The last day of 2020 has arrived. I could do a long rant about what this year brought us all, about Corona and lockdowns and all that, but actually for us it wasn't that bad. This was the year that Mommy and the Boys came to the Netherlands. And that makes me very grateful, even if it took a bit longer because of COVID-19 and the lockdowns in both the Philippines and the Netherlands. I have been working at home since April this year, which meant two hours of travel time less and more time to spent with my family (gezin). In my larger family (familie) there were two cases of Corona. My brother and sister-in-law and my niece and her boyfriend got sick. All of them are doing better now, although my niece and her boyfriend still have trouble with their sense of smell. But yeah, all-in-all 2020 wasn't that bad for us.
Year End Party 2017/2018, Philippines
What I do want to talk about today is the traditions we have in the Netherlands and the Philippines for celebrating the end of the year and the start of the new year. Those differ and since this is our first year together as a family in Holland, we have to compromise and start new traditions together. Once before (2017/2018) we celebrated (the Dutch holiday of) Sinterklaas, Christmas and New Year's Eve together in the Philippines, but 2020/2021 is the first time we spent it together in the Netherlands.
Oliebollen, fireworks and champagne
I'm a simple guy and when I think of New Year's Eve as we (or at least I) celebrate it in the Netherlands, I think of the following things:
- Oliebollen
Oliebollen (or, as Mommy pronounces it: ollebolle) are traditional Dutch food for the year end party. It's sweet dough, often with raisins, which is deep fried. You put (a large amount of) powdery sugar on it. You can buy them at specialized Oliebollen-carts (closed now because of the current lockdown, because it's not essential), the supermarket or bakery or you just make them at home, like my mom used to do. - Fireworks
I don't think I got fireworks in the last 25 years for myself, but it is nice to watch it outside. However, this year fireworks are illegal in the Netherlands, because of the strain it brings on the hospitals, which are already full with Corona patients. - Champagne
I think this is kind of a world wide tradition. I don't like champagne (or wine in general) that much, but I think Mommy, Onyx and I will consume some form of alcohol and for Kuromochiii we got some non-alcoholic fruit champagne. - Oudejaarsconference
Every year some stand up comedians (we call them caberatiers) look back on the year and make a funny show about it. This year, among others, Youp van 't Hek, Guido Weijers and Dolf Jansen will do a show. We probably won't watch it, because the Dutch of Mommy and the Boys is not yet good enough to understand and appreciate it. - Calling/texting family and friends
At midnight you wish your loved ones happy New Year. We're not visiting anyone this year and we do not have visitors. Because of the lockdown a maximum of 3 visitors (for XMas and New Year's) is allowed. So we'll probably celebrate it with the four of us. At midnight however, we will probably text all the family to give them best wishes. For our family and friends in the Philippines 2021 starts 7 hours earlier, so at 17:00h our time, so we will probably already be sending some messages then.
Pancit canton
- Eating long food
Long food equals a long life. That's the idea behind it. Usually that's pancit, a Pinoy version of stir-fried Chinese noodles. They not only eat it on New Year's, but also on birthdays, with the same idea behind it. Since pancit is a bit harder to get here (or at least the right noodles for it), we will make spaghetti, which is also long and has the added benefit of having (round) meatballs, on which I come back at the second point of the list. - Round food
Okay, so this one gets a bit tricky. We had this conversation a couple of times and I'm still not sure if I understand it correctly or that we do it our own way. Mommy said: "We need 12 round f***s. Like circle, circle, circle". F***s is not f#cks, it's either fruits or foods. After a lot of back and forth we came to the conclusion foods is okay. Getting 12 kinds of round fruits is a bit much for a family of 4. It will spoil and we don't want to waste. So foods it is. So the meatballs in the spaghetti counts ... for us. According to a blog about quirky Filipino New Year traditions, it should be fruits and the amount can be 12 to 14. From my girlfriend I understood the number 12 stand for 12 prosperous months in the next year. And since we're making our own traditions now, the Dutch oliebollen will count as one of the 12 round foods. - 12 dishes
Again this is about food and again it would symbolize 12 prosperous months. As I am a practical man and we only need food for 4 persons this year, I would combine the ideas of traditions 1, 2 and 3, making spaghetti with meatballs long food, round food and 1 of the 12 dishes! - Polka dots
We probably won't do anything with this, but wearing polka dots is a Filipino tradition, because it is believed round shapes bring in prosperity and wealth. See our picture at the beginning of this post, where we are posing in front of a wall with circles on it. - Media Noche
I didn't know it was called this, but it basically means that the whole family comes together. This includes family members which live abroad or in other provinces. They catch up, play games, drink, etc. Basically all the other traditions are captured in Media Noche (which is litterally translated as midnight).
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