New Year's Day(Neujahr) in 🇵🇭 Philippinen

New Year's Day in the Philippines is one of the loudest celebrations on Earth. Filipinos believe that the more noise you make, the more evil spirits and bad luck you drive away. The midnight cacophony includes fireworks, firecrackers, car horns, pots and pans banged together, and torotot (noisemaker horns).

The Media Noche (midnight feast) is the centrepiece of Filipino New Year. Tables groan under platters of lechon (roast pig), pancit (noodles for long life), lumpia (spring rolls), and sticky rice cakes called bibingka and kalamay. Round fruits, usually twelve of them representing each month, are displayed prominently because their shape resembles coins and symbolizes prosperity.

Wearing polka dots on New Year's Eve and Day is another prosperity tradition, as the circular pattern echoes the shape of coins. Many Filipinos also scatter coins around the house, fill pockets with money, and open all doors and windows at midnight to let good fortune in.

On January 1st, families attend Simbang Gabi masses and visit relatives for pamamasko (seeking blessings from elders). Children receive monetary gifts from godparents and older relatives. Despite the revelry and inevitable firecracker injuries that make headlines, the Filipino New Year is fundamentally about family, faith, and an unshakeable optimism for the year ahead.

The first day of the Gregorian calendar year, celebrated worldwide with fireworks, parties, and resolutions marking fresh beginnings on January 1.