thank you for being

Let us be of one mind that we may do this properly.

We give thanks for our Clan Ancestors.

Thanksgiving family feast, Edgewater NJ, 2021

And the Great Mystery, told us this:

I shall continue to dwell above the sky, and that is where

those on the earth will end their thanksgiving.

I shall always be listening carefully to what the people are saying and

shall always be watching carefully what they do.

They will begin on the earth, giving thanks for all that they see.

They will carry that gratitude upward, ending where I dwell.

Thanksgiving family feast, Negros Island PI, 2021

origins of the Pinoy queso de bola

Holland shop with assorted Edam cheeses

What’s shiny, red, and almost always bound to make an appearance around the holiday season? Not Rudolph’s nose, but queso de bola - a cheese hailing from Holland, where it is known as Edam - named after its city of origin. 

In the Philippines, though the labels on balls of Edam still tout the marker “Imported from Holland,” queso de bola is inseparable from Noche Buena, and Noche Buena is just Filipino tradition - though it came from the Spanish, Filipinos have made it our own. 

Though the story of queso de bola is part of a much larger history, at face value, queso de bola is definitely distinctly Filipino.