How Filipinos Celebrates Christmas in the Philippines?

They say that Filipinos knows best when it comes to celebrating Christmas. If it happens that there will be a global competition for the celebration of Christmas, Philippines has an edge of winning the contest.

Going back into the history of Philippines, when the Spanish Colonization took place in the 16th to 19th century, the Filipino culture was greatly influenced with Christianity. According to the latest survey, almost 90% of the Filipinos are Christian believers where 80% of them follows the Catholic religion. To tell you, Christmas is actually celebrated by Christians throughout the world as a celebration to remember the time when Jesus Christ was born.

Celebrating Christmas in the Philippines


Filipinos celebrates Christmas in the Philippines by making early preparations. They start decorating their homes, offices, streets and other places starting from the early month of September.

Christmas in the philippines

Here's how Filipinos exactly celebrates Christmas:

The Month of September

September is two months away from the month of December but as I mentioned above, Filipinos tends to make early preparations for Christmas. Thus, you will start listening Christmas songs being played both on the radio and on the television on this early month of September.

Other than playing Filipino Christmas songs on various forms of medias, they are quite impressive when it comes to decorating their homes, offices and streets with Christmas lights and lanterns.

The Month of November

On the month of November, Filipinos starts on preparing for their Christmas parties. Thus, they end up spending their 13th month pay. You have to know that in the Philippines, there will be a sudden huge demand in all products in the market during the month of December. As a result, prices will rise which is the reason why some Filipinos makes early purchases in the month of November.

Overall, November is the month for planning and preparation for the upcoming month of the celebration of Christmas.

The Month of December

Finally, the whole month of December marks the celebration of Christmas.

December 1 to 25 (Caroling or "Karoling")

- Starting from the first day of the month of December, caroling already starts where a group of children or adult individuals goes around their neighbors. They then surprises them by singing Christmas songs right in front of their doors. As a reward, the owner of the house with either give them cash or snacks.

In most cases, you will get caroling visits at around 6 PM to 10 PM.

December 16 ( Church, Christmas Parties and Gift-Giving)

- At around the 16th of December, religious Filipinos attends the so called "Simbang Gabi" which is a daily Mass held for 9 days. Other than going into the Church, there are plenty of foods that are available around. Common delicious foods are "puto bumbong" (a sticky-sweet type of rice steamed inside a small bamboo tube), "bibingka" (rice cake) and "suman" (steamed rice wrapped with banana leaves).

The most interesting event on the 16th of December are the numerous Christmas parties that are being celebrated all over the country. It is also the start of exchanging or giving gifts to one another.

December 24 ( "Panunuluyan", Midnight Mass and "Noche Buena")

- The 24th of December is the grand celebration of Christmas. On this day, Filipinos tends to celebrate the so called "Panunuluyan" right on the Christmas Eve. They will have a re-enactment of the story on how Joseph and Mary journeyed into Bethlehem searching for a place for Mary to give birth to Jesus Christ.

A final Mass on Christmas Eve is also held from the Churches where it is often expected that a large number of people will attend especially on the last Mass before midnight.

Lastly, families, relatives and friends tends to gather around for the "Noche Buena". A festival meal where there's plenty of food that has been prepared for everyone to eat. Then after the Noche Buena, it's time for everyone to make exchanges of their presents.

December 25 (Visiting Family and Friends)

- The grand celebration of Christmas Holiday is actually on the 24th of December. Thus, 25th is all about visiting families, relatives and friends (who wasn't able to spend last night's celebration with you).

There are also plenty of food to eat which are left-over from the Noche Buena. And, it is still the right time to make exchanges of gifts.

December 28 ( Feast of the Innocent's Day)

- The 28th of December is like an "April Fool's Day" where you can tease your friends by playing pranks on them. Filipinos call this day as the "Ninos Inocentes".

December 31 ( Superstitious Beliefs)

- Filipinos are very superstitious people. Due to superstitions, they do believe that buying round fruits then displaying them on their tables or wearing clothes with a lot of circle designs can bring them good fortune. Round or circle actually symbolizes money.

Before the midnight of December's 31st day, Filipinos welcomes the New Year by making loud noises such as firecrackers, blowing trumpets and all other sorts of things that can cause loud noises. It is actually due to the superstitious belief that the noise can drive away bad luck and welcomes good luck for the New Year.

Importance of Christmas in the Philippines


Christmas is important to all Filipino people. They try to work hard enough just for the sake of earning the money to celebrate the special holiday. For the poor people, a lot of Charity Institutions visits them to give gifts and all sorts of other things that they need. This proves that the spirit of Christmas has never been forgotten in the Philippines. In fact, Christmas is all about "giving".

In some provinces of the Philippines, did you know that everyone are invited to join them on their Noche Buena?

Strangers can actually visit any houses in the province and join them on their feasts even if they do not completely know the home-owner. This is what probably earns the Filipinos their trait of being very "hospitable" people.

How to say Merry Christmas on 5 Major Different Filipino Dialects?


There are about 171 Filipino native dialects in the Philippines but 5 of them are the major dialects that most Filipinos can understand.

Here are the following 5 major dialects on how do they say Merry Christmas:

1. Tagalog - "Maligayang Pasko"

2. Illongo - "Malipayon nga Pascua"

3. Cebuano - "Maayong Pasko"

4. Bicolano - "Maugmang Pasko"

5. Pangalatok - "Maabig Ya Pasko" or "Magayakan Inkianac"
Birth of Jesus Christ

Moreover, celebration of Christmas in the Philippines is actually inherited by the Filipino people from the western culture. They have Santa Clause, Christmas tree, they do send Christmas Cards and every other things the way how the western culture celebrates Christmas. But above all, Christmas is actually all about remembering the birth of Jesus Christ.

Philippine Holidays For The Filipino People

We Filipinos are always happy when it comes to our Philippine Holidays. It's because for most of us, holiday is a good chance for us to take same vacation or to have a very comfortable rest at home being together with our families.

But, the main essence of our Philippine holidays is actually to celebrate and commemorate the unforgettable events in the past that happened on the same exact day today.

Here are the following list of important holidays in the Philippines:

Philippine Regular Holidays


The following list of holidays are being celebrated throughout the country. Some celebration of these holidays even affect public schools and government offices to stop on their regular activities. In other words, public schools don't have classes while government offices are closed.

Philippine Flag

January 1st

(Happy New Year Day or "Araw ng Manigong Bagong Taon")

- Philippines also follow the traditional custom of celebrating Happy New Year's Day. This grand celebration is prepared on the last day of the month of December. It is right exactly when the clock hits 12 o'clock midnight.

To welcome the new year, a lot of fireworks display and other loud noises are caused by Filipino people which is actually the traditional way of welcoming the new year.

April 9th

(Day of Valor or "Araw ng Kagitingan")

- As a Filipino, it is expected that you know your history especially about what happened in the past World War II. This was the invasion of the Japanese Imperial Army where a lot of Filipino lives especially the innocents were taken away. With that, our Filipino Veteran soldiers didn't simply gave up without putting a fight.

Some unforgettable events in the history of the Philippines in World War II were the "Fall of Bataan", "Fall of Corregidor" and the "Bataan Death March". Due to these events, April 9th was the day dedicated to all brave Filipino and American soldiers who fought side-by-side against the invaders.

April 17th

(Maundy Thursday or "Huwebes Santo" aka, "Mahal na Araw" and "Semana Santa")

- April 17th is a very important day to all religious people in the Philippines. It is because on this same day, it was the "Last Supper" of Jesus Christ along with his 12 Apostles before he was tortured to his death by the Roman Empire. It is actually a "Holy day" for remembering Jesus Christ.

April 18th

(Good Friday or "Biyernes Santo")

- April 18th is another Holy day after Maundy Thursday. This is actually the most "solemn day" among the other days of the Holy Week it's because on this same day, it was the day when Jesus Christ had greatly suffered and crucified to his death by the Roman Empire.

May 1st

(Labor Day or "Araw ng mga Manggagawa")

- Workers are actually the one responsible for the economic growth of the Philippine economy. Without workers, the country won't prosper where there won't be any improvements or developments.

In the past, a large group of Filipino people had rallied themselves in front of the Malacanang Palace on May 1, 1903. The group was led by an organization called "Union Obrera Democratica" or the Democratic Laborers Union. It was actually them who pressed the economic rights of every Filipino Workers in the country.

June 12th

(Independence Day or "Araw ng Kalayaan")

- It was exactly on June 12, 1898 when the Philippine Independence has been finally declared. And at the same time and day, Emilio Aguinaldo had established the first Philippine Republic.

July 29th

(Eid'l Fitr or "Pagwawakas ng Ramadan")

- In respect to the Filipino Muslim Community in the Philippines, this day is dedicated for them in celebration for their final fasting-month of Ramadan.

August 25th

(National Heroes' Day or "Araw ng mga Bayani")

- This is a special holiday for the celebration of all Philippine national heroes who fought and saved the country.

August 6th

(Eidul Adha)

- Another day dedicated to the Filipino Muslim Community where they celebrate the end of "Hajj". In addition to this, they will also prepare a huge feast where various cattle will be sacrificed and offered as donations to the poor people.

November 30th

(Bonifacio Day or "Araw ng Kapanganakan ni Bonifacio")

- Filipinos in the past had a huge debate in choosing their national hero. Supposedly, Andres Bonifacio was to be declared as the Philippine national hero but since he was an uneducated individual (which is not a good example for the youth), Dr. Jose Rizal was chosen over him.

The reason why Bonifacio's day of birth is being celebrated is that, his death was due to the fact that he was executed by his fellow Filipino under the Revolutionary Government of Aguinaldo.

December 25th

(Christmas Day or "Araw ng Pasko")

- The 25th of December is the same exact day when Jesus Christ was born. Thus, the majority of Christian believers celebrate it as a special holiday to remember.

December 30th

(Rizal Day or "Araw ng Kabayanihan ni Dr. Jose Rizal")

- As mentioned above, Dr. Jose Rizal is the Philippine National Hero of the country. He actually had a lot of accomplishments and shown a lot of good examples to all younger generations to follow.

Unlike Andres Bonifacio honoring the day of his birth, Dr. Jose Rizal is being honored on this same day where he was executed by the Spanish Colonial Government.

Special Non-Working Holidays


The following list of holidays are "Special Non-Working Holidays" which means that all government offices are closed while all public schools are suspended.

January 31st

(Chinese New Year or "Bagong Taon ng mga Tsino")

- There is actually a large community of Filipino-Chinese in the Philippines that they often prepare surprising event for the celebration of their New Year which is held on every 31st of January. Due to this, they started to influence almost every other Filipinos to join them on their yearly festival.

April 19th

(Black Saturday or "Sabado ng Gloria")

- The 19th month of April is celebrated in the Philippines as a Holy day to all religious sectors because on this same day, it was the day when Jesus Christ's body was laid on the sepulcher.

July 27th

(100th Anniversary of the Iglesia ni Cristo)

- "Iglesia ni Cristo" or "INC" is a Christian religious sector in which according to the latest survey, it was the third largest religion (in terms of followers) in the Philippines. Thus, they started commemorating the 27th of July in the celebration of their 100th (plus) anniversary.

August 21st

(Ninoy Aquino Day or "Araw ng Kabayanihan ni Ninoy Aquino")

- The 21st of August was actually the same day when Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. was assassinated. With his death, it caused a People Power Revolution that occurred in 1986.

November 1st

(All Saints' Day or "Undas")

- The 1st of November is a special holiday where all Filipinos remember their love once who passed away. Thus, it is a day where they visit their graves offering flowers, foods, candles and prayers to their dead.

November 2nd

(All Souls' Day or "Araw ng mga Patay")

- This is the second day of commemorating the dead.

December 24th

(Christmas Eve or "Bisperas ng Pasko")

- A day that is celebrated before Christmas particularly shortly before midnight where a "nochebuena" is prepared.

December 31st

(Last Day of the Year or "Bisperas ng Bagong Taon")

- If nochebuena is prepared before Christmas, "medianoche" is also prepared shortly before midnight of the new year. But the most interesting part is that, Filipinos tends to welcome the new year by setting up firecrackers and other sorts of noises. This is actually a traditional belief in which it will drive away the bad spirits and welcomes good fortune.

There are other more Philippine Holidays that are not covered on this post in which will be covered on another separate post.