0127.jpg)
[Taiwan Immigrants’ Global News Network] The Chinese New Year is the most important festival for Chinese people in the world. In Manila, the capital of the Philippines, there is "Manila Chinese District", which is known as the world's oldest Chinatown. The fusion of Filipino and Chinese cultures has led to new Chinese New Year customs. Every Spring Festival, in various traditional pastry shops, there will be long queues ahead. The soft, glutinous and sweet Chinese pastry is not only a festival food with a sense of ritual, but also the expectation of the local Chinese for reunion, which makes the Spring Festival in Manila full of strong Filipino flavor.
For hundreds of years, the Chinese have come here from coastal areas such as Fujian and Guangdong, bringing their hometown traditions with them, and at the same time slowly accepting local customs and habits, forming a unique culture that combines various elements. Memories of taste are always lasting. As soon as the Spring Festival comes, it arouses the pursuit of the traditional "New Year" by the local Chinese. Influenced by southern Hokkien culture, New Year cakes, Fortune cakes and Yuanxiao are must-have foods for Chinese Filipinos during the Spring Festival. These desserts made of glutinous rice symbolize reunion and sweetness because of their round shape and sticky texture.
In addition, Filipinos love to eat sweet cakes more than Chinese people. When you go to the Chinese District, you must buy a few boxes to take home. There are long queues in all major pastry shops; Sticky Filipino snacks have been brought to Chinese districts, such as "coconut milk glutinous rice sticks" baked with coconut milk and glutinous rice, which are also quite popular. In terms of Chinese New Year decorations, Filipinos know that oranges and pineapples are the mascots of the Chinese. They invented a string of 8 or 10 oranges and pineapples to form a pendant, which symbolizes auspicious prosperity, and luck.
