FILIPINOS LOVE FIESTAS

 

By Klaus Döring

The word "fiesta" will bring a smile to the face of almost any Filipino. To my face too, because I lived here for good for more than 25 years.

After all, a fiesta is a special time with friends, a time for fellowship, food, and lots of activities. Each year brings numerous fiestas. Sometimes people are busy for weeks preparing for them. It is surprising how even those facing many problems in their day-to-day life set them aside and participate in the festivities.

What actually are fiestas and why do these celebrations occur? The fiesta is of Spanish origin (the reason for the Spanish term). Spain, being a Roman Catholic country, set aside certain days to remember particular saints with processions and celebrations. When Spanish missionaries entered the Philippines during the mid-1500s, they found that the fiesta was a convenient tool to help teach Filipinos the Roman Catholic faith.

Did you know the culturally rich Philippines has over 100 Fiestas (Festivals) annually? Each city or province has a local fiesta. Being a very religious centered country, a fiesta is usually about the celebration of that city or province’s patron saint. While “fiesta season” spans throughout the year, it’s safe to say that there is at least one major festival happening throughout the country at any given week. With the majority of those festivals originating from pre-colonial traditions in local cities and communities or rooted in Christianity from the Spanish Colonial Era.

The Philippine fiesta is a lot more than it seems on the service. It is the tie that binds Filipinos from a region or an area together, a time to reunite with your extended family and you kababayans (countrymen/women.) No matter where you are, you are expected to attend.

Sense of Identity: Festivals provide an opportunity for Filipinos to celebrate their cultural identity and heritage, contributing to a strong sense of pride in their cultural heritage. This sense of identity is an important factor in shaping the Filipino workforce and promoting a positive work culture.

Traditionally, the fiesta is a time of joyful celebration for Filipinos, who cook heaps of hearty food, throw open their doors to visitors, and parade in the streets. Some Filipino fiestas have evolved into elaborate, multi-day festivals, while others have kept their community roots.

In my own words, a Philippine festival is a vibrant celebration that brings communities together to showcase their cultural identity through colorful parades, music, dance, and food, highlighting the creativity and talents of Filipinos.

HOW TO BE ALWAYS HAPPY IN LIFE?

Prashant Srivastava

1. Everyone has problems. You are not alone.

2. Everyone faces tough times. Only people who aren’t alive don’t have challenges.

3. Every problem can be fixed. There are ways to feel better.

4. How you think about yourself affects your happiness. Believe you are special and important. Don’t let negative thoughts win.

5. Don’t stress about what others say. Some people say mean things to hurt you.

6. Spend time with positive people who make you happy. Avoid those who laugh at you or your struggles.

7. Use your free time to enjoy hobbies like sports, games, movies, or browsing online.

8. Don’t let money or fancy things scare you. Someone who is poor today can be rich tomorrow. Change happens all the time.

9. No matter how tough it gets, don’t give up. While you’re alive, there is hope.

10. Pray often. Praying a lot can help bring good things to you faster.

11. Be brave and chase what you want. Life is about taking risks. If you don’t take chances, you won’t get what you really want. Stay true to yourself. Nobody can do what you do better than you. You’re awesome! So just be yourself. Have a great life!

Seeing life through kinder lens

 

 By Shaina Marie C. Salvador

Have you ever looked into someone’s eyes and wondered what goes through their thoughts? Or have you ever peeked through the windows of a jeep and watched children playing by the side of the highway? Or have you ever smiled at the breeze through the trees and the sunlight after a long day at work?

I have, and I have always wondered about the things we so easily take for granted. The light that seeps through our windows. The plates in the dishwasher meant we had enough food to eat. The piles of clothes meant we had enough to wear. The clang of the church bell that, in my mind, carries prayers for those who need them most. Small, ordinary things that quietly tell stories about the lives we are living.

There, I believe, lies the quiet beauty of noticing life. We now live in a fast-paced world where deadlines pile up, where people walk faster just to catch the next train on a Monday morning, and where our minds are often somewhere else even when our bodies are present. In the rush of it all, we forget to pause and breathe, forgetting that not everything around us is burning.

But when you take a more intentional look at life, you begin to realize that the world continues moving regardless of our personal struggles. A dream may quietly break, a friendship may fade, or a message may remain unread, yet life carries on. Perhaps noticing life also means learning to accept that movement, transforming defeat into lessons that slowly shape us into kinder and more understanding people.

And when you begin to notice more carefully, you also start to see the people around you differently. Even from a distance, when you look at them long enough, you realize that street vendors, children in their uniforms, and strangers passing by are living full lives, too. Someone’s mother. Someone’s daughter. Someone deeply loved. A human being with a world of their own, carrying stories we may never fully understand.

With that thought constantly in mind—that people struggle as I do—I started to perceive them as reflections of myself, someone simply trying to get through the day. Someone who just wants to go home early so they can sit down and enjoy dinner with the people they love. Someone who might be tired, worried, hopeful, or quietly holding on.

I also started to look at life, struggles, and regrets with a kinder outlook and as things that simply pass on. And since they pass, I try to live life as fully as I can. Who knows when the next time you will eat your favorite breakfast meal? Or when will you get to share a conversation with someone important to you? Sometimes the most ordinary moments end up becoming the ones we remember the most.

Life keeps moving, reminding us of the quiet value of living even the most ordinary days. Our work may be exhausting, inconveniences may happen, but life continues to move just the same for everyone else around us. While we are busy with our own struggles, countless others are also trying to survive their own versions of the day.

I believe that looking at people with kindness we wish for ourselves goes a long way. Being gentle to the waiter who serves your food is like wishing for the same gentleness when we ourselves are tired at work. Picking up your litter so someone sleeping on the street does not have to lie beside trash that night is a small way of offering the same comfort we hope to have when we rest. Kindness may not instantly change a person’s life, but it can still bring a small light to someone who might be going home with very little hope. Maybe the vendor you passed by is struggling to send their child to school. Maybe someone you see today just got rejected from a job they badly needed. Maybe someone is simply hoping that tomorrow will feel a little kinder than today.

Sometimes all it takes is a small act of kindness to remind people that the world, despite its cruelty, still has warmth left in it.

The secret to living a rich and beautiful life that costs nothing is this: to see people as people. To remember that every stranger you pass is someone’s someone. Someone who is loved, someone who has dreams, someone who once imagined a future for themselves.

The world can be harsh enough to make us forget the beauty of wondering about other lives and what surrounds us. But when we pause and look, truly look, we realize that the person selling food on the corner once had dreams, too. Even the small things around us begin to feel meaningful when we pay attention. The sunlight passing by is giving us vitamins we didn’t know we needed. The barkers calling passengers into jeepneys once imagined journeys of their own.

And perhaps the beauty of being human is simply this: noticing each other, and every little thing in between, even in passing.

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Aeisha Shaina Marie C. Salvador