THE first of the nine pre-dawn masses leading to Christmas Day – the Simbang Gabi – was held in churches all over the county today.
This is to many Filipinos the real start of the Christmas season. They may have started hearing Christmas carols on radio on the first day of September, attended Christmas parties in schools and offices, watched Christmas trees being lighted in so many plazas, but today they flocked to churches in such numbers that most of them had to stand in church yards because the church was full.
Simbang Gabi is an old Filipino tradition that dates back to the early days of Spanish rule in the Philippines. Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legaspi celebrated the first Feast of the Nativity in 1565. While evening masses were more common in the rest of the Spanish world, pre-dawn masses became a cherished custom in the Philippines.
Priests began the nine-day pre-dawn masses upon a decree by Pope Sixtus V in 1587 to give farmers an opportunity to hear mass before setting out to till their fields. The nine masses were called Misa de Aguinaldo – a gift from the Christian faithful to Jesus and his mother. The masses would culminate with the Misa de Gallo on Christmas Eve, December 24.
Filipinos have given the pre-dawn masses a distinctive Filipino flavor, calling it Simbang Gabi. And it has become associated with the sharing of food in the churchyard after Mass – bibingka, puto bumbong, suman, with kape barako or tsokolate.
Millions of Filipinos have now spread around the world, led by our Overseas Filipino Workers, and they have brough with them many of our unique Filipino customs – including attending mass on Sunday, hanging of parol at Christmas time, and now, in many cities in the United States and Europe, Simbang Gabi masses. Pope Francis himself preside at a Simbang Gabi for the Filipino community in Rome at the St. Peter’s Basilica last night.
This Christmas season, Filipino Christians have a special reason to celebrate – the appointment by Pope Francis of Archbishop Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle as prefect of the Congregation of the Evangelization of Peoples. He is expected to leave the Philippines to assume his position in Rome.
This year has seen so many events in our country, some of which have brought pain and suffering to many. We went through a period of water shortage, the return of so many diseases like polio, measles, and dengue, the killing of so many local officials. But It has not been as difficult as some previous years when we were hit by powerful typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions and one year when market prices reached such great heights.
The Christmas season is a fitting end to the year in our country and the Simbang Gabi today begins nine pre-dawn masses which will culminate with the Christmas Eve mass celebrating the supreme reason for the season, the birth of Christ on Christmas Day.