Filipino Night At Santa Ana Elks

Did You Know? - The Filipino people (Filipino: Mamamayang Pilipino) or Filipinos or Filipinas are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 104 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 13 million living outside the Philippines.

There are around 180 languages spoken in the Philippines, most of them belonging to the Austronesian language family, with Tagalog and Cebuano having the greatest number of native speakers. The official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and English and most Filipinos are bilingual or trilingual.

Did You Know? - The tinikling dance is one of the most popular and well-known of traditional Philippine dances. The tinikling is a pre-Spanish dance from the Philippines that involves two people beating, tapping, and sliding bamboo poles on the ground and against each other in coordination with one or more dancers who step over and in between the poles in a dance.

The name is a reference to birds locally known as tikling, which can be any of a number of rail species; the term tinikling literally means "tikling-like."

The dance originated in Leyte among the Visayan islands in the central Philippines as an imitation of the tikling bird dodging bamboo traps set by rice farmers.

The dance imitates the movement of the tikling birds as they walk between grass stems, run over tree branches, or dodge bamboo traps set by rice farmers. Dancers imitate the tikling bird's legendary grace and speed by skillfully maneuvering between large bamboo poles.

Did You Know? - For this traditional folk dance, females wear a dress called balintawak or patadyong, and males wear a uniform called barong tagalog.

The balintawak are colorful dresses with wide arched sleeves and the patadyong is a pineapple fiber blouse paired with checkered skirts. The barong tagalog uniform is usually lightweight long sleeved shirts and worn with red trousers. Dancers wear no footwear while performing.

Did You Know? - The last 6 inches of each pole should be wrapped with tape to prevent slivers when operating poles. Pole operators need to keep their faces back in case a dancer steps on a pole, springing it into the air. The best positions to ensure this are (a) sitting on floor with legs apart, or (b) crouching down on one knee.

Did You Know? - Pig roasts are common for events and gatherings where you cook the whole pig over an open fire or in an underground pit. There are numerous recipes and cooking methods for a pig roast, but a Filipino pig roast -- also referred to as lechon baboy -- is a specific method that results in a roasted pig with crispy skin and delicious meat. A traditional Filipino pig roast is used during special occasions and holidays, but you can use a Filipino pig roast anytime to enjoy the flavor of pork.

Step 1   - Select a pig that weighs about 100 lbs. Smaller pigs are easier to cook during a Filipino pig roast and a 100-lb. pig should feed a large party.
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Step 2 - Clean and dress the pig by removing the entrails and washing the inside and outside of the pig. Use a garden hose to spray the inside cavity of the pig to remove excess blood or innards.

Step 3   - Season the pig with various spices, sauces and rubs. A traditional Filipino recipe calls for rubbing salt and pepper on the outside and inside of the pig along with rubbing soy sauce on the outside. The combination of flavors helps to result in a crispy skin.

Step 4 - Stuff the inside cavity with lemongrass, apples and onions and sew shut.

Step 5   - Build the fire using firewood and coals. Avoid using propane and allow the fire to get red hot.

Step 6 - Push a bamboo stick through the pig's mouth and hind quarter. The bamboo stick serves as the rotisserie while cooking and adds to the overall flavor of the Filipino pig roast.

Step 7 - Place the pig over the fire, but avoid placing the pig's back directly over the flame. Make sure to leave room in the fire for grease to drip from the pig.

Step 8 - Cook the pig for about eight to nine hours, turning occasionally. You may need to adjust the cooking time based on the temperature, wind and size of the pig.

Step 9 - Check the internal temperature of the meat with a meat thermometer. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends cooking the pig to an internal temperature of 145 degrees before removing from the fire.

Did You Know? - Most Filipinos refer to themselves colloquially as "Pinoy" (feminine: "Pinay"), which is a slang word formed by taking the last four letters of "Pilipino" and adding the diminutive suffix "-y".

The lack of the letter "F" in the pre-1987 Philippine alphabet, Abakada, had caused the letter "F" to be substituted with "P".

This is why, when the 28-letter modern Filipino alphabet was made official in 1987, the name Filipino was preferred over Pilipino. The name Filipino was chosen by the Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, who named the islands "las Islas Filipinas" ("the Philippine Islands") after Philip II of Spain

Did You Know? - The Barong Tagalog (or simply Barong) is an embroidered formal shirt from the Philippines. It is very lightweight and worn untucked (similar to a coat/dress shirt), over an undershirt.

In lowland Christian Filipino culture it is common formal attire especially in weddings, and is mostly worn by men.

The term "Barong Tagalog" literally means "a Tagalog dress" in the Tagalog language; the word "Tagalog" refers to the ethnic group's traditional homeland in central and southern Luzon, and not their language.