Check out this postcard from the Philippines! What kind of scene do you think this is a part of? I’ll give you half of my Christmas gifts this year if you can guess right – oops, I just said it, guess I’m keeping them to myself (was gonna do that anyway). It’s Christmas in the Philippines! As many of you know, Christmas is a Christian holiday, and the majority of the Filipino people is Christian, so you can imagine how important this holiday is there. The Christmas season starts waaaay early – I’m talkin’ September early! Are there even enough Hallmark movies to last that long? And it ends early January right after the Feast of the Three Kings, which is a day of feasting and exchanging gifts (similar to Christmas Day in America, I wonder?) Christmas in the Philippines is a fusion of local and western tradition. There are Christmas trees, Christmas cards, Christmas lights, Christmas carols, and even reindeer decorations. So there’s a lot that comes from the west! So then what about the local stuff? One thing that’s depicted on this card is the paról, which is the star lantern you see in the hut window. This lantern is usually made from pieces of bamboo and thin paper (like Japanese rice paper, so that the light can emanate from it well), and the star represents the Star of Bethlehem, which is what guided the Three Kings. There is also lechon, which is roast pig, a typical Christmas season dish. Finally, no post about Christmas in the Philippines is complete without learning how to say “Merry Christmas”! There are actually eight main languages, so let’s just go with one for now – in Tagalog, it is “Maligayang Pasko”! Thank you so much for this marvelous postcard and for all the information you shared with me, Nina!
