Customs and Traditions in Celebrating Christmas in the Philippines

Christmas celebration in the Philippines is considered to be the longest one in Asia.

Eve. Christmas spirit can be felt everywhere.  Approximately, Filipinos are 90% Christians and 80% of that Catholic.  Keeping up in Christmas preparations, how do Filipinos celebrate Christmas in the Philippines?

Below are the customs and traditions on how Filipinos enjoy this season and what you can expect if you’re celebrating this special holiday in the Philippines.

Simbang Gabi

This is one of the oldest Christmas traditions in the Philippines. Filipinos flock to the Catholic church to attend a 9~ day pre-dawn mass or commonly known as “Simbang Gabi”.  People wake up at dawn and go to church to attend the 1-hour church service that usually begins at 4 am. On  Christmas Eve, they usually held the church service in the evening. The Simbang Gabi is a way of thanksgiving, worship, petition or simply to fulfilling someone’s wish come true. Some Filipinos believe that if you completed the 9-day church service, your ultimate wish might come true!

Parols

You might have already seen something like this somewhere else or probably only in the Philippines; you might think it is unique. Indeed! Filipinos are always very creative that they even design parols on their own. Parols are graced with various designs, colours, sizes, lights, and prices. It is a traditional symbol of Christmas spirits in the Philippines, and each house has one or more parols hanging whichever spot is visible. It is like a star shining brightly in one’s home.

Christmas sale shopping 

Filipinos love Christmas sale; most shopping malls offer a pre-Christmas sale of some items. Christmas decorations as well are glamorous and dazzling. Big balls and a giant Christmas tree are consistently striking in the eye.

Philippines has many big and wide shopping malls. In fact, the biggest shopping mall in Asia can be found here. Most of them as well as parks, streets are widely fancy decorated and colorful Christmas decorations. During this season, people go to these places to go shopping as a way of preparing and buying presents. In this season, most shopping malls are crowded and covered with massive Christmas decorations that attract shoppers as expected.

Snow theme events and performance

Since the Philippines is a tropical country yet snow movies…