Pinitpit na tansan, timbang plastik, an overused Cebu-made guitar at tatlong mukhang may boses. Checked! All systems go!
Three teenagers, circa late ‘60s, were bringing it on for the nightly rendezvous with fun, a little cash and a host of all-time Christmas carols.
Carolling on the length and breathe of Manila’s streets and communities eons ago – on or about six decades –was never that difficult.
Generous St. Nicks were everywhere, greeting and joining carollers beside, between or under twinkling lights and the parol gracing doors and windows, trees and shrubs.
Sometimes, they allowed a peek of their Christmas tree, highlighted by a Belen (Nativity Scene).
Back then, local permits were unheard of; not until Uncle Scrooges came and messed up age-old carolling traditions meant to buoy up the jolly and festive Christmas atmosphere in tahanans and barangays.
Although the holiday cheer might have been disrupted by a few isolated noisy and nasty troubles in those days, the three teenagers – Toto, Romy and I – felt very safe. Tatay ni Romy, pulis.
Our parents always advised us to be home by 9:00 p.m. Perhaps, that was all mild but wild talk. We knew they were better off without the perennial disturbance.
We never went beyond that ungodly hour though. Most households would have gone to bed by then. Further, it made no sense to our seasonal singing careers to be likely bothered by loud carol-busting snoring.
Today’s GPS was but a dream back then. But we had our own GPS (Geo-Political Strategy) system that kept us focused and secured on street and village routes with a foolproof safety and revenue-generation plan.
GPS, ‘60s-style, steered us clear of barb-wired residences with high walls and steel gates.
It also moved us away from houses suffering from sudden brownouts as we approached.
Like bewares on traffic cameras, GPS 60 warned us of signs that read “Gigisingin mo rin ba ang mga aso?”
Of course, it gave a review of places where earlier carollers civilly chorused “ang babarat ninyo, thank you.”
After quickly giving a coin, some benefactors obviously wanted us to stop mid-song and go. Talent, indeed, was like a railroad stop. Looking and listening were totally different matters.
Beyond being tormented by a disavowing rendition of Jingle Bells, some people had the decency and honesty to yell “Patatawarin!”
Did you know that heyday kids crooned Joy to the World as if there was no tomorrow?
If so, the lines “Elorde’s come (Pacquiao was then non-existent)” and “Berting, berting, berting” would have stuck to mind.
However, the deities made sure that we could still share and enjoy shining stars on a dark sky.
A kind-hearted music teacher invited us in. Over sarsaparilla and pan de lemon laced with matamis na bao, she frankly exposed all the areas we could soundly improve on, to spare anyone from an EENT visit.
Nonetheless, we never worried, being just teenagers who did not even know that a cappella was not a kind of pasta, that kastanyas had never been a castanet, and that only one type of fluid could taint a pitch pipe.
Indeed! We had fun and enjoyed blissful nights after school and on weekends throughout the Yule season.
Let today’s techno kids figure out that puto bumbong is not an image editing app designed by a president and have millennial children understand that bibingka is unrelated to Donald and Tatlong Bibi.
Earning hard-earned loose change gave us the extra boost we needed to sing well-loved Christmas carols with pride and confidence.
Moreover, we never saw coming offerings of Serg’s, Choc Nut, Flat Tops and Goya milk chocolates, White Rabbit and tira-tira candies, and Fibisco and M.Y. San biscuits. In lieu of our initial goal, we gladly accepted.
Christmastime in Manila’s streets of yore was absolutely full of surprises and delight.
Safely back home and prepped to hit the banig, we thanked God for the safe and fruitful journey of the Christmas carols and counted the blessings we received.
Reprising what people are muddled with today, we prayed hard for more economically sound tomorrows.
*****
It’s never happening, but if the three teenagers ever dared to repeat their yesteryear’s Christmas carolling gig today, seniors Toto and I will be laughing out loud when told:
- Are you having a heart attack? How come you always skip a beat?
- That, my friend, was a tribute to Mang Ading.
- The Twelve Days of Christmas does not end with five onion rings.
- Look at a mirror. Did you even hear yourself?
- If you need help, here’s my card. I’m a shrink.
Oh! Romy? He’s also laughing and yelling “Patatawarin!” from high Heaven.
*****
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, I was one with those who embraced off-season Christmas songs.
Yuletide melodies provided me a feeling of physical relief and soulful optimism amid the gloom and doom that badly hit health and wealth around the globe.
Christmastime music likewise created a powerful emotional bond between believers, whose spirits were lifted from despair. We simply sought to be happy than sad, be joyful than glum, be up than down.
Worldwide, it was said that the surge of Christmas tunes on-the-air, even through the summer months, trended, as if people desired to cautiously ignore and get the scourge of a long pandemic over with.
Getting the universal message of faith, hope and love across, through Christmas songs, worked then.
Similarly, it could very well work in present conditions – at a time when the Earth and its inhabitants go on trying to fix and live through constant threats to their welfare and wellbeing, stability and peace all year round.
Why not? Upon waking, give thanks to God for the new day and, perhaps, sing the classic one-line “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” written by Meredith Wilson in 1951.
Or play any other Christmas tune, lend it your ears and feel it.
Then let your daily dose of Christmas magic work out its miracle.
*****
Eighty-seven year old Mommy Belle blankly stared far away.
But when she sensed a Christmas carol playing from Sonny’s radio, she turned her head a bit to seize familiar words and music.
A smile lit her face.
Humming at first, she then sang along “… City sidewalks, busy sidewalks dressed in holiday style. In the air, there’s a feeling of Christmas. Children laughing, people passing, meeting smile after smile. And on every street corner you’ll hear: Silver bells, silver bells …”
Mommy Belle phrased clear lyrics in joyful beat, the way she did many Christmases in decades past.
A moment’s miracle!
Mom, then, had been battling with advanced memory loss.
Earlier, she called me Chitong, my late father’s nickname, after asking who I was.
Before Silver Bells ended, I cleared a rolling tear and joined in “… Soon it will be Christmas day.”
She smiled anew, turned her head a bit and once more stared far away into a seeming unknown.
That one-line duet was the first we ever did together. It was to be our last too.
Eighteen days after Christmas 2019, she quietly passed on and went Home.
*****
My three favourite Christmas melodies are:
- O Holy Night (Cantique de Noël) was a French poem Placide Cappeau penned in 1843. After Adolphe Adam set it to music in 1847, it became one of the most iconic Christmas carols ever.
- Give Love on Christmas Day. The lyrical collaboration of Motown Records’ songwriting team — Berry Gordy, Alphonzo Mizell, Christine Perren, Freddie Perren and Deke Richards – set into motion one of and recorded for the 1970 The Jackson 5 Christmas Album (Wikipedia); and
- Christmas in Our Hearts. It is definitely Filipino singer-songwriter Jose Mari Chan’s! “Let the spirit of Christmas be always in our hearts.” Need I say more?
Be elated and jolly. You’ve got favourites too.
Fill your thoughts with Christmas. Feel Christ in you.
*****
Kasaganahan, Kaligayahan
Bayanihan, Kapayapaan
Pag-ibig ay Katotohanan
Diwa ng Pasko sa Sabsaban.
Merry Christmas sa sanlibutan. #####