Filipino Rituals and Celebrations

Filipino Rituals and Celebrations:

Celebrations:

Sinulog: Filipinos are really dedicated to their Catholic religion. A religious festival is ‘Sinulog’. This festival is very colourful and it is also the feast of the Santo Nino. The feast of the Santo Nino is held in Cebu every January. The very next day after the festival, a crowd of people gather to see a parade filled with floats, puppeteers with their huge paper mache puppets and amazing and skilled dancers wearing bright and beautiful coloured costumes. Drum-beats are the music of the parade from a dance prayer ritual. The drummers take two steps forward and then one step backward. It is very synchronized with the rhythm of the drums.

Christmas: Christmas is the most celebrated celebration in the Philippines. Filipinos are proud that they are the only country that has the longest christmas celebration in the world. The week before Christmas, children go door to door greeting people and singing Christmas carols. The Christmas celebration begins when the month’s name ends with ‘ber’. September is the start of the Christmas season and that is when you hear heaps of carol singers singing and you can see beautiful and lighted lanterns of different shapes hanging on the streets in Metro Manila. Parols (star shaped lanterns) are seen hung outside people’s houses. The parol represents the star of Bethlehem which was seen by the 3 wise men. But Christmas officially starts in December 16 with presence at the nine early mornings masses. The early morning masses are called ‘Simbang Gabi’ which means night worship. Christmas Eve is when families have a midnight feast called Noche Buena and families also hand out gifts.

Reference: http://www.vtaide.com/ASEAN/Philippines/celebrations.html

Rituals:

Rituals:

Filipinos nailed to a cross: This ritual happens every Good Friday. Filipinos do a reenactment of the suffering of our lord and saviour. The Filipinos are taken down at 3:00pm. Which was the time Jesus died. Although the Filipinos are nailed to a cross, they don’t die.

The ‘Mano’: The Mano is a gesture or action that Filipinos do. It is a blessing from people older than you. The youngster takes the hand of their elder and places their elder’s hand on their forehead. The youngster usually says “Mano po.” Then that is they take the hand of their elder and place it on the forehead.