First let us define the word "Millenial."
Millenials, the most tech-addicted generation, has officially replaced Generation X. There are no precise dates for when this legion of youngsters starts or ends, but demographers and researchers typically use the early 1980s as starting birth years and ending birth years ranging from the mid-1990s to early 2000s.
There was no actual history on how the term "millenial" came to be, though most people say the word was first coined in the book "Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation (2000)" probably referring to the high school graduating class of the year 2000.
Millennials haven’t been on this Earth for that long, relatively speaking, so it’s understandable that they probably missed out most of the things the previous generation had enjoyed so well.
Here are a list of those things, which we grouped in three categories:
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS
1. The (Old) Nayong Pilipino - Long before the advent of virtual reality headsets, people actually come to actual landscapes. The most popular in the 1970's was the Nayong Pilipino cultural park which used to stand along MIA road near the NAIA 1 terminal. Inside the 46-hectare park are six sections representing replicas of 6 regions which comprised the islands of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, and reflecting the attractions unique to each region. There's the Banaue rice terraces and the Vigan stone houses for Luzon region, Mount Mayon and the Cagsawa church ruins representing the Bicol region, the Magellan's Cross and Bohol's picturesque Chocolate Hills in behalf of the Visayan island and the Moslem mosques and Samal houses depicting the Mindanao provinces.
2. Matorco double deck buses - It's a double deck bus without the roof at the second deck, much like the touristy HOHO (hop-on, hop-off) buses in Malaysia. Operated by the Manila Motor Coach company in the 1970's, these breezy double decks ply the roads of Roxas Boulevard, Luneta up to the Baclaran church. Matorco seats were available at 20 centavos each (wow!!) and absolutely free for children below one meter in height.
3. The C.O.D. Christmas show - was a fascinating moving mannequin play performed at the facades of the C.O.D. department stores in Avenida and Cubao. In the 1960s, the main show was held in C.O.D. Avenida but was transferred to C.O.D. Cubao in the 1970s. The show, which usually starts at 7 p.m., lasted from the early days of December up to the Feast of Three Kings. The show attracted huge number of viewers since it could be viewed free and even from a distance. The C.O.D., an acronym for Christmas on Display, stopped operations in 2004.
TELEVISION SHOWS
4. Voltes V, and other robot heroes - The year 1978 ushered in the emergence of the super robots in Philippine television with the likes of Mekanda Robot (shown on Mondays), Daimos (on Tuesdays), Mazinger Z (during Wednesdays), UFO Grendaizer (every Thursdays), and Voltes V (on Fridays). However, in 1979, shortly before the series finale of Voltes V, then-president Ferdinand Marcos issued a directive banning Voltes V and other similarly-themed anime series due to concerns about "excessive violence". The directive also led to speculations at the time that the series was also taken off the air due to its revolutionary undertones, and that Marcos probably don't want the Filipinos to do the same against him.
5. Superstar (RPN Channel 9) - Top indie actress Nora Aunor actually had a TV show of her own back in the 1970's. After winning the original "Tawag ng Tanghalan" singing contest (not to be confused with Vice Ganda's It's Showtime segment), Aunor started her career in television via Nora-Eddie Show (1967), with singer Eddie Peregrina. The show later became The Nora Aunor Show and eventually was re-titled Superstar. Superstar holds the record as the longest-running musical variety show that had aired on Philippine prime-time TV from 1968 to 1989. That's 21 long years!
6. That's Entertainment (GMA Channel 7) - was a Filipino youth-oriented talent and variety show on GMA Network. The show, which aired for 10 years from 1986 to 1996, ushered in the most popular actors and singers in the showbiz industry like Ian Veneracion, Lea Salonga, Francis Magalona (RIP), Iza Calzado, Judy Ann Santos, Billy Crawford, Jojo Alejar, Karla Estrada, Piolo Pascual and John Arcilla (yes, the actor who played bad-ass Heneral Luna).
TOYS
Prior to the birth of hi-tech toys and gadgets, the young Filipino kids of the 1970's played around with toys made primarily of almost everything.
7. Tirador (slingshot in English) is made of wood and rubber. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped wood frame, usually a branch from a Bayabas (Guava) tree, held in the off hand, with two natural-rubber strips attached to the uprights. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pocket that holds the projectile, usually a small stone. The dominant hand grasps the pocket and draws it back to the desired extent to provide power for the projectile - up to a full span of the arm with sufficiently long bands.
8. Trumpo (top in English), also made of wood, has an egg-like shape where in one end is slightly pointed than the other. Driven in the pointed end of the spinning top is an iron nail, an inch of which is projected out. The end of the nail is sharpened to make it even more pointy. A meter-long string is also needed which will cause the spinning motion of the top.
9. Holen or Jolens (marbles in English) are small spherical toys often made from glass with colorful inside ornaments. The young Pinoys back in the 1970's usually play with them in two variations: first, the type in which the players try to knock their opponents’ marbles out of a circle with their own marble (and so win them); and second (a race), the type in which the players try to hit a target and roll their marble through a hoop or into a hole by rolling, throwing or knuckling the marble.
10. Plastic Balloons are available in small tubes with a straw attached to it. A child starts to play with them by squeezing a "semi-liquid, plasticky material" from the tube then putting it at the tip of the supplied straw. The child then blows through the straw and into the plasticky material to create a bubble. The more you blow, the bigger the bubble grows. If it pops, the child can seal the hole with his mouth and saliva, or he may blow more air into it to make the bubble bigger, before finally sealing it again.
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