How Philippine traditions have changed with the times

Many people of the present generation have no idea of how some time-honored Philippine traditions have changed through the years. Take the ongoing Ati-Atihan festivities, for example. For years, the Atis of Panay Island have been exercising this as some kind of ritual after soliciting food from the datus of Borneo. When the Spaniards came, the Santo Niño was integrated into the fiesta. And now, the Ati-Atihan has become a mixture of Catholic ritual, social activity, indigenous drama and tourist attraction.

The Filipino Christmas celebration, too, has significantly changed from the Spanish to the American times. Sad to say, Santa Claus is now the main personality projected on the very day of The Nativity. During Spanish times, Christmas presents were not given during Christmas time. They were presented during the Feast of the Three Kings to mark the day when the three wise men from the East presented the Infant Jesus with their respective gifts which were gold, frankincense and myrrh. That was the day of the Epiphany which officially marked the end of the Christmas festivity. Then the Catholic Church made the Epiphany a movable feast commemorated on the first Sunday of January that does not fall on a New Year’s day. Because of this, even the old song The Twelve Days of Christmas has now become obsolete. In the Philippines, it is only a prestigious club called Casino Español de Manila that still commemorates the Three Kings by having three of its members dress as Kings riding on horses and distributing gifts to streetchildren in Manila.

And now, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed Proclamation 1207 declaring December 28, the annual Feast of the Holy Innocents, as a special day dedicated to streetchildren and other abandoned, orphaned, abused and marginalized youth. The proclamation gives the rationale for its declaration:

"WHEREAS, Holy Innocents’ Day (December 28) commemorates the massacre of all children less than two years of age, as ordered by King Herod to make sure that Jesus did not survive;

"WHEREAS, the Holy Innocents were the very first saints and they died not only for Christ, but in place of Christ;

"WHEREAS, the abandoned and neglected children of today are the Holy Innocents of our times;

"WHEREAS, it is but fitting to declare Holy Innocents’ Day a special day dedicated to streetchildren and other abandoned, orphaned, abused and marginalized youth;

"WHEREAS, we must devote this special day as the starting point of solving our streetchildren problem and make possible a convergence of cooperativism and synergized cultural initiatives for vulnerable groups;

"WHEREAS, the focus on their needs, conditions and celebrating their capacity to social transformation and achievement would be inspiring to forge broader community and national support for advancing their welfare."

We are tying Biblical things to our present problems and conditions. The President’s proclamation will permanently make the problem of neglected children part and parcel of our Christmas celebration. It gives a Biblical event a contemporary meaning and interpretation. It will make our Christmas celebration even more Filipino because we are sure that we are the only nation in the world that has identified the Holy Innocents of Jesus Christ’s times to our present Christmas. In Old English, the Feast of the Holy Innocents was called Childermas.

We have one year to prepare the very first special Christmas celebration for streetchildren for Christmas 2007. We hope that all of Metro Manila and other cities will have a special program for these children by this time.