THE celebration of Christmas in the Philippines is one of the many things that help define this country, its culture and its people. This is from an article on CNN.com: “Where would you find the most Christmas spirit in the world? The Southeast Asian [archipelago] has the world’s longest festive season.”
This is old news to Filipinos, who are fully aware that other Christmas-celebrating nations talk about our long Christmas season with a touch of sarcasm and a bit of disrespect. But that does not matter, because we do not take it seriously. We even joke about who hears the first Christmas song played in the malls in September.
There are many traditions involved in the celebration, from hanging the parol (Christmas lantern) to serving Noche Buena food. Ignored in all those articles about our Christmas festivities that were published by the foreign media are the genuine expressions of charity that Filipinos show to the less fortunate in order for them to enjoy the holidays, too. In our parish, more than a hundred families were given Noche Buena food baskets donated by the parishioners. Sure, the cynics are going to ridicule these efforts as little in the bigger picture, but these are important to the people who received those food baskets. As Taylor Swift says in her song “Shake It Off”, haters gonna hate, anyway.
Visiting the Star City amusement park, which stands next to the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay City, has almost become a Christmas tradition for many people in Metro Manila. I remember taking my eldest son, then 3 years old, to Star City when it first opened in 1991. There was not much in the park then. The highlight was probably a small-sized replica of the Manila galleon that you could get on board and see what the ships looked like back then. The replica was built as a fundraising effort for a group that wanted to build a life-sized galleon and sail to Mexico once again.
A few days ago, we went back to Star City after not visiting it for several years. Many of the rides there are now high-tech, with lasers and the like, but one of the park’s most popular and enduring attractions remains the same: Snow World. It was a great experience 20 years ago, and it still is today. Watching my youngest son experience the same excitement over his ears burning and lips getting numb from the extreme cold as his older brother did so many years ago—it does not get much better than that.
At 7:30 p.m. another Filipino Christmas tradition took place inside Star City. Across from the food kiosks and near the “P25 for three minutes” electric-massage chairs, with the sound of the Grand Carousel in the background, more than a hundred people gathered to hear the anticipated Simbang Gabi (Night Mass). The scent from the incense burning in the censer provided an interesting contrast to the smell of the cheese popcorn nearby.
While the local Catholic Church does not encourage the celebration of Mass in shopping malls and the like, many Filipino Catholics feel comfortable stopping what they are doing to hear Mass in the same way that followers of Islam perform their salah.
In the West, images of Santa Claus are as common as the Nativity scene, or crèche, if not more. Not so in the Philippines. Perhaps, Filipinos are too grounded in reality to believe in magical gift-giving.
Christmas in the Philippines is different from everywhere else, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
There are many other things that are different about this nation, society, culture and, yes, economy. No doubt, you are getting bored with me pointing out the positive things about our economy and financial system that are different from the rest or the world. I promise that I will take a break with that—at least, until 2015.
In the meantime, enjoy your holiday and have a Merry Christmas. Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts with you this past year.
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