Christmas season in the Philippines...!!!

Christmas season! The most awaited and exciting holiday in the Philippines. Once the month of September started, different kinds and styles of Philippine christmas lanterns called"parol" would be hang on every Filipino homes.

As early as September through October people are beginning to look for christmas ornaments, adornments and trimmings. Others are just be contented setting up their old christmas trees adorning them with colourful and glittering christmas balls, ribbons, bells and chains. Lanterns are taken out and displayed outdoors of every Filipino homes, offices, schools, shopping malls and even streets are adorned with these multi-coloured lanterns. You may find mini lanterns hang on buses, jeepney's and cars too.

Christmas or "Pasko" is the most awaited celebration and the happiest event in the Philippines. This is also the time of the year when family get together, especially when family members from overseas come home with lots of gifts "Pasalubong", exchanging gifts and the family feast highlight the most loved celebration.

What makes the Filipino Christmas unique? Well, Filipinos have a lot of christmas tradition which makes us different from the other, here are some of them...

• Parol is a traditional Filipino christmas decoration, a five point star-shaped christmas lantern. Originally made of thin bamboo frames and covered with coloured plastic or with Japanese paper. It has two tails that serve as the rays of the star.
• Parol represents the Filipino innovation, creativity and it's the greatest expression of christmas spirit.
• Parol making is not only a christmas symbol, it is a sign of hope for lots of parol makers. Parol making business is a source of income for lots of Filipinos. They make parol as early as June, a lot of them are sold in the market from October. Parol vendors can be found everywhere, you can see them on the side walks, bus stops, jeepney stops or even along the highway.

Christmas in the Philippines is filled with unique family oriented traditions. It is the most important holiday in the country and in every Christian family. Christmas is even more important than one's own birthday. Being a predominately christian country, where most people are Roman Catholics, Filipinos truly keep Christ in heart in christmas. The celebrations are all centered on family and commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. 

Historical Place in the Philippines (Rizal Park or Luneta Park)

There are so many historical places you can find in the Philippines but I want to share this with you...

The premier park of the Philippines, Rizal Park ( also known as Luneta Park) is an urban and historical park located in the heart of Manila City, the Capital of the Philippines. It is officially called "Rizal Park" in honor of Dr. Jose P. Rizal, the country's National Hero who was executed in this place on December 30, 1896. During the Spanish period, it was known as "Bagumbayan" meaning "new town". Luneta Park has been the site of some of the most significant moments in the Philippine history.

Showcasing the country's culture and heritage, the park is a major tourists attraction in the City of Manila. It is also the favourite spot for strolling and for families to have picnics especially on Sundays and Holidays. On the Western end of the park is Quirino Grandstand where important events such as the celebration of Independence Day are held. Across the Rizal Monument is a large flagpole that also serves as the point from which road distance in the Philippines are measured.

Nowadays, the park is a favourite place for dating and for family picnics because of its spacious grassy lawns open-air concert hall that features live entertainment and music.

The park is a public space, hence, it is always open to everyone. The best time to go there, however, is early in the morning or late in the afternoon, in time for viewing Manila Bay's sunset or for exploring the park's dining and entertainment.

MY ONE and ONLY MOM...!!!

Mom......without you I am no one.
Whenever I needed u,
you were always there for me,
Mom......without you I am no one.

You had bore the pain for me,
when I was in your big belly.

You raised me with full of love and care,
as I was your only one,
Mom......without you I am no one.

You have always helped me,
in making me right,
whenever I was wrong.

Without you I would be going to a path,
which I would have never known,
Mom......I will make u proud my mom.

You always bring a smile on me,
whenever I'm sad and lonely.

I could have never asked for a mom,
as great as you my one and only mom.
Mom......I'm so glad to have you as my MOM.

I'll always love you forever more...!!

Assalamu Alaykum W.W.

HAPPY moments -      "PRAISE ALLAH"

DIFFICULT moments - "SEEK ALLAH"

QUIET moments -      "WORSHIP ALLAH"

PAINFUL moments -   "TRUST ALLAH"

Moment by Moment - "THANK ALLAH"

Kindly have a look at this.....!!!

New Year's Eve - Filipinos way

Filipinos consider New Year's Eve a time of celebration for the entire family. Most Filipinos also follow a traditional beliefs that if the family spends until of midnight together, then it will stay together for the entire year. 

New Year's Eve celebration in the Philippines is quite different compared to other countries. Filipinos will start the year with a bang. Just a few days before New Year's Eve, you can see lots of side walk vendors selling different kinds of paputok (firecrackers). We called it "watusi, triangle, sintoron ni hudas" and many others that only found in the Philippines. Despite of the yearly ban of firecrackers because of a number of accidents caused by it that resulted in the loss of lives, burnt of properties and many more, still many Filipinos see lighting of firecrackers as the traditional means to greet and celebrate the New Year's Eve.

Aside from lighting firecrackers and having fireworks displays, Filipinos have other beliefs and practices which are believed to bring good luck, fortune and prosperity in the New Year.

• The noise and the firecrackers are believe to take the evil spirit away and make the New Year blessed.
• You should put coins/money in your wallet and pocket so that next year will be prosperous.
• Some people believe that they need to pay off their debts in the hope that they will not get into debts throughout the year.

Around 12:20 a.m, the noise stops and the family gather together and starts to eat a thanksgiving feast called "Media Noche". It is believe that we should put as much food on the table so that next year you will have food all -year round. "Twelve round fruits" should be on the table as it is a sign of prosperity for the next twelve months. There is also a midnight mass celebration to welcome the New Year and to thank God for all His blessings.
  

Flores de Mayo - Queen of Filipino Festivals

Would you like to know the queen of Filipino festivals? What would it be like?...hmmmm maybe you're thinking of that..

Filipino's likes fiestas.They celebrated all-year round. May is the merriest and the most beautiful month of the year. It's the season of colorful festivals and Flores de Mayo or we called it "Santacruzan" is one such festivals. Stop and smell the fragrance of flowers during the month of May in the Philippines.

Flores de Mayo? Its sounds strange right?..! Well, that's the Catholic festival celebrated by all the Christians all over the Philippines to honor the Virgin Mary. They gather the colorful flowers to decorate the Church altars and aisles. Many towns celebrate Flores de Mayo (Flowers of May) with the people gathered together in the afternoon to pray the rosary, offer flowers to the Virgin Mary and share homemade snacks.

"Santacruzan" is a religious-historical beauty pageant held in many cities and even small villages in the warm month of May and is considered as the "Queen of Filipino Festivals". And guess what?..its not just like that because there's a colorful pageant parade participated by the beautiful Filipina maidens wearing their gowns and their handsome escorts wearing Barong Tagalog under the hand-carried bamboo arc's decorated by beatiful native flowers.

It's really nice and enjoyable, you can feel the happiness of all the people participated in that event through their smiles.

This are some of the photos....

                                                       "SANTACRUZAN PARADE"

                                                           "PARADE WITH SMILES"

Hi Friends!

        Ang Kaibigang Tunay

Kaibigang tunay ay laging matapat,
ang tulong ay laan sa lahat ng oras.

Siya ay mabait at saka marangal,
sa lahat ng saglit ay maaasahan.

Sa pangangailangan siya'y laging handa,
nang ang kaibiga'y hindi mapahiya.

Siya'y nakalaan kahit na magtiis,
upang mapagbigyan, katotong matalik.

Kaibigang lubos, kaibigang tapat
ay kayamanan din ang nakakatulad.

         A True Friend

A true friend is always faithful,
provides help at anytime.

In need, she is always ready,
so that her friend won't be embarrassed.

She's devoted even when tried,
in order to help her close friend.

A perfect friend, a faithful friend,
can also be compared to a treasure...!

Since I'm a native Filipino, I just want to share with you guyz this beautiful and meaningful "Poem" and let me know how do feel about it...is it nice...? We are capable to choose our own friend so choose carefully. The one that really faithful in your frienship, you can trust, and always there to comfort you during your good and bad moments. Well, it seems that if you have true friend now then don't let her or him go....treasure it..!

Here I am again...!!!

Now I would like to share with you the last film that I watched is "3 idiots" by Rajkumar Hirani. It's an Indian Hindi comedy film which tells the interesting story of 3 best friends studying in an engineering college Farhan, Raju ,and Rancho.

You'll be thinking what might be the story behind 3 friends? Well, its goes like this...Farhan, Raju and Rancho are three engineering students who share a room in a hostel at Imperial College of Engineering (ICE). Farhan is studying engineering to pursue his father's wish which is against his own wish to become a photographer. Raju is studying to raise his family. While Rancho studies just for fun.

Despite his fun and craziness, Rancho always surprises everyone by joking in class. He even win the hearts of the director's medical daughter Pia. But the greatest contribution of Rancho is making his friends realize their true ambition in life. Of what they really want to be.

Despite their differences they had been true friends. 3 idiots is a story of friendship, hope, aspirations, and most of all the goodness of life.

I can recommend the film because it's really nice and more fun. I think I watched this thrice because I really like the story. While watching you can relate in yourself as the same time you can learn more about frienship and life. If you haven't watch it yet then I can say that you have to watch it..it's really interesting. Don't miss it guys....!

Bye for now....!!!

Hey guyz...? How are you today..?

I'm back again and now I have something to share with you guys. Well, how have you been doing lately? I'm very sorry for I couldn't keep in touch with you for so long. I thought I'd write and tell you what I have been up to. I can't really believe that I'm here now in Malaysia, even in my dream I didn't dream of coming here you know, but here I am now studying at AIU.

As you know I hardly ever travel so I was quite nervous about my studying far away from home. But it seems that this is the best decision I had ever made for myself. And now I'm almost 5 months here and guess what?..hmmm the most interesting part is that I met a lot of people from different countries. It's really nice and now I have a lot of friends here.

Well, I'll tell you something about our university. It's so beautiful, the buildings are so nice. They provide us everything that we need particularly high quality of education and of course with many facilities that we can use without any charge(free). We have our female hostels which is three people occupied in each room. And I really like our teachers and all the staff of our university because they gave us moral support and they treat us so nice and kind. I'm so happy, thankful and blessed being one of the scholars students in AIU.

Well, that's it for tonight! I have to go get some sleep! I would love to hear about you. Blog again tomorrow.

My First Blog Post-HelLoOw everYonE....!!! Welcome!

I am a student blogger and this is my first time to create my own blog. Actually, it's our first writing assignment. Well, if you gonna ask me what I'm going to write in my blog, my answer is I don't know yet. Ahmmm, since it's my first time so I don't have any experience about this. I would love to receive all your suggestions and comments. And hope you can share with me your brilliant ideas of what to write....

Thank you so much. And hope you visit everyday...!!