Our Typical Countryside New Year Celebration

Hello, everyone. Happy New Year to all of you! How did you celebrate the new year in your homes? I hope you all have enjoyed it and have been able to relax during this holiday seasons. Anyway, let me introduce the custom we had in the countryside, a very simple yet bond-strengthening kind of a yearly tradition.

Celebrations like this bring families together. It's a kind of unwritten and unspoken rule to return home wherever you are for this very special day. If they may, some will return at Christmas Eve, then return after New Year just to be with the family. By the way, here are the glimpses of the way we celebrate the New Year in the countryside.

Annual Fiesta

Not in our area, but to the neighboring locals. We have lots of relatives in that Purok, so often attend and visit the relatives living there. Their fiesta celebration is held every 30th of December, so the party celebration every upcoming New Year isn't just a day or two, but three-day party. From the desperas to the actual day, and will continue until the New Year's Eve, extended to the entire day of the 1st of January. If you're living in such a place like ours, you don't need a fancy reception for your guests, but a simple dining table with extravagant foods and drinks in it.

And of course, pageantry is often on the list of activities in every Filipino fiesta. It is the heart of every festive events aside from sports, talent shows, and feasts on every houses. Pagents aren't my thing, but I came here specifically for my cousin who was one of the contestants. Our other relatives came also to give their full support. In the end, she didn't win but she was happy that she got the most supporters at least.

The Feasts and Drinks

The feasts would never be absent in every homes. But in our local area, the party was way different because the residents wouldn't have a normal party. It was meant for a large party and homeowners would even buy pigs, a cow or a goat ahead to slaughter them at the said day. They don't just need few kilos of meat but the entire pig to feed not just their family, but for visitors who will visit. I've experienced this myself, I was hopping from house to house after eating on our homes on New Year's Eve, and it's quite fun. You couldn't get away if you couldn't have some of their dishes or drinks.

I couldn't capture the feasts and drinks 'cause I went straight to drinking before I could have one. 😆 Here, just let me share some raw photos of sunset I have taken beside my Aunt's house. It was the last sunset of 2023.

And in reality, the one that brings the family together and strengthens the bond wasn't the feast at the New Year's Eve but the drinking session of the family members and the chatters to catch up with each other to their heart's content until morning. You couldn't find a home without anyone drinking alcohol beverages here, it's surely the main part. I would just love to chat and eat at first, but my nephew mixed a Gin with flavored juice, so I gave in. It's the only thing I could drink aside from soft drinks and coffee since the bitter taste of alcohol can't convince my appetite anymore.

Firecrackers and Custom Made Cannons

We couldn't afford fireworks here but different small firecrackers were a lot. I'm not sure if the government imposed a ban on these things this year, but it wasn't pretty much monitored in the rural area. We have a wide space for it to lit, so it's kind safe.

Image taken from Newsline PH.

They say it was to drive away the bad spirits and to bring good luck into the year. For me, it was only a dangerous thing and a waste of money since you use another things to create noise or improvise. Just some of my nephews' toy. They know how to make custom made cannons out of tin cans and assemble them to create an cannon shape. I'm not sure what are the other materials for it to produce a loud noise when lit, but it actually works. I think they are using paint thinner and attaching a part of a magneto kitchen lighter. It was a brilliant improvisation, I'm even afraid to try such things but they are having fun furing such things. The louder the noise, the merrier!

Above all else, the one that matters the most is celebrating with the complete family during the holiday. Yet, it's gonna be merrier and happier for us to have more drinks, chatters, and create the loudest noise when the clock striked 12 midnight. It's boring to just stay at home, and more fun to visit the neighbors. It is how it's done with us, what about yours?

Ps.: Sorry, I couldn't be able to share actual pictures that much of our celebration. Chats and drinks come first to me more than anything. 😆

January 03, 2024

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@ayane-chan