In a few hours, it will be Christmas day again . . . About the same time in Brunei last year, I was in a last-minute rush to prepare stuff for my entry to the 5th Edition of Lasang Pinoy Food Blogging Event called Pinoy Christmas Around The World hosted by none other than moi here at Lafang!

For one who never really celebrates Christmas, it was both a challenge and fun coming up with something on my table. This time around and nearly nine months after arriving back home for good, I didn’t have to face any rush or last-minute decision for the holidays.

As I sit in what has become my ‘ubiquitous’ corner in the ‘orfanage,’ I could not help but write a few notes about some familiar Christmas scenarios in the Philippines as I experience them once again after fourteen years . . .

Christmas in the Philippines is indeed very long! Having spent long years overseas as an expat, Christmas was just another day [especially where I was based] and preparations start only in early December, if ever we were ‘allowed’ to make the season part of the hotel yearend promotions. Here, Christmas is the “BER” months [not the burr] as in SeptemBER, OctoBER, NovemBER, and DecemBER. Christmas decorations start showing up in stores as early as September. Many of the things that one would see in the Western world are also here: Christmas lights, Santa, Christmas trees, decorations, and Christmas music played out loud in the malls. Over the airwaves, Christmas music is played too, with Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” played so often - usually with sweat running down your back as you hear it played.

Christmas here is noisy, too. Filipinos love to light off firecrackers in the month of December, particularly from December 24 to January 1. Malls around the metropolis have their own fireworks displays, too, in the evenings. On Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, millions of firecrackers go off it sounds like a war. At midnight, the noise of the firecrackers almost becomes a roar instead of individual bangs.

Christmas is a time for carolers and cumbancheros. Many Pinoys carol in their neighborhoods. Some do it as a group/club [i.e., a church youth group] to raise funds. The younger children and itinerant street urchins, do it more like “trick or treat” for candies and little presents, or a few coins to buy candy. Others do it to raise money for Christmas parties.

Christmas is shopping madness. Despite economic challenges, Christmas in the Philippines is as bright and colourful as ever. As the excitement mounts — stores and bazaars everywhere outdo each other in the most colourful décor, gimmickry, and merchandise during special sale periods with shoppers hoarding everything and anything they could get their hands on with mile-long lists of food and presents to prepare for everyone.

Christmas is a time for food trip. Beyond the shopping extravaganzas, Pinoys tend to indulge on food and eat more than the usual – whether in restaurants or in endless pre-Christmas parties thrown everywhere. Food, apart from celebrating Jesus’ birth, becomes the center of gatherings on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day itself shared with family and friends. Food is also one of the customary gifts one would receive during this season, which normally do not even last enough to reach Christmas Eve. By this time, Pinoys have already put on some weight as a result of many sinful gastronomic feasts!

Have a Merry Christmas!

Technorati Tags: christmas, pinoy+christmas, filipino+tradition+culture