The Filipino New Years

Happy first day of 2014 people! How was your new years?

So to start the year off, I want to give y'all an insight (if you're not a Filipino) on what we Filipino people do on New Year's Eve. As always, these are superstitions that most of us follow.

Pancit. Photo from: vicenticos.com

• Eat Pancit. Pancit are just noodles. Filipinos call them differently, I think because of the type of pasta used and the meats and such served with the pasta. They believe that this represents having a longer life. 

• 12 Spherical Fruits. Watermelons, oranges, a cantaloupe, grapes, et patati et patata. I know that each fruit represents a month of the year, but I don't exactly know the significance of the "fruit" or the "round-shaped" element of it. 

• Polka-Dotty Attire. Some families have parties on the actual New Years' Eve (like our family always does) and count down for New Years Day. It's very, very common to see people wearing polka dots, signifying prosperity and wealth for the incoming year. The dots represents coins. 

• Aim High. Children commonly believe that you need to jump as high as you can in the exact minute of midnight, because they believe that it'll make them taller. 

• Get These Dang Spirits Away From Me. Again, at the stroke of midnight of the 31st, people normally roam their house screaming, and activating all sorts of noisemakers, blowing all kinds of whistles and so on... They believe that it drags all the negative spirits away from it's house.

• Boom. Finally, we Filipinos enjoy paputok (firecrackers). They should be activated either before, exactly or just after midnight and goes on until morning. Or if you're in a really festive neighbourhood, it might go on for the next week or two. No kidding. (They might also go off a week or even three weeks before!) 

Hope y'all have a prosperous and long life, so don't forget to eat your pancit and wear those polka dotted tee! :) 

PHILIPPINE'S BLOG POSTS WILL BEGIN TOMORROW! 

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Our Trip To Skansen

We arrived at Stockholm about three weeks before school actually started. In those weeks, we decided to savor a taste of Stockholm and enjoy its sights. One of the stops of a green Hop on Hop off bus that we went to was Skansen.

Skansen is an open air museum where you take a peek at the old-fashioned Nordic lifestyle and environment.

Skansen Ticket Prices: Adults -- SEK 100-150   Children (2-15 yrs) SEK 60 {varies on the season}

So the first thing we did was to take a picture of these ladies with a herd of cattle. We then walked to this guy wearing suspenders dancing along to a vinyl record like he was in a club. We then went to this old-school post office. I liked it because of its stunning detail in refurbishment and design. There also was a postman inside wearing an old-school outfit.

We then had a thirty minute walk before we were surprised by an awesome view of Stockholm Center and the Tivoli Grona Lund. We then savored the view before savoring some food from Skanen's own cafeteria/restaurant.

I had a lunch of chicken and a mount of cubed potatoes (carbs!). We then explored Skansen more. We came across a village of stuff that the people from Scandinavia did in the old days. We explored inside a fishing hub, a guy making pottery (shown below), a bakery selling freshly baked breads, a goldsmith's workshop and a gross smelling tobacco factory.

After this we then explored Skansen more by exploring the animals of Sweden and other Nordic countries, a portrayal of a former town-hall, a former chapel and to finish things off, a rose garden.

Stay tuned because tomorrow, I shall post some travel tips!

READ MORE: Pizzeria La Grande in Stockholm

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