Christmas, Filipino Style

The holiday season never fails to do its tricks on me. Bouts of nostalgia. Attacks of homesickness. Unshakable longing for old memories . Wishing for faces of loved ones, many of them scattered across the globe.

Christmas and New Year's top the list every time. I used to think they will have less effects on me as I get older. But alas, the reverse proves to be true. And this year being newlywed and happily married to my wonderful husband, I thought I would be immune to it.

It came without warning. I was in the midst of hanging some simple holiday ornaments in my home when it hit me! Suddenly I was assaulted with childhood memories of Christmas. They seemed so alive I could almost hear my parents and siblings laughing. The noise of our kitchen bustling with all the food preparations. I could smell the bibingka. See and taste the lechon on the table. Hear the voices of children caroling. Ahhh, Christmas in the Philippines. There's nothing like it for me.

Now I'm bit by the whole Christmas bug. It is consuming my being like nothing else can. I am not fighting it this time. I am surrendering myself to it.
Christmas as I know it growing up in Manila is one of the most delicious experiences I've had. And as I rummaged through my music collection to satisfy a sudden urge to hear Christmas carols, I realized I should share the Filipino Christmas as I know it, to all my friends in the "blog village".

Some say Christmas is celebrated the longest in the Philippines. I find that to be true in many respects. There are so many things to share about Christmas, Filipino style, this blog will be an installation of several entries. This is the first one. I invite you to visit the other entries. I think you will find them interesting and perhaps, amusing.

For my family, just like most Filipinos, Christmas is the most anticipated and most important time of the year. There is no winter nor snow in the Philippines during Christmas, but children and old people alike bundle themselves up instead in festivities and other heartwarming traditions done nowhere else in the world.

Although Christmas carols are played frequently on the radio as early as September, Christmas in the Philippines begin formally on the dawn of December 16, the start of Misa de Gallo. Translated literally, this Spanish phrase means"mass of the rooster". Steeped in the roots of this country's religious culture, Catholicism, churches throughout the country ring their bells around 3 or 3:30 in the morning, even before the roosters can crow to announce the dawn. Hence the term.

In Tagalog, we call it Simbang Gabi, which literally means "night worship". The bells start ringing to wake the local folks to go to church and worship. Now you may ask, "Who in their right mind would want to do that?" But wait, I haven't let you in one of the secrets why Filipinos would happily break away from the comforts of their beds or mats to walk, yes, walk to church and worship. Keep reading.

This daily before-dawn-trek to church is observed for the next nine days, culminating on the night of December 24 for the Midnight Mass.

Apart from enjoying the gaiety of houses lit with twinkling lights, and decorated with parols (christmas lanterns), the roads that lead to the local church or chapel, are also dotted with little makeshift food stalls that sell all the favorite native desserts and delicacies. The sudden mushrooming of this holiday food merchants is a welcome and a much-awaited event for many. They sure herald Christmas is now really just around the corner.

I, for one joined in this tradition mostly for the consumption of all this bounty treats, offered specially at this time of the year. Filipinos love eating. Any chance to be religious and be able to eat well at the same time can be a national pastime. Ahhhh, the smell of bibingka and putobumbong wafting in the air. It is enough to start thanking the gods for waking you up in this unholy hour. And to partake of these desserts is as holy as the whole church thing!

These two native desserts (watch the slide pictures above to see how they look like) are mainly made outof mochi rice ( a special kind of sweet, sticky variety of rice), flour, mixed with coconut milk, sugar and other ingredients I'm not sure about as I write this. The pleasure of eating a well-prepared kind is like eating foods fit for the angels.

The bibingka mixture is commonly cooked on a ceramic container, lined with banana leaves. Placed over hot coals to cook, the smell of the banana leaves burning assault your nose with such pleasure you hardly can concentrate on the priest's sermon. The temptation to skip the whole mass altogether sometimes plays up in the minds of the weak. Meaning me. So right after the mass, to eat bibingka, served with freshly grated coconut and melting margarine or butter on top, feels like penance over one's inattentiveness inside the church.

The demons are relentless. Temptations still abound. For apart from bibingka, the putobumbong are still waiting to be consumed. While its cousin bibingka is sort of cream or yellowish in appearance (because of the eggs in it), putobumbong is purplish and cooked in slender bamboo tubes. When cooked, they look like rolls of purple...purple what? I 'm not sure. They surely don't look like anything I've seen in western food tables.

They are also made outof special sticky kind of grains or rice, mixed with coconut milk, sugar and some vanilla. When cooked, it is so sticky yo need to tap the bamboo tube several times againstthe counter table to loosen the sweet, almost gooey mixture inside. Then serve it with freshly grated coconut as well, dripping with melting butter or margarine.

Despite how similar the preparations for these two holiday treats sound like, they sure have distinct tastes. Different from each other. But both very delicious, with unmistakable christmas flavor, Filipino style.

Attending the dawn masses while a religious exercise for many, is also a good social opportunity for the old and young alike. I think the older ones do it to fulfill piety duties publicly, while many teenagers (which included me once), find great opportunities to be with friends and play mischief. For what is youth without occasional mischief?

Many Filipino parents are strict and concerned about how young people, especially girls, behave and appear in public. Many girls go out escorted or chaperoned, or you're not allowed to go out! But since going to church is favored as a religious activity, parents loosen their rein a bit on the adolescents wanting to hear mass at dawn.

My sisters and I went many times without being chaperoned during Simbang Gabi since it is usual you go on big groups while walking to church. One of my brothers was old enough to be our "escort". What my parents did not know was as soon as our brother stepped out of our gate, he joins hisown friends, leaving me and my sister free to do as we please!

And that was part of the Misa ge Gallo fun for me. To be seen, and be able to see the boys we had crushes on, without the scrutinizing eyes of our parents. The boys also take advantage of this exciting opportunity to approach the girls they like without possible reproach by the older people.

So in just a short distance of walking, the scene for the young people transforms from piety into a scene straight form the movie "The WestSide Story". No gang fighting or much rivalry. Just throngs of young, excited young people avidly flirting to each other. Or simply having fun. Laughing. Singing. Give these young people a chance to socilaize and feel religious at the same time, it can be their favored sport.

For those not taking in this celebration, some may find Simbang Gabi to be too much noise too early in the morning. But it is easy for most people to remember the good reasons why this tradition persists. Misa de Gallo, or Simbang Gabi expresses the faith of many Filipinos. They believe, like many Christians that God is present in the simplest joys or anxieties of even life's humblest activities. That God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son to save us and give us everlasting life.

So, let the bells keep on ringing to break the pre-dawn silence to beckon the faithfuls, and the not so faithful alike, to come together, and offer a message of hope that God is alive and ever present in our world and beyond! MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL. HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!