Of course there are some other rituals one does for the New Years Eve. One is to have coins in your pocket, if you have coins in your pocket they will multiply during the year. Then one needs to have 12 round fruit in the house, one for every month of the year….not so easy to find 12 different types of round fruit and of course everything is getting more expensive in the last day or two of the old year. And last but not least, one has to make sure the doors are open when it is midnight, so to invite the good luck into the house….yes, the house has to be nice and clean.
So we had a great time, the roads were full of smoke and everybody seemed to be very happy (except the two guys who had too much to drink and seemed to prefer to talk with their fists….Happy New Year to everybody. Thank you for reading my blog and no worries, loads more is to come
Wow. Your crispy pata looks amazing. Where is your recipe?
ReplyDeleteDear Francesca, thank you very much, the recipe is very simple, I will make a blog that you hav the recipe, but don't be surprised, it is really very easy!
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