Festive vocabulary for winter holidays

[anna3101]

A great idea from hungary93.

Holidays are coming soon, and it would be wonderful to share words, phrases and traditions related to your country.

So if you celebrate Christmas, or New Year, or Winter Solstice, or any other winter holidays, please share some vocabulary from your native language and any interesting facts/traditions.

I'll start with Russian.

Winter holidays celebrated

The biggest and the best is New Year's Day (evening and following night on December, 31) followed by Christmas (night between January, 6 an January, 7) and "old New Year" (January, 13 as a reminder of a calendar change that happened long, long ago).

Traditions

Those can vary a lot from family to family but most people do the following: decorate the tree, have a huge supper with family or friends on December, 31 (the best dishes are served, some people eat sandwiches with red caviar), drink champagne (first making a toast to an old year before midnight, and then a toast to a new year after midnight), watch Kremlin's tower clock strike 12 on TV, give presents to all important people - family, friends, colleagues etc, call their relatives if they can't visit them, launch fireworks. Chinese "animal of the year" tradition has been adopted in a very funny way - there are cards with patron animal, presents in the form of the same animal, articles in magazines on how to dress or decorate the table so that the animal of the coming year is happy Nobody will ever confess they believe in "all that rubbish" - but they still read horoscopes and sometimes even dress in the right colour "just in case".

Russian Santa Claus is called Father Frost (Дед Мороз) and he always appears with his granddaughter called Снегурочка (a name related to "snow" and not really translatable).

Films and music

Two old classics are always shown on TV around New Year's Day - Irony of Fate ("Ирония судьбы, или с легким паром") and Carnival Night ("Карнавальная ночь"). Both are comedies and most people probably know them by heart, a lot of phrases from these films have become idioms. Both of them have lovely songs too.

But the most well-known song is probably "The Christmas Tree Born in the Forest" ("В лесу родилась елочка"), sung by children in the kindergartens and schools. I doubt there exists a Russian person who doesn't know it.

Useful words and expressions

Happy New Year! - С Новым годом!

Merry Christmas - С Рождеством!

Wish you happiness, health, luck - Желаю (желаем) счастья, здоровья, удачи

buy / choose / wrap presents - покупать / выбирать / упаковывать подарки

packaging - упаковка

ribbon - лента

send cards - отправлять открытки

make a big house cleaning - делать генеральную уборку

cook food - готовить

clink glasses - чокаться

set the table - накрывать на стол

light candles - зажигать свечи

invite guests - приглашать к себе гостей

wish happy holidays - поздравлять с праздником

call relatives - звонить родственникам

decorate Christmas tree - наряжать елку

baubles - (елочные) игрушки

tinsel - мишура

garland - гирлянда

[takibari]

Here in the Philippines, Christmas is a most-loved holiday. In fact, as early as the first 'ber' month (September), you'll start seeing people putting on Christmas decors in their homes. Inside malls, you're bound to hear Christmas songs being played. A few things that anna3101 mentioned are also expected in the Philippines. Some homes put up their 'fake' trees (we don't use pine trees or something) and place gifts underneath the tree. During December, you'll also expect a lot of reunions among families, friends, classmates, etc. On the eve of Christmas, families and friends gather together and feast on a variety of dishes to welcome Christmas day. We call this Christmas dinner "Noche Buena!" (Not exactly Tagalog. Know that the Philippines was under Spain for more than 300 years!) 

The country being primarily a Catholic country, Catholic churches have this tradition of "Simbang Gabi" (literally, Going to Church at Night!) Simbang gabi is a 9-day novena that starts on December 16 and ends on Christmas day. Oddly, simbang gabi happens early dawn (probably 3 or 4 A.M), and NOT in the evening at all! It is said that if you successfully finish the 9-day novena (attend church every single day), your prayer petition will be answered. 

New Year is highly celebrated, too. Its counterpart dinner is called "Media Noche". People again feast on a host of food at the strike of 12 midnight.

Useful words and expressions - Tagalog / (Cebuano)

Happy New Year! - Maligayang Bagong Taon! / (Maayong Bag.ong Tuig!)

Merry Christmas - Maligayang Pasko! / (Maayong Pasko!)

Wrap presents - Magbalot ng regalo / (Mamutos ug regalo*) [haha, I don't know the Cebuano of gift

Don't forget my gift - Huwag kalimutan ang regalo ko / (Ayaw kalimti ang akong regal) 

Cook food - Magluto ng pagkain / (Maglung-ag ug pagkaon)

 

[Mameha]

It's very interesting to see how other countries celebrate Christmas!

About Italy's Tradition:

We start to decorate the Christmas Tree and the crib on December, 8 (this in general, but a lot of people start even before).

On December, 24 we celebrate the Christmas Eve (Vigilia di Natale) by making a big dinner with relatives. In this day we usually don't eat meat, in fact we use to cook dishes based on fish. After dinner we use to talk all together while eating some typical sweets like nougat, Pandoro and Panettone*. We use to play some games like Tombola or cards Games, then we open all the gifts at Midnight (so we don't open gifts in the morning of Dec 25, but i don't know if all italians do this way)

On December,25, the Christmas day (Natale) we use to have a big launch with all the relatives again and after we usually play again Tombola and the card games, but if you want to leave and go out with friends you can. People who are married normally organizate in the way that they spend the Christmas Eve with one's relatives and Christmas Day with the other one's relatives. 

We use to celebrate December, 26 too, because it's "Santo Stefano" (Saint Stephen). Santo Stefano was the first christian to give his life for the faith in Christ. You can spend this day with who you want, but it is considered holiday anyway.

On December, 31 we start to celebrate the New year's day having a dinner with friends, usually people go to restaurants, locals, squares, friend's houses. Normally wherever you are here in Italy it's useful to watch tv programs dedicated to this where there are a singers, comics, special guests ecc because they do all together the countdown to midnight. So, precisely at midnight all Italy use to celebrate the first day of the year with Fireworks all over the cities!

You can spend the January, 1 as you want,  i think it is very beautiful to walk in the centre of the town through all the lights, decorations and stalls (with all the typical Christmas foods and sweets )

The Christmas Holidays close with the Jenuary, 6, the Epiphany. During the past days kids usually write a letter with all the gift they want from the "Befana". The night before Jenuary, 6, kids prepare a glass of milk with some biscuits so during that nights this woman can have a "breakfast"  and she leaves all the gift in a room. She even fills the stockings with a lot of sweets! 

*Pandoro and Panettone: These are 2 typical Italian sweets. They are born in Verona and they are consumed during Christmas Holidays. Pandoro and Panettone are soft sweets with the form of a 8-pointed star. The difference between these 2 is that Panettone has candied fruit inside.

Useful words and expressions:

i wish you a merry Christmas and happy new year! - Vi Auguro un buon Natale e felice anno nuovo!

Wrap presents - Carta da regalo

Christmas Eve - Vigilia di Natale

Christmas Day - Giorno di Natale

The first of the year - Capodanno

Epiphany - Epifania (the woman of the Epiphany is called "Befana")

Christmas Holidays - Vacanze di Natale/ Vacanze natalizie

Christmas Tree - Albero di natale

Crib - Presepe/presepio

Nougat - Torrone

Christmas eve's dinner -  "Cenone di Natale" (Cenone is "big dinner" literally)

Christmas stalls - Bancarelle di Natale/Bancarelle natalizie

 

 

[anna3101]

2 hours ago, takibari said:

Here in the Philippines, Christmas is a most-loved holiday. In fact, as early as the first 'ber' month (September), you'll start seeing people putting on Christmas decors in their homes. Inside malls, you're bound to hear Christmas songs being played. A few things that anna3101 mentioned are also expected in the Philippines. Some homes put up their 'fake' trees (we don't use pine trees or something) and place gifts underneath the tree. During December, you'll also expect a lot of reunions among families, friends, classmates, etc. On the eve of Christmas, families and friends gather together and feast on a variety of dishes to welcome Christmas day. We call this Christmas dinner "Noche Buena!" (Not exactly Tagalog. Know that the Philippines was under Spain for more than 300 years!) 

The country being primarily a Catholic country, Catholic churches have this tradition of "Simbang Gabi" (literally, Going to Church at Night!) Simbang gabi is a 9-day novena that starts on December 16 and ends on Christmas day. Oddly, simbang gabi happens early dawn (probably 3 or 4 A.M), and NOT in the evening at all! It is said that if you successfully finish the 9-day novena (attend church every single day), your prayer petition will be answered. 

New Year is highly celebrated, too. Its counterpart dinner is called "Media Noche". People again feast on a host of food at the strike of 12 midnight.

Wow, I had no idea that somewhere so far away the holiday traditions have so much in common with ours! And I also was surprised to find out about the Spanish words, I didn't know about that part of history, makes me want to dig deeper into it on the Internet. Thanks so much for the information, it was so interesting to read!

 

16 minutes ago, Mameha said:

We start to decorate the Christmas Tree and the crib on December, 8 (this in general, but a lot of people start even before).

On December, 24 we celebrate the Christmas Eve (Vigilia di Natale) by making a big dinner with relatives. In this day we usually don't eat meat, in fact we use to cook dishes based on fish. After dinner we use to talk all together while eating some typical sweets like nougat, Pandoro and Panettone*. We use to play some games like Tombola or cards Games, then we open all the gifts at Midnight (so we don't open gifts in the morning of Dec 25, but i don't know if all italians do this way)

On December,25, the Christmas day (Natale) we use to have a big launch with all the relatives again and after we usually play again Tombola and the card games, but if you want to leave and go out with friends you can. People who are married normally organizate in the way that they spend the Christmas Eve with one's relatives and Christmas Day with the other one's relatives. 

I was really excited to see your post, as I'm learning Italian, so all the expressions come in very handy Here in Poland and in Russia too people also start decorating the tree quite early (and the shopping craziness starts earlier and earlier each year!) but that mostly depends on the person. I know some who are starting already in the end of November and some who do it a couple of days before the holiday It's the same thing with presents: some people give gifts after midnight and some leave them under the tree to open in the morning (especially if they have children). My family in Russia always did gift-giving on the 31st of December, straight after the midnight. My partner has the same tradtion in his family for Christmas, so we keep it up and give each other gifts in the first minutes of 25th and then 1st.

Nougat is yummy. Can you share a recipe with us? I'd love to try it out. I've also heard (don't know if it's true) that in Germany they eat small marzipan pigs for the New Year's Day. I plan to prepare some this year

Oh, if you know some traditional/funny/popular  Italian songs, films or anything else related to holidays, do let me know! I'm collecting winter songs in all the languages I'm learning, and I don't have many in Italian - about 15 at most... Some of them are quite hard to translate

@takibari If there's some special Christmas dish/treat in the Philippines, let us know! Do you also not eat meat on Christmas Eve? Are there any typical songs or films that are popular to watch during winter holidays?

Thank you all so much for sharing! I'm discovering a lot of exciting things here on linguaholic and it makes me happy

[Mameha]

Oh i forgot that Santa Claus here is called Babbo Natale  (Babbo is an old way to say Father, it is used nowdays in some italian dialect, not in mine  )

 

 

About the songs, there are some traditional ones but most of all are adaptations of other songs from other countries:

Bianco Natale (White Christmas)

Jingle Bells italian version 

Tu scendi dalle stelle (literally you get down from the stars) this is an Italian song.

Astro del ciel: The original is the austriac Stille nacht (english Silent Night). 

Adeste Fideles: The song is in Latin but it is considered of traditional here

L'albero di Natale: (Literal: The Christmas tree) is the adaptation for 'O tannenbaum.

I think these are the most famous ones! If i remember some others i will add them here

About the movies, i really really like the ones we call "Cinepanettoni" (There is not a translation for this word because Cine is the abbreviation of Cinema, "panettone" is the typical Italian sweet, so it just indicate that these are Christmas movies  ) They are comic-demential with famous italian comic actors movies that normally are released during the Christmas period. If you are interested watch all the ones with Christian De Sica (a famous italian actor). Trust me, everytime i watch them i'm out of breath for the hard laughs i do xD

About the Nougat's recipe: I usually buy nougat in the supermarket or candy stores because there are some good brands and we prefer to prepare others home-made desserts for Christmas  And i'm allergic to hazelnuts too! so i can't eat nougats ;( Anyway i found these interesting recipes from sites:

http://www.delallo.com/recipes/torrone-italian-nougat-candy this is the white nougat

http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/soft-nougat-torrone-morbido?cid=trending this is the white nougat but the soft one 

http://www.mylittleitaliankitchen.com/homemade-soft-nougat-with-chocolate-and-hazelnuts/ this is the chocolate nougat.

 

 

[takibari]

19 hours ago, anna3101 said:

 

@takibari If there's some special Christmas dish/treat in the Philippines, let us know! Do you also not eat meat on Christmas Eve? Are there any typical songs or films that are popular to watch during winter holidays?

Thank you all so much for sharing! I'm discovering a lot of exciting things here on linguaholic and it makes me happy

Oh, we're a meat-loving bunch and we love our foods much, haha. In fact, the Christmas season leading to the New Year is like a threat to your diet. Everywhere there's an invite to several parties or get-togethers. The holidays are like one BIG reason to catch up on old friends and families, or simply to party. Sometimes, it's kind of difficult to book these reunions/get-togethers. 

Popular dish in the Philippines during big celebrations is the infamous "lechon" or roast pig! I don't know, but "queso de bola" [one big ball of cheese] and ''hamon" (ham) are also popular during Christmas.

AS to songs, you'll likely to hear English songs played such as Jingle Bells (and curiously, the titles of the other songs currently escape me, haha!! But we do have original Filipino songs that you can typically hear among kids. In the past, a group of kids go from house to house to sing christmas carols. For a song or two, the kids will receive a few coins from the house owners (or sometimes NOT). But due to economic reasons, a lot of the owners don't want kids to do caroling now. So, it's becoming scarce each year.

Check out these original Filipino songs: Christmas in our Hearts by Jose Mari Chan and his daughter. This song has become an OPM (original pilipino music) Classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wxmePzEpFo

These are some traditional Filipino Christmas songs: Hope you enjoy them!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foIjK4Jlzkw

 

00:00 - Ang Pasko ay Sumapit   --- Christmas Has Arrived
06:21 - Sa Paskong Darating - The Coming Christmas
08:54 - Namamasko ( Sa may Bahay ng Aming Bati ) - {Here we come acaroling}

[*namamasko - the tradition of visiting family and friends at their houses in the hopes of receiving Christmas gifts from owners)
10:29 - Noche Buena - [talks about the food during dinner on Christmas eve]
13:30 - Kampana (Bell) ng Simbahan (Church) - {talks about how churches ring their bells to help wake up and remind people about the simbang gabi}
16:23 - Ang (The) Magandang (Beautiful) Christmas Tree
18:56 - Paskong Anong Saya ( Bati Nami'y Merry Christmas ) - A Christmas that's so joyous
21:36 - Misa De Gallo - Midnight Mass (Misa de Gallo culminates the Simbang Gabi I mentioned earlier)
24:05 - Ang (The)  Diwa (Essence) ng Pasko (of Christmas)  - 

[takibari]

Found a few translations of some songs above:

Ang Pasko ay Sumapit                         Christmas Has Arrived (English)

Ang Pasko ay sumapit   -----------------  Christmas has come
Tayo ay mangagsiawit  -----------------  Come, let us go forth singing
Ng magagandáng himig------------------ Beautiful hymns
Dahil sa ang Diyos ay pag-ibig ---------- For God is love.

Nang si Kristo'y isilang ------------------ When Christ was born,
May tatlóng haring nagsidalaw -------- There were three kings who did visit,
At ang bawat isá ay nagsipaghandóg -- And each one did present
Ng tanging alay.---------------------------- A unique offering.

Koro:                                                      Chorus:
Bagong Taón ay magbagong-buhay  ---  'Tis New Year, so we must reform our lives
Nang lumigayà ang ating Bayan         --- That joyful might be our Nation;
Tayo'y magsikap upang makamtán ----- Let us strive that we might achieve
Natin ang kasaganaan!                   -----  Prosperity!

Tayo'y mangagsiawit----------------Come, let us go forth singing,
Habang ang mundó'y tahimik. --- Whilst the world is silent
Ang araw ay sumapit -------------- The day has arrived,
Ng Sanggól na dulot ng langit. --- Of the Infant sent from heaven.

Tayo ay magmahalan, ------------ Let us love one another,
Ating sundín ang Gintóng Aral --- May we follow the Golden Rule,
At magbuhát ngayon, ------------- And from now on-
Kahit hindî Paskô ay magbigayan! -- Though it not be Christmas, let us keep giving.

[takibari]

Sa Maybahay ang Aming Batì (Tagalog)	To The Householder We Greet (English)[3]
Sa maybahay, ang aming batì, "Merry Christmas!" na mal'walhatì!" Ang pag-ibig, 'pag siyang nagharì, araw-araw ay magiging Paskô lagì! Koro: Ang sanhî po, ng pagparito, [ay] hihingî po ng aguinaldo. Kung sakaling kamí'y perhwisyo, pasensya na kayó't kamí'y namamaskô!!	To the householder we greet, A "Merry Christmas!" that is glorious When Love, if it doth reign, every day will be Christmas always! Chorus: The reason we have come is to ask for gifts. If we happen to be a bother, please be patient, for we are carolling!

[takibari]

Oh, the movies. I forgot

Anyway, the Philippines is a tropical country. Though we don't have snow, the weather during December can get colder. (Cold by our standards, at least! Probably just around 18 to 24 degrees. I know this isn't cold for those with WINTER season).

So being cooped up in the house to watch movies during the Christmas season IS NOT a thing here. Although around Christmas time, we have the Manila Film Fest. So, during this period ONLY FILIPINO-produced movies are shown in the cinemas ALL over the country for a week or two. This is a huge bummer to Hollywood movie fans as not a single movie from abroad is shown during the duration of the Film Fest.

[Mameha]

2 hours ago, takibari said:

Oh, the movies. I forgot

Anyway, the Philippines is a tropical country. Though we don't have snow, the weather during December can get colder. (Cold by our standards, at least! Probably just around 18 to 24 degrees. I know this isn't cold for those with WINTER season).

So being cooped up in the house to watch movies during the Christmas season IS NOT a thing here. Although around Christmas time, we have the Manila Film Fest. So, during this period ONLY FILIPINO-produced movies are shown in the cinemas ALL over the country for a week or two. This is a huge bummer to Hollywood movie fans as not a single movie from abroad is shown during the duration of the Film Fest.

Oh i like your country more and more! I hate the cold, to me a temperature like 18-24 degrees it's a paradise, not too much cold but not too much hot. And i noticed that Filipinos are so kind and smiling people... (my favourite singer is Zendee Rose, the filipino girl of the song you translated last time!  )

[anna3101]

19 hours ago, takibari said:

Oh, the movies. I forgot

Anyway, the Philippines is a tropical country. Though we don't have snow, the weather during December can get colder. (Cold by our standards, at least! Probably just around 18 to 24 degrees. I know this isn't cold for those with WINTER season).

So being cooped up in the house to watch movies during the Christmas season IS NOT a thing here. Although around Christmas time, we have the Manila Film Fest. So, during this period ONLY FILIPINO-produced movies are shown in the cinemas ALL over the country for a week or two. This is a huge bummer to Hollywood movie fans as not a single movie from abroad is shown during the duration of the Film Fest.

I haven't seen a single Filipino-produced film in my life. Can you recommend something?

On 26.11.2015, 22:35:33, Mameha said:

Oh i forgot that Santa Claus here is called Babbo Natale  (Babbo is an old way to say Father, it is used nowdays in some italian dialect, not in mine  )

So, who is  the main present-giver? Babbo Natale or Befana? Or both? If both, whose presents are bigger?

Thanks a lot for the songs and the recipe. Nougat is rare in Poland. I saw only several places where they sell it, it's usually French or Italian made, and also pretty good. However, I'm trying to lose some fat around my waist right now, so I've forbidden myself to eat anything with sugar. But holidays don't count of course About Cristian de Sica - I checked it on Wikipedia, he has SO many films! Which one should I start with?

Here are two most famous Russian songs - I forgot to give the links last time:

Five Minutes

The Christmas Tree Born in the Forest

As for the traditional dishes, there are two salads that are quite often present on the New Year's table. In case you want to try them out, here are the recipes. They come from my family.

Herring under the Coat

This one is made from boiled vegetables and salted herring (you normally buy it ready-made in shops). I'm a vegetarian so I used marinated or fried muschrooms instead. You need:

- 2-3 beetroots

- 3-4 large carrots

- 5-6 middle-sized potatoes

- 250ml jar of mayonnaise

- 250g of salty herring / or 500g of raw mushrooms

All the vegetables should be appoximately the same amount. They must be boiled with skin, then peeled and then cut into small square pieces.

Herring should also be cut to small pieces. If you go with mushrooms, you should fry them in your favourite oil (and yes, also cut them beforehand - in small pieces of course).

Then you take a big glass bowl and put the ingredients in layers: first a layer of herring or mushrooms, then spread some mayonnaise on it, then put a layer of potatoes, then again some mayonnaise on it, then go carrots, mayonnaise again, and finally beetroots, and mayonnaise on top. The salad is usually decorated with some greenery - parsley, green onion and such. Very calorie-rich but tasty. If you don't want to weigh 3 kgs more, just make mayonnaise layers very thin and you'll be fine

Olivier

Supposedly this one originated from a French chef but now it's the most popular Russian salad ever Here's my family's traditional recipe (it differs from house to house):

- 3-4 carrots

- 5-6 potatoes

- one tin of green peas

- 300-400g of mortadela-type sausage (I use smoked tofu cheese for veggie version)

- a jar (about 200g) of pickled cucumbers

- 5-6 eggs

- 300ml mayonnaise

- spring onion

As usual, the quantites are approximate - there should be about the same amount of each ingredient, except for mayonnaise and cucumbers, so it all depends on how big a portion you want to make. Carrots, potatoes and eggs are boiled, peeled and cut into small cube pieces, and then put into a big glass bowl. Green peas are taken from a tin or cooked from frozen, and then added to the bowl. Sausage or ham is cut into cubes and goes to the bowl as well. Then the same thing happens to pickles (they are the only ingredient that you can add a  bit less of, as they are quite strong in taste). Finally, you add mayonnaise to taste and add as much of spring onions (finely chopped) as you wish. Mix well and you are ready to go

[Mameha]

About Befana and Babbo Natale, i think that the difference is that Babbo Natale gives presents to all, not only kids. In addiction to this, we use to open together all the presents with relatives, so there is not the idea that Babbo Natale is the one who gives presents...not in all Italy, in my family we use Babbo Natale only as an ideal symbol of Christmas. 

The Befana is the one that brigs presents to the kids and she takes them during the night, so most little kids use to believe in her existence

About the songs you posted, i can't see the first one because youtube give a problem, about the second one it is so beautiful and sweet! (the video too  )

Anyway i will try those salad recipes! They seem to be good

[takibari]

On 28/11/2015, 3:15:01, Mameha said:

Oh i like your country more and more! I hate the cold, to me a temperature like 18-24 degrees it's a paradise, not too much cold but not too much hot. And i noticed that Filipinos are so kind and smiling people... (my favourite singer is Zendee Rose, the filipino girl of the song you translated last time!  )

Thank you! I like our tropical weather than the cold, too. I don't think I can thrive in the winter season. I was in HongKong once, and their temperature during December was I think around 10 degrees or lower, and boy did I have a hard time. Although, I would want to experience snow at least once God-willing.

Yep, we are a happy bunch even with a lot of problems around.

Funny, I don't know Zendee Rose until you had that song translated.

Anyway, here's a video of something you can expect from our country. Hope you can experience the Philippines, sometime soon!

 

[czarina84]

In America, Christmas tradition varies from household to household, and depending on religion (or lack thereof).  Growing up, we didn't have money for presents.  We would usually cook some kind of meal (whatever we could afford) and decorate the two foot tall plastic tree with popcorn strings and ornaments that we had been acquiring for years.  Now that I'm an adult, we celebrate with a ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits (the American kind that are a bread-like product, not cookies) and whatever we want as a dessert.   The first think I do when I wake up is wish Jesus a Happy Birthday.  I'm a Christian.  I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable.  I know there are a lot of religions out there and I want to make it clear that just because I believe in God, I do not, in any way, think anything negative about any other religion (or lack thereof).  It's just how I celebrate.  Anyway, some households open presents Christmas morning.  We wait until after Christmas supper.  We use the time in between supper and dessert to open the presents. 

New Year's Eve is pretty much the same around the country.  We party and kiss each other when the ball drops. 

Some  holiday words are:

Christmas

Mistletoe

Holly

Yule

Yuletide

Carols

Eggnog

Candy Canes

Around this time of year there are also two other holidays that I know of: Channukah and Kwanzaa.  I don't really know that much about either, just little tidbits that I picked up here and there, but everyone talks so much about Christmas and New Year that these two tend to be forgotten.

[takibari]

On 28/11/2015, 9:07:41, anna3101 said:

I haven't seen a single Filipino-produced film in my life. Can you recommend something?

 

 

Hmmm. Wow, I can't seem to think of one, haha! I tried to look for one in youtube, but unfortunately I couldn't find one with English subtitles. Anyway, there's this movie a long time ago called "Muro Ami". It's about the life of children working as reef hunters. I believe it's one of the good Filipino movies.

[Mameha]

7 hours ago, takibari said:

Thank you! I like our tropical weather than the cold, too. I don't think I can thrive in the winter season. I was in HongKong once, and their temperature during December was I think around 10 degrees or lower, and boy did I have a hard time. Although, I would want to experience snow at least once God-willing.

Yep, we are a happy bunch even with a lot of problems around.

Funny, I don't know Zendee Rose until you had that song translated.

Anyway, here's a video of something you can expect from our country. Hope you can experience the Philippines, sometime soon!

 

So beautiful! I have a Filipino friend here in Italy, maybe in the future i'll have an holiday in the Philippines