TAGALOG LANG

For their celebration of the New Year, the Japanese have their rice cake mochi (餅) and the Koreans have their rice cake teok (떡). Do you know the Philippine equivalent of the Chinese New Year rice cake nian gao (年糕)?  It's called tikoy!

How about the most popular fruits to serve and give away during the Lunar New Year season? Remember, the Philippines is a tropical country...

Top 10 Chinese Filipino foods during Lunar New Year celebrations in the Philippines

Happy Chinese New Year of the Earth Ox!

Did you know that the Chinese have been in the Philippines even before the Spaniards came in the 16th century? Chinese Filipinos make up only one to two percent of the Filipino population but those numbers don't match their influence on the country's history and culture.

Chinese Filipinos used to be referred to as INTSIK in Tagalog, but that word has sort of become unpopular due to negative connotations that were attached to it. The politically correct term these days is TSINOY (sometimes spelled Chinoy).

With the Lunar New Year being on Monday (January 26, 2009), I decided to make a page on how the holiday is celebrated by the Chinese community in the Philippines.

Traditions during the Chinese New Year in the Philippines

The Chinese-Filipino greeting for the New Year: Kiong Hee Huat Tsai -- that's how Tsinoys pronounce 恭喜發財 (Gong Xi Fa Cai in Mandarin; Gong Hei Fat Choi in Cantonese).

Happy Lunar New Year!

恭喜發財,紅包拿來 ;)

It might seem a tad too early but we're already preparing for Valentine's Day by posting Tagalog love poems on the site. Many are classical poems written by famous Filipino poets. One of our favorites is a very short poem (four lines!) by Huseng Sisiw. It's popular enough to have had an English translation done by another great Filipino poet, Bienvenido Lumbera.

Tagalog Love Poems