Young Blood
Make it meaningful
By Elaine F. FallarcunaWhen the month of December began, I decided to take a break in my daily grind to muse on a meaningful Christmas.
When the month of December began, I decided to take a break in my daily grind to muse on a meaningful Christmas.
Officialy, the early morning Misa de Gallo today, so called because of the crowing of roosters (gallo), marks the beginning of a nine-day countdown to Christmas but every Filipino, and expatriate, knows the Christmas season here starts much earlier, covering the last four “ber” months of the year.
On Dec. 16 we mark the first of nine “Simbang Gabi” Masses. Our parents called this run-up to Christmas as “Misa de Gallo”. Before cockcrow, families streamed into star-lantern-festooned churches for the “Mass of the Rooster”. Snacks of puto bumbong, chocolate and rice cakes followed.
