Photos edited in Canva
How do you greet your family everytime there is a birthday celebration?Most common ways nowadays are greeting through social media. Like posting on fb, hbd, or mbtc,abbreviation greetings are just on phenomenon lately.
Today, I will be sharing our way, and maybe yours too, on how did we greet our friends when they celebrate their birthday. It's through a "Morning serenade", or in Filipino we called it "harana". Harana or serenading is one of the traditional way to greet someone special to our heart.
Since I was a kid, I already experience serenading birthdays, because I used to accompany my mother, everytime they will have a serenade. That's what we usually do in our village, in rural areas. We used to wake up early in the morning like 4'o clock, or even 3'o clock in the morning. Even if the weather is too cold, we still pursue it, as long as we can.
We usually bring flowers to be give to someone special, or sometimes food, what's funny is, we used to pick flowers on the roadside, while it's still dark. Gladly, nobody get mad on us, even if we are doing that way. Anyway, I'm still a kid that time and now I don't so it anymore, it's shameful, right?
So today as of October 25,a person who is close to our heart have celebrated his 56th birthday.What we did is a "*surprised birthday greetings". * I didn't know that our friends have planned to serenade, until, I received a message from messenger, that we have a serenade at 4'o clock in the morning. Yes, it's too early, because that's why it's serenade, because we have to make the celebrant wake up early, so that we can greet him first among the rest.
Only that we don't have a guitarist at that time. So, what our friend did, is to bring a Bluetooth speaker.
My captured in our serenade(my couple friends are with us too)
Since it's already 4'o clock in the morning, our voice are like frogs, in the morning. Lol.
We used to sang the song through my fiends mobile phone.
We sang the songs for birthday's, which we don't even practice, but we already knew it before. What's your favorite song for that kind of occasion, except "happy birthday". The celebrant have welcomed us with a smile and we get inside into his house.
Look at their face, they are still sleepy, and this young boy have covered his face, when there is a picture taking. I don't know why, but he doesn't like to see his on social media.
With this kind of occasion, there's always a time to sometimes cry, not because of sadness but happiness. Thankful and grateful for the life that has been given chances of life despite everything that anything that life may bring , there's always a reason to celebrate everyday because of our existence in world everyday.
And because it was a surprised,my friends also bring food so that the celebrant will no longer have a problem on what do they prepare on that day.
Doing a morning serenade, it really needs a sacrifice of waking up so early. And because we loved that certain person, our time of doing it, is one way of showing how much we loved him. For all the good things that he has showed to us, in his 56 years of life, a morning serenade was not enough as a reward for him.
Birthdays comes only once a year, and according to what I know from teachers "our days on earth are numbered. So, maybe if our life is only until 70 years, and our friend is now 56,he only have 16 years left,but if the Almighty will give him more years, that would also be a very nice gift. His like a father to us all, a good adviser, mentor and role model, as a family man. In this way we can express our gratitude too.
**Have you experienced a serenade during your birthday? **
If you will ask me, I have tried it, only once, when I was in 20's,and I already forgot what did really happen on that day because we don't have any smartphone before, so those moments are not captured.
Celebrating birthday, don't need to become costly, as much as possible we are there for someone we love, or our family. To greet them, "happy birthday, spend time during special day, or to check them if they were okay, especially with our parents.
Some of the unforgettable scenario during serenade like:
We already finished singing three songs but the celebrant still didn't open the gate or even turn on the light. - It happened just this year where we need to called and knock their door.
*So, just a sort of tips:if you go on a serenade with your friends or family who have a gate or big houses, much better to inform one of their family member, just to make them aware. *
1.People who sleep in a very close room, especially when they have an air cone, takes time to wake up during serenade. - This is the reality, when a celebrant sleep with a big houses, it's better to inform, lol, because it happens to us. Where we used to stand outside the house like less than an hour before they noticed that we're there outside.
2.Dogs are the first one that can welcomed us along the road.
There are lots of dogs when it's dawn, like 3 or 4 am. It will bark us over and over again, as we are passing through the neighborhood houses. But, we are not bitten so far, most dogs that we encounter are just noisy but it won't bite us.
Every occasion like this always end up with a cup of coffee, bread, or desserts like spaghetti, and other sweet foods. A very nice get together with a special birthday celebrant.
Our celebrant ended the serenade with a thankful heart, and teary eyes for what he has been through in his life, but still, he recognized the creator who gave him life today. That's what is important, to being grateful with what we have despite of, because life is a gift each day, where we are still able to do what we want, and continue to pursue our desires in life as long as we are still alive.
This is my third time post here in hive, I would like to thank at 
I'm grateful to #hiveph, #philipines.
Hope that your days will be full of happiness as you celebrate special days of your life like birthday's.