Q 01/05

What is the September-to-December Christmas stretch in the Philippines popularly called?

A) The ber months

B) The Aguinaldo season

C) The Pasko season

D) The Kapaskuhan

Answer · why

A) The ber months

Carols and decorations appear as early as August, which is why the season is called the world's longest.

Q 02/05

The Filipino word Pasko ultimately derives from a Spanish phrase meaning what?

A) Night of goodness and peace

B) Easter of the Nativity

C) Feast of the Star

D) Birth of the King

Answer · why

B) Easter of the Nativity

"Pascua de navidad" lost its second half; pascua itself traces back through Latin to the Greek word for Passover.

Q 03/05

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

A) Intramuros, Manila

B) Limasawa, Southern Leyte

C) Fort San Pedro, Cebu

D) Bolinao, Pangasinan

Answer · why

C) Fort San Pedro, Cebu

It came shortly after Legazpi founded the first permanent Spanish settlement there.

Q 04/05

A disputed legend says a friar named Odoric held a Christmas Mass in Bolinao in what year?

A) 1521

B) 1565

C) 1024

D) 1324

Answer · why

D) 1324

Historians Ambeth Ocampo and William Henry Scott reject it, though a plaque went up at Bolinao Church in 2007.

Q 05/05

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

A) Nine

B) Twelve

C) Seven

D) Eight

Answer · why

A) Nine

They run from December 16 to 24, and folk belief says completing all of them grants a wish.