My Autobiography: David Balleza K(C)atague: New Years Eve Traditions in the Philippines and Other Parts of the World

Thursday, December 31, 2020

New Years Eve Traditions in the Philippines and Other Parts of the World

Happy New Year to All! Good bye 2020. Welcome 2021.

Twelve Round Fruits in Your Table for Prosperity and Wealth-Filipino Traditions at New Year

The past years, I have posted New Years Eve and Day Traditions and Superstition ( see website at end of this blog) in the Philippines. Today I am reprinting for your information 12 Fascinating New Years Eve traditions from other parts of the world as follows:

Twelve Fascinating New Year’s Eve Traditions from Around The World by

Lucy Marinelli dated: Dec. 07, 2020

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Shutterstock / MEzairi

In the U.S., we usher out the last day of the year with cocktails, ball drops and fireworks. Elsewhere, other types of symbolism play a big role in this final holiday of the season.

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Taste of Home

Japan

Just before midnight on New Year’s Eve, the Japanese eat soba noodles. The Toshikoshi soba, which translates to a “year-crossing” buckwheat noodle dish, has lots of symbolism. The long noodle denotes the crossing from one year to the next. Since it’s an easily cut noodle, it signifies a letting go of the past year’s regrets—a cutting-off, if you will, before the fresh start the new year brings.

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Healthy fruits Red wine grapes background/ dark grapes/ blue grapes/wine grapes,Red wine grapes background/dark grapes,blue grapes,Red Grape in a supermarket local market bunch of grapes ready to eat;

Aripai Leangphet/Shutterstock

Spain

In Spain, with 12 seconds remaining until the New Year, people eat 12 green grapes to bring good luck in the coming year. It’s thought to be bad luck if you can’t eat them all by the final midnight chime. But gobble them down in time and 12 months of good fortune will come your way.

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Taste of Home

France

The French usually ring in the New Year with a huge feast, commonly know as le réveillon de la Saint-Sylvestre. The meal is full of traditional, decadent eats, including foie gras, oysters, lobster and escargot. And, just like in the U.S., champagne is the drink of choice.

Cotechino with lentils with rosemary served on a plate with some ingredients

Shutterstock / barbajones

Italy

Italians love lentils for their coin-like shape, symbolizing luck and prosperity. A New Year’s Eve dinner usually features this legume to bring on luck in the coming year. Pork is often added to lentil dishes in the form of cotechino, a spicy sausage, or zampone, a deboned pig trotter, to represent the plenitude of the land.

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LI Cook/Shutterstock

Colombia

On the last night of the year, Colombians place three potatoes—one peeled, one unpeeled, and one half peeled—under their beds. At midnight, they pull out the first potato they touch. Peeled means they’ll have financial problems, unpeeled indicates abundance, and half peeled…well, somewhere in between.

Fiery red fireworks light up the Sydney Opera House and Harbor in a brilliant display

Shutterstock / David Carillet

Australia

Australians celebrate the New Year with midnight fireworks in cities and towns throughout the country. Firework displays are launched off bridges, such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, from jetties along the beaches, and on river banks, with the lights of the fireworks sparkling off the water. In a typical year, people pack picnic baskets and arrive hours early to get the best viewing spots.

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Fresh juicy citrus fruits in a basket on a wooden background

Zb89V/Shutterstock

The Philippines

Filipino culture celebrates the New Year by serving 12 round fruits. The round shape symbolizes coins, which represent prosperity and wealth for each month of the upcoming year. Apples, melons, oranges and grapes are popular picks, but any round fruit will do.

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Traditional Norwegian marzipan ring cake - kransekake - seen from side with crackers and Norwegian flags.

Shutterstock / V. Belov

Denmark

After a traditional New Year’s Eve meal of boiled cod with mustard, the Danes eat a tower of marzipan doughnuts called kransekage, meaning “wreath cake.” It was once called overflødighedshorn (cornucopia), because the whole doughnut tower was tipped on its side, with chocolate and treats spilling out. This traditional cake is also served at weddings and birthdays.

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Shutterstock / Alexander Lukatskiy

Canada

In rural areas of Canada, New Year’s Eve is a time to spend ice fishing with friends. Celebrations on the frozen ponds and rivers tend to last all night as buddies fish in the open or in fishing shacks and perhaps catch a fish or two to help celebrate the coming year.

Taste of Home

Ireland

The Irish have a tradition of banging bread against the walls of their houses on New Year’s Eve. The idea is that bad luck and evil spirits are chased away and good luck is invited in. It also ensures that the coming year will be filled with an abundance of bread and other food.

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Half pomegranate and raw pomegranates on a white wooden background; Shutterstock ID 228369412

OZMedia/Shutterstock

Brazil

In Brazil, particular foods are eaten to invite good luck for the coming year. Seven is the lucky number on New Year’s Eve, so seven pomegranate seeds are eaten to keep the purse full, and seven grapes ensure abundance in all areas of life. Some Brazilians also jump over seven waves in the ocean and make seven wishes for the new year as they leap.

Hands of senior woman with bread and coins on wooden background.

Shutterstock / Africa Studio

Greece

The Greeks ring in the new year by eating vasilopita, a sweet yeast bread. Eaten at midnight, the bread is made in honor of Greece’s revered St. Basil. Before serving the family, beginning with the oldest member, households set a slice of bread aside for the saint and another portion for those in need. A coin is baked into the bread and the person whose slice contains the coin is in for a year filled with good fortune.

For details about New Year Eve and Day Traditions in the Philippines and other Part of the World visit:

https://marinduquemyislandparadise.blogspot.com/2019/12/new-years-eve-and-day-superstition-in.html

https://holidappy.com/holidays/New-Years-Eve-Superstitions-and-Traditions

Meanwhile enjoy this dish I ate for lunch today with steam white rice

Fish Cod Fillet with Red Peppers and Black Bean Sauce

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Highlights of My Professional Career

In my more than 40 years of professional career, I have experienced both working rank and file, as well as supervising the work of subordinates. I have worked in four private firms and the Federal Government, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where I retired. I enjoyed the challenges and difficulties of both types of job situations. This is the highlights of my work experience story.

My first job after completing my doctorate degree was a Chemist for Chemagro Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri. It was a subsidiary of Bayer Corporation, a German conglomerate. I worked for the analytical chemistry department comprised of about fifty people; half that number was either chemists or biologists. My specific task was to develop analytical methods for the detection of pesticide residues in plant and animal tissues. I worked on my own, similar to six other bench chemists, and we all reported to the same supervisor.

The firm sponsored my visa conversion from a student to a permanent resident, and I was able to legally work and reside in the United States with my family. The company generously took care of its employees. At the end of each successful year, everyone received a 13th month salary bonus. The employees and their families celebrated wonderful annual Christmas parties in a downtown Kansas City hotel, with dancing and free drinks for the whole night.

Inasmuch as I enjoyed and loved working for Chemagro for five years, I found a new job which offered a substantially higher pay. Due to my exemplary work performance, my supervisor preferred and lobbied for me to stay with the company. I had to turn him down because they could not match the package presented by my new employer. It was also a chance for me and my family to move and live in the US west coast, where the mild winter climate is bearable compared to the Midwest.

My next job was at the agricultural research division of Shell Development Company in Modesto, California. I was a Research Chemist, and again I worked individually, same as five other chemists who all reported to a supervisor. My specific duty was similar to my previous job. I worked for them for five years, until the company decided to get out of the pesticide business. They closed their research facility affecting the jobs of more than 200 employees.

My third industrial job was with the agricultural research division of Stauffer chemical company, located in Richmond, California. I was a Senior Research Chemist doing the same project as my two previous jobs. I worked for twelve continuous years for the company, with outstanding annual job performance. I became a Principal Research Chemist, the highest attainable non-supervisory position.

One day in 1986, my supervisor informed me that my job had been eliminated, and I had one day to vacate the facility. It was the most dreadful lay off experience in my life. I felt anger, sadness and humiliation to be dismissed from work with one day notice, after all the years of hard work invested for the company. This was an unforgettable incident and was the gloomiest point in my professional career.
The company terminated sixty research employees, who were upset of the bad news.

One of the chemists was distressed and expressed his outrageous anger by threatening the company and its workers. He told his supervisor of his intention to bomb and burn down the laboratory. He was immediately escorted by the security staff out of the building and into his car. He was informed to leave behind his personal belongings; they will be mailed to his residence. He was warned never to show up again near the company premises or risk getting arrested.

My supervisor was kind and allowed me to take my time to pack up my belongings. It took me two days to clear up my workplace, after toiling for a long period in the same jobsite. We were provided clerical help and office space, in preparation to look for another job, such as updating our resumes, and using the computer and copy machine. We were given six weeks of separation pay plus benefits.

Fortunately, with the help of a friend who is a Church parishioner, I found another job thirty days after leaving Stauffer chemical company. He hired me as a senior research chemist and as a group leader with two technicians to supervise. It was in the same field as my expertise in my previous three jobs spanning the last twenty one years. My new employer was Chevron Chemical Company, and which was located in the same area as my former employer.

This job gave me the introduction and basic knowledge of managing the work of subordinates. I worked for Chevron Company for four and a half years. The company decided to consolidate their research facilities in Texas, and lay off all its research employees. This time I had enough distress and agony from working, and eventually getting laid off from several private companies. To avoid going through any more miserable layoffs, I made a vow that I would never again work for a private company.

In my work experiences, there were noticeable and unavoidable jobsite occurrences. One can never miss the office romantic relationships between co-workers, both illicit and permitted. Though it was frowned upon, there was a boss and staff relationship, which was used as a ploy to get ahead in the company. Some relationships had chemistry, no pun intended, but some never worked out. Oftentimes, there was a sense of distrust among bench chemists for some workers who unjustly obtained preferred work assignments.

Some employees resorted to bribing superiors to get special privileges, such as being able to attend choice conferences and meetings in exciting venues or locations. Likewise, politics was always present at the worksites. It was during an era when various forms of harassment, equal opportunity and discrimination laws were not yet enforced in the workplace. Occasionally, an unexpected chemical explosion happens in a laboratory setting, where luckily no one got seriously hurt.

In the three private companies I worked for, I was able to publish scientific journals for some of the research studies and analytical methods which I developed for the respective companies of Chemagro, Shell Development and Stauffer.

After deciding and making a vow to avoid working in the private sector, I made my new goal which was either to work for the state of California, or the Federal government in Washington, D.C. Four months after I lost my job in Chevron, I was lucky and joyful to be hired by the Food and Drug Administration as a review chemist in the fall of 1990.

In 1994 I was promoted as an Expert Research Chemist with a GS-14 rating. My expertise was on Anti-malarial and Anti-parasitic drug products. In 1997, I was again deservingly promoted to Chemistry team leader, supervising the work of six Chemistry reviewers including five with doctorate degrees.

As team leader, I was responsible for prioritizing, assigning, and assuring the technical accuracy of all chemistry, manufacturing and control issues for all new drug applications submitted to the Division of Anti-Infective Drug Products, Center of New Drugs.

It was part of my responsibility to give advice, instruct and promote high morale and teamwork in my group. My work in the FDA is confidential, until the drug patent on the products I worked on has expired. There are manufacturing supplements that I have approved that are now open for the public in the Internet.

In 1998, I won the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Award. The citation reads, “For outstanding accomplishments in fostering the objectives of the EEO Program by hiring minorities and encouraging their professional growth while providing excellent leadership.” I have received numerous certificates of appreciation, awards in leadership and communications, commendation for teamwork and excellence in the accomplishment of the FDA mission. I have also received several letters of appreciation from private industry for my review work.

There are many good things working as rank and file while enjoying doing one’s job individually. It is a humbling, satisfying and productive experience, if one can work in harmony with one’s immediate supervisor. Working individually develops one’s skills in goal setting and scheduling. But in general, the financial rewards are less than a person who has supervisory responsibilities.

Managing the work of others has its challenges. Moreover, it develops one’s skill in handling and developing people, and the compensation rewards and benefits are better. Due to additional duties, responsibilities and leadership, supervisory work can be more stressful than working as a subordinate. However, supervisory jobs give one more personal growth and satisfaction, based on my personal experience. My work in FDA as a team leader managing the work of six scientists had been the happiest and rewarding work experience in my career in Chemistry. You might also like:

Thursday, December 31, 2020

New Years Eve Traditions in the Philippines and Other Parts of the World

Twelve Fascinating New Year’s Eve Traditions from Around The World by

Japan

Spain

France

Italy

Colombia

Australia

The Philippines

Denmark

Canada

Ireland

Brazil

Greece

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