WILL NEVER BE THE SAME

"Christmas Celebration during the New Normal"

        Christmas is celebrated on December 25 and is both a sacred religious holiday and a worldwide cultural and commercial phenomenon. Christians celebrate Christmas Day as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, a spiritual leader whose teachings form the basis of their religion. Popular customs include exchanging gifts, decorating Christmas trees, attending church, and sharing meals with family and friends. People, and especially children like Christmas as it’s a time when you give and receive presents.

        Every Christmas, Filipinos have their own set of iconic Christmas traditions and practices.
Hanging of “parol” in houses, streets, malls, etc. Attending “simbang gabi (night mass)”. House-to-house caroling starts in the second week of December which both kids and adults enjoy the most. Attending the Misa de Gallo (Christmas Eve Mass). Then the Christmas celebration of “Noche Buena” or the so-called “midnight feast,” which for Filipinos is a huge lavish, open house feast and a celebration with family, friends, and neighbors, greeting everyone a Merry Christmas, with lots of special food and delicacies to enjoy. Then the gift giving or exchange of gifts as a way of celebrating the season of giving where everyone is just happy to receive and give gifts and last but not the least is the giving of “pamasko” (wrapped gifts or money) by godparents their godchildren, which is something children look forward to all season long.  

        Christmas from 2020 is going to be very different from years past. For the past months/years, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way how we celebrate not only Christmas but all celebrations we used to celebrate. We used to go to as a family to church to attend mass, and after that our parents let us buy the things that we want. This past year has been difficult for all of us. But, amidst all of the confusion and fear that the pandemic has brought, God is with us, has always been, and will always be with us.  

Reference:

https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas