{"id":3106,"date":"2016-09-01T18:18:11","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T10:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/?p=3106"},"modified":"2021-07-23T08:32:40","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T00:32:40","slug":"expats-guide-christmas-in-the-philippines-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/2016\/09\/01\/expats-guide-christmas-in-the-philippines-september\/","title":{"rendered":"Expat&#8217; Guide to Christmas in the Philippines: September"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">The most wonderful time of the year has arrived in the Philippines! September 1 is no ordinary day as it marks the start of the world\u2019s longest Christmas season. Filipinos have long been accustomed to it, but expats may not understand the significance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3107\" src=\"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/09\/christmas.jpg\" alt=\"christmas\" width=\"850\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/09\/christmas.jpg 850w, https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/09\/christmas-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/09\/christmas-768x474.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>CHRISTMAS IS STARTING NOW. The longest (September \u2013 January) Christmas season in the world just started. (File photos)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">Here\u2019s a guide on how you, as an expat, can understand the lengthy Philippine Christmas season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><strong>1. It starts with \u201cber\u201d.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">September, as mentioned before, marks the start of the Christmas season. No one knows when or why Filipinos start celebrating Christmas in September, but people have always believed that the weather gets colder during the so-called <em>ber<\/em>-months: September, October, November, and December. It marks the start of a lot of things, all listed below.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><strong>2. Christmas = Jose Mari Chan.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jose Mari Chan &amp; Liza Chan- Christmas in Our Hearts.wmv\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l4z22oBCCDA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><em>VIRAL. Every year, this song plays in every mall, restaurant, and radio.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">A brief intro about Jose Mari Chan: he is a Filipino-Chinese singer and songwriter who\u2019s known for dominating the airwaves with his hit single <em>Christmas in Our Hearts <\/em>(1990). That\u2019s really all you need to know, because you\u2019ll be hearing that song played over every speaker and radio station in the country until December 25.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><strong>3. Bring out the <em>parol<\/em> (and every other Christmas decoration).<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3108 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/09\/Simple_capiz_parol.jpg\" alt=\"Simple_capiz_parol\" width=\"850\" height=\"638\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>THE CLASSIC. A very simple parol made with capiz shells. (Image grabbed from <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Parol#\/media\/File:Simple_capiz_parol.jpg\"><em>Wikipedia<\/em><\/a><em>)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">No, it\u2019s not the Filipino way of saying the world parole. It\u2019s the iconic symbol of Christmas in the Philippines. Christmas lanterns can be seen all over the world, but none are quite as iconic as our very own <em>parol<\/em>. It has ties in religion, but has since been embraced by Filipinos everywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\"><strong>4. Exchange gifts.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">There\u2019s a tradition that, as far as we know, only happens in the Philippines during Christmas: the weekly (or daily) exchanging of gifts. Known as the <em>kris kringle <\/em>or <em>monito \u2013 monita, <\/em>it has is a modified version of the West\u2019s Secret Santa.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt\">It\u2019s simple and ridiculously effective: everyone writes their name a small piece of paper, puts it in a box\/bowl, then each person takes turns drawing a name from the bowl. You\u2019ll then be asked to give a gift every week to that person based on a theme and a budget that everyone has agreed to. This goes on until your Christmas Party, when you reveal who your <em>monito <\/em>or <em>monita<\/em> is by giving them your gift in person.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Source: <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themuse.com\/advice\/christmas-around-the-world-how-6-countries-celebrate\"><em>themuse<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2012\/12\/05\/world\/asia\/irpt-xmas-philippines-traditions\/\"><em>CNN<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mypilipinas.com\/ber-months.html\"><em>About Philippines &#8211; My Pilipinas.com<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.whychristmas.com\/cultures\/philippines.shtml\"><em>whychristmas.com<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/tagaloglang.com\/filipino-christmas-traditions\/\"><em>Tagalog Lang<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The most wonderful time of the year has arrived in the Philippines! September 1 is no ordinary day as it marks the start of the world\u2019s longest Christmas season. Filipinos have long been accustomed to it, but expats may not understand the significance. &nbsp; CHRISTMAS IS STARTING NOW. The longest (September \u2013 January) Christmas season in the world just started. (File photos) &nbsp; Here\u2019s a guide on how you, as an expat, can understand the lengthy Philippine Christmas season. 1. It starts with \u201cber\u201d. September, as mentioned before, marks the start of the Christmas season. No one knows when or why Filipinos start celebrating Christmas in September, but people have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1730],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-and-history"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3106"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9668,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3106\/revisions\/9668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/tips-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}