40 Fun Facts About Christmas in the Philippines

What do Filipinos popularly call the months when radio stations start playing Christmas songs?

The ber months, September to December, are when Christmas trees and decorations go up, giving the Philippines four months of festivities.

Pasko, the Filipino word for Christmas, comes from Spanish pascua, which most often names which other holiday?

Easter is what pascua usually means, yet Spanish speakers also wish 'Felices Pascuas' at Christmas, and Filipinos borrowed that sense as Pasko.

Where did the first documented Philippine Christmas celebration take place, in 1565?

Fort San Pedro, Cebu, hosted it because Legazpi's expedition had just built that fort, the first Spanish foothold in the islands, on arriving in 1565.

Simbang Gabi is a series of how many dawn Masses leading up to Christmas?

Nine dawn Masses make up Simbang Gabi, and many believe completing all of them grants a wish, a belief a Catholic bishop called a misconception in 2016.

Why is Simbang Gabi said to have moved from nighttime to dawn?

So farmers could attend before fieldwork, the story goes: they left for the fields at sunrise to avoid the noontime sun.

Misa de Gallo translates as whose Mass?

The name is also used for the midnight Mass on Christmas Eve that closes the novena.

Which two rice delicacies are the classic Simbang Gabi treats?

Bibingka and puto bumbong are sold from stalls set up outside churches before dawn, so worshippers can eat them as they leave Mass.

What is the name of the midnight feast after the Christmas Eve Mass?

Nochebuena is when some Filipino families open their Christmas presents, during or after the feast itself.

Queso de bola, the Christmas cheese ball, is what kind of cheese?

Edam travels well, hardening instead of spoiling, so it survived the long voyage from the Netherlands and became regular Christmas fare in the Philippines.

What is the Filipino gesture of pressing an elder's hand to your forehead called?

Pagmamano turns a greeting into a request: you say 'mano po', touch the elder's hand to your forehead, and the elder usually answers 'God bless you'.

The cash gift a godparent gives a godchild at Christmas is called what?

Aguinaldo is Spanish for Christmas money or a Christmas bonus, so the same word covers a godchild's envelope and the tips Spanish-era workers sought in December.

The parol lantern represents what?

The star that guided the Magi is what the parol recalls, yet early parols were rectangles and the five-pointed star only became standard in the American period.

What makes the lights of the Giant Lantern Festival's huge parols dance in patterns?

Rotating steel barrels called rotors replaced hand-operated switches, flicking thousands of bulbs on and off in sequence.

Which shell do parol makers use for the more elaborate lanterns?

Capiz, the shell of the windowpane oyster, glows when light passes through it, which is why it long served as a substitute for window glass.

The belen, the Filipino nativity scene, takes its name from the Spanish word for what?

Bethlehem, Belén in Spanish, gave the belen its name, and St. Francis of Assisi is said to have staged the first one with real people and animals.

Which city's Belenismo contest has earned it the title "Belen Capital of the Philippines"?

The annual "Belenismo sa Tarlac" pits residents and institutions against each other in nativity-building.

Which department store's Christmas display of moving mannequins became a famous Manila attraction?

COD's display outlived the store: after COD closed in 2002, the show moved to Greenhills Shopping Center rather than disappearing.

Which Filipino singer-songwriter recorded the holiday staple 'Christmas in Our Hearts'?

Jose Mari Chan hears his song return every holiday season, yet he refuses to be called the Father of Filipino Christmas songs.

"Ang Pasko ay Sumapit" was originally composed in 1933 in which language?

Cebuano was the original: Vicente Rubi's 'Kasadya ning Taknaa' was later credited to Tagalog adapters, and he spent years in court over unpaid royalties.

Who composed the carol 'Payapang Daigdig' after World War II?

Felipe Padilla de León is said to have written this song of peace after seeing Manila leveled by the fighting.

Which group first recorded 'Tuloy Na Tuloy Pa Rin ang Pasko'?

Apo Hiking Society recorded it for their 1991 Christmas album Pasko nApo, and Orange & Lemons remade it in 2006 for an ABS-CBN station ID.

What is the Filipino pageant in which Joseph and Mary seek lodging from house to house?

Panunuluyan casts whole households as innkeepers who ritually turn Joseph and Mary away until they reach the church belen before the Christmas Eve Mass.

December 28, Niños Inocentes, is traditionally marked in the Philippines by what?

Playing practical jokes turns a feast mourning the infants killed by Herod into a Filipino April Fools' Day, where borrowed money is never returned.

Filipino families set out twelve round fruits at New Year hoping for what?

Wealth is the hope: the round fruits recall coins and the twelve stand for the months, so abundance should last the whole year.

What is the Philippine Department of Health's New Year firecracker safety campaign called?

Iwas Paputok fights firecracker injuries, the toll that led a 2017 executive order to confine firecrackers to supervised community fireworks displays.

Three Kings' Day is also known in some areas as Pasko ng Matatanda, meaning what?

Feast of the Elderly names the day some children still leave their shoes out, hoping the Three Kings will leave small gifts in them.

The Feast of the Black Nazarene on January 9 centres on which Manila district?

Quiapo Church houses the Nazarene image, and the January 9 Traslación re-enacts its solemn transfer there, though accounts differ on when and from where.

Which Cebu festival honours the Santo Niño in January?

Sinulog is named for dance steps that mimic a river's current, performed for the Santo Niño image that Magellan's expedition gave Cebu's Queen Juana in 1521.

Where is Our Lady of Candelaria, whose February 2 feast once closed the Filipino Christmas season, enshrined?

Jaro Cathedral, Iloilo City keeps the image on its facade balcony, and Pope John Paul II crowned it in person during his 1981 visit.

Which festival's entries traditionally open in Philippine cinemas on Christmas Day?

Metro Manila Film Festival entries open on Christmas Day, but in 2020 pandemic restrictions sent the festival online, with its films streamed on Upstream.

Which holiday elements did American rule introduce to the Philippines after 1898?

Department-store window displays in Manila became a seasonal attraction in the same era.

Besides the Philippines, which is the only other predominantly Catholic country in Asia?

Timor-Leste's church sheltered people during the Indonesian occupation, and Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for speaking out.

Which Philippine president first required employers to give workers a 13th-month pay?

Ferdinand Marcos decreed it in December 1975 to help low-paid workers, at first covering only employees earning up to ₱1,000 a month.

Paskuhan Village, a Christmas-themed park, is located in which city?

San Fernando, Pampanga's Christmas park didn't stay one: its grounds were earmarked instead for showcasing the region's culture, arts and crafts.

Which church rejects Christmas as non-biblical and holds a year-end Thanksgiving instead?

Iglesia ni Cristo holds a Year-end Thanksgiving instead, and its Philippine Arena barred Christmas greetings and jingles from a 2016 Christmas Day PBA game.

Which Filipino word describes a caroller going house to house for coins?

Namamasko po is what carolers call out at a house, and a household with nothing to give sends them away with patawad, forgive us.

What is Christmas Eve called in Filipino?

The word comes from Spanish vísperas; Christmas Day is Araw ng Pasko.

For 2027, what kind of holiday did Malacañang declare Christmas Eve?

Special non-working days run on 'no work, no pay', so staff who stay home on December 24 may go unpaid, while those who work earn an extra 30%.

The Simbang Gabi tradition reached the Philippines from Spain via which route?

The practice spread through Latin America before crossing the Pacific.

The Philippine feast of the Epiphany moved to the Sunday after New Year following what?

The 1969 Roman Calendar revision also dropped saints who were not universally known, making room for martyrs from other countries.