Lunar New Year: do Filipinos also celebrate this important holiday?
Is it primarily a Chinese celebration?
One thing I’ve always questioned on is whether or not Lunar New Year, or Chinese New Year, is primarily celebrated by the Chinese community. After all, the name of the holiday that people typically call it is “Chinese New Year”, since it’s a celebration of the New Year according the Chinese lunar calendar.
However, many cultures and nations have iterations of the tradition and celebrate it in a way that fits their culture. China was once an empire that expanded across Central and East Asia - the imperialistic nature influenced many other nation’s cultures and languages which we can see today. And so, nations like Vietnam and Korea also celebrate Lunar/Chinese New Year but through their own traditions: in South Korea, it’s known as seollal; in Vietnam, it’s called tet; wan trut jin in Thai. What about the Philippines?
In the 10th and 16th centuries, the Philippines was trading with China wherein they traded silk and porcelain for beeswax and deer horn. The trading and settlement of the Chinese, which continued until the Spanish colonization, influenced Filipino culture and food - with Chinese-inspired dishes such as pancit (a noodle based dish), rice cakes, and siomai (a Chinese dumpling).
Despite the Chinese influence, it’s not typically celebrated amongst Filipinos the same way it’s celebrated in countries like Singapore and Japan. The holiday, however, was made into a non-working day by President Benigno, where he stated that “[Chinese Lunar New Year] is a manifestation of our solidarity with our Chinese-Filipino brethren who have been part of our lives in many respects as a country and as a people.”
Even though not all Filipinos celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year, the Philippines has a similar celebration known as media noche, or medyanotse (which, in translation, means “midnight”). It is a holiday celebrated in the Gregorian calendar, so right at the end of December - the same day and time we celebrate New Years. It is celebrated with a huge feast of pancit, palabok, baboy, Filipino spaghetti, and lumpia to name a few. It is a celebration as grand as Lunar New Year.
The Philippines does celebrate Lunar New Year, but most who celebrate are Chinese-Filipinos, or those who also have Chinese ancestral roots. It was difficult for me to figure out whether or not the Philippines celebrate a holiday that’s typically celebrated by China and other nations in East Asia, since most of our cultural influences came from Spain. I’ve recently been having discussions with myself about whether or not the Philippines is considered Asian or Latino (we can get to that later on).
Do you celebrate Lunar New Year? How have you and your family or friends been celebrating?
Resources
https://purduefilipino.com/filipino-history
https://www.fodors.com/news/photos/how-lunar-new-year-is-celebrated-in-different-countries-in-asia
https://asiasociety.org/philippines/chinese-new-year-celebrated-philippines