December 20, 2021
5 Things Filipinos Love During Christmas Season
Christmas is probably the season that Filipinos look forward to the most each year, with the initial festive celebration starting as early as the “Ber” months roll in in September. There is no denying that Filipinos enjoy these festive holidays to reflect on the year that has gone by, forget their worries for a moment and spend time with their family and loved ones. But have you ever wondered what it is that makes Filipinos love Christmas? Here are some reasons why:
Longest Holiday Season
Filipinos are well known for always being in a festive mood and definitely, one thing that Christmas has going for it is the length of the holiday season – starting from September until early January. The moment that calendar hits the “BER” months, for sure, Christmas music will start playing on the radio and decors will start popping out from mall displays to street lights. No wonder that even balikbayans would love to go back to their homeland during this time.
Festive Atmosphere All-Around
We Filipinos are nothing if not festive, we love to celebrate, and as soon as Christmas rolls in, we can’t help but want to decorate with the most elaborate Christmas ornaments like Christmas trees, figurines, and tons and tons of Christmas lights. You can see streets and commercial buildings lined up with Christmas parols or depictions of the birth of Jesus. Houses in subdivisions as well compete for the best-dressed house in the village. Then there are the songs. Singing is probably in every Filipino’s nature already, which is why karaoke is so popular that you will even find them in the most remote parts of the country. And while Filipinos don’t need an excuse to sing, Christmas is probably the best time to do so. In fact, there are so many songs dedicated to this season that the average Pinoy probably knows most, if not all of them.
Simbang Gabi
One of the most famous Christmas traditions in the Philippines is called Simbang Gabi. These are early pre-dawn masses that generally occur between 3 and 5 AM and run for nine days from December 16 up to the day before Christmas. This has become a beloved tradition to wake up early and attend these early morning devotions with your family as a sign of anticipation of the coming of Jesus as well as a way for your entire family to bond together. Often these early morning masses culminate in a breakfast feast for the whole family. This tradition has not stopped even with the advent of the pandemic with many families attending via online mass together.
Family Reunions
If there was any excuse you can make to gather together as a family or even as a clan, then it’s the Christmas holidays. No other celebration on the Philippine calendar is guaranteed to bring together your parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, and all manner of relatives together than during Christmas, especially for a Noche Buena dinner. For many, it’s a regular affair, and even family members that may have had some issues tend to resolve them or at least put them away for now during the holiday. It truly is a holiday for the family. The great thing about family reunions is that even with the pandemic, Filipinos still make an effort by going online and seeing each other via online video conferences. So much so, that even the elderly and the so-called tech-challenged will learn the technology so that they can see their family members.
Food
Of course, food! If there was anything Filipinos are known for, it’s the food. It is such a common Christmas tradition to have Noche Buena where families and loved ones gather together around the dinner table trying to stuff themselves with every kind of food imaginable like pancit, lumpiang shanghai, fried chicken, pasta, and of course who can forget the holiday ham that is the staple for most Filipino Noche Buenas. CDO Holiday Ham will surely give you the 100% Paskong Sarap experience that you are looking forward to during Christmas. It’s made from 100% premium whole ham that is smoked and simmered in rich pineapple sauce that you are sure to enjoy. It won’t be a surprise to any if you have at least one or all of these on your dinner table too!
The Christmas Season is truly one of the best holidays that almost everyone enjoys. And where there is fun, festivities, singing, decorations, and food, we Filipinos are there. And what better way to increase the joy in your Christmas than in having CDO Holiday Ham. It’s premium quality ham set at reasonable prices so that everyone can enjoy it.
So why not get CDO Holiday Ham today available at all leading groceries and supermarkets. You may also get CDO Holiday Ham online via CDO Food Delivery, Shopee, and Lazada today!
For more CDO Holiday Ham recipe ideas, simply visit cdo.com.ph/recipes.