CHURCH bells will ring before dawn today to call the people to the first of nine “Simbang Gabi” Masses that will end with the Christmas Eve Mass on Dec. 24. This is one of the beautiful traditions that keeps our nation together in the face of problems of all kinds.
So great is our love for the Christmas season that as early as the first day of September, we begin hearing Christmas carols on radio. As the “ber” months come in one after another, many homes start installing twinkling lights and more traditional paper “parol” lanterns. All-out decoration of streets and plazas, public buildings and malls begin right after All Saints’ Day.
Some towns have become known for their Christmas festivals, among them the Giant Lantern Festival of San Fernando, Pampanga, and the Belenismo festival of Tarlac featuring interpretations of the Nativity scene. From Northern Luzon to Zamboanga in Mindanao, the Christmas Tree – with its star and its lights streaming down the tree to light the Manger of Bethlehem – has become a dominant feature in public plazas. Streets get lighted up with stars and other symbols of the season. Christmas concerts are held in schools and other institutions.
All these – the lights and the music – reflect the joy of the season, so welcome to people who live with problems of all kinds the whole year round. Many places in the world continue to suffer from wars and storms and urban violence. We have had our own share of these problems in our own country. If only during this season, we will savor the joy that Christmas brings.
But the essence of Christmas is still Christ and his coming into the world as a Baby in a manger. And this is what “Simbang Gabi” is all about. For the next nine days, many Filipinos all over the land will attend the pre-dawn Mass, many standing in churchyards because the churches are full.
It is a great tradition that many Filipinos share and continue to follow even in other countries where they now live and work. In Italy, Filipino communities will be observing Simbang Gabi, gathering in a succession of nine churches in the Diocese of Milan.
The novena of dawn Masses will end on Christmas Eve, the final Mass ending on Christmas Day. The final day of the season will be on the Feast of the Epiphany – Three Kings – on the first Sunday after New Year’s Day. Then we start looking forward to the coming of the next Christmas season.
