TRADITIONS THAT LINK FOOD & LUCK

Anew year conjures new beginnings—for peace and harmony, for comfort and prosperity. People make promises for a better tomorrow, and follow what culture tells them: that there will be good fortune in the days to come—if they do these following things. Children, in some households, are asked to eat nine grapes at the stroke of midnight or are asked to jump and shout “tubo, tubo, tubo” ( grow, grow, grow), which is supposed to make the child grow tall.

Any time is a good time for noodles in whatever form: pancit miki, bihon or sotanghon as influenced by Chinese ancestry; this is for long life. And New Year’s Day seems a better time than most to wish for more years in our lives because it symbolizes a fresh start. Grains, like rice, are also good for a bright future.

Then there are fruits to be displayed in one’s New Year table and to be eaten, too. In years past, the custom was for five fruits, then it became seven and then nine and now 12, or better yet, 13. Twelve for each of the 12 months of the year and an added bonus fruit to ensure that the coming months will really be good months for all the members of the family.

Now, how many round fruits are available in the Philippines? Here are fruits that are rounded enough, or with round varieties, to put on one’s dinner table or by his window to attract all the good luck out there: guava, chico, lanzones, lomboy, sineguelas, mabolo, pomelo, pomegranate, watermelon, rambutan, mangosteen, caimito, honeydew, cantaloupe, longans, coconut, papaya. There are also apples, orange, grapes, pear, persimmon, lychees and plums.

When these fruits are unavailable, or their supply runs out, some people include mangoes, guyabano and pineapple, which may not exactly be round but can still be made to roll along, which is the whole point about the foods good for the New Year. Food like beans are also considered to be lucky because they can resemble coins; greens, because they resemble the color of money (at least in the United States); pork, because pigs are fat and round; cakes, the circular ones, again because they can roll like coins; and fish because its scales are round, again, like coins.

But during these days when the value of coins has depreciated, will these superstitious beliefs still hold? One hopes it is not just the shape of these foods that will bring good fortune but the fact of their springing from the soil, reemerging constantly in Nature’s cycle of life, food from God’s bounty, vital to man’s survival. So whatever food one takes and whatever drink one imbibes, it should still mean prosperity from God’s bounty.