New Year's Day in Philippines
Many Filipinos consider New Year’s Day as an important holiday in the Philippines. This sets the start of a new year in the Gregorian calendar, which is used in many countries including the Philippines.
What Do People Do?
Many Filipino people unite on New Year’s Eve, which is on December 31, to celebrate a midnight meal known as the Media Noche. It is also common to stay awake to greet the coming of the New Year. New Year’s Day is also characterized by Filipinos lighting fireworks and making a lot of noise to drive away evil spirits. This belief originated from the Chinese.
The elderly encourage children to jump at the stroke of midnight so that they would grow up tall. Many people display 12 circular fruits and wear clothing with polka dots to symbolize money. It is also popular practice to open all the doors and windows at the stroke of midnight to let in the good luck. Many Filipino families also read the Christian bible and attend a church midnight mass. It is common for many Filipinos to blend religion and superstition in celebrating New Year’s Day.
New Year’s Day is a public holiday in the Philippines on January 1. Government offices, schools and most businesses are closed. Public transport is limited to reduced bus and jeep services operating during New Year’s Day.
The New Year’s Day/New Year’s Eve celebrations start on December 31 and continue through to January 1. New Year’s Day in the Philippines is short but uniquely celebrated throughout the country. This is also the time of the year when many Filipino families get together and strengthen their family ties. New Year’s Day in the Philippines is a joyful holiday that is characterized with the intermarriage of religion and paganism which are the attributes of a once Hispanic Philippine Society.
Filipinos symbolize New Year’s Day with their visions of how the start of the New Year opens opportunities for a bountiful life. This is the reason why the Filipino dining table which is the focal point of this holiday in that the table is abundant with food that comes in round or circular shapes to represent money. Fireworks also symbolize driving away bad luck during New Year’s Day.
About New Year's Day in other countriesRead more about New Year's Day.
New Year's Day ObservancesNote: Employees covered by the Holiday Pay Rule are entitled to their daily basic wage for any unworked regular holiday.
|Weekday||Date||Year||Name||Holiday Type||Where It is Observed|
|Fri||Jan 1||2010||New Year's Day||Regular Holiday|
|Sat||Jan 1||2011||New Year's Day||Regular Holiday|
|Sun||Jan 1||2012||New Year's Day||Regular Holiday|
|Tue||Jan 1||2013||New Year's Day||Regular Holiday|
|Wed||Jan 1||2014||New Year's Day||Regular Holiday|
|Thu||Jan 1||2015||New Year's Day||Regular Holiday|
|Fri||Jan 1||2016||New Year's Day||Regular Holiday|
|Sun||Jan 1||2017||New Year's Day||Regular Holiday|
|Mon||Jan 1||2018||New Year's Day||Regular Holiday|
|Tue||Jan 1||2019||New Year's Day||Regular Holiday|
|Wed||Jan 1||2020||New Year's Day||Regular Holiday|
Quick FactsNew Year’s Day on January 1 in the Gregorian calendar is a public holiday in the Philippines.
New Year's Day 2016Friday, January 1, 2016
New Year's Day 2017Sunday, January 1, 2017
Name in other languages
|Araw ng Bagong Taon||Filipino|
|New Year's Day||English|
Note: Employees covered by the Holiday Pay Rule are entitled to their daily basic wage for any unworked regular holiday.
- New Year's Eve – Saturday, December 31, 2016
Other holidays in January 2017 in Philippines
- Chinese Lunar New Year's Day – Saturday, January 28, 2017