The culmination of Buwan Ng Wika | Acquaintance party and introduction of SSG officers ♥️

Hi there, Hivers! How's your day going? Mine were always busy in school, studying and practicing cheerdancing and badminton for intramurals and family day the following week. After that, we will have our first midterm examination, so it will be very busy. Anyways, for today's blog, I will be sharing with you all my experience during the "Buwan Ng Wika". If you're Filipino I'm sure you know what "Buwan Ng Wika" is.

In the Philippines, the month of August is designated as Buwan ng Wika, which is celebrated to promote the national language. Buwan ng Wika formerly known as Linggo ng Wika (the week of the Philippine language). It is a month-long celebration that was extended from the week’s observance of Linggo ng Wika. We celebrated "Buwan Ng Wika" on the last day of August. We did lots of activities such as; poster and slogan making contest, singing contest, "Pista Sa Nayon", tula, "Bayani Look a Like", "deklamasyon" and "Laro Ng Lahi". We also wore traditional costumes to express our appreciation and pride in being Filipinos.

Pista sa Nayon is a beautiful expression of local Filipino cultural pride and traditions. Pista extends a hand of friendship and welcomes neighbors from across the region and beyond to experience all things Filipino in the spirit of community and true Filipino hospitality. Pista is a festival that celebrates Filipino culture while bringing together a diverse group of people. So, at our school, each strand has its own table to place and decorate all of the Filipino foods. In the morning and afternoon session of grade 11 STEM students, we collaborated with a grade 12 STEM students.

Early in the morning, we started to design our table. We decorated it with some curtains, banderitas, or small flags, some coconut leaves, and so on. Then we have our Filipino food and snacks such as lumpia, chicken, bibingka, budbud (rice cake snack or dessert wrapped in banana leaves), buko or coconut juice, gulaman or gelatin. It was like a mini food stall but we don't sell the food. It's just for design and we just have to make it beautiful. After the principal rated our table in Pista Sa Nayon, we all shared the food, but some students were not able to get some food because there wasn't enough for us.

After Pista Sa Nayon, students were so ready and excited for Laro ng lahi or Laro Ng Pinoy. The traditional Filipino games, or Laro ng Lahi, are one of the most important aspects of the country's culture and traditions. It is very popular among children because these are the types of games or sports that they normally participate in. In this activity, we played games like sack race and patintero.

My friends and I were also excited and we looked for a better spot just to watch the games.

Patintero is a popular Filipino game that can usually be seen along the streets of the Philippines. It requires two (2) teams: offensive and defensive, and can be played with chalk squares. Its main goal is for a player to cross the line without being tagged. It is typically played in open spaces such as streets. It was a lot of fun, especially in the girls category because they're so funny when they play HAHA.

I guess everybody knows what's sack race. Sack race is a competitive game in which participants hop forward from a starting point toward a finish line while placing both of their legs inside a sack of rice that reaches their waist or neck. The race is won by the first person to cross the finish line.

After all the activities that morning, we're just resting in our room, chilling out together with the afternoon session. It was exhausted due to the hot weather and the crowds. We ate our lunch while talking, doing tiktoks, and having fun. After our lunch break, we prepared for our dance presentation.

In our presentation, we chose to dance Cariñosa. Cariñosa is a traditional Filipino folk dance that depicts the courting stage of a romantic relationship. It was really hot that time, so afterwards I changed clothes right away after we danced and went to the canteen to eat.

While we are eating at the canteen, the contests or competitions continue, such as Tula or spoken poetry, deklamasyon or declamation, and Bayani Look Alike or Philippine heroes look alike.

Before the day ends, they also announce the winners in the slogan and poster making contests as well as in the SSG campaign. Sadly, I didn't win as president, but I'm grateful and happy that some of my colleagues did, and it's enough for me.

It was tiring, but it was also fun. I'm grateful to experience and celebrate buwan ng wika again after two years of the pandemic. Thank you for reading, guys. Again, I'm really sorry for not posting these past few weeks. It's been very busy all day. I hope you understand! Keep safe ♥️♥️♥️