Ringing In New Year 2026 With a Bang

Volume 7, Issue No. 33

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 Monday, December 29, 2025 

~ The world welcomes the New Year 2026 with a bang. Firecrackers, pots and pans, bells, tin cans, anything and everything that create noise are harnessed to, some cultures say, drive evil away, and at the same time, greet the incoming year with a cheery salute. Through his painting, Maestro Romi C. MananQuil takes us back to that disappearing custom of how Filipinos of a past generation meet and greet a portent of change. .

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WELCOME 2026!

Ringing in the New Year

With Filipino Firepower

 

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Each age has deemed the new-born year
The fittest time for festal cheer.” ― Sir Walter Scott

TORONTO - Since ancient times, the arrival of a new year is welcomed with a bang. Any kind of noise - from pots and pans to tin cans to church and ice cream bells to anything that emits sounds over the normal decibel.

The noise is apparently intended to drive away evil spirits that had marked the old year and let in the new year with what is hoped to bring good luck.

At a young age, we never thought about the deep meanings of the celebration; we simply went about creating noise with such a frenzy as to cause annoyance in the neighbourhood.

It's actually a sweet reminder of an era when life is not so stressful. It's the time of our youth, of reckless abandon, of childlike innocence. 

In the small community where I grew up, the inexpensive way to ring in the new year with a bang was through the use of bamboo cannon (kanyóng kawayan). 

With kalburo (calcium carbide) as its propellant, the kanyóng kawayan produces a decent thump, loud enough to be heard amidst explosive bursts of costly firecrackers.

Toronto's well-known arts guru, the Maestro Romi C. MananQuil, has captured the New Year's revelry with his painting of Kanyóng Kawayan and the holidays in "Bisperas." (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2024/09/maestro-romi-c-mananquils-homage-to-life.html).

These two paintings alone give us a glimpse of how Christmas and New Year are celebrated in many parts of the Philippines, particularly in rural areas. 

At this time of high-tech gadgetry, the bamboo cannon is probably gone already and replaced by pricey alternatives. But its unique character defined an era and many a child's growing years.

Maestro MananQuil gives new meaning to the phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" for, in kanyóng kawayan, a generation of baby boomers lives again to reclaim a part of their youth. 

Back then, we're happy with luces, rebentador, bawang, kwitis, trianggulo, kanyóng kawayan, whistle bomb, tin cans, radio music and vigorous pealing of church bells to mighty shouts of "Happy New Year!".

I doubt if some of these items still exist. The vintage pyrotechnics of our time are no match to the spectacularly synchronized fireworks that we witness local governments put up for public enjoyment.

Toronto will ring in 2026 with a free, 10-minute, high-altitude fireworks show launched from the inner harbour at midnight, synchronized to music and accompanied by live performances and festive programming along the waterfront, city officials announced. 

The promise of new beginnings starts on January 1, 2026. Happy New Year to all! (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).