In PH, Christmas Begins In September – And Reigns Mostly In The Heart

In the Philippines, the Christmas season began Wednesday, 01 September 2021. How celebratory can that be!?

We Filipinos are a unique people. We must be the most absorbent layer of humanity you can find anywhere in the universe, having in/visible (and audible) Spanish and American (and Japanese?) influences around and inside us.

My parents (Dionisio Hilario and Sixta Agapito) and we three children (Emilio, Frank and Brillita) lived in the rural village of Sanchez in the town of Asingan in the province of Pangasinan, northern Luzon, Philippines. We were neither poor nor rich. The most luxurious item we ever bought was a crankable phonograph player, a Victrolaif I’m not mistaken. I’m talking of the 1950s, from elementary grades to high school. We did not even have a transistor radio.

And we never exchanged gifts! My father always made sure we had a “Christmas Tree” – which was always the top of a pine tree coming from Baguio City, where he had a family friend I have forgotten the family name of. (Helping in that family’s mechanical repair business, Emilio finished his high school there.)

Every year we had the proper branch of a pine tree, Pinus kesiya, native of the Philippines, a “Christmas tree,” we called it, but we never had any exchange of gifts. Nonetheless, we children could go around the neighborhood, sing Christmas songs, English and Tagalog and Ilocano, and receive some cash, and be happy in sharing the coins.

But where was the Christmas Love? It was in the heart.

In the above image, you can see a merchant arranging his wares – star-shaped lanterns most Filipinos call “parol.” At home in Asingan, we spoke of the English name “star” that came with “Christmas” and the “Christmas tree.” At home, I took care of the signs “Merry Christmas” and “Happy New Year.” English, yes. Even my unschooled mother said “Krismas.” But no exchanging of gifts.

Were we less Christians? (I don’t know of any family in our village who did exchange gifts among the members.)

It was enough for us to remember that Someone was born on Christmas Day, or some such day, the Son of God, who rules the Earth and our lives. We tried to follow his Ten Commandments, whether we exchanged gifts at Christmas time or not.

And the rest of the year? Jose Mari Chan is in my mind, the Filipino singer symbol of Christmas. This time I’ll sing the “September Song” (from the “Album: Kurt Weill: Berlin & American Theater Songs”):

Oh it's a long, long while
from May 'till December
And the days grow short
When you reach September.
When the Autumn weather
turns the leaves to flame
One hasn't got time
For the waiting game.

For the days dwindle down
To a precious few...
September... November...
And these few precious days
I'll spend with you.
These precious days
I'll spend with you.

I’ll be 81 on the 17th. To my family: God willing, I’ll spend the next 20 years with you, and you, and you ……!@517