Christmas in Cebu in yesteryears

Filipinos have always celebrated Christmas with gusto. One unique feature of our culture is the fact that we celebrate Christmas for four months, starting on September 1 each year. For many years, the start of the “ber” months in the Philippines meant that Christmas lanterns, trees, and other decorations start cropping up everywhere, with Christmas carols being played on the radio. Beginning in 1991, a year after its release, Jose Mari Chan’s “Christmas in Our Hearts” became a constant presence every Christmas season in the Philippines. With Christmas just a few days from now, let’s look back to how Christmas was celebrated in Cebu in years past.

While the history of Christmas celebration in the Philippines has not been explored at length, we know from available historical references that the Spaniards were able to successfully integrate Christmas into the yearly cycle of festivities in Mexico by the end of the sixteenth century. Christmas at that time meant celebrating it in art, dances, and song; people stored food for feasting at celebrations and musicians rehearsed and sometimes traveled to partake in festivities as gifts were distributed. Three masses (one shortly after midnight, one at dawn, and one in the afternoon) were said on Christmas Day, each with their own readings and songs. We can then surmise that these, too, were introduced to us after Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and his forces were able to firmly establish Spanish rule after 1565. We also know that since Legazpi and his men were still in Cebu until about 1569, then the first official Christmas celebrations were most likely celebrated in the Villa del Santisimo Nombre de Jesús. And we also know that the last remaining Spanish forces in the Philippines departed from Cebu on Christmas Day in 1898.

Later Christmases in Cebu and the rest of the colony were celebrated with as much merriment. Noche Buenas were perfect moments for family reunions. Families then went to midnight mass, and then later would have dance parties and people would celebrate until the wee hours. There would be artistic faroles (paroles) in varying shapes all with inscriptions bearing Jesus’s name. Tables of both the rich and the poor were filled with whatever food was available, and among the wealthy it would even seem that the tables were never empty.

Concepcion Briones in “Life in Old Parian” further writes that Cebuanos would particularly look forward to December because there were two feats that were celebrated: the Immaculate Conception on the 8th and of course Christmas Eve and Day on the 24th and 25th, which was (and still is) considered the peak of all festivities in the country. In the early 1900s, even with the introduction of the Christmas tree by the Americans (although historian Ambeth Ocampo writes that Jose Rizal already introduced the Christmas tree to his family), most Cebuanos remained loyal to their traditional Christmas decors: the Belen or the Nativity scene. The Belens of Cebu were a sight to behold, from the life-sized set of the wealthier families which were made entirely of the finest ivory, to the simple but still colorful pieces of the more modest families, the Belens continued to be displayed with pride by Cebuano families until much later when Cebuanos, as with the rest of the Philippines, started to develop a certain affinity for the Christmas tree. Aside from the Belens, Cebuanos also kept the tradition of attending the misas de Aguinaldo.

And the food, of course, was typical of the Filipinos’ love for food. There were the traditional fares of bam-i, lumpia, and empanada, but also the jamon en dulce, mango chutney, estudiantina, the Arroz a la Valenciana, the ensalada rosa, and of course, the lechon! There was always a lot of food for any guest who happened to be in any Cebuano home during Christmas.

Many of these Christmas traditions continue to this very day, not just in Cebu but throughout the Philippines. While celebrating Christmas is a worldwide phenomenon, the way it is done in the Philippines is nonpareil. Filipinos love Christmas, simply because we always thrive better and happier when surrounded by our family and friends, not to mention by delicious food.

Advance Merry Christmas to all!

T.L. Sales

[email protected]