Phl top pick for most ‘Christmassy’ place in the world

MANILA, Philippines - If there were a competition for the most Christmas spirit in the world, the Philippines would have more than an even chance of winning, according to CNN.

A recent CNN iReport featured the Southeast Asian country as having the longest festive season, “and pulls no punches in its celebratory zeal for the period, with lavish light displays, masses, and festivals held throughout the country from September until January.”

In a related poll by the news network, Manila was among the top picks for the most Christmassy places on the planet.

Others on the list included Lapland, Finland; Strasbourg, France; Quebec, Canada; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and Dyker Heights, Brooklyn.

The Philippines is an overwhelmingly Christian nation, where 80 percent are Catholic, an influence of the four hundred years the country was a Spanish colony.

This results in devotion and faith being an intrinsic part of the holidays, the CNN report said, as one of the highlights of the season is a series of nine masses known as Simbang Gabi, culminating in the Christmas Eve mass.

It is common belief that anyone who makes a wish after completing the nine masses will have that wish granted.

As early as September the spectacular displays start popping up in malls, parks, open spaces, even on roadsides.

Interviewed by the cable network, student Ian Bordo of Laguna said more than anything the parol, or traditional lantern created by Francisco Estanislao in 1928 and originally made of bamboo and paper, symbolized the season.

“The parols are as important to Filipinos as the Christmas tree is to western culture – without parols, Christmas wouldn’t be complete,” he said.

“The lanterns were used by people to light their paths during the ritual Yuletide dawn masses called ‘Misa de Gallo’, because electricity was unavailable at the time in many rural areas.”

The present-day parol is now more likely to glow with electronics and at times dizzying colors, but the song remains the same – a guiding light to help one along the way rather than curse the darkness.

“The lanterns were used by people to light their paths... because electricity was unavailable at the time in many rural areas,” according to Bordo.

Another Laguna resident Stephanie Masalta said the parols were “comforting indication” that Christmas was near and that her town of San Pedro would soon be stringing up the bright lights.

“Even I cannot help myself from smiling whenever I pass by that street and think of how devoted Filipinos are in celebrating Christmas,” she told iReport.

“This happens only once a year, so residents combine their efforts to put them up.”