How do Filipinos celebrate New Year’s?
Bring in the new year in the Philippines! Filipinos get ready for a fresh start to the year with different preparations, celebrations, and traditions. These festivities intend to attract prosperity, abundance, and good fortune. Learn how Filipinos welcome good fortune with their own distinct New Year’s traditions and celebrations.
If you have family and loved ones in the Philippines, send them money to help them achieve their New Year’s resolutions. You can send money the way that works best for you. Whether you prefer going online, using the Western Union app or sending money in person at an agent location, Western Union has your back.
1. 12 round fruits and medianoche
To welcome in the new year, Filipinos have a midnight (medianoche) feast with specific foods and meals. In particular, families serve a platter of twelve round fruits at dinner time. Twelve fruits are used to represent the twelve months in a year. The circular shape of fruits symbolizes coins and money. Even more so, this tradition is said to bring prosperity and good fortune into the upcoming year. If you are struggling to find fruits to add to your assortment, there are plenty of options to choose from: mangos, lanzones, calamanzi, guyabano, chico, apples, dragon fruit, cherries, and more.
In addition to the twelve fruits, there are also other foods that are commonly served at dinner. Pancit, a noodle-based dish, is served because it symbolizes good health and a long life. Families also serve rice cakes or sticky rice. Filipinos eat sticky treats during the New Year’s because they believe they will strengthen family ties. Popular rice cakes include biko (sweet rice cake) and bibingka (baked rice cake).
2. Wearing polka dots
In Latin American countries, the right New Year’s outfit can help bring in wealth and prosperity. For celebrations, colored underwear can help bring good luck, prosperity, or even love. In the Philippines, the polka dotted pattern is said to bring good fortune. You can wear a dress, shirt, pants, or whatever outfit piece you own that has a polka dot pattern. Welcome your new year with a funky, polka dot to bring New Year’s blessings.
3. Replace dollar bills and scatter coins around the house
Filipino culture is superstitious about spending money on the New Year’s; it’s widely believed that not spending money on New Year’s can lead to better financial management and income in the following months. So, many Filipinos tend to stay home and avoid spending money. Filipinos also commonly replace bills in their wallets with fresh ones, hoping their pockets will remain full in the new year. Some Filipinos scatter coins around their house to help attract wealth into the new year too.
4. Leaving the doors open and the lights on
To bring New Year’s fortune, Filipinos leave their lights on and their doors open. Filipinos leave their lights on to signal a bright future ahead. An open door invites and welcomes blessings and prosperity into their home for the year to come.
5. Jumping when the clock strikes midnight
Another New Year’s tradition that’s unique to the Philippines is that, when the clock strikes midnight, the children jump. There’s an unfounded belief that this will help make them grow taller, and it’s a tradition grounded in the culture of Philippines and their New Year’s celebrations.
Filipino New Year’s traditions are unique; you choose a polka dot outfit, invite blessings to your home with an open door, and jump at midnight to help you grow. It’s a celebratory time for Filipino families to bring in the new year. When you celebrate New Year’s in the Philippines, it’s a celebration that brings success, prosperity, and good fortune to you and your loved ones. If you want to impart good fortune to your family and friends in the Philippines, send them money for the new year.
You can go online or download the Western Union app to send and receive money reliably and conveniently. You can also visit an agent location if you prefer to handle transactions in person.
