For Filipinos who have been outside of the Philippines for years, Christmas is
both a time for rejoicing and a time for remembering. Even as the Filipino in America
begins to feel the holiday mood immediately after Thanksgiving when people start
shopping for gifts and Christmas decors, he feels at the same time a longing for home.
For nothing beats Christmas in the Philippines!
After living on a distant shore all these years, I can truly say that nothing beats the
way Filipinos celebrate Christmas. The genuine joy that the season brings to millions of
Filipinos in the Philippines is the same reason why the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos
living outside the Philippines yearn for home at this time of the year.
For even just during those few days that Christmas is celebrated in the
Philippines, many Filipinos feel they can share the blessings that the world brings.
Because of the mandatory 13th month pay and the bonuses paid by nearly all companies,
big and small alike, many people are able to afford what they can only dream about the
rest of the year.
For the children of the poor, the Christmas season is only one of two instances
when their parents can afford to buy them new set of clothes and new pairs of shoes, the
other being the school opening. Christmas is also the only time for many of these
children to own a brand new toy, often as a gift from their parents or from their ninong or
ninang.
The Christmas season is also their chance to earn some money to buy candies or
toys. As early as December, young boys and girls prepare their instruments for their
traditional carolling, making drums out of empty cans covered by plastic, tambourine out
of bottle caps, and even just a pair of sticks to provide percussion. At dusk, they form
into groups of three or four, and make their rounds starting on the night of Dec. 16 until
Christmas eve. At the end of each night, the carolers count their earnings and divide them
equally among themselves.
While the kids look forward to the advent of dusk during those nine days to earn
some money, the teenagers await with anticipation the coming of dawn during that same
period. For these teenagers, it is a chance to be with their crushes, girlfriends or
boyfriends as they walk to the church in the biting cold. As early as three in the morning,
from Dec. 16 to Dec. 24, they wake up and wear their best sweaters or jackets, have fun
with their barkadas on the way to church, only to sleep while the mass is going on.
After the mass, they bounce back to life to join their friends again, feast on
bibingkas and puto bungbong on their way home, and hang around a bit before being
called home by their parents.
Towards midnight on Christmas Eve, parents and their children don their
Christmas clothes and trek back to church for the Midnight Mass. The church becomes a
venue for both solemn celebration of Christmas and a chance to mingle with friends
again.
From the church, families retreat to their homes for the traditional noche buena, a
minor preview of the grand celebration at lunchtime the next day. The noche buena often
consists of pan amerikano (bread loaf) or pan de sal, keso (queso de bola for those who
can afford), hot dog, coffee or hot chocolate, etc. Noche buenas are usually only for the
family.
But the grand Christmas celebration, usually at midday of Christmas Day, is for
the entire clan. It is an occasion for children and grandchildren to gather together in the
house of the patriarch or matriarch of the clan. Family members exchange gifts, catch up
on each other’s lives, and partake of the sumptuous meal. Children play games, the male
family members drink beer or liquor, everybody participates in a singing session (using
karaoke or otherwise), and the female members engage in endless banter.
Towards the afternoon, children, accompanied by their parents, visit their ninong
and ninang to get their Christmas presents. Others visit friends, watch movies, and drink
with friends. The merrymaking goes on till late at night. But the fun does not end there,
because in six days, everybody gears up for a noisy New Year’s Eve revelry.
At least once a year, during the Christmas season, Filipinos are able to let off
steam from the pressures of trying to survive, the poor are able to enjoy a bit of material
happiness, families renew their bonds, and everyone has fun.
Christmas brings pure and genuine happiness to many Filipinos. It is this kind of
joy that a Filipino living in a foreign land misses sorely about Christmas. It is this kind of
Christmas celebration that Filipinos living on distant shores can only reminisce about.