On 31 December (Bisperas ng Bagong Taon), Filipino families gather for the Media Noche - a lavish midnight feast that supposedly symbolises their hopes for prosperity in the coming year, and lasts until the following morning as with the Noche Buena taken on Christmas Eve.
Filipinos make noise both to greet the New Year and in the belief that the din exorcises their surroundings of malevolent spirits. In spite of the yearly ban, people in most towns and cities customarily light firecrackers, or employ safer methods of merrymaking such as banging on pots and pans and blowing car horns.
Other traditions and beliefs include encouraging children to jump at the stroke of midnight to increase their height; displaying circular fruit such as oranges; wearing clothes with dots and other circular designs to symbolise coins and money; eating twelve grapes at midnight for good luck in the twelve months of the year (a Spanish custom); and opening all windows and doors to let in the blessings on the first day of the year.