Filipino Holiday Traditions Through Food, Dance, and Crafts
Filipino holiday traditions carry culture through food, movement, and crafts. At Asian Girls Ignite’s annual community event - Seasons Savory Greetings: Holiday Social, Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) youth, families, Lotus Collective members and community partners gathered to practice these traditions together. The afternoon centered Filipino culture as a form of cultural wellness, reinforcing belonging, identity development, and intergenerational connection.
Cultural belonging functions as a protective factor. When young people see their culture practiced and respected, they gain language for who they are and confidence in how they move through the world.
Asian Girls Ignite’s Annual Community Holiday Social
Asian Girls Ignite (AGI) hosts an annual Holiday Social as part of a long-term commitment to community connection, identity affirmation, cultural responsiveness, and youth leadership. Families gather across generations to learn, reflect, and celebrate culture together.
Each year, the event centers a different AANHPI culture. In recent years, Asian Girls Ignite has highlighted Cambodian and Hmong traditions. People of all ages engage through hands-on participation, from food and crafts to dance and storytelling, reinforcing culture as a living practice.
This event reflects sustained investment in community connection and cultural affirmation, which support youth mental health and well-being. Research on AANHPI youth shows that stronger ethnic identity is associated with lower symptoms of depression and healthier coping skills. (PLOS ONE, 2024)
Community Space Matters. Hosting at Social Fabric Hub
Make it stand out
Our Holiday Social was hosted at The Social Fabric Hub in Englewood, Colorado, a community-centered space operated by the Colorado Asian Culture and Education Network (CACEN). The hub is led by Annie Guo VanDan, CACEN’s Founding Executive Director and a longtime supporter of Asian Girls Ignite.
The Social Fabric Hub serves as a gathering place for AANHPI communities across generations, rooted in equity, care, and collective learning. As part of CACEN’s mission, the space is designed to support cultural programming, relationship-building, and community wellness.
Hosting the event at Social Fabric Hub reinforced the values of the afternoon. Physical space shapes emotional safety. When youth and adults gather in places intentionally built for community care, belonging deepens and connection strengthens.
The Parol Craft Table: Filipino Holiday Symbols in Practice
People gathered around the Parol craft table to create traditional Filipino Christmas lanterns symbolizing hope, light, and resilience.
Parols are typically three-dimensional. While the activity began with a two-dimensional design, one student returned to the traditional form, shaping her Parol in three dimensions from memory.
The table was led by AGI’s Marketing Manager Abigail Regucera (she/her), who shared memories of seeing Parols while visiting family in the Philippines in 2019. Youth Leadership Collective members Jessica A.(she/her), Gia P.(she/her), and Emma B.(she/her) supported participants as they cut, folded, and decorated.
If you’d like to make your own Parol at home, explore this Parol craft resource!
Community Raffle and Shared Joy
The community raffle reflected shared care and generosity. Prizes included family experiences such as complimentary admission to the Denver Zoo and food and beverages from Onto Coffee in Lakewood, Colorado.
Creative tools supported imagination with sketchbooks, pencil sets, bear highlighters, and amigurumi yarn craft kits from Stitch & Story. Cultural storytelling continued through books like Kuleana by Sara Kehaulani Goo and a signed copy of The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon by Grace Lin. AGI tote bags and limited-edition shirts completed the offerings.
Each prize reinforced a simple message that creativity, culture, and connection deserve investment.
Filipino Food Traditions as Cultural Memory
Food anchored the afternoon, catered by Chef Elisa Hindes of Sweet Life Culinary Productions. The Filipino buffet invited attendees to reconnect with memory through taste.
The menu included beef caldereta, pineapple soy glazed ham, vegetarian pancit, pork lumpia, tofu stir-fry, macaroni salad, rice, buko pandan, and biko. For many attendees, these dishes carried memories of grandparents, holidays, and home kitchens.
Food served as cultural transmission. Nourishment carried emotional meaning alongside physical care.
Filipino Dance as Living History with Padayon Cultural
Padayon Cultural, part of the Filipino American Community of Colorado (FACC), brought the afternoon to life through dance. As culture carriers and educators, Padayon shared performances rooted in Indigenous knowledge and history, passed down through generations. These dances are learned in relationship with culture bearers, Indigenous leaders who steward these traditions and grant their blessing for them to be shared, ensuring the practices are honored with care, accuracy, and respect.
The program included:
Kadal Blelah
Kadal is a Tboli word meaning to imitate. Kadal Blelah portrays a mythical bird, which according to tradition, consolidates in itself the feather coloration of all known birds. The Tboli are the peace loving people of Mindanao in Southern Philippines. They are known as dreamweavers of the hand-woven Tnalak made of abaca fibers. Our culture bearers are Boi Rosie Sula and Yebong Lyn Buti
Pangalay dances
These dances are inspired from our Ta'u Sug culture bearer and Pangalay dance master, Auntie Sitti "Lingling" Obeso. Pangalay Kabkab - Pangalay kabkab incorporates martial arts elements like Silat Kuntaw with kabkab (fans) highlighting the Ta'u Sug's warrior spirit.
Pangalay Janggay
Pangalay dance is a pre-colonial dance that predates Christianity and Islam in the Philippines of the Sulu Archipelago. This style of dance is performed with elongated brass fingernails called janggay, highlighting arm movements called taut taut that are like waves or the currents, and various hand movements called bunga lima that represents lily flowers and nature.
Gaway Gaway
Gaway Gaway originated from Jaro (a small town in Leyte), where people celebrate a bountiful harvest of the Gaway root crop. They imitate the pulling of the stalks, hitting their elbows in a movement called siko-siko.
Subli
Subli originated from Bauan, Batangas and is a dance or "panata" which is a solemn vow directed to the Holy Cross for all the blessings and the peoples belief that the cross has the power to ward off evil spirits.
Each performance reminded audiences that cultural arts education is a form of preservation, storytelling, and healing.
Tinikling Dance Workshop for All Ages
Following the performances, Padayon Cultural led an all-ages Tinikling workshop. The dance imitates the movement of the tikling bird weaving between bamboo poles.
Students lined up eagerly. Parents joined alongside their children. Missed steps turned into laughter. Confidence grew with each rhythm.
Intergenerational participation reflected AGI’s belief that cultural wellness strengthens when families learn together.
Sharing Lived Experience with Danielle Stratton
Storytelling is a core pillar of Asian Girls Ignite’s programming. Stories help students see themselves represented across different identities, careers, and lived experiences. They spark conversation, amplify voices, and create space for youth to imagine who they can become.
At this year’s Holiday Social, this pillar came to life through a shared story from Danielle Stratton.
About Danielle
Danielle Stratton (she/her) is a Filipino American educator, artist, and advocate for community-based learning. Originally from Oklahoma and now based in Colorado, she teaches in Aurora Public Schools and recently earned her graduate degree in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education from CU Denver. She also serves as an Executive Board member of Filipino American Community of Colorado (FACC).
During the Holiday Social, Danielle shared her experience growing up in a small town and learning to become a “social chameleon” in order to belong. She spoke about adapting herself to different spaces as a survival strategy, and how that shaped her relationship to identity.
Finding Filipino American community in Colorado marked a turning point. Through reclaiming dance, music, and weaving traditions, Danielle rebuilt connection to self and community.
As a co-lead of Padayon Cultural, Danielle now helps organize cultural programs that highlight Filipino dance and music, weaving together art, education, and community care. Her story reflects why Asian Girls Ignite exists. Representation offers youth permission to explore identity with honesty and pride.
After the storytelling and shared reflection, the afternoon moved into a moment of recognition and care focused on student well-being.
2025 AGI Wellness Grant Recipients
Asian Girls Ignite honored the 2025 Wellness Grant recipients during the Holiday Social, recognizing students who shared thoughtful reflections on what wellness looks like in their lives. The grants support youth in defining care on their own terms, from rest and creativity to movement and connection.
Applications were reviewed by a community panel including Trace Yang (she/her), Christina Ifurung (she/her), Katie B. (she/her), Saige J. (she/her), and Yen Chau (she/her). Together, the panel reflects AGI’s commitment to equity-centered, relationship-based youth development grounded in trust and lived experience.
Community Reflections
As the afternoon came to an end, attendees gathered for our closing circle to reflect.
If you’re unfamiliar with closing circles, it’s our way of wrapping-up in community by sharing a collective breath and voicing our head (something we learned), heart (something we felt), and hands (something we’ll take action on).
They shared:
💬“I am going to eat more Filipino food like I used to with my grandpa.”
💬 “I enjoyed doing the Tinikling workshop with my child.”
💬“I can relate to Danielle’s story of being a social chameleon.”
These reflections show shared language forming around identity and belonging.
Why Cultural Holiday Events Matters
Events like our Filipino holiday social function as cultural programming, prevention, leadership development, and collective care. When youth are rooted in identity-affirming spaces, they build resilience, self-advocacy, and connection.
This work continues through families, donors, and community partners who value belonging as essential to youth well-being.
Join us in community
We invite funders and community members to support future cultural programming and wellness initiatives by joining our mailing list and staying connected. Belonging is built through care, consistency, and community investment. Together, we create light that lasts.
About Asian Girls Ignite
Founded in October 2020, Asian Girls Ignite is a non-profit organization that provides educational programs for AANHPI girls and gender-expansive youth to celebrate their individual and collective power. We use storytelling to empower the next generation to write their futures in their own voice. Our programs and events nurture social-emotional learning to help our students grow in resilience, empathy, and self-awareness.