Missing Christmas in the Philippines

David and I roamed around several places in Rochester tonight to look at Christmas decorations outside houses. We went to look at the decorations in front of a wealthy lady's house. Her lawn's covered with Christmas lights, ornaments, and other stuff. Some of the decorations we saw last year. Another house was covered with Christmas lights.

David was wondering why I wasn't so excited seeing the decorations. Not that I wasn't excited at all but Christmas in the Philippines is more festive, more creative and something to look up to. Christmas in the Philippines starts in August and ends in February. David thinks it is too much. I don't.

I remember the lanterns and Christmas lights in every home. The city plaza burst with festive lights and beautiful lanterns. This is what David cannot envision.

I told him that we have beautiful lanterns with intricate light decorations. I showed him a video clip on YouTube.com. I showed him Pampanga's lantern festival. He cannot appreciate it. He said all he saw were lights running about. "I don't think it has something to do with Christmas time," he said. I asked him if Santa Claus has something to do with the traditional Christmas season at all. The Philippine lantern represents the Star of Bethlehem which was mentioned in the Bible. Santa Claus was probably the desert dust in some men's fictive mind. The Star of Bethlehem is not. What the Filipinos have done was to interpret that Star creatively that no other nation in the world can copy.

I talked to a Filipina last year and she expressed her frustration of the way Christmas is celebrated in America. Where are the feasts, the fireworks and the fun? She told me that she bought a lantern back home and carried it all the way here. The lantern made her Christmas a lot better, she revealed.

Here are samples of the lanterns we have in the Philippines:

Thanks to ivanhenares who posted the video.


Thanks to pnayam29


Thanks to otneimras