Boyhood Christmas before the ashes of Pinatubo came falling down

Christmas was so much simple then, long before Mt Pinatubo covered our childhood playgrounds with almost a meter of ashes from its hot bowels.

Pregnant Mary and Joseph. Painting by Badz Magsumbol.

Neighborhood kids went caroling with a limited repertoire of Christmas songs learned from grade school: Silent Night, Joy to the World, O Come All Ye Faithful, and Whispering Hope, this last one seemed to be, in my recollection, the favorite.  Ang Pasko ay Sumapit was an alien song in our Ilocano corner of Zambales province when info tech was still limited to the radio after six o'clock in the evening (electricity was available only at night) and later, the transistor. No one had a TV (black and white) set.

Carolers were happy to receive a few centavos: ten was already big deal. When nobody came down to give a little reward to the ad hoc kids' choir, the house owners were challenged through a song: "Bulong ti apatot / Pascuayo a naimot / Umulog ti makarurod / Ta narnaran mi ti dandanog!" [Leaves of the noni plant / are Christmas gifts for the selfish / Come down if you're angry / And we will pummel you with hand blows!]

Midnight mass on Christmas eve was enjoyed by the innocent minds because of the 'walking star'. The church lights were turned off, and a big lighted bamboo lantern floated down from the choir loft to the tableaux of images of Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, shepherds and the Three Kings, and an angel above them, at one front side of the altar.

That mass was strictly at midnight, not any earlier like today. The dawn masses were very early at four o'clock in the morning, which my father did not miss because an hour later, he'd take the bus to his work at the US naval base an hour away from our town. 

Mary and Joseph arrive at the manger. Painting by Badz Magsumbol.

Christmas day was really for children even if there were no malls or theme parks or fairs to spend the holiday. There were no high-tech toys to expect from relatives or god-parents (we were pioneers in recycling empty cans to toy cars). Children were on there own to ask for Christmas gifts, which were usually candies or suman (parents advised to bring bags for these native fare), around the barrio. God-parents gave at most ten centavos, a salapi (50 centavos) was already a fortune. 

Our family reunion was at an aunt's house. She was a widow of an American serviceman she married in Cavite before Japanese bombs fell at the start of the Second World War. She was in a better position to host a family gathering. She could buy goodies from the commissary in Subic Bay, hence, 'American' candies esp. M&M were our childhood treasures. Our luncheon table teemed with imported fruits, a privilege to American dependents at that time: apples and grapes.

What I remember fondly was the arroz Valenciana, which another aunt prepared only for the Christmas day reunion. So many light years between Christmas pasts and today as our nephew who took up culinary arts is now busy preparing the seafood paella for the family noche buena of Christmas 2015. 

Misa de Gallo starts at 8:30 this evening, and the feast to celebrate more than two thousand years of the birth of Jesus Christ would be around 10 o'clock.

Jesus, Maria y Josef. Painting by Badz Magsumbol.

Naimbag a Pacuayo [Ilocano]!  Maligayang Pasko [Filipino]! Merry Christmas [English]! Feliz Navidad [Hispanic]!

Lantern Parade: a living tradition of the University of the Philippines

Note: This photo-essay is the filam special feature of the 19-25 December 2014 edition of FilAm Star, the weekly 'newspaper for Filipinos in mainstream America' published in San Francisco, CA. There are more pictures in the paper, the pdf copy of which is available online at http://www.filamstar.net/images/stories/pdf/301.pdf

This "Kalesa" was judged the best of the 12 lantern floats
from the College  of  Fine Arts.

The 15th of December was the last day of final examinations week, hence, the last day of classes of the first semester in the new academic year of the national university that started in August.  This coincided with the day of the traditional annual Lantern Parade around the Diliman campus. To avoid disturbance to those taking the final hurdles in the afternoon, the university authorities had the festive parade start at six o’clock, two hours later than was customary.

The Lantern Parade sort of kicked in the synchronized Christmas holidays and semester break that will make up a month-long vacation for the UP academic community, the students and faculty.

The mid-afternoon was rainy but as soon as the rains stopped and the skies cleared, the festive participants, many of them costumed, from the different academic units, offices and organizations started assembling at the University Avenue with their colorful lanterns and floats.  The usual crowd of spectators also began spilling into their favorite viewing sites like the steps of Melchor and Palma Halls or behind the barricade fronting the reviewing deck of Quezon Hall.

This lantern float of the Institute of Islamic Studies was deemed
the best in the competition: a house of clear plastic bottles with
Muslim Southern Philippines decorative motifs.

This year’s December theme is “Pasundayag Diliman: Pag-uugat at Pagyayabong.”  The term “pasundayag” is a Cebuano word which means “celebration”.   The month started with the Pagiilaw sa Pasko at the Oblation Plaza on December 1 when the lights of the white lanterns of the University Avenue and the Plaza were turned on.  On December 13, Karolfest 2014, an inter-college choral competition for students and faculty/staff, was held at the UP Theatre. 

The Paligsahan ng Mga Parol, the popular Lantern Parade, of course, was the climax of the Pasundayag.

When it started in 1922, the Lantern Parade reflected the folk tradition of carrying lanterns to light the way to the dawn masses during the Spanish times.  Thence, it has evolved into an annual event shaped by the changing social and political climate in the university and the nation.  The use of modern technologies has likewise greatly altered the creation of lanterns and floats as well as the manner of visually presenting the themes or messages of the participating groups. 

Fine Arts lantern floats (clocwise from top left): Pandango sa Ilaw; Sitsiritsit Alibangbang;
Leron Leron Sinta; and Pen Pen De Sarapen.

The parade may be a collective expression for peace, harmony and understanding in the spirit of Christmas; definitely, it is a multi-sectoral celebration regardless of religion, political ideology and sexual orientation.  For many advocacy groups, it has become another platform for voicing protests against or concerns on issues affecting the university and the nation.

Thus, seeing Christians, Muslims, people of other faith, political groups like Kabataang Makabayan, labor unions like the Philippine Airlines Employees Association, UP Babaylan transgenders  from the LGBT sector, etcetera, did not pull surprises anymore in this year’s Lantern Parade.

Fine Arts lantern floats(clocwise from top left): Ang Pipit; Sarung Banggi; O Ilaw ;
and Bayan Ko.

The lanterns were up for competition, and the most creative made out of recycled materials were judged on originality, imagination and appropriateness to the parade theme.  Four prizes were at stake: the first prize worth Php25,000; the second at Php20,000 and the third at Php15,000.

The lantern floats of the participating units depicted their unique interpretation of the Pasundayag theme. The College of Arts and Letters highlighted palo-sebo, the Center of Women’s Studies palayok breaking, both for children at play during fiestas.  The lantern float of the Institute of Islamic Studies was deemed the best -- a house made of clear recyclable plastic water bottles with decorative motifs from southern Muslim Philippines.  The College of Engineering had a technology-driven lantern float depicting renewable energy; the sunflower bud bloomed fully to rotate as solar panels. This garnered the second best prize.

Fine Arts lantern floats: Tinikling (top) and
Tong Tong Pakitong-kitong (bottom).

For many years now, the College of Fine Arts has become Hall of Famers with their creative lanterns. They are exempted from competition; hence, their thematic lantern groupings now serve as the exciting finale of the grand parade. 

For this year, their twelve lanterns were interpretations of Filipino folksongs and kundimans like “O Ilaw”, “Pandanggo sa Ilaw”, “Tinikling”, “Leron, Leron, Sinta”, “Sitsiritsit, Alinbangbang”, “Ang Pipit”, “Kalesa” and “Sarung Banggi”, nationalistic anthems like “Bayan Ko” and “Alerta Katipunan”, and children chants like “Pen Pen De Sarapen”, “Tong Tong Pakitong-kitong”. The “Kalesa” was judged the best among them, and was awarded a special cash prize of Php25,000.

After all the prizes including those for the Karolfest (choral competition among musical groups in the campus) had been announced and awarded to the winners, the medley of “Pasko Na Naman” has been sang by the winning choirs, and the parting message from UP President Alfredo Pascual has been heard, the fireworks display from the Beta Epsilon Fraternity lit up the UP Diliman skies with loud cheers from the celebrators.

Fine Arts interpretation of Alerta Katipunan using puppet lanterns.

The fun did not actually end after the last burst of the colorful fireworks. Many trooped to the Sunken Garden for partying at the Maskipaps 2014.

‘Twas the eve of a long vacation for the UP community.

Maligayang Pasko, everyone!

Getting named Melchor/a, Gaspar/a, or Baltazar/a in old Paoay, Ilocos Norte

Melchora Aquino turned 201 yesterday.  According to her biographies, she was born on 06 January 1812.  In the old church calendar, that date was the feast of the Three Kings, or the Epiphany. It has become a moveable feast, but until today, the Spanish community still commemorates the visit of the magi Melchor, Gaspar and Balthazar (though there are no three kings in the nativity story) to the manger in Bethlehem.

In the popular song, 06 January is the 12th day of Christmas represented by "12 drummers drumming," which has nothing to do with the magi, but which stand for the "12 points of doctrine in the Apostles' Creed" (Richert).

In my research on the history of our Ilocano town, San Narciso in Zambales province, and on the genealogy of the town folks whose forefathers were migrants from Paoay, Ilocos Sur, I found out from the baptismal records of the San Agustin church there (in microfilm at the LDS Family History Center on Temple Drive, Quezon City) that children acquired their names on their baptismal day during the 1800s.

Each day had its own set name or names.  The female name derived from the male; hence, Melchor/Melchora, Gaspar/Gaspara and Baltzar/Baltazara on 06 January.  The records show that these "magi'-cal names were also used on baptismal days close to that date.

Part of baptismal record of 06 Jan 1813, Wednesday showing baptism of Balthazar and Melchora.

These are four pages of the baptismal records of 06 Jan 1816, Sunday  All the babies were either Balthazar or Balthazara.

These pages of the 10 Jan 1818, Tuesday, baptismal records had babies baptized as Melchor or Melchora.

Unless I see the baptismal record of Melchora Aquino, I will always think that she was baptized on 06 January 1812.  Being the birth record itself, that church document would tell me how many days old she was on her baptism from which I'll deduce her birth date.


References.

• Film No.1214241. Bautismos 1812-1823. Registros parroquiales,1758-1979 of the Catholic Church. Conversion of St. Augustine of Hippo (Paoay). Family History Center, Church of Latter Day Saints, Temple Drive, Quezon City.

• Richert, Scott. P. (n.d.).  What are the Twelve Days of Christmas? Myths and Reality.  Catholicism about.com. Retrieved from http://catholicism.about.com/od/Christmas/tp/What-Are-The-Twelve-Days-Of-Christmas.htm

Somber Christmas celebration during the Spanish colonial times

From a few documents we've come across at the National Archives and the Archdiocesan Archives of Manila, it appears that there was not much fun on Christmas during the Spanish times.  Santa Claus, Christmas trees and other trimmings arrived with the Americans to become part of Pinoy culture in the first half of the 1900s.  Christmas shopping and Christmas parties were not part of our lifestyle then.  

The mood of the season was somber, the focus on the spiritual starting from the feast of the Immaculada Concepcion, patroness of the country and of the cathedral, on the 8th of December until the feast of the Epiphany on the 6th of January. 

At the Manila Cathedral, they held 40 hours of jubilee for the Immaculate Conception.  The ordinates had specific assignments during the religious services from the 8th to the 10th of December.  In 1859, for example, ordinates Dn Jacinto Zamora and Dn Jose Burgos were assigned to keep watch before the Blessed Sacrament, Zamora on 9th December, 10:00-10:30 AM, and Burgos on the 10th, 6:30-7:00 AM.  The next year, they had the same assignments, Zamora during the early evening of the 8th and Burgos during the early morning shift. 

The religious mood can also be gleaned from the whole-page spread titled "Alegoria de la noche buena" in the 25 December 1875 issue of the El Oriente, an illustrated weekly on the sciences, literature, arts, etcetera.  The upper part depicted the events of Christmas: the trip to Jerusalem, the nativity, the epiphany and escape to Egypt.  The lower portion depicted two men tending to a flock of turkeys, people going to church, and a group gathered around a dining table. Did the noche buenas of yore have turkeys in the menu? 

"Alegoria de la noche buena"

An inside section featured the cultos religiosos (religious services) that informed readers of the daily schedules of these services in the various churches inside the walled city from the 19th (Sunday) to the the 25th (Saturday), Christmas day.

Schedule of religious services, 19-25 December 1875.

 According to the schedule, the daily misa de aguinaldo would continue to be celebrated in the Intramuros and Santo Domingo churches starting at 4:30 and 5:00 o'clock in the morning, respectively.

On the 24th, there would be a vigil of the nativity, and Christians are asked to do fasting and abstinence on that day. 

Christmas day would begin with a sung mass in almost all the churches at midnight in celebration of the ineffable mystery of the birth of Jesus, sung with all solemnity before the matins.

There was a time in our religious history, in the 1680s, when the archbishop prohibited the celebration of the misa de aguinaldo because the masses were contaminated "with practices that were superstitious, and contrary to the holy rites of the church" (Sanchez et al, 1683-89).   

But around a century later, Fray Pedro Murillo Velarde (1749) was already writing about the nine-day early morning masses being sung with great solemnity.  

In 1885, Fray Pedro Rosell (1885) was describing to his superior the religious ceremonies being held "to honor the birth of our Blessing, Jesus."  He wrote of the celebration of the immaculate conception "a week beforehand" followed by "a daily mass of the [Virgin Mary]," which we read as the nine-day dawn misas de aguinaldo.

"On the last day or the vigil of the feast," Rosell continued, "a pleasing, although simple Belen was made at one side of the presbytery in which were placed the images of the Child, Mary, and Joseph. Christmas eve came, and at eleven o'clock the bells were rung loudly, and from half past eleven until twelve, a continual ringing of bells two at a time announced to the people that the mass called Gallo was to be celebrated in memory of that holy hour in which the eternal Son of God the Father, made man in the most pure entrails of the Virgin Mary willed to be born on that poor and abandoned manger threshold [portal de Belen]. Hence when twelve o'clock had struck, the missa-cantata was said, which was followed by the adoration of the holy Child. That was made enjoyable by the singing of some fine Christmas carols. The twenty-fifth dawned bright and joyful."

It's 2013, and Christmas remains bright and joyful with both religious and commercial trimmings.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

References: 

• I.E.14 Libro de Gobierno Ecclesiastical (March 1846-May 1862).  Folder 2. Document 3044 (p. 194-198). Archdiocesan Archives of Manila.

• I.E.14 Libro de Gobierno Ecclesiastical (October 1852 - May 1862), 2⁰.  Folder 1. Doc. 3124 (p. 223).  Archdiocesan Archives of Manila.

•  El Oriente (1875, Dec 25). Alegoria de noche buena and Cultos Religiosos. SDS-23337 El Oriente 1875-76. National Archives of the Philippines.

• Sanchez, Juan, et al. (1683-89). Felipe Pardo as archbishop. The Pardo Controversy. The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 : explorations by early navigators, etc. (Blair, E.H. & Robertson, J. A., Eds., Bourne, E.G., Tr.).   39(1):245-246. Mandaluyong, Rizal: Cachos Hermanos, 1973.  Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/atd7328.0039.001 

• Velarde, P. M. (1749). Jesuit missions in the seventeenth century.  The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 : explorations by early navigators, etc. (Blair, E.H. & Robertson, J. A., Eds., Bourne, E.G., Tr.).   44(1):108-109.  Mandaluyong, Rizal: Cachos Hermanos, 1973.  Retrieved from  http://name.umdl.umich.edu/atd7328.0044.001

• Rosell, P. (1885, Apr 17). Letter from Father Pedro Rosell [S.J.] The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 : explorations by early navigators, etc. (Blair, E.H. & Robertson, J. A., Eds., Bourne, E.G., Tr.).   43(1):225-228.  Mandaluyong, Rizal: Cachos Hermanos, 1973.  Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/atd7328.0043.001

A misa de aguinaldo with cultural touches

We did not know that the traditional early morning misa de gallo and the misa de aguinaldo (Christmas eve mass) have become Christmas events at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) all these years. 

The cast of Simbang Gabi@d'CCP included the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philippine Madrigal Singers, the Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group, and the Our Lady of Sorrows parish.

Until we discovered these only last month when we saw a stage play there during the National Theater Festival.  We thought that the misa de aguinaldo at CCP would certainly be a great cultural departure from the ones we've attended at the open-air services at the military parade grandstand at Camp Aguinaldo, traditionally concluded with a message delivered by the Chief of Staff of the AFP himself.  For almost a decade, we've been spending Christmas at the camp with our brother-in-law, a Philippine Army official, and his family who were in residence there.  He retired early this year; hence no more simbang gabi in the military camp.

The misa at the main Nicanor Abelardo Theater of the CCP was indeed exciting, and it started very early too at 7:30 in the evening.  For several years now, it has been held at 9 or 10 o'clock depending on the preferred schedules of churches throughout the archipelago.  Well, it used to be 12 midnight when we were still in high school.
 

The Madz led the singing of the hymns during the misa de aguinaldo. Mary and Joseph of the Panunuluyan would later appear at the round niche at the backround, which in this picture is still covered by the big silver lighted lantern.

It began promptly with live music from the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra.  The full house of adults and children enjoyed listening to their rendition of familiar Christmas carols for half an hour.

The pregnant Mary and husband Joseph, portrayed by Ramon Obusan Folkloric troupers, sang their pleas for a lodging in the reenactment of the popular Christmas story about their search for a lodging place.

The mass goers were treated to something theatrical next.  The Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group performed the Panunuluyan -- with dialogues in both Pilipino and a Visayan dialect -- reenacting the search for an inn by the pregnant Mary and her husband Joseph in Bethlehem town.  The couple sang their request for lodging, and denied them by house owners posted in several places around the theater and onstage.  The couple appeared later with the iconic image of the baby Jesus when the big silver star moved away from the round niche at the stage background as the celebrant read the Gospel.
 

The couple appeared with the baby Jesus image as the celebrant read the Gospel.

The Philippine Madrigal Singers (the Madz!) led in the singing of the hymns during the mass. During the finale, they were joined by other choirs distributed around the theater in the singing of the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah, accompanied by Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra.

As the mass ended, Mary and Joseph with the baby Jesus image came down to the stage and were joined by the rest of the Obusan troupe as the Magi and shepherds to form the familiar belen tableaux. The adoration of the baby Jesus followed with the Madz singing carols in the background.

The adoration of the baby Jesus image.

Remembrance of Christmas past

This is a Filipinized version of the belen (Bethlehem, nativity scene).  The lechon view reminds that Christmas in the Philippines is an occasion for family reunions and a roasted pig is a center piece of the food table. [This belen is one in a collection on exhibit at the Arzobispado de Manila.]

More than half a century ago, Paskua (Christmas) to us kids in the old hometown seemed to take too long in coming.  When we learned to reckon its approach with the onset of the '-ber' months, we have already lost the pure, innocent joy of waiting.  

We can’t remember exactly what our great expectations were while the nights were turning colder, and we would need to wear a pranela (sweater) when we go caroling or simply prowling around with the neighborhood kids. 

We were told to behave properly so that Santa Claus would bring us gifts come Christmas.  We have no recollection if Santa Claus ever came at all through the windows or the galvanized iron roof of our house of buho walls and bamboo stairs, but there would be something inside the socks we were asked to hang before we went to sleep on Chrismas eve.

Our memory tells us that we always wore a white polo shirt on Christmas.  Inang took care, we now think, to shield us from the usual taunts, no matter how friendly these were, of older relatives that loud colors do not seemingly match our earth-brown skin tone.

In those days when we went to school in wooden clogs, and later in rubber sandals, Christmas was the only occasion when we had to wear shoes despite our loud protestations.  Many a time did we suffer blisters at the back of our feet just because we had to look our angelic best on Christmas day. The shoes could have been ill-fitting because they were bought based on the patterns traced around our feet on paper.  

In our six Christmases at the San Jose-Patrocinio Elementary School, our Christmas tree, just like in most of the pupils’ homes, was the lowly kuribetbet (a.k.a. pandakaki) shrub shorn of all its leaves.   Bands of green crepe paper cut in such manner as to yield a leafy effect were wound around the stem and branches producing an evergreen tree on which to hang colored, usually red, paper balls and bells.   

At home, we'd ask our Inang why we couldn’t have an aru-o (aguho, false pine) branch for a tree, just like in other houses.  We soon found out she didn't like the needles turning brown even before the Misa de Gallo or dawn masses have started.

In later years, the bare kuribetbet would be painted all white, probably as a matter of fashion rather than as tangible proof of one’s ‘dreaming of a white Christmas.’  In high school, we did this as a matter of convenience; it did not take long to finish it.

Industrial arts projects in December invariably would be a parol (lantern), usually the simple bamboo star.  We would cover our projects with colored Japanese paper or cellophane and attached the rayos (rays) made of the same paper at two adjacent points of the star.  Sometimes, we would put a rim attached to all five points of the star.  Some would put a belen picture at the middle, or some other decorative paper cut-outs all over.  When schools closed for the Christmas vacation, we would bring home our lanterns to be hung by the window.

The belen (nativity scene) was not yet a common Christmas home decoration during our growing up years.  We saw them only in the church without the baby in the manger until the misa de aguinaldo or midnight mass on Christmas eve.  Many times did we fail to keep awake for the midnight (yes, at twelve o'clock exactly) mass when the church was dimmed at some point and a lighted parol moved above us from the choir loft to the nativity scene by the altar.

Our generation started schooling with English as medium of instruction.  Our first Christmas song was “Silent Night.”  We were already in the university when we learned “Ang Pasko ay Sumapit.” Thus the Christmas jingles that came with the early evening air in our childhood days were the strains of ‘ol is cam, ol is brayt’ as we, the neighborhood kids, went house-to-house caroling about the oli impan (holy infant).   We could be happy with a five-centavo token from each house.

Stingy house owners would get a musical rapping from us --

            Bulong ti apatot,                                   Leaves of apatot plant,

            Paskuayo a naimot.                              Gifts to stingy people.

            Umulog ti makarurod                           Come down if your angy,

            Ta narnaran ti dandanog.                    And we’ll beat you with our fists.

-- as we ran away, scared that they would come down and face our dare. 

When we taught at a hometown high school in the early 70s, we sang with the Saint Cecilia’s Choir of our Roman Catholic parish. This was when we learned to sing an antique Ilocano carol, simply called 'Rambakan' (Celebrate).   Most probably, it was the popular song among the town folks before they began to love the carols that they learned from the Americans during what they reminisced as peacetime before the second world war. 

Some words in the lyrics are archaic Ilocano.  The chorus of the indigenous carol is an invitation to celebrate the Lord’s birth and to proclaim his power and glory –

Rambakan tay a pada-pada                     Let us all celebrate

Panakay-yanak to Dios  ditoy daga           The birth of God on earth.

Umadani tay met kenkuana                       Let us all go to Him

Idir-i tay tan-ok ken gloriana                     proclaiming his power and glory.

The two narrative stanzas speak of His humility and mercy --

Ay dimtengen a ti Dios Apo                      Ay, the Lord God has come

Simnek kaasi na kadatayo.                       Because of His mercy to all of us.

Ti Mesias manipud ngato                         The Messiah from above

Immay nga'd la makipagbiag                        came down to live with us.

     kadatayo.

Maysa a rukib a paglinungan                     A cave that serves as shed

Ti kinayatna nga makapanganakan,           He preferred to be born in;

Ket kuloong met laeng piman                      And merely a manger

Ti inna pinili a nagid-daan.                        He chose to sleep in.

Before “Ang Pasko ay Sumapit” became the de rigeur anthem at the close of the nine-day Christmas masses, churchgoers sang the “Rambakan” in cheerful chorus as they troop out of church, greeting each and everyone along the way with “Naimbag a Paskuayo!” 

Early morning of Christmas day, children went around town greeting household owners with Paskuami, apo! (Our gifts, sir!)  Those were the days when they give candies so we had pockets full of them by mid-morning. We also expected but we dreaded receiving native suman, too bulky to carry around even if one had a paper bag. We were asked to go and greet our godparents but we were too shy to do that. On a few occasions we met them, we got a few centavos (a peso was a fortune before) with instructions to save them for tomorrow.

For all the years we had a Christmas lunch with our mother's siblings and their families, there was always lechon. And arroz valenciana, an aunt's specialty.  We didn't have fruit salad, but we had grapes, apples and oranges that another aunt, widow of an American serviceman, had the privilege to buy from the US naval base commissary.

Horses are part of our remembrance of Christmas past in our old hometown.

One event we used to love watching was the juego de anillo during the fiesta of barrio San Jose on Christmas day.  The competitors raced on horses to get to the rings hanging at the finish line. 

Christmas in our town ended on January 6, feast of the Magi, fiesta day of barrio Alusiis, when three of their menfolk dressed up as Melchor, Gaspar and Baltazar, who led the parade around town astride horses.

Westernization/Americanization of Philippine Christmas Gift-Giving

In our previous post, we cited Alvaro Martinez's account that by the 1930s, the Filipino tradition of gift-giving at Christmas time had been westernized.  He said that only children used to be the recipients of  gifts from relatives and godparents.  Perhaps, this still lingers in the Filipino consciousness when we hear about Christmas being "para sa mga bata" (for children only) even if we all scour the malls and the tiangges for presents to adults as well.

There were no shopping malls.  We can imagine mothers with their daughters trooping to Phil. Education Company to look at the dolls with names like Miss Kiss Me, Little Miss and Ma-ma.  Source:  Philippine Magazine (Nov 1929).

Mary Macdonald's Suggestion for Christmas Shopping in her The Philippine Home corner in the December 1929 issue of Philippine Magazine confirms that the Americans clearly influenced the transformation of Philippine Christmas into what our generation (post-WW2) became accustomed to.  This includes the expensive presence of Santa Claus in the picture.  

This store in Escolta had mostly sports items to suggest for the gift-giving to children and adults.  Source:  Philippine Magazine (Nov 1929).

She was talking about gifts for children, mothers and fathers.  We may infer that she was addressing the American community, and the Filipino readers of the magazine, which comprised the educated and well-off, the new middle class and the old rich, at that time.  Thus when she said "children everywhere are talking about Christmas, and what they want Santa Claus to bring them", she could have been referring to the children of the privileged class.  

 

Meralco suggested electrical appliances as Christmas gifts.  Source:  Philippine Magazine (Dec 1929).

 Let's remember that the democratized public school system started the osmosis of American culture and lifestyle into the Filipino mind. By the 1930s, Christmas was already party time for American business in the Philippines.  If we look at the advertisements at that time, the target market was the affluent class.  In due time, as we all see every year, the frenzy for buying (and expecting) gifts spread to all social classes. 

No National Book Store then but PECO where you can pick up Hemingway's 'A Farewell to Arms', a novel set during the first world war, as a Christmas gift.  Source:  Philippine Magazine (Nov 1929).

 What Macdonald wrote then still rings true today:  "How many of us are doing our Christmas shopping early?  A great deal of confusion and money can be saved if we will take time to figure out how much money can be allowed for Christmas spending and apportion it out accordingly."  She went on to say that doing it early affords the shoppers "new, fresh stocks choose from" and spares them the fatigue from "jostling with the last-minute crowds."

Jewelry for gifts. Source: Philippine Magazine (Nov 1929).

She suggested these gifts for small boys--instructive building blocks instead of the cheap mechanical toy, and for the little girls--a pair of blunt scissors with a set of paper dolls to be cut out, and the bright-colored papers from which to cut dresses instead of more expensive things. The more expensive toys around that time could be "a pair of roller skates or a tricycle or those fascinating two-wheeled side-walk bicycles" for the boys, and lovely dolls for the girls.

Today, of course, we get a variety of goods for young kids from the local franchise of Toys R Us and the distributors of Made In China playthings.

"Books are most acceptable," she wrote.  This is a timeless suggestion. Today, there is a great body of children's literature written by Filipino authors around Philippine themes.

Suggested gift items for the grown-up girls included "lovely brush and comb sets in colors to match her room, and the most fascinating organdie boudoir pillows for the dainty bed; a new dress; and a small rug for her room."  Obviously, the girl in Macdonald's mind was not a provincial girl living in a nipa hut.   

Shoes.  Source:  Philippine Magazine (Nov 1929).

And for boy entering his teens:  a book about pirates, a new Boy Scouts outfit, an inexpensive violin, or a new bicycle.  Not a farmer's son, this boy.

Macdonald was not referring to our grandmother when she was looking at "beautiful pieces of pottery for the living room in colors to harmonize with the draperies ... attractive bedspreads and bolsters, or perhaps some extra pieces of silverware ."  Our grandma could have been happy if she got from our grandpa "beautiful hand-embroidered Philippine handkerchiefs."  But then, she could not have had everyday use for them.

Our maternal grandpa was literate and he owned horses (all butchered during the second world war), but we don't know if he subscribed to the Philippine Magazine, Graphic or Philippines Free Press. If he did, he could have loved our grandma "renewing the subscription for his favorite magazine" as a gift.  He could have read El Filipino though because his best friend helped set up this short-lived news-magazine in the mid-1920s.  Could he have appreciated a  book on the first world war, as suggested by Macdonald?  Others could have wished to receive "a new tie-clasp, and socks and handkerchiefs." 

Almost a century before the coming of digital cameras:  A choice of cameras from Kodak and Agfa. (Source: Philippine Magazine (Nov 1929).

 Spread out in this article are several advertisements for gift items in the 1930s.  Aside from these, there could have come others to the variety to choose from until the second world war possibly halted albeit temporarily the Americanization of Filipino Christmas.

Something Filipiniana even then. Shellcraft still sells abroad today.  Source:  Philippine Magazine (Nov 1929).

We know that there was no stopping the transformation of Philippine Christmas after the war with other foreign influences coming in. It's gone global too bearing gifts of bibingka, lechon and suman pascua (native delicacy among Zambales Ilokanos) and other regional delicacies to foreign hosts of Filipino communities.

Christmas cards from PECO.  Source:  Philippine Magazine (Dec 1929).

Today's Update of Philippine Christmas circa 1930s

Illustration by Pablo Amorsolo of Alvaro Martinez's  Reminiscences of Philippine Christmas in the December 1930 issue of the Philippine Magazine

In December 1930, Alvaro Martinez was already lamenting that "many beautiful practices connected with the observance of Christmas in the Philippines are slowly passing away."

After eighty years, these practices may only be alive in the ganito kami noon (this is what we were) stories of surviving great-grandparents of today's generation, or they have morphed into variants shaped by the dictates of Christmas commerce and the influences of foreign, specifically American, culture such as the Santa Claus hype.  

Martinez, 1930:  "The Philippine aguinaldo differs or differed from the Western Christmas gift in that it is given only to younger children, and usually not by the parents but by other relatives and friends. Godmothers and godfathers were especially called upon to bestow upon their godsons or goddaughters substantial aguinaldos at Christmas.  These took the form of money, eatables, or toys. It was the common practice on Christmas Eve to change paper bills into small coins for distribution to the children who were sure to call the next day. Paper bags filled with fruits, nuts, and candies were prepared for the older children who accompanied their younger brothers and sisters. They were supposed to be too old to receive their aguinaldos in money." 

Our aside:  In the days before the second world war, as borne by church records, a baby girl has only a ninang (godmother) and a baby boy a ninong (godfather) during his baptism.  It was rare to have both a ninong and ninang.  In one case we found in the baptismal book of the early 1890s in San Narciso, Zambales, the son of a cabeza de barangay was baptized with the gobernadorcillo and his wife as godparents. 

Update 2010:  'Aguinaldo' is archaic; it's now 'Christmas gift' or 'regalo' for all--members of the family, relatives, friends, officemates, service providers (househelp, messengers, garbage collectors, village security guards, et cetera).

Thus, gift buying is stressful in many ways (Christmas is a stressed season, an American newspaper said so in a front page last week) but 'tis good for the business in malls or tiangges thickly crowded with shoppers till the midnight.

We think that having multiple godparents (baptisms and weddings) a.k.a sponsors is a post-World War 2 phenomenon, and this could be just circa 1970s.  We can't help being co-sponsor every now and then with new faces, may be a barangay kagawad or a senator, or a popular movie or entertainment personality.

We hate to be in the Cubao area in the late afternoon of December 25 because we don't like to see the sight of tired mothers saddled with plastic bags of gifts tongue-lashing and dragging disconsolate children to the jeepney stop for the ride home.  We saw them in the morning, all their faces etched with thrill and excitement, waiting for the rides to bring them to their kids' ninongs and ninangs around the metropolis.  At the end of Christmas day, was it worth traveling to and fro just so the kids' would get a gift from their multiple sponsors? 

Martinez, 1930:   "The money collected by the children in aguinaldos was either placed in coconut alcancias to become a part of the children's savings or was spent for clothing and other necessities. In the case of some poor families, the money was sometimes used to help meet the family expenses." 

Update 2010:   There may be modern variants of the coconut 'bank'.  For the rich kids, the cash gifts may go for the latest electronic gadgets.  Yes, it's still true, some poor kids become bread winners as soon as the -ber months set in.  In shopping areas or public transport routes, there would be street children singing a carol and expecting a dole-out.  

Martinez, 1930:  "For the children, much of the thrill of Christmas has gone with the passing away of the custom so prevalent in former years of preparing a special new suit or dress for the day. Mothers saved for months to buy their children new clothes, no matter how poor in quality they might be. The buying of shoes was kept off as long as possible in order that the children might all have a new pair at Christmas. Christmas then stood out from the rest of the year.

"Children stayed up late on Christmas Eve making their preparations for the next day. Their new clothing was placed on chairs, neatly folded and ready for the next morning, and the new shoes taken out of their boxes and put beneath them together with the new socks or stockings. The route to be taken in visiting relatives and friends was also discussed and the customary Christmas greeting of Magandang Pasko Po was practiced.

"Nowadays good clothing is used for every day wear, so there is nothing for special occasions." 

Our aside:  When we were growing up, this was true for provincial kids like us.  We remember only two occasions when we get to wear brand new shoes--Christmas and graduation day.  Leather shoes were not often worn to school because wooden shoes or Japanese sandals would do.

Our mother and her close friends would take a day off from house chores and go to a bazaar in Olongapo for a bit of shopping for the children's and husband's clothes.  She'd come home with a white polo shirt for me; it was always white.  She was a seamstress; hence, my sisters would have newly sewn dresses (sometimes done just before getting dressed up for the midnight mass.) 

Update 2010:  Shopping, shopping, shopping for expensive signature stuff using saved allowances, advance cash gifts from parents/godparents/siblings and/or remittances of OFWs in the family; or for pseudo-signatures in the pirate market.

Thank God, some modern-day godchildren still pay respect to their godparents by doing the mano ritual (they take your hand and have it touch their forehead briefly), and they need not say 'Magandang Pasko Po.'

The linggo on the streets is different: Meri Krismas! Kahit barya lang, kuya. (Some money, big brother!.  Barya in the old days was a few centavos; today, barya may mean a one, five or ten peso coin). 

Martinez, 1930:  "As the children and their elders dressed up for Christmas, so were the houses furbished. A general cleaning began several days before Christmas. The busy housewife used her retazos (remnants) that had accumulated to make new curtains for the doors and windows. The bamboo floor was scrubbed with lihia (wood ashes), then polished by means of banana leaves and coconut husks. The husband and elder sons busied themselves in the making of lanterns which were hung in the windows and kept lighted from the first night of the simbang gabi or early morning mass to the new year. Every house was hung with lanterns, giving the street a really festival air. These lanterns, shaped like stars, flowers, fishes, airplanes, or boats, and others with moving figures revolving within them, were much more interesting than the electric lights used nowadays." 

Update 2010:  We learn from here that Christmas season was purely a December affair.  The lanterns were hang and lit only from December 16 to January 1!

Eighty years ago, their lanterns have taken various designs already. Through the years there could have been fads from which lantern designs were derived.  The novelties we find these recent times have something to do with using recyclable materials in keeping with international advocacies to keep planet Earth green.

UP Centennial Lantern Parade, Dec. 2008.  Lanterns look like colorful jellyfishes.

Of course, the lantern has also become the highlight of their own parades.  The Lantern parade of the University of the Philippines has become a traditional event before the students go home for their Christmas holiday. It's been transported to San Francisco where the Filipinos at the South of Market area have been holding a Parol Festival for the last eight years.

Flyer for the 8th San Francisco Parol Lantern Festival & Parade.

Another thing to note:  there's no mention of decorating Christmas trees. There were no Christmas trees in Filipino homes before the second world war? 

Giant Christmas tree at the Araneta Center.

Martinez, 1930:  "Brass bands were much in evidence during the season. They were usually hired by the churches to go around early in the morning to wake up the people for the mass. On Christmas Eve and on Christmas, the bands paraded the streets on their own account, stopping before the different houses to play a piece or two, and receive some sort of gift in return. This was usually made in the form of money or cigars. Children followed these bands as they make their rounds. Brass band competitions lasting till the next morning were held in some localities." 

Update 2010:   Brass bands have been missed for a long time.  We don't remember our town band whether they made the rounds before or after the morning mass.  But if there are bands going around, there would always be children tailing them and having fun. 

Martinez, 1930:  "The simbang gabi has lost much of its glamour. Attendance has dwindled a great deal in the past few years. People seem to prefer to stay in their beds these nights." 

Update 2010:   Probably, this was a sweeping generalization.  Simbang gabi remains a big-attendance event.  

The hours have changed though.  Before the martial law years, morning mass was really early at 4am.  It was moved later during the curfew years.  

We've seen how the simbang gabi has changed time schedules as well from midnight to 9 o'clock last year. We think this is just right; economics and nutritional requirements dictate just one late dinner on Christmas eve. 

Martinez, 1930:  The bibingkahans at the street corners and on empty lots provided places where the people coming home from church could stop to satisfy the cravings of their stomachs. Long rows of crude tables and wooden benches stood under canopies of cloth or leaves. The bibingkas (rice cakes) were served with hot tea. This custom, too, is losing popularity, perhaps due to the more modem restaurants and refreshment parlors. 

Bibingkahan in a commercial center using traditional cooking technology.

Update 2010:  We've seen the resurgence of bibingkahans everywhere using both traditional and modern baking techniques.  We've seen also variants of the original bibingka mix--new flavors and some add-ons.  In MetroManila, we're still confused where to go buy the special ube bibingka; is it Bibingkinitan or Bibingkahon?

Of course, there are a lot of baked choices these days like quick-melt ensaymadas, mamons, cakes and dough-nuts. 

Martinez, 1930:  Church goers lingered around after attending church, and many stayed up all night, the streets and plazas and the beaches and other open places were filled with people. There was always much talk and fun. Nowadays people hurry to their homes after the mass.  

Update 2010:  After the early morning mass, people hurry home or to their places of work.  Excursions to beaches and other tourist places are planned sometime during the holiday season. 

Martinez, 1930:  The lechon, or roasted pig, was as much a part of the Christmas celebration in the Philippines as the turkey is of Thanksgiving Day in America. It was a beautiful as well as common sight to see a slowly browning pig turning on a long bamboo pole above live coals. Later the roasted pigs could be seen carried by two men on the same pole on which it was roasted to some lucky family's table. Choice parts were presented to neighbors and friends. Poorer people bought parts of a roasted pig in local restaurants commonly called carihans.

Alas, the lech6n, too, is slowly losing ground. People no longer take the trouble to prepare something special for Christmas. It is easier to go to a panciteria, and, in the courses offered there, roast pig no longer occupies the place of honor.  

Update 2010:  Nope, lechon is still the desired centerpiece during the family reunions on Christmas day. 

For midnight dinners though, it's hamon.  That's the reason why this popular hamon shop in Quiapo or Binondo does not sleep at all when the season starts.  There's a great demand for it.  Good enough substitute for gift-giving are the boxed hams in the groceries.

There's no lack for meats for Christmas celebrations: roasted chicken or liempo from Andok's or other similar stalls for those who have to bring home the family meal.

For those with a slim budget for a family dinner, there's always a choice among the popular fast food centers--Jollibee, McDo, Chowking, and lately, Mang Inasal, where you eat all the rice you can--and the pizza huts, if a family size pie would be sufficient to brighten up the spirit of Christmas. 

Martinez, 1930:  "What next shall we lose?" 

Update 2010:  "What is lost, and must be recovered?"  Simple:  the meaning of Christmas.  Did the child born in a manger 2,010 years ago morphed into Santa Claus?

Reference:  

Martinez, Alvaro. (1930, December). Reminiscences on Philippine Christmas . Philippine magazine.   27:7(417, 484-85).  Manila: Philippine Education Co. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/acd5869.0027.001