Before I start, by the way, you might want to skip to the end to read three super interesting facts about New Year in the Philippines and the Philippine’s most popular New Year’s joke. (Warning: the facts are a bit gory)

Okay, now we begin Talk Tagalog’s New Year Special!

December is winding down and preparations for the New Year’s celebrations are heating up.

Maybe you’ve already finished up the lechon (roast suckling pig) from Christmas.

But, the Holidays aren’t over yet: New Year’s Eve is on its way.

You’ll probably be bumping into a lot of Filipino friends and relatives.

Start of the year by making their jaws drop! Do this by greeting them with good New Year tidings in Tagalog.

Sure, you could use Google Translate.

But Google Translate is a bit kooky sometimes, sometimes, just plain wrong. (Check out this awful Google Translate translation of Will you Marry Me?)

In fact if you use Google Translate to translate “Happy New Year” to Filipino you get “Maligayang Bagong Taon“

I’d rate this translation 8/10.

It’s okay.

But wanna make it 10/10?

Talk Tagalog is here to save the day.

The traditional way of greeting someone a Happy New Year in the Philippines is: Manigong Bagong Taon. It literally means “Prosperous New Year.”

Directing the Greeting to Others

Well and good.

Now you can say, “Manigong Bagong Taon!” like how you would shout it out or state it in general.

Let’s get personal.

You wanna win friends and influence people.

You want to say “Happy New Year to you.“

Okay you could say it directed to one person:

“Manigong Bagong Taon sa Iyo.“
“Happy New Year to you.” (directed one person, singular)

Okay you could say it directed to more than one person:

“Manigong Bagong Taon sa Inyo.“
“Happy New Year to you.” (directed to more than one person, plural)

Or when greeting everyone you could say:

“Manigong Bagong Taon sa Inyong Lahat.“
“Happy New Year to all of you.“

Alternatively,

“Manigong Bagong Taon sa Lahat.“
“Happy New Year to All.”

That was cool wasn’t it?

Now you’ll be able to use the greeting “Manigong Bagong Taon” much more naturally.

Let’s Review the Key Vocabulary

So here we go!

Manigong Bagong Taon = Prosperous New Year

Manigong = Prosperous

Bagong = New (Root word: Bago)

Taon = Year

Remember: the direct translation of “Happy New Year” or “Maligayang Bagong Taon” sounds a bit awkward to a native Tagalog speaker.

Maligayang Bagong Taon = not idiomatic or natural

Saying it in Context of the Yuletide Season

Okay let’s up the ante.

The traditional Yuletide greeting is “Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon” which would be the equivalent to the traditional “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”

Of course, just like the English greeting “Maligayang Pasko” and “Manigong Bagong Taon” can both stand on their own.

New Year in the Philippines

Let’s spice it up, aye?

During New Year’s Eve in the Philippines, it’s common to have a family gathering on New Year’s Eve.

This might be a slight departure where in many Western countries where New Year’s Eve is usually celebrated with a party with friends.

The family gathering is usually celebrated with special meal that starts with at the stroke of midnight called Media Noche.

Media Noche is literally Spanish for midnight.

But in the Philippines Media Noche commonly refers to this special New Year’s Eve feast.

(If you’re interested in it, read about Are Spanish and Tagalog Similar)

While typically outlawed in many places in the Philippines during New Year, fireworks or paputok are still commonly used to celebrate the occasion.

Paputok very literally means “let explode,” though the word is already a well-understood noun in itself referring to fireworks.

Because of the ban in fireworks that has been in commonly enforced in the past decades, you might hear instead other noise making devices to celebrate the New Year.

The torotot refers to horn you blow to make a loud noise similar to what you might have in other countries.

The boga, slang for gun or cannon, is a device made of PVC pipes and gunpowder designed to a very loud, albeit disconcerting, booming, explosive sound.

Still you might see other traditional Filipino fireworks, like:

• the five star (a triangular firework lit by wick)
• Judas belt or sawa (a long string of five stars), by the way “sawa” is literally a python or an anaconda
• super lolo, (a big five star), 
• fountain a conical firework that shoot out sparks
• kwitis or sparklers
• watusi = short sticks of phosphorous that continuously crackle and pop when ignited

Three Interesting Facts About New Year in the Philippines

As promised at the start, here are some interesting facts about New Year’s in the Philippines:

Watusi is Not Candy

Watusi‘s (see preceding section) are banned because lots young children have ingested these sticks of phosphorous thinking they are candies.

These deceiving, two-inch long, bright red stick of phosphorous have led to a number of cases serious internal injuries and deaths, which prompted the government to ban them.

Think phosphorous melting a two-year old child’s internal organs. Horrifying!

Prior to the ban they were the most common and one of the cheapest form of fireworks.

Despite the ban, you might still find some watusi peddled on the street around New Year produced by unscrupulous fireworks makers.

How Many Fingers Blown Off This Year?

The Department of Health or DOH would usually publish tally of the number of people injured by fireworks New Year to warn the public from using fireworks.

This tally, accompanied by related footage from beat reporters in Emergency Rooms is usually shown on local TV.

Think fingers or even whole hands blasted off, eyes blinded by explosions. Thankfully, the TV news networks would blur out the gory scenes of blown up hands.

Drinking and fireworks don’t mix kids.

Shooting Fire Arms Into the Air

It used to be common for people to shoot their firearms into the air during New Year’s Eve in the Philippines.

But, what comes up must come down.

After the bullet’s ascent into the sky, it would come hurtling down, sometimes landing on someone at the wrong place at the wrong time.

This practice is so widespread policemen are required to put tape over the muzzles of their service firearms, so it will be evident if they fire them into the sky.

Think of someone peacefully sleeping… then not waking up after a falling bullet has torn through the roof and by some evil misfortune right into his chest.

Quite a number of people have been killed this way and incidents like this always feature in the local news when they happen

While the practice is strictly outlawed, it unfortunately still lives on.

The Philippine’s Most Popular New Year’s Joke

Have an awesome New Year! Manigong Bagong Taon sa Iyo! Use your new found Tagalog New Year vocabulary to start the year right with your Filipino friends.

And please… Don’t ingest any bright red sticks you see lying around.

Bonus: there’s a New Year’s joke that goes around in the Philippines…

If someone asks you how your New Year was, answer by holding up both of your hands.

And tell them, “Ito, kumpleto pa!” literally, “Here, still complete!” to show none of your fingers were blown of by fireworks.