“Best parts to open wide on New Year’s Day are our hearts to God and to the needs of our country’s marginalized, our minds for wisdom and foresight and our spirits to heights beyond what is expected of us.

A “2020 vision” for the next year would mean a more intelligible dynamics for the country — viewing its destination at least “20 feet away” and driving towards it.

Filipino traditionalists see wearing clothes with polka dots to indicate a sustainable economy. But, those dots should remain on the dress itself for a while; otherwise, spending them will be unwise at the beginning of the year, as the folks would say.

Savings from 2019 can save the day for 2020!

Jumping high on the stroke of midnight is not only to make kids grow taller, but that every Filipino should jump at every opportunity considered potentially beneficial. On hindsight, we may have missed out a lot in 2019.

Round-shaped fruits, such as oranges, grapes, apples, watermelon and plums, on the New Year meal table symbolize flexibility and infinite capacity in producing the fruits of our labor backed up by a sound economy and grassroots participation.

And our folks would prefer round heavy coins that stick to the ground, rather than notes that can be blown away by the wind. Our wiser elders would rather have little, yet more enduring, rather than a fleeting abundance.

Oh, the sticky rice my mom would never leave out from the table — delicacies like rice cakes. Families are the core actualizations of social existence and sticking around with family members have always been the characteristic of Filipino culture.

Hence, the media noche becomes a must for this fellowship meal happens once a year, at the beginning of the year and years to come.

Undeniably, the advent of social media and IT may eventually change all these, if we do not take precautions. We need to convince the younger generation to include rice cakes in their diet, rather than the burgers and junk food they crave to the grave. They should know what really feeds them.

Long life in the Bible means prosperity as pancit should never be missed out. And Filipinos are wont to partner it with other carbo-loaded dishes — all in one plate in order to boost energy that is needed to transit to the next year.

Oh yes, please, no chicken or fish! Winged delicacies may fly away with it the good luck or fish could bring want or poverty since it is the staple food of the poor.

But of course, not anymore! We now eat the wings and take out more money from our wallets to buy a piece of red snapper for a special grilled New Year’s dinner.

Also, we make it a point that at the entry of the new year, every container, such as water buckets and rice receptacles, should be full to the brim.

That means we do not enter the new year empty-handed. Leaving 2019 does not leave out the many blessings God has given us despite our being a calamity-favorite country. In fact, good or bad experiences can fill us to the brim.

Boom! We cannot help but make noise on New Year’s Eve, even if firecrackers can crack open our skin and cut off extremities, such as hands and fingers. Folks say that such noise drives out demons, evil spirits and negativities.

However, to shout out praises to God with all our heart and voices is an ear-piercing noise any devil cannot bear!

My mom would open doors, windows, cabinets and drawers to “let in all the luck.” Unfortunately, next day, we find ourselves scrubbing the whole house of dirt and soot.

The best parts to open wide on New Year’s Day are our hearts to God and to the needs of our country’s marginalized, our minds for wisdom and foresight and our spirits to heights beyond what is expected of us.

On New Year’s Eve, my dad and mom would make sure that all our debts are paid, beginning with the sari-sari store at the corner. Well, that may not seem doable nowadays.

However, as the Bible says, our only debt is forgiveness and love, as we owe them to many of our relatives and friends, that we can easily settle but not without the difficult demands of magnanimity and humility.

We are not actually getting rid of traditional New Year’s Eve beliefs and practices, but their longevity in the psyche of the Filipino may fade if new meanings are not assigned to them.