Maniolas

Planning your big night out for New Year’s Eve? Whether you’re hitting the streets with your friends or loved ones, nothing beats the thrill of a memorable night full of drinks, fireworks, and loud revelry. First, some bad news for Makati residents: the New Year’s Eve Countdown and Street Party usually held along Ayala Avenue has been cancelled this year. Instead, the Makati city government is planning to donate the event’s hefty budget of PHP 30 million to the victims of Typhoon Ruby. In case you’re keeping track, last year’s New Year celebrations were also cancelled in the wake of Typhoon Yolanda. Now, the good news: Makati’s New Year’s Eve festivities may be out, but you still have plenty of options for welcoming 2015 elsewhere around town. Here we look at some of the massive year-end countdowns planned around Metro Manila, as well as in other parts of the archipelago. 2015 Philippine Arena Countdown (Bulacan) Sure to be one of the country’s biggest events for welcoming the New Year, the 2015 Philippine Arena Countdown will be headlined by international artist Chris Brown. Supporting acts include Bamboo, the Tempura Kidz and Brisom, along with appearances by Sam Concepcion, Enrique Gil, KZ Tandingan, and Morisette. Opened just last July and located at Bulacan’s Cuidad de Victoria, the Philippine Arena is now known as the country’s largest indoor events venue. Gates will open at 5:30pm on December 31, with ticket prices ranging between P725 and P3,605. Quezon Memorial Circle New Year’s Eve Countdown Read More …

Maytinis [via by Chona Aguilar Kapunan Facebook] A centuries-old religious tradition by the people of Kawit, Maytinis is a colourful event celebrated every Christmas Eve in this small town of Cavite province, south of Manila. Anticipated by crowds of tourists and Caviteños alike, the Maytinis is a long procession of floats depicting biblical characters from Adam and Eve to Joseph and Mary’s journey before Christ’s birth. Biblical characters are sometimes played by famous entertainers or celebrities, but most often by the local beauties of the town. The storytelling is dramatized through a serenade by Joseph and Mary whose float makes a stop at several houses to ask for shelter and a place to give birth. They are shunned until they reach the 17th century St. Mary Magdalene Church where the Virgin Mary and Joseph are welcomed by angels in a giant “Belen” (Nativity Scene) which covers the whole Retablo or Altar of the church. The 20 or so floats sponsored by a barangay of the town, an organization or individuals traditionally depict the sequence of the history of salvation from the Old to the New Testaments of the Holy Bible. Each float is followed by young ladies and lads of the town dressed in shepherd clothes carrying the theme of the float they are following. Clowns join the procession featuring creative expressions of the town’s sentiments on current national issues, all done in jest but nevertheless thought-provoking. Marching bands come from all over the province join the parade floats. The Read More …

Indonesian Buddhists pray for the victims of Indian Ocean tsunami one day ahead of its 10th anniversary at a mass grave in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2014. AP Deaths caused by weather-related disasters like Typhoon “Ruby” (international name: Hagupit) in the Philippines and Cyclone “Hudhud” in India are declining, according to the head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Margareta Wahlstrom, also the UN special representative on disaster risk reduction, on Thursday noted the “significant drop in the number of people directly affected by disasters in both Asia and Europe.” In a statement issued on the 10th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami, which left 227,000 people dead in 14 countries on Dec. 26, 2004, Wahlstrom said Ruby and Hudhud “could have claimed many thousands of lives.” But “[t]hanks to a combination of better organization, coordination, response and preparedness [between the public and private sectors], improved weather forecasting, early warnings, public education, and media engagement, there has been a reduction in the number of people dying in such [disasters],” she said. “That’s the good news. But risk and opportunity are two sides of the same coin. Economic development and population growth are driving up our exposure to risk at an unprecedented rate and this is reflected in the escalation of economic losses this century, calculated by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction to be in the region of $2 trillion,” Wahlstrom said. She said that “reducing the loss of lives will remain Read More …