miss iggy and belen

Miss Iggy bids the Holiday Season farewell with the Feast of the Three Kings! we now have summer to look forward to!

our lady of light church, cainta, rizal

boom na boom!

Boom na Boom Carnival used to be one of the best-known Christmas carnivals in Metro Manila. but when Miss Iggy dropped by for a visit it seemed more like a ghost town than anything else.

here's hoping though that everything else is still booming! especially in 2009!

take my wreath away

While Miss Iggy has a small Advent wreath at home, she was excited to see a gigantic one on the Wiener Rathausplatz (Vienna City Hall plaza) at their Christmasmarket (a.k.a. Christkindlmarkt):

Miss Iggy by the Advent wreath. The building in the background is the Hofburg Theater.

"The Advent wreath is a Christian tradition that symbolizes the passage of the four weeks of Advent in the liturgical calendar of the Western church. It is usually a horizontal evergreen wreath with four or five candles. Beginning with the First Sunday of Advent, the lighting of a candle can be accompanied by a Bible reading and prayers. An additional candle is lit during each subsequent week until, by the last Sunday before Christmas, all four candles are lit. Some Advent wreaths include a fifth, "Christ" candle which can be lit at Christmas. The custom is observed both in family settings and at public church services." 

More on the Advent wreath on Wikipedia.

Greetings from sunny Phnom Penh

... from all of us in Cambodia - Z, R, Max and Miss Igorota.

*P.S.
Sorry for not being able to post lately; we were all away for Christmas :)

pork que?

miss iggy wants to keep the ball (of ham) rolling by posting a photo of herself enjoying an actual glazed ham (jamon) from jersey city--new jersey's own filipino district where filipino food items can be bought.

the ham is truly the star of many a filipino family's noche buena feast. "noche buena" which literally means "good night" in spanish, is the traditional christmas eve feast shared by the family after hearing the midnight mass on christmas eve. another noche buena staple (not shown in photo) is the queso de bola or ball of cheese. see the spanish influence on the philippines?

meanwhile, here are some of miss iggy's favorite gifts...first is a harajuku lovers fragrance by gwen stefani. not only does it smell cute, the bottle itself is cute, because it has a cutified version of gwen.

she also got a mini attache case-shaped business card holder. she wants to travel with it! haha.

miss iggy hopes everyone had a wonderful holiday...what gifts did you get? miss iggy reminds everyone, though, that "the best gifts are those tied with heartstrings."

miss igorota meets the star of the noche buena feast

Purefoods Fiesta Ham. you know it's Christmas when you smell this juicy ham!

season's greetings

miss iggy and the ladies behind her globe-trotting adventures (namely fortuitous faery/conniechiwa, gingmaganda, princess ody and zj/sreisaat) would like to greet you all a happy christmas...or to be more politically correct, happy holidays!

miss iggy is wishing you a merry christmas in filipino, although she is also tempted to say "happy hanukwanzaamas."

the native christmas lantern called "parol" above was recently acquired from quiapo's souvenir shops in manila to bring comfort and joy in miss iggy's jersey home.

may your holidays be filled with warmth, laughter, and love wherever you may be and no matter how you celebrate!

"COD" christmas show lives on at greenhills shopping center

miss iggy felt like a kid again watching the traditional animated christmas display at the greenhills shopping center in san juan city.

this show was originally conceived by alex rosario, sr. to attract shoppers into his department store called COD ("cash on delivery") in manila 51 years ago. this free holiday spectacle easily became a hit with people that he continued doing this until he transferred his store to its more popular location in cubao's araneta center.

many a filipino child remembers trooping to cubao on a cold december night (some even came from the provinces) to watch this 15-minute display of moving mannequins set in themes that either change or occasionally recur every year.

the COD department store may long be gone in its familiar spot in cubao, but the tradition lives on for new generations, and hopefully, for more to come. the christmas show now has a new home at the greenhills shopping center, where people can conveniently do their christmas shopping (at their christmas "night market") and haggle for the final price after watching the show.

exempli gratia, hello kitty items for the hello kitty lover in the family:

or imitation havaianas flipflops:

here are a couple snippets of the show from this year which features a horse-drawn carriage ("calesa") and a musical band playing a christmas song. the theme was environmental and even used the voice of a beauty pageant winner.

to read more about the COD christmas show, click on this inquirer story.

department of tourism

the department of tourism (DOT) in manila, philippines was decked with parol lanterns and a huge banner with "merry christmas" and "a prosperous new year" in filipino. if you maximize this image, you'll see the photos of DOT secretary joseph ace durano, president gloria macapagal-arroyo, and philippine tourism authority's general manager and CEO, mark lapid.

miss iggy dreams of being the next poster doll for philippine tourism. wait, if that happens, she'll actually be the first poster doll! haha.

two more days to go before christmas!