Ushering in the Year of the Wooden Horse with a carriage parade

The right mix to welcome the Chinese New Year: Cuties and carriages (Photo by Pau Aguilera)

More than celebrating the turn of the year in the Chinese calendar, one of the many Chinese New Year celebrations this year has taken a distinct turn, marked by a coming together of two Asian cultures.

“There’s the element of the horse (this year’s Chinese New Year symbol), and there’s the element of being Filipino, the karwahe,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) Corporate Communications First Vice President Joee Guilas told Bulletin Entertainment of its grand parade featuring horse-drawn carriages at the Makati CBD on Thursday, Jan. 30.

Guilas shared that they scoured “all over Luzon” for the carriages, which carried pageant beauties and traversed Ayala Avenue on the eve of the Year of the Horse. “Hindi kami nagpaka-literal, as far as the wooden horse is concerned,” he said.

“Eventually we ended up getting three karwahes, representing RCBC’s three major business groups: RCBC The Universal Bank, RCBC Savings Bank, RCBC Bankard.”

According to him, they mount the annual cavalcade “because we do recognize that a great bulk of our business comes from the Filipino-Chinese community, and we are proud partners of this specific target segment of our community.”

This is the first time that RCBC mounted their annual Chinese New Year parade in Makati, which usually coincides with the bank’s festivities in Manila’s Chinatown district, Binondo.

“…this year we decided to split the event into two different locations because we do recognize that a great bulk of our business also comes from our partners here in Makati, and after all, this is the central business district…

“So we decided to mount the parade here in Makati, and enjoin the other business groups in the area to celebrate Chinese New Year with us, and of course, still do an event in the Filipino-Chinese area in Manila,” he said.

Guilas is in high spirits with the fact that the annual parade has always been well-received by the Fil-Chi community.

“Some other companies who would do parades would mostly focus on siguro ’yung pagiging Chinese, and of course what we have here in the Philippines are the Filipino-Chinese, so kapag minarry mo ’yung both cultures, which are both very interesting cultures, the parade usually comes really well-received.”

RCBC continued the Chinese New Year bash at Tutuban Mall in Binondo with the “Tropangga Energyzed 2014” variety show, which, aside from horse-themed games and feng shui experts, also featured performances from OPM artists, namely, songstress Angeline Quinto, band Silent Sanctuary, rapper Bassilyo, among others.

Ushering in the Year of the Wooden Horse with a carriage parade

Source: Mb.com.ph (January 31, 2014 at 09:32AM)

Continue...