Filipino Foods

Throughout the centuries, Filipino recipe has been a constantly evolving merge of Oriental and Occidental influences. Chinese, Malay, Arab, Spanish, and American explorers and settlers have each contributed to the regions colorful culinary delights. Most of the Filipino recipes and filipino foods comes from the Spaniards, whose cuisine is at the source of nearly 80% of all Filipino recipes. Another, though less present influence is that of other South-East Asian countries who have contributed all but their love of hot spices to Filipino cooking in filipino recipe.

PHILIPPINE festival

Sibug - Sibug festival

Sibug – Sibug Festival is celebrated during their foundation day on the province of Sibugay on February 26, with colorful Ethnic Street dancing with rituals illustrating good harvest, wedding and healing rituals. During the festival, it endorses it’s number one product which is the oyster or talaba in tagalong which has been known to be the biggest, juiciest, and meatiest oysters in the country. In this two week celebration, in the town of Ipil, “Talaba Longest Grill” has been the main attraction of the visitors and viewers. In this manner, Zamboanga can promote their oysters to the world. Zamboanga Sibugay recently achieved a world record for the Worlds Longest Talaba Grill with five to 12 inches-longoysters or talaba as the main feature. Because of this, the province of Sibugay earned a title as the Talaba Capital of the Philippines.

Panagbenga festival

The Panagbenga Festival is held yearly during the month of February. The celebrations are held for over a month and peak periods are the weekends. The Panagbenga Festival showcases the many floral floats and native dances. The fragrant smells that could be presently teasing olfactory senses are probably less from the now-dried flowers from Valentine's Day than air floating all the way from Baguio City. At this time of year, the City of Pines is almost surely in flower fury over Panagbenga festival, the city's biggest festival.

Sinulog festival

The Sinulog festival is one of the grandest, most distinguished and most colorful festivals in the Philippines. The major festival is held each year on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City to honor the Santo Niño, or the child Jesus, who used to be the patron saint of the whole province of Cebu (since in the Catholic faith Jesus is not a saint, but God). It is fundamentally a dance ritual which remembers the Filipino people's pagan past and their recognition of Christianity.

Black Nazarene Festival

The Black Nazarene statue was brought to Manila by the first group of Augustinian Recollect friars on May 31, 1606. The image was originally housed in the first Recollect church in Bagumbayan (now part of the Rizal Park), which was established on September 10, 1606, and placed under the patronage of Saint Juan Bautista Saint John the Baptist.




The feast of the Most Holy Black Nazarene is celebrated every 9 January while novena masses begin on the first Friday day of the year, in honor of its weekly novena mass held every Friday. During the annual public procession, only the body of the Black Nazarene is displayed in procession to the public, while the original head portion of the statue is retained in the Basilica of the Black Nazarene within the high altars of the church. The Black Nazarene is also famously noted for its devotees who walk the procession streets barefoot, without shoes or sandals as to imitate Jesus Christ on his way to Mount Calvary.

Dinagyang festival

Dinagyang is an annual event, when the whole town rejoices, shouting their pride of being an Ilonggo and telling their culture. It is a wonderful looking back to the past. It is not just a celebration, it is a religious evangelization. Going back to Iloilo is more like a past fulfilled and a looking forward for future celebrations. It is our culture. The Aeta culture. That's why it is painting the town black.







The root word is dagyang. In Ilonggo, it means to make happy. Dinagyang is the present progressive word of the Ilonggo word, meaning making merry or merry-making. A religious and cultural activity, it is a celebration of Ilonggos whose bodies are painted with black in effect to imitate the black, small and slender Negritos who are the aborigines of Panay. The warriors are dressed in fashionable and colorful Aeta costumes and dance artistically and rhythmically with complicated formations along with the loud thrashing and sound of drums.






As more and more tribes from the barangays, schools and nearby towns and provinces participate, the contest became more competitive in terms of costumes, choreography and sounds. The tribes compete for the following Special Awards: Best in Discipline, Best in Costume, Best in Performance, Best in Music and Best in Choreography. These are aside from the major awards for the champion, first runner-up, second runner-up, third runner-up and fourth runner-up. Participating tribes learn to design artistically and with originality in making use of Ilonggo native materials like dried anahaw leaves, buri or coconut palm leaves and husks and other barks of Philippine trees. Choreography was studied and practices were kept secret. Sounds were seen as an authentic medium that keeps the tribes going in uniform.

A street generously decorated with banners	A fountain tied with banners in a centrifugal manner	Man barbecuing pork chop, chicken, and pantat (mudfish)	Meat being sold on one of the many food stalls lined in the streets
An ad hoc stand with souvenirs	Detail of a trinket being sold in the streets during the Festival	Contestants strolling after the contest proper	Costumed Dinagyang

Guimaras readies for Manggahan Festival 2010

Giving emphasis to the culture, traditions and customs of Guimarasnons, this day is right for you to witness- the Guimaras Cultural Showcase on April 18, 2010.

It has been 12 years since the island of Guimaras was proclaimed an independent province.The Manggahan Festival brings out the creativity of Guimarasnons.

Island Province of Guimaras- Home of the Manggahan Festival is now ready for celebration on April 11-18, 2010.

The weeklong festival will showcase various events that every tourists and guests will enjoy. These include the jumpstart event at Robinsons Mall: Manggahan sa Robinsons on April 5-8, 2010 with an opening ceremony and Guimaras booth- displaying province’ bests and finest. Stunning beauties of Mutya ng Guimaras will be witnessed on April 8 as they showcase their casual wears.

A must see dancing talents of young men and women can be seen during the soft opening on April 11, at the food court area which starts from 6 p.m.

Culture and heritage of the island can be seen on the actions, painted bodies and colorful props of the tribe dancers from participating barangays of the five municipalities during the Street Dancing competition on the 12^th of April at the Capitol Ground.

A day for Children is April 13, of 2010 at the Provincial Gym as the province celebrates Children’s day while April 14 is the Youth Day. This day is reserved for youth as Rico Blanco will rock Guimaras in front of the Museo de Guimaras ground at 10 p.m.

Mango Inspired recipe’s will be tasted at the Maggahan Foodcourt on April 15, hosting the Mango Inspired Recipe Contest at the Food Court Area at 2:00pm to 4:00pm. This event simply shows various recipes that were made out from mango.

Stunning Beauties will be flaunted as Mutya sang Guimaras meets the Day of Judgment at the Provincial Gym on April 16, 2010 starting 8:00 pm. The Guimaras beauties will vie for the crown as Mutya sang Guimaras 2010.

For anyone craving for mangoes, just join us, in the Eat- all- you- can for 3 days at the foodcourt area as Guimaras promotes its sweetest and delicious mangoes on April 16, 17, and 18, 2010.

This is the package that Guimaras province can offer to you and as you witness this momentous festival, you will indeed say that: Guimaras is more than just mangoes

End of 40-day Lenten Season (Black Saturday)


Christians will mark the close of the 40-day Lenten Season today, Black Saturday, with meditations on the Passion and Death of Christ, and His descent into hell before His Resurrection on Easter Sunday. No masses will be held in all Catholic churches this Saturday. Instead, the faithful are encouraged to venerate the image of Christ lying in the tomb as well as to reflect on the Seven Sorrows of Mary: The Prophecy of Simeon in the Temple, the Flight into Egypt, the Disappearance of the Child Jesus in the Temple, the Carrying of the Cross on Mount Calvary, the Crucifixion, the taking down from the Cross, and the Burial of Jesus. Also known as the Day of the Entombed Christ and the third day of the Easter Triduum, church sanctuaries will remain completely bare or draped in purple. Holy Communion is given only as a viaticum or to a dying person. Black Saturday lasts until dusk, after which the Easter Vigil, the third and final day of the Easter Triduum will be celebrated. At the Manila Cathedral, the Easter Vigil celebration will start at 8 Saturday night with Manila Archbishop Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales officiating the holy mass. The Easter Vigil is a time of joy and is considered the Mother of all Holy Vigils and the Great Service of Light. St. Cyril of Jerusalem said, "The Easter Vigil, although celebrated at night, is always as bright as day, symbolic of the Risen Christ." Meanwhile, Boac Bishop Rey Evangelista reminded the faithful "to spend Holy Week reflecting on the Passion of Christ, asking for Jesus' forgiveness, instead of relaxation and pleasure." " Week should not be commercialized. It is a time to devote one's whole being into the contemplation of the Passion, death, and Resurrection of Christ," the Catholic prelate said over Holychurch-run Radio Veritas. He also urged those experiencing pain, the sick, the homebound, and prisoners "to relate their suffering to Jesus" agony and to offer their sufferings as reparation to the various sins of society against God and humanity."

Filipino devotees had themselves nailed to crosses Friday to remember Jesus Christ's suffering and death an annual rite rejected by church leaders in the predominantly Roman Catholic country.

Filipino people were nailed to crosses in villages in some province's in Philippines to mark Good Friday.

The event Friday drew more than 10,000 Philippine and foreign spectators.

A farming village where devotees dressed in robes and tin crowns walked to a dusty mound carrying wooden crosses on their backs. At the mound, men nailed their hands and feet to the crosses.

Among the devotees, a 49-year-old sign painter who was nailed to a cross for the 24th time as his way of thanking God for his survival after falling from a building.

And a 34-year-old rice cake vendor, was the lone female devotee to be nailed to a cross this year. It was her 14th time.

She said she started when she was 18 and has taken part in the annual rites on and off to seek God's help in saving her ill grandmother and now her younger sister, who is suffering from cancer. She has faith that God will take care of her and her family.

Similar rites took place in nearby Bulacan province, while in other parts of the country, half-dressed, barefooted flagellants walked the streets, whipping their bloody backs with pieces of wood dangling from ropes as a way to atone for sins.

Church leaders reject such practices. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines said the real expression of Christian faith during Lent is through repentance and self-renewal, not flagellation or crucifixion.

About 80 percent of the Philippine population of more than 90 million are Roman Catholic

Philippines is a country where majority of the population are Catholics. Therefore, each year, a number of religious events are being held throughout the 7,107 islands of the philippines. Here in my place, Iloilo Philippines, Visayas region of the Philippines, Religious Fiestas are held during summer. Now is summer time in the Philippines. It starts at the month of February and ends in April. Within this month, Filipinos are busy with so many events as Graduation, holy week and religious fiestas.