Volume 1, Issue No. 23
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . .
Our latest as of Wednesday, January 1, 2020
~ The discordant sounds of universal rejoicing took a climax as the clock ticked midnight to signal the passage of the old year to the new. In a blink, the Year 2019 is gone, and in came the Year 2020. Celebrations went wild and worldwide in country capitals - in Toronto, Manila, London, Berlin, Madrid, Paris, New York, etc. The age of the twenty-twenties is in our midst.
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THE TWENTY-TWENTIES ARE HERE
Welcoming the New Year with a Bang
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
“Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.”
— Alfred Lord Tennyson
It's the 2020th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, according to Wikipedia, the 20th year of the 3rd millennium, the 20th year of the 21st century, and the 1st year of the 2020s decade.
By the y/m/d method, today is 2020-01-01, the first day of the first month of the year 2020, the 12th day of winter.
Everywhere, the changeover from the old to the new year is greeted with fireworks. Tradition tells us that fireworks, as the Chinese believed then, could expel evil spirits and bring about luck and happiness.
To welcome the New Year with a big bang means to drive out wickedness and ring in good fortune and joy. So, regardless of cultural differences, fireworks are our way of ushering a new chapter in our lives with the hope for a better future.
Not until I moved to California in the early 90s did I learn about fireworks, the display of which takes place every year in San Diego Bay in downtown. I must confess that I was a total stranger to fireworks displays on New Year's eve while growing up in Manila. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH7ilwQChUQ).
What I knew from childhood was what sounded like gunfire from powerful firecrackers called whistle bomb, bawang, trianggulo and rebentador - all explosive devices wrapped in paper. These are the closest fireworks we had in the neighbourhood.
The whistle bomb and bawang were so powerful an explosion could really shatter one's eardrums. As kids, we would put empty tin cans of milk and sardines on top of the device before we light the fuse, run, and see how high and far the cans would fly once it's detonated.
It was crude, yes, but the spirit of welcoming was not lost to us even as we knew the dangers and the dressing-down we surely got from our parents and village elders. We would realize our folly the following day when newspapers reported the number of people killed and maimed. Luck was with us.
A few times since I came to Toronto, I've witnessed fireworks at Nathan Phillips Square on New Year's eve. From year to year, there wasn't much difference, so I temporarily stopped covering it for my YouTube channels. I was also constantly worried about attacks by terrorists during such huge gatherings.
So the cheap and safe alternative was on social media (Facebook, YouTube) and on television.
Before the sun rose today, I went around online and YouTube brought me to Manila and Toronto, of course, and to four European capitals I'm quite familiar with - London, Berlin, Madrid, and Paris - because I've visited these places more than once, except the latter.
London had its celebratory fireworks on the south bank of the River Thames in Lambeth where stands the London Eye, the 135-meter high Ferris wheel that gives a panoramic view of the British capital. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ks1U-8bojU). My coverage is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KfEyexFF2Y
In Germany, the welcoming event was at Brandenburg Gate, the 18th-century neoclassical monument in Pariser Platz in Berlin. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_3GB_qit48). My coverage is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9EvFeMDY7c
Spain had its fireworks in Puerta del Sol, which is about three kilometers (a 40-minute walk) from the monument of Philippine hero Jose Rizal on Avenida de Filipinas. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahuOm69LgWs). My coverage is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYjRO3Z5Xe8
The scene in France was at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1T3YBAzKgs). My coverage is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHC6WlrYfrg
These events have one thing in common: fireworks - fireworks at different levels of artistic presentations - to greet, meet and receive the arrival of the Year 2020.
What happened in Manila, Toronto, London, Berlin, Madrid, Paris, and elsewhere at various times only means we have embraced the Chinese tradition at its very basic - to ward off evil and wish for prosperity and happiness.
Happy New Year to all. (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).
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