Author Archives: Newton Garner

Jose Rizal idolization

Jose Rizal is one of the national heroes of the Philippines. He was a scholar and reformist during the Spanish colonial era and was executed after he was falsely accused of leading a revolution which I don’t remember the name of. But point is, he was very intelligent and cultured and is part of the reason why Filipinos (as far as I know) truly value education. My parents would remind me of him whenever I wasn’t doing well in school and their parents did too, but I don’t know how common this is either.

 

Jose Rizal has been made from a war hero to a folk hero by the Filipino people, someone to be looked up to as a symbol of education and heavily romanticized as what might be called a “Renaissance man.” Upon further investigation, he’s been called a mathematician, as well as a poet, an artist, a novelist, a sculptor, a politician and a hero. I was wary to include this initially, but the man has been stretched far beyond the extent of who he really was for the sake of inspiring future generations.

Filipino eating customs

I also grew up eating with a fork and spoon. Knives were like…. “What– you can’t eat all the rice with a knife.” You could cut your meat with a spoon… put it on your spoon… and eat it with a big thing of rice all in the same bite. Now I use forks and knives but a lot of my family still chooses the spoon route.

 

I’ve heard this in several other cultures, but with the fork dropped in place of the knife. The knife would be used to cut meat, with the spoon holding it in place, and then speared again by the knife. I think this might be Scandinavian in origin, but I am pretty uninformed. I think it comes from a belief in these cultures that excess should be cut down on. 

Filipino Christmas traditions

Simbang Gabi is like a Christmas thing. Since the Philippines is predominantly Catholic, Filipinos would all go to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and pray and then have big parties where they eat all the food and celebrate Christmas.

Seriously. Lots of food.

Lumpia (like crunchy egg rolls but better), lechon (roasted pig), pancit (noodles), etc. A lot of Filipinos like to have their karaoke machines out too. They love karaoke (I’m guilty of this stereotype as well…).

Here’s our Santa alternative. My mom said they didn’t really do Santa Claus stuff back when she was a kid in the Philippines. They would have the Three Kings instead and put out their shoes for a little money or candy (I think it was sometime in January though). So basically stockings except with shoes.

 

This set of Christmas traditions shows the universality of a Christmas meal, but also how American the notion of “Santa Claus” is. Religion is more important, which is shown by the use of the Three Kings in his stead, as well as the attendance of church. One parallel is the shoes thing done, which the informant admits to being like stockings.

Filipino Familial Bonds

Lots and lots of Filipino traditions…

For the most part, Filipinos are super hospitable and family-oriented. Even though I was an only child, I grew up with a big family — my grandma, grand-aunt, and grand-uncle pretty much all lived with us so it felt like I had multiple parents to take care of me, which was both great and crazy at the same time. In addition, Filipinos all seem to be related. Everyone is considered Tita (“aunt”) or Tito (“uncle”) regardless of whether we are even in the same family. So like my mom’s co-worker Mia? Tita Mia. My dad’s Caucasian boss Bob? Tito Bob.

 

I think that this is also done out of respect. It may stem from some event in the past in which the Filipino people needed to bond together to overcome greater odds – the American capturing of their island  comes to thought first. One thing I noticed is that the informant does not consider herself to be an “Asian,” but rather just Filipino, and that this spirit is not widely exhibited in the Asian mainland. The Chinese of yore might have some claim to this spirit, but Filipinos exhibit this more widely than any other I’ve seen, in my experience.

Pepero Day

And there’s a new tradition. I don’t know exactly when it started, but every 11/11 (November 11th), it’s Pepero Day.

 

What’s Pepero Day?

 

Pepero Day is mostly done by the young’uns since its a fairly new thing. maybe in the past 10 years? Well you know pocky sticks? They are called pepero – well, as we know it

 

Alright, I follow.

 

So on this day, a person would buy pepero for a loved one – either it be a boyfriend or girlfriend – or to a close best friend. It’s a sign of love but it started off as high school students giving it to their girlfriends to wish slenderness. But these days, most of the time girlfriends and boyfriends would make custom ones and give it to each other.

These are some of what may be exchanged between significant others on this day.

 

Those are some examples, haha.

 

And I have one last question about the pepero: is it a specific brand if you don’t make it yourself?

 

Usually it’s pepero, but pockys are used too because it’s like an imitation. But the Korean Markets will buy a TON in preparation for Pepero Day. Like, there will be a mountain made of pepero boxes. Insanity, people buy like 10’s or 20 boxes at a time.

 

Pepero is a brand, then? If so, do you think they pushed for the holiday?

 

Pepero are made by LOTTE. LOTTE is the company name. Pepero is the cookie name.

 

Is LOTTE the major company sold or are there competitive brands? I guess pocky counts, too, in that regard.

 

Yeah, but LOTTE is HUGE in Korea. They have their own theme park.

 

Do you think Pepero Day is corporate, then? Or a product of modernity?

 

Product of modernity. Because they didn’t start it. It kind of just boomed. Kids started it, they just played along and saw it as a good opportunity – that’s at least how I see it.

It’s a conglomerate: they have shopping malls, food products, entertainment investment and distribution company, finance companies, housings, hotels, oils, sports teams.

 

I still have my doubts about this holiday not being completely corporate. From what she said, it was one company capitalizing on a fad – like so many do –  but it seems engineered, which I guess is ironic coming from someone that “celebrates” Christmas. This seems more like Valentine’s Day than the White Day and Valentine’s Day in South Korea. It also makes me wondered if something like this is celebrated in North Korea, where conglomerates are controlled.  It’s a sweet tradition, but, like Valentine’s Day, is really built on marketing.