Toward the end of 2009, we hosted two dinner parties at home—one for my in-laws and another for my girl friends in the UP College of Law. Because everything we served was home-cooked, Speedy and I had to divide the chores between us. I did the cooking; he did the food shopping.
When he got home from a last-minute trip to the supermarket on the morning of Dec. 30, despite looking tired and harassed from the thick crowds and long queues, he was smiling to himself and seemed amused. There were two women, he said, house helpers it appeared, who were arguing about what to buy and cook for New Year’s Eve. One was about to get some chicken but the other objected and told her, “Naku huwag, ayaw ni Sir n’yan kasi buong darating na taon na isang kahig, isang tuka.” Literally translated, “Oh, no, Sir wouldn’t like that because that means it’ll be scratch and peck [a figure of speech for living in poverty] throughout the coming year.”
Speedy guffawed and asked rhetorically if the scratch-and-speck belief applied to roast duck as well, our main dish for the New Year’s Eve family dinner. And he wondered what superstitions there might be with regard to eating pork—that it should be avoided lest the family eat nothing but kaning baboy all through the following year?
While it can be fun to observe customs and traditions, Filipinos do have a tendency to go to extremes. And the literal translation of figures of speech, like isang kahit, isang tuka, into superstitious beliefs as to what food should be avoided can be truly hilarious. A Filipino Web site, www.tagaloglang.com, lists other food-related superstitions associated with the New Year: (1) Prepare 12 round fruits (round shape, like coins, is a symbol of prosperity), one for each month of the coming new year. (2) Have a very round grape in your mouth at the stroke of midnight. (3) Eat a native delicacy made from sticky rice to make good fortune stick in the new year. (4) Eat long noodles (pansit) for long life. (5) Don’t have chicken or fish. They are associated with the scarcity of food.
I’m not a superstitious person. If I were, I wouldn’t have served chicken to family and friends on two successive nights so close to the end of the year. But I did serve chicken dishes on both occasions, one of which, the Vietnamese-style honey-ginger chicken, has become a family favorite (click here for the recipe).
Do you observe food-related practices for the New Year? Why? Why not?
Hi Ms Connie,
We’re part Chinese and my father (particularly) insists on observing these superstitions:
- no to chicken because of the same reason you mentioned
- fish is a must
- we favor pork more kasi (dont laugh) para isang taon kain, tulog lang. At hindi dahil sa kakain ng kaning baboy – pero kanya2 lang talaga ng interpretation.
- always my pancit or any noodle dish
- eat misua soup with 1 boiled egg. (pag bday namin, 2 eggs naman)
Like sa fruits, my mother would offer bananas kasi someone told her na parang palad na nakaopen, so sasahurin daw yung biyaya. Yung lola ko naman – na nanay ng mapamahiin kong tatay, ayaw. Kasi daw ang interpretation naman niya ay parang nanghihingi lagi yung palad – nanlilimos. O diba, siguro kung nakakapagsalita yung saging, baka kung ano na yung sinabi nun haha
We also offer something else apart from the traditional 12 fruits (bawal din pala ang may black seeds daw) – like rice, chocolates, a certain amount of coins and bills, etc – but this combination varies yearly – depending on the astrologer I think.
Anyway, i dont mean to mock or try to erase this tradition from our family. I admit it sometimes sound silly, but for me I will keep on doing this more because it’s a family thing. It reminds me of my parents, my lola, etc.
I think my parents are doing it for the same reason, kasi di sila yung sobrang fanatic naman at magwoworry ng todo kung wala kaming mahain na isda o baboy na as if dun nakasalalay yung kinabukasan namin 
Happy 2010 Ms Connie and to your family.
I think most food-related superstitions of Pinoys originated from the Chinese. Actually, including the firecracker obsession although Pinoys have carried it to the extreme.
Happy Year of the Tiger to you and yours, May.
I don’t have any food-related superstitions and I find May’s response quite interesting.
But on New Years Eve, my parents would open all the windows(para daw pumasok ang biyaya) and after the countdown would toss coins from the stairs to the screaming and
gleeful children.Although some traditions are worth keeping, these are not followed at our
home….lest we get pneumonia if we open the windows or the young kids will get trampled
by the older children scrambling for coins.
Blessings to you and your family for 2010.Cheers!!!
Hi EmyM,
May I add to your reason of not opening windows for the new year—besides the fear of catching pneumonia, the worse fear should be: that of being hit by some stray bullet because your trigger happy neighbor decided to greet the new year with a BANG BANG! from a gun! You are fortunate that you are in a place where accidents like these happen.
Blessings to you and your family!
natawa naman ako sa pagkain ng kanin-baboy. hahaha
sa amin din may superstition tungkol sa paghahain ng manok on new year’s eve pero last 2009 new year ko lang nalaman. kase ang contribution ko sa family potluck e fried chicken. hahaha, sabi ng nanay ko ganun nga daw – isang kahig, isang tuka.
dito naman sa in-laws ko, nagpapagulong ng mga bilog na prutas sa sahig papuntang pinto. hahaha. tapos ang daming nakalagay sa mesa – coins, bigas at mga seasonings.
anyway, etong isa hindi naman related sa new year pero about food fads parin – bawal daw kumain ng kambal na saging ang buntis dahil magiging siamese twins ang anak. yun ang personal favorite ko sa lahat ng pamahiin tungkol sa pangkain.
Ayyy, palagay ko Connie, maraming Pinoys ang makaka-relate rito…ako while I was raised by conservative and quite superstitious parents, I learned from that and we have decided as a family not to be bound by superstitions. My Papa always wore red shirts in greeting the new year, my Mama was always in polka dots na dress… yes ganun rin kami dati, about having not only 12 but 13 fruits pa nga… parang meron ka pang 1 additional as safety measure— But for our new year now, I just had bananas (which we never run out of), then apples (kasi merong order ng apple crumble for Jan 3), then the sweet juicy pineapple. No superstitions about food in our house… just like you, we eat what we choose to eat and are not “nakatali” sa superstitions. Thanks sa kwento about this one!
We Chinese actually serve whole chicken during New Year, including the head (or at least the neck). All foods with heads (whole pig, whole poultry and whole fish) must have their heads pointing to the head of the family, to symbolize his importance. Besides, chicken in mandarin shares the same sound as luck, and ducks are a symbol of love, so poultry is good. :-p
I think the not serving of Chicken in new Year is not really a Chinese thing.
The term “isang kahig isang tuka” did not originate from them naman.
Anyway, regarding the topic, I’m actually a sucker when it comes to New Year traditions. Before, I wasn’t like that but lately I have experienced a lot of financial and career woes which made me think of trying it out. Since then, it has been a yearly thing for me. My parents and siblings were not really into it but they just let me do my thing.