20 – A Filipino Christmas

Christmas in the Philippines is big. This is hardly surprising, the Philippines being 90% Christian (over 80% Roman Catholic), the only predominantly Christian country in Asia. As I mentioned in a blog post a few months ago the build up begins in September with carols and Christmas decorations starting to make their way into the shopping malls! Some of the decorations and Christmas trees are really works of art and often made of recycled materials such as drink bottles or native materials such as bamboo, seeds and shells.

In the week preceding our Palawan trip I had the opportunity to attend a few Christmas parties. There was a Christmas party in a GK village, the Christmas party of our Gym and Aurna’s work Christmas party. We also had a pre-Christmas gathering at our place with some of my closest friend and colleagues on the night my Mum and Aunt arrived.

GK Abada Escay village Christmas Party

Abada Escay is the adopted GK village of Riverside College where Janet, the wife of my counterpart, Butch, works in the community extension office. Each month a different faculty of the school visits the village to run activities with the kids e.g. hand washing, how to brush your teeth, reading etc. The activity for December was, of course, a Christmas Party! They came up with a clever title for the day using the letters of GAWAD KALINGA. They called it the Grant-A-Wish Activity Day. They had previously visited the site and asked the children what they wished for at Christmas. The list of wishes was compiled and posted in the school. Staff and students who chose to participate could then ‘adopt a child’ and commit to granting that child’s wish as best they could.

On the day of the party, staff, students and GK volunteers assembled early in the morning in the grounds of the college and car pooled out to the village. When we arrived the whole village was assembled and waiting in the multi-purpose hall dressed in Christmas colours. The party began with some fun team activities – I joined the pink team. There was a competition for the team who could perform the best Christmas carols (actions mandatory!). Then there were various song and dance performances by the children of the village. After this, Santa made an appearance to hand out the much anticipated gifts to all the children. The party culminated in lunch that the college provided.

Gym Christmas Party

It was nice to attend the Christmas party of our Gym and socialise with some of the people we merely nod and smile to each morning as we work out on the treadmill. “Tonight you can forget the calories!” they laughed as they unwrapped the whole roast pig (Lechon Baboy) complete with crispy crackling! Just by chance, since this party, we passed by a place where they prepare the Lechon Baboys commercially. The whole process could be seen from slaughter to mounting on a bamboo pole to stuffing with herbs to stitching up and finally roasting over coals. Thirteen pigs were roasting at any one time being turned by thirteen men.

It would not be a Filipino party without some games. They had 1 months free membership for the biggest looser for the year – male and female. Then the tape measure came out. “Ok, guys, who’s in the running for the biggest biceps?” The MC announced. The two beefiest guys were brought up to the front to flex their muscles amid chants of “shirt off” from the girls in the crowd! Meanwhile, Aruna and I were wondering what they were going to measure on the girls! “Ok, now the girls …. who has the smallest waist?! Come on girls!” shouted the MC. Understandably this was met with some reluctance, to which, a guy in the crowd called out “Ok, if not smallest waist, then how about biggest bust!” amid cheers from the other guys.

Much to the relief of Aruna and I this idea was finally abandoned in favour of a game of ‘Hip Hip Horray’. Lucky yours truly was nominated as one of the contestants! The game comes from a television game show in the Philippines known as “Wowawee” that screens daily. I had not seen this show, but I got the gist of the game soon enough. Basically, the way it works is that the contestants are lined up. The first person says “Hip Hip” the next person “Horray”, the next person “Hip Hip” and so on. There are accompanying actions of course! Hip Hip is a low clap, Horray is hands in the air above your head. The MC points the microphone at the contestants in a random order and if you hesitate or do the wrong one in the sequence you’re out. Pretty simple. Call it beginners luck, but somehow I was the last one standing – also winning myself 1 months free membership! But really, as I’ve come to appreciate, the audience is always the ultimate winner with a game of Hip Hip Horray – in the joy and laughter that is derived each time a person gets out!

Aruna’s work Christmas Party

At the Christmas Party of the Christian Foundation for the Deaf and Blind where Aruna works, there was also a whole Lechon Baboy, team competitions, games …. hmmm … a pattern is starting to emerge! Aruna had invited myself, Alison, Jo and Kirby as her ‘family’ and we became the judges for the evenings team competitions. The staff and their families had been divided into 3 teams. Every round had prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd so nobody missed out. The rounds included team costume, team chant, role play an advertisement for the organisation, perform an MTV style music video clip etc! As judges, we were handed official score sheets with pre-determined criteria. And in between each teams performance was a game of bingo (also with prizes!) while the next team set up! I knew from Aruna that they had been rehearsing during lunchtimes, after hours and even during work hours for the past week. The amount of effort and preparation that had gone into it all was astonishing! Another fascinating cultural insight.

Our pre-Christmas Gathering

On the night my Mum, my Aunt and Aruna’s sister arrived we had a few of my closest friends and colleagues over for a pre-Christmas gathering. We prepared some Filipino food with an Aussie twist, washed down with some Aussie wine. It is not customary in the Philippines to open Christmas presents with the person who gives it to you, rather the gift is taken home to open on Christmas Day. Butch told me after Christmas that he was very pleased with the akubra my Mum had carried as hand luggage all the way from Australia! Another hat to add to his collection.

Christmas in Bacolod

I was keen to return from Palawan with my Mum and Aunt in time to experience a traditional Filipino Christmas in Bacolod, while Aruna and Assumpta stayed longer in Palawan. Traditionally Christmas is celebrated on the evening of the 24th. It was always going to be risky flying back to Bacolod on Christmas Eve, and sure enough our flight was delayed. This meant we unfortunately missed the Christmas party we were coming back for. But it was all part of the experience to be swept up in the crowds of Filipinos travelling from Manila back to their families in the provinces for the festive season laiden with Christmas packages of all shapes and sizes. Arriving back in Bacolod was like arriving into a war zone, our taxi driver having to dodge the many home made fire crackers being detonated on the roads. Fire crackers are a big part of the festive season and continued through until New Years Day. When we eventually got home on Christmas Eve at 9pm there was a beautiful bunch of flowers waiting for me from Jordi! J
On Christmas Day itself we were invited to the family celebration of my friend Imelda. She was back from Manila to spend Christmas with her family in Bago – 1 hour south of Bacolod. It was an amazing experience. Thinking that we were going along to a small family dinner, we were overwhelmed when we were ushered into the Bago Community Hall that had been hired for the occasion and introduced to Imelda’s Family … all 176 of them! Much to our embarrassment, we were seated in the centre of the hall as guests of honour.

Imelda comes from a poor family but she was fortunate enough to receive a good education which coupled with her incredible drive, energy, faith and intelligence she has become a very successful business woman in Manila. Far from forgetting her family roots in the provinces, she spends little of her financial successes on herself, preferring to sponsor her teenage nieces and nephews through college so they can also have the opportunity of a better life. It transpired that the Christmas party/family reunion is also Imelda’s ‘project’ – she finances and organises it every year, including buying the Christmas presents for all the children! She said it’s got to the point where she has to keep a spreadsheet of all the kids and their shoe sizes (the gifts each year are shoes from her company).

There were, of course, games for the kids, song and dance performances and …. a game of “Hip Hip, Horray”. This time it was my Mum who was pulled up to play and beginners luck struck again – she won!

A buffet table was laid out with home made Filippino dishes and, of course, a Lechon Baboy. The Lechon Baboy had been funded by a cousin in Canada who called in the middle of the party and Imelda put her cell phone to the microphone so he could say Merry Christmas to everyone!

We felt incredibly privileged to have experienced Imelda’s family Christmas. It’s a Christmas we’ll never forget. We were also incredibly overwhelmed by Imelda’s amazing generosity and friendship. To think, this all came about from a chance conversation when I was getting off a plane in Manila!

Christmas continued into the following week with more parties. My Mum had decided that this year, instead of buying everyone Christmas presents she would donate the amount of money she normally spends to GK. Half of it provided school supplies for the schools in 6 of the GK villages. The other half funded Christmas parties in 2 of the GK villages that we participated in on the 29th and 30th of December. The parties were for the Sibol (pre-school) children aged 3 – 6 yrs old, and in both villages there were approx 60 kids in that age bracket. They were a great success, thanks to the tireless efforts of my friend Marj who coordinated the teachers and made the necessary preparations. Marj herself used to be a Sibol teacher before she became full time in the office.

The first party was held in GK Welcome Home – a village for the deaf. Many of the parents are deaf but their children have normal hearing. When we arrived, the children were seated in the multi-purpose hall, patiently waiting for us. They were all immaculately groomed and all wearing something red for the party. They performed for us a medley of Christmas carols which they sang beautifully. It broke our hearts to think that their parents aren’t able to hear them. The teachers organised various games for the children and we awarded koalas, pencils or Aussie animal stickers as prizes. We were so impressed at how well behaved the children were and so well mannered. When the games were over, they formed orderly lines with their plates and cups to receive their food. The teachers had made colourful Filipino party food to appeal to the kids.
The second party was held in GK Hope Village in Talisay. This village doesn’t have the funding for a Sibol school yet and while the kids were still incredibly cute, we did notice a marked difference in their behaviour and abilities. This is the village where Josephine lives, the lovely mother of 5 who, on my first visit to the village, insisted on chaperoning me around the village under the shade of her umbrella. “Don’t forget me” she had said when I left after that first visit. She was also there to greet us as we arrived for the Christmas party. I hadn’t forgotten her. I handed her a framed photo I had taken of the 2 of us with one of her daughters. She was so happy she almost cried and so proud that she passed it around to show her friends.

As there is no school here, Marj called on a couple of teachers from the local government school that are friends of hers to assist with the party. The party proceeded much like the previous one, performance then games then food. Again, the balloons were a big hit. It seemed like the game the kids liked the best though, was posing for photographs afterwards as we took a tour of the village, then looking at themselves on the screen of the camera!

New Year

On New Years eve we saw in the Aussie New Year Filipino style and the Filipino New Year Aussie style! Ok, so that might need some explanation. Myself, Mum, Judith plus Aruna, (who had now returned from Palawan) were invited for dinner with Marj and her family at their home in Talisay. It was a lovely evening. They had gone to so much trouble to prepare so much delicious food – including some of my all time favourite Filipino dishes (Lumpia – a filipino version of spring rolls and Suman – a sweet sticky rice). All the close family were there: her Mum, 2 of her sisters, 1 niece and 2 nephews. Later, one of her brothers and his wife arrived with fire crackers. He set them off on the road outside their gate, much to the excitement of the 2 little nephews. When 9pm came around, my Aunt announced it was New Year in Australia so we wished everyone a Happy Australian New Year and sang Auld Lang Syne!

We went home at about 10.30 in their neighbours jeepney which we hired as it was too difficult to get a taxi. At the last minute, the family decided to go with us for the ride given that we had a huge jeepney to ourselves! For the first time since I’ve been in the Philippines, I actually felt cold – speeding along the empty roads, feeling the wind around my shoulders.

Just before midnight, Jo, the other Aussie volunteer from across the road and her boyfriend Kirby joined us for champagne and my Mum’s home made mince pies on the balcony where we counted down and welcomed in the Philippino New Year! Kirby gave us our own private fireworks display which he set off from the road below. We went to bed wearing our ear plugs in the early hours of the morning while fire crackers were still being let off all over the city.

On New Years Day we had lunch at the house of my counterpart, Butch, and his family. It was a nice laid back affair – more good food and socialising.

The new year brought some goodbyes but also some new friends. Mum and Judith returned to Australia on the 3rd amid some teary farewells, but thoroughly satisfied with their experience of the Philippines – from the natural beauty of Palawan to the cultural experiences with the people of Negros. On the 5th we welcomed a new flatmate to take our 3rd bedroom. Sarah is English and is currently volunteering/travelling her way around the world. She’ll be with us for only a month but we’re already counting her as the honorary 5th gwapa! The 5 gwapas got together for dinner and had plenty of chika chika to catch up on at our place on Wednesday night. They weren’t going to let me feel sad at being apart from Jordi on the night of our 5 year anniversary! But … not long now until I visit him in Vietnam!