Christmas in
the Phillipines

FILIPINO: Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon sa inyong lahat!

FILIPINO (dialect:"Tagalog"): Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon sa inyong lahat!

Please note: This site is currently under construction. It should be finished by 12/18.

Email from the Phillipines(s)


Hear from the people themselves how they spend their Christmas:


From: Tom Devries tdevries@cdo.weblinq.com
To: CVC Science Lab
Subject: Christmas Prayer Requests for the Phillipines
Date: Wednesday, December 17, 1997 4:50 PM

Hi Bill,

"Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon sa inyong lahat!"

That sounds like Tagalog to me. Here in Cagayan de Oro City we speak Cebuano, but I can still read your greeting.

Christmas season iis a very busy time for me, but I will try to give you a bit of information. As for prayer requests, pray for the nation. There are two major problems. First is El Nino. Rainfall is off by 40% nationally and we have only had one or two good rains here in the last 4 months -- and this is supposed to be the rainy season. A very poor rice havest is being predicted. If that happens, it will hit the poor people hard. Second is the economic problems hitting all of Asia. The peso has dropped about almost 50% in the last 5 months and the stock market has dropped almost as much. While the Philippines has handled all of this relatively well, we pray that it does not continue.

As for Christmas in the Philippines... here are some random thoughts and reflections.

  1. Christmas here is hot. Having been raised in Michigan, it always seems strange to celebrate Christmas in 90 degree weather.
  2. Christmas here is noisy. The people love to light off firecrackers in the month of December, particularly from Dec. 24 - Jan. 1. On Christmas eve and New Year's, so many firecrackers go off that it sounds like a war. At midnight, the noise of the firecrackers almost becomes a roar instead of individual bangs. Also they are very big firecrackers, much larger than most firecrackers in the USA. Unfortunately, that also makes it dangerous. Thousands of people are injured every year by these firecrackers.
  3. Christmas here is long. In the USA it used to be that the Christmas season started the day after Thanksgiving. (I know that that is changing.) Here Christmas is the "ber" months (not the burr) as in SeptemBER, OctoBER, NovemBER, and DecemBER. So Christmas decorations, etc. start showing up in stores in September. Many of the things that one would see in the States are also here: Christmas lights, Stanta, Christmas trees, decorations, Christmas music in the malls, Christmas displays, etc. In the malls, the Christmas music is played loud, though I can never understand why the song "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" is played so often. Usually sweat is running down my back as I hear it played. I suppose they play it because here one can only dream about it.
  4. Christmas is the time for beggars. We live in a decent sized city (about 400,000 - 500,000). Traditionally people from the mountains and remote areas come into the city in the month of December to beg. They will walk the streets banging home made drums or other noise makers and ask for money. Some play guitars or traditional instuments. Some will go in residential areas, others will work the business district, and others will beg in major street intersections. Those who beg at street intersections will wait for the light to turn red and then walk up to cars and tap on the windows asking for money. Those in residential areas will sing at the gates of houses and call out "Maayong Pasko" (Merry Christmas), hoping for gifts of money or clothes.
  5. Christmas is a time for carolers. Beyond the beggars, many local people carol in their neighborhoods. Some do it as a group/club (like a church youth group) to raise money. Some, especially the younger children, do it more like "trick or treat" for candy or a few coins to buy candy. Some do it to raise money for Christmas parties. The official time for this type of caroling is Dec. 16 - 24.
  6. Christmas is a time of processions. At this time of the year the Catholic church organizes processions. These processions are either late at night or very early in the morning, 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. The start in a neighborhood and proceed to the cathedral. They go down the roads chanting as the proceed.
  7. Christmas is a time of parties. In some ways Christmas is like Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, and Christmas all together. Many churches celebrate Christmas and Thankgiving at the same service -- just combine it. Even if they separate the two, they are both celebrated in December with Thanksgiving being the week before Christmas. (At least that is the local practice -- I don't know about the northern Philippines.) At these parties instead of having a whole roasted turkey in the center of the table, here they have a whole roasted pig. The pig is a young pig. The most prized part is the crispy skin -- which they eat like hard potato chips -- and the fat.
  8. Christmas is a time of traffic jams. The traffic is always busy in the Philippines but in the month of December traffic is very very bad. In town Often I can walk almost as fast as I can drive around.
    Well I hope that this is helpful.

    Have a blessed Christmas,

    Tom De Vries,

    Cagayan de Oro, Philippines 

    From: Ruel 
To: cvchs@cvc.org
Subject: My country is missing
Date: Monday, December 15, 1997 10:13 PM

Dear CVC,

Greetings!!!

I have visited your homepage it is very amusing and educating. Good work
people!!! but i noticed that my country is not listed on your Christmas
celebration. I would like to give some details of how we (Filipino)
celebrate this wonderful event of the year.

Christmas in the Philippines is the longest time of the year. It begins
in September. Radio Stations are airing Christmas songs from time to
time... and it ends on the feast of Three Kings, usually the first
sunday of January. We have our traditional "Misa de Gallo" (midnight
mass). The mass is heard early in the morning (before roosters crow)
from Dec. 16 up to Dec. 24, Christmas Eve. After hearing the mass, we
treat ourselves for a "kakanin" (native desserts) like "puto-bumbong"
and "bibingka" (cake made from rice) with matching "salabat" (ginger
tea). Christmas in our country is not complete without different
Christmas Lanterns hanging on every house. Each house boasts of its
glamoruous Christmas Lanterns. And of course, we have our carolers
singing on every house. Adn on Christmas Ever, we have our "noche buena"
(midnight feast), where families and relatives unite for this occassion.
Different foods on the table. At the strike of midnight (Christmas Day),
everyone gathers on the table and pray to our Lord Jesus Christ for the
life he gave to each one of us and for the blessing he has given for the
whole year. Every family now in my country thank HIM that He gave His
life for us to have an eternal life and make this celebration possible.

And there are more. From the western-influenced Theme Parks to Discos.
We truly say that we celebrate the Christmas Season with pride and joy.

"Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon sa inyong lahat"

Merry Christmas and a Properous New Year to all !!!

Ruel aka "Ghost"

    from Ruel:
    Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon sa inyong lahat 
    From: crwm@jmf.org.ph
To: CVC Science Lab 
Subject: How to Pronounce Tagalog "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year"
Date: Wednesday, December 17, 1997 1:12 AM


Dear Bill,
We do not have a sound system, so I,( Mrs. Baas, missionary with my 
husband here in the Philippines with CRWM) thought I would give 
you the phonetic spelling of the greeting, just in case you do not 
get connected to any sound system. It is Maa-lee-guy-young Paasco 
aat Maan-ee-gong Baago-ng (ng sound is a n with a swallowed up g sounds 
like "ngh" but it is prounouced quickly so the H is not heard. 
Taa oon  saa  eenyong  laa-haat. In Tagalog all the vowels are opened and 
the "i" is prounouced as " ee".  I hope this is a bit of help. Even 
the word Taagaaloog is often mispronounced by us foreignors. We say 
Tag a log. Just for what it's worth. Have a wonderful Christmas 
celebrating our Savior's coming to us. Love, Carolyn Baas

    From: Dux Raymond Sy
    To: CVC Science Lab
    Subject: Tagalog wav file
    Date: Tuesday, December 16, 1997 5:59 AM

    The sound file translation:
    " Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all"
    The sound file says:
    Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon sa inyong lahat


    Dux Raymond Sy

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