October is for Filipinos.
If you’re not familiar with it, Filipino American History Month is in October. Not to be mistaken with Filipino Heritage month, which is celebrated in August. I’m not going to give a lecture about the differences between the two, just know they are both a thing. Me being from South City, I basically am from Daly City. And, if you don’t know the reputation that Daly City holds, it is known to be a “Little Manila”. Daly City is known to have the highest concentration of Filipinos Americans in the United States. That doesn’t mean they have the largest Filipino population, it means that majority of the population of Daly City is comprised of Filipinos. In 2019, it was recorded that 35% of Daly City’s population was Filipino. Alright, too much technical talk about the Filipino community. Why all this hoop-la about Daly City and Filipino American History month, you ask? I will be sharing and talking about the festivities that Justine and I attended on the first weekend of Filipino American History month.
Shot on: Fujifilm XT-30II, XF 16mm F/1.4.
There is an annually held Filipino festival in Daly City. It is called Kasayahan Sa Daly City. I honestly have no idea what that even translates to, but Google says it means fun or festivity. I didn’t want to go this year, or any year because I live in the area and I am CONSTANTLY engulfed by Filipino culture. But since Justine is from Dublin, CA, she doesn’t get much exposure to Filipino culture. It originally started as a joke about attending the festival because she wanted to see Jeremy Passion perform. If you know who I’m talking about, then you know that this man has the Filipino community in a chokehold, and has been for HELLA years now. I had no interest in seeing him, because he was literally the “surprise” performance at every Cotillion I went to in High School. If I really think about it, I want to say that I seen Jeremy Passion like 5-6 times and til this day, I cannot escape him! No hate towards the guy, he’s a great performer and has made his single “Lemonade” the “New Filipino National Anthem”. I just figured I do not need to see him perform another time. Alright, back to the festival; this had to be the most Filipinos I have seen gathered together; it was pretty mind blowing. We got to see some local notable Filipinos in the music industry: DJ Apollo, Gabe Bondoc, and Jeremy Passion. I was super stoked on seeing DJ Apollo; if you don’t know who he is, please look him up and give him his flowers. Justine and I were also IRL Sniped by our good friend Kimmy. Got a chance to hang with her while Justine and her were having major fan girl moments. This is a hot take an will most likely stir the pot, Gabe Bondoc > Jeremy Passion.
Shot on: Fujifilm XT-30II, XF 16mm F/1.4.
What is a function without any after party action? Later that night after the festival, Justine and I went to an “Afters” type of event at a grocery store. This isn’t your usual grocery store like Safeway, this was at a Seafood City. I’m not even joking about an after party at the store. Seafood City has been holding these after hours events for their new location grand opening in Daly City, named Late Night Madness. This is some of the smartest marketing I’ve seen for a grand opening. It was just perfect timing with the Kasayahan festival. There were DJ’s performing, dancing, special street foods, and just an all out great vibe. Filipinos are some of the most proud people when it comes to celebrating their culture. So for sure the entire Filipino community showed up at the late night party at the Seafood City. All the line dancing was happening and even a few B-Boys showed up and did their thing.
Shot on: Fujifilm XT-30II, XF 16mm F/1.4.
A time was definitely had that weekend. Don’t get me wrong, I love being Filipino and I’m proud of my heritage, but that was just super Filipino overload for me. It’s just something about huge crowds of Filipinos getting all together just slightly irritates me. I think it has something with how they all want to one up each other and always want to flex on each other. That’s all I got to ramble about this time. Happy Filipino American History month! As always, until the next one, enjoy the photos.
