ANNUAL EVENTS IN THE PHILIPPINES

The Philippines has over 7,107 Islands and in simple words a local couldn't explain how many festivals are held in the Philippines as there are hundreds of barangay, municipalities, towns and cities in 80 provinces and each barangay, municipality, town and city including provinces has their own festival either in honor of a Saint, a religious festival, seasonal change, harvest, or in honor of the place itself. The Filipinos are happy and joie de vivre type of people. They are satisfied with life and love to laugh and tend to love people with humor, which most festivals represent. Most of the festivals are vibrant and energetic and many are of Hispanic influence. Because of the uncountable number of festivals, the country is often dubbed as, "The Fiesta Islands". Among all festivals Christmas is the biggest, widest and longest celebrated in the Philippines, which starts from September and lasts till January perhaps the longest Christmas celebration in the world.

Bulaklakan Festival Held in Muntinlupa City, celebrates every first day of January.Bulaklaka(n) literally means flower in Tagalog. Parade of flowers and costumes are held.

Feast of Three KingsHeld in Gasan, Marinduque, it celebrates every first Sunday of January of the Year.The Feast

of Three Kings or Epiphany, known as Araw ng tatlong hari in Tagalog, is a festival celebrated during the first Sunday of January, the Epiphany which commemorates the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ to the gentiles by the magi; Melchor who brought Gold, Gaspar who brought Frankincense, and Balthazar who brought myrrh as a gift to the infant Jesus. A folk play is en-acted in Gasan, Marinduque based on the story of the Epiphany. The festival also commemorates the end of Christmas in the Philippines.

Ati-Atihan Festival

Held in Kalibo, Aklan celebrates every third Week of January. In honor of the Sto. Nino or the Infant Jesus, this festival is celebrated. It was first celebrated as a pagan festival in honor of Anitos or Pagan gods of the native people before the Spanish arrived. Today it is celebrated in honor of the Sto. Nino. People cover their bodies or faces with soots to look like Atis or Aetas (native people) and dance streetdances with a holy image of the Sto. Nino. Masses, Novenas and Rosary processions are done also

Bailes De Luces In La Castellana, Negros Occidental celebrates

every 5th of January.Bailes De Luces or Dances of lights in Spanish. Luces or Light in Spanish symbolizes hope. The festival highlights the use of lights in festival presentations. Street dances are done to commemorate the festival, it is celebrated in thanking the past year's blessings and success as well as a hope for a better new year.

Feast of the Black Nazarene

In Quiapo, Manila, celebrate every 9th of January.The festival is a day long feast, celebrated through a procession ofthe Black Nazarene in the streets of Metro Manila. The Black Nazarene is a wooden statue of Jesus of Nazarene, it is called Black Nazarene because of the statue's color which is black, the statue is over 400 years old and is stored in the Basilica of Black Nazarene or popularly known as Quiapo Church. Devotees flock to streets barefooted and push against each other to get to the statue in belief it would give blessings and miracles.

Lingayen Gulf Festival

In Lingayen, Pangasinan every January 9. Festival commemorating the liberation of Lingayen from the Japanese invasion by Gen. Douglas McCarthur of US Pacific command on January 9, 1945.

Araw ng Koronadal(Day of Koronadal)/Hinugyaw Festival

In Koronadal always celebrate on January 10. A feast celebrating the diverse cultures of Koronadal for decades.

Sinulog Festival(Kabankalan)

Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental on Ja nuary 10-16. The Sinulog of Kabankalan is known to be lively and colorful, peple dress in colorful costumes and dance in streets in honor of Senor Sto. Nino.

Makato Sto. Nino Festival

Makato, Aklan on January 15. The celebration dates back to the pre-Spanish times, celebrated in honor and for giving thanks to the Sto. Nino. It is similar to Kalibo's Ati-atihan festival.

Pasungay Festival

San Joaquin, Iloilo on Third Saturday of January.Traditions dates back in olden times when people witnessed two bulls fighting, it then became an attraction and an entertainment. Catch "Bull Derby", when the where the best bulls of the barangays compete against each other. Pasungay comes from the Hiligaynon word Sungay meaning horn, indicating the horns of the bulls.

Congress

A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different nations, constituent states, independent organizations (such as trade unions), or groups.

Exhibit

Exhibit is the publicly display (a work of art or item of interest) in an art gallery or museum or at a trade fair.

Seminars

A seminar is, generally, a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is requested to actively participate.

Convention

A convention, in the sense of a meeting, is a gathering of individuals who meet at an arranged place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interest. The most common conventions are based upon industry, profession, and fandom. 

Tour

Tour is a journey for pleasure in which several different places are visited.

Anniversary

An anniversary is a day that commemorates or celebrates a past event that occurred on the same date of the year as the initial event. 

Weddings

A wedding is the ceremony where people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of wedding vows by the couple, presentation of a gift (offering, ring(s), symbolic item, flowers, money), and a public proclamation of marriage by an authority figure or leader. Special wedding garments are often worn, and the ceremony is sometimes followed by a wedding reception. Music, poetry, prayers or readings fromreligious texts or literature are also commonly incorporated into the ceremony.

TYPES OF WEDDING IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

Japan

Bride and groom in Japan come together either by a love match or through an arranged marriage. The ceremony itself is an extremely elaborate and extravagant affair and in modern-day Japan is a combination of western style marriage and traditional Shinto ceremony, often held in a Shinto shrine located in a hotel where the entire festivities, including dinner and reception, take place. Photographs play a great role and so does the dressing of the bride who has to change outfits several times during the ceremony.

Maasai/Kenya

Tying the knot for the Maasai starts long before the wedding day. It’s not really surprising that the courtship and marriage ceremony are drawn out, as divorce is not an option. When a young man takes an interest in a girl, he gives her a chain. Sometime later, he assembles several women of his own age to bring his future mother-in-law a drink of alcohol. Again sometime later, a drink of alcohol is brought to his future father-in-law, who drinks it and asks the young man to make his intention clear.

India

Depending on region and religion, wedding customs and ceremonies in India vary greatly. However what they all have in common is that they are lavish affairs and symbolize more the social coming together of two families than the union of two individuals. Prior to the wedding day, Byaha Haath, a ceremony of purification, is celebrated. Bride and groom are attended by seven unmarried females who apply a paste made from sandalwood, turmeric and rose water to the couple’s face, hands and feet. The couple is not allowed to leave home after that until their actual wedding day.

The exchange of vows is of course the crucial part. The bride sits on the right side of the groom until the vows are made. The right side is the place for strangers and acquaintances. After the vows, she moves to the left side of her husband, who has made a rather long list of promises to care for and look after his wife.

Mexico

Most Mexicans are Roman Catholics and the wedding ceremony take place within the church. Godparents, madrinas and padrinos, play an important role in the tradition. The madrina de lazo carries a rope, which maybe a rosary or a wreath made from orange blossoms as a symbol of fertility, and is wound in a figure-eight around the couple’s heads. The madrina de arras holds 13 coins which have been blessed by the priest and which symbolize the joint finances of the couple. The madrina de velacion is a woman of confidence to whom the bride can always turn for help and advice. Other godparents carry wineglasses for the wedding toast.

At the reception which follows the religious ceremony in church, the guests form a heart shaped ring around the newlyweds before their first dance. And of course, what never can be amiss from a Mexican wedding is Mariachi music.

Las Vegas

A Las Vegas wedding must be the quickest and least ceremonial way to tie the knot. All you need is a license, but then you are spoiled for choice with the offer of hundreds of wedding chapels and companies which can arrange gazebo weddings, theme weddings, even underwater weddings, or, for those who  are really in a hurry, drive-through weddings. Depending on your fancy and your budget, you can spend as little as $200 on your big day or you can spend thousands on a unique and truly flashy way to get married.

Germany

Germans tend to be either Catholic or Protestant and the exchange of vows takes place in church following the civil marriage in the ‘Standesamt’. The bride wears a white gown and walks down the aisle on the arm of her father who gives her away to the groom waiting for her at the altar with his best man.

Afterwards, a reception is often held in a hotel, with the bride and groom sometimes arriving in a white horse drawn carriage. Often a chimney sweep turns up as a symbol for good luck, carrying a horseshoe and a four leaved clover. In rural areas, special, elaborate Trachten, or traditional costumes, are kept from generation to generation and worn by the bride instead of the white gown.

Morocco

In the Muslim country of Morocco, the wedding ceremony takes up several days. Habits and customs are changing but five days prior to the wedding, the negaffa, older women who prepare the bridal chamber and the bride on her wedding day, still play an important role. The bride is given a purifying hammam bath, then her hands and feet are decorated with henna designs, kohl makeup is applied to her eyes and she is dressed in her wedding caftan and jewelry.

Throughout the day, men and women drink and eat at separate locations, until it’s time for the veiled bride to be carried on a platform and on the shoulders of her negaffa to the groom’s home. The mother-in-law lifts the veil and then the bride circles her new home three times before she is allowed to enter.

Korea

The traditional Korean wedding ceremony is steeped in Confucian values. Every gesture and move is strictly regulated and follows a protocol. The ceremony starts with a photo session, often in a beautiful garden, then the bride’s parents move to where the ceremony is to take place and wait at the wedding table for the groom’s party to arrive. The party is lead by what could be called the groom’s best man, who approaches the parents and makes them a gift of a mandarin duck. The groom then moves to the eastern part of the table. The bride arrives and moves to the western side.

The couple washes their hands, bow to each other and then exchange a drink of wine. After which they bow again and…the ceremony is over. Throughout the short ceremony, both bride and groom are supposed to show no emotions and to move with dignity in the stiff and elaborate costumes they wear.

Saudi Arabia

Marriage in Saudi Arabia is an important family event initiated by the elders of the respective families. Once a man has made his choice, he proceeds to send gifts to the woman; she is free to reject if she does not want to go ahead with the

marriage. Once price and dowry have been agreed upon, the bride is prepared much in the same way as in Morocco for her big day. A small religious ceremony takes place before a sheikh and the bride receives lavish gifts of jewelry.

The centerpiece of the wedding ceremony is the dinner. Men and women eat and drink in separate locations and only at the end will bride and groom sit together and share with their guests. The bride will wear traditional clothing along with a white Western-style wedding gown.

Turkey

More than in other Muslim countries, a Turkish wedding combines elements of Western-style ceremonies with local religious traditions. Weddings are mostly held in luxury hotels and the bride will wear a white gown, adorned with a red sash, the color for good luck in Turkey. She and her husband-to-be will sit at a special table together with the witnesses, and an official will conduct the civil ceremony.

After that, the bride will often change into beautiful red or purple kaftans. She will be surrounded by females who henna her hands and then she will walk from table to table to receive gifts of gold and money from her guests.

The dinner which, contrary to Morocco and Saudi Arabia, is not taken by men and women separately, is preceded by the dance of the fathers, an important part of the wedding ceremony. Again, money and gold coins are thrown on the dance floor and collected by the kids to be handed to the couple to help pay for the expense of the wedding.

At the end, a many-tiered wedding cake is rolled in, cut and served and each guest is given a little box with a piece of cake to take home.

1. The 24 Hours of Le Mans, France

Skill, speed, and stamina are the three s’s that mark the world’s best automobile race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The race organized by Automobile Club de L’Ouest, bridges past and present on the automotive circuit.

2. The Olympic Games

It’s hard to imagine that Zeus and the other gods lording over ancient Greece ever envisioned the global event the modern Olympiad has become. For a two-week span, athletes from dozens of countries compete against each other in scores of different sports. And that’s just the Summer Games, which began their modern run in the late 1800s. The Winter Games, featuring sports that largely require snow and ice, draw a smaller field of competitors. But the competition for the gold, silver, and bronze is just as intense. Remember Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan?

3. World Cup Soccer

Thirty-two nations play, but billions of people in countries all around the world drop everything they’re doing for a month every four years to see who claims the title of World Cup soccer champion.

The teams that compete in the World Cup finals are those that emerge from a series of qualifying rounds played out over the prior three years. The tournament of tournaments is therefore a showcase of the finest squads from across the continents and hemispheres.

4. The Super Bowl, United States

The Super Bowl is so big that even the commercials are worth watching. The first Super Bowl (held in January 1967) was played to plenty of empty seats and a waning TV audience. But now Super Bowl Sundays, progressively marked with Roman numerals, are the most celebrated one-game professional championship on the 12-month Gregorian calendar.

The Super Bowl concludes a 16-game regular season, and three postseason play-off rounds. It pits the top team from the American Football Conference against the top team from the National Football Conference for the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy (not to mention diamond-studded rings for players, coaches, and front office “suits”). The Sunday evening spectacle is preceded by two weeks of parties and pre-game hype.

5. The National Basketball Association Finals, United States

The NBA Finals. Showtime and the “Ghosts of the Garden.” Rockets and Knicks, Spurs and Pistons. The National Basketball Association’s finals are a showdown of stars and teams for the ages. It takes four games to win, but at least 93 games to get there. And the teams that do bring a lot of glitter with them. Movie stars in front-row seats. Cheerleaders that resemble Las Vegas show girls in high-energy dance routines. The see-and-be-seen spectacle ringing the court is as intriguing as the game itself.

Pro basketball has changed radically over the last four decades. The three-point shot, the slam-dunk, a pendulum swing against defense makes NBA ball a high-scoring, acrobatic affair. What hasn’t changed is the prize, the right to be crowned world champion.