Christmas traditions

We landed in Madrid ahead of schedule. As soon as the seat belt sign was turned off, passengers scrambled for their luggage in the overhead bins. Traveling in cattle class, it was sensible to wait in our seats and watch, with a mix of amusement and irritation, as people stood for 15 minutes before the line started moving toward the exit. My sister remarked that elsewhere, passengers deplaned by row. Then she commented on a Filipino bad habit inherited from the Spanish: “Dito pala natin nakuha ‘yan, maging apurado.”

Being inconsiderate of others to get ahead plagues daily life in Metro Manila. When getting off the MRT, I often stretch out my arms and block passengers trying to get in. Stupid, inconsiderate, and entitled seniors have to be reminded that it is easier to enter a full train if you let people out first. I curse silently during Church when the orderly distribution of hosts by rows is broken by those who dash to the altar. Will the Church run out of hosts? Do you get more grace if you receive communion ahead of everyone else? Impatience, I was told, is a sign of old age. I think my pet peeves about the loss of basic civility in public places result from an obsessive-compulsive temperament and too much foreign travel.

Arriving in Madrid at night last Sunday, Gran Vía was ablaze in Christmas lights and bustling with people. Dec. 8 being a Holy Day of Obligation, we attended Mass, and the only two things I gleaned from a very long sermon in Spanish were: that the Immaculate Conception is the patron saint of lawyers and that Pope Clement XIII decreed in 1760 the Immaculate Conception as the universal and national patroness of Spain. A similar decree for the Philippines came much later in 1942. Pius XII declared the Virgin Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception as the principal patroness of the Philippines. It is not well known that St. Pudentiana was the patroness of the Philippines from 1571, and that when St. Rose of Lima was declared the principal patroness of the Spanish Indies in 1670, that extended to the Philippines. Nevertheless, the Immaculate Conception in the Philippines goes a long way. Despite theological disputes over the centuries, when the Diocese of Manila was erected in 1579, Gregory XIII decreed that the Manila Cathedral be placed under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception. In 1595, the same was granted to the cathedrals of Nueva Segovia [first in Cagayan, but later moved to Vigan, Ilocos Sur] and Caceres [in Naga, Bicol] by Clement VIII.

On this trip, I began to see the Spanish roots of some Philippine Christmas traditions, like setting up the “Belen” (Spanish for Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus), which are nativity scenes. These can be elaborate, even life-size depictions in churches, or small, simple ones of cardboard or plastic in homes. From my childhood eyes, I remember: Joseph and Mary with a baby in a manger surrounded by donkeys and assorted farm animals. The other figures were shepherd boys and three kings in oriental robes who arrived on camels bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. A pity that we did not inherit the wonderful Christmas tradition from Catalonia, Spain, known as the “Caganer” or “Caga Tio.” This is a humorous figure in the Belen scene that depicts a man taking a dump. Often in the form of a farm hand, it takes on many forms, including a degenerate one in the form of former President Rodrigo Duterte!

In the Philippines, the Christmas cake is a fruit cake, often recycled and given away as soon as they are received. In Spain, the Christmas cake is known as “Roscon de Reyes.” It is round, in the form of a crown, ornamented with multicolored candied fruit to mimic jewels. When cut and served on Jan. 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, previously known as the Feast of the Three Kings, two things will be found inside the cream or chocolate filling: a small figure of a king and a lowly bean. Those who get the slice with the king are treated like a king for a day, while the unfortunate, who get the bean, have to pay for the next year’s cake.

Another Christmas tradition from Spain is the Misa del Gallo or “Rooster’s Mass.” The Christmas Eve Mass, often confused with “Simbang Gabi” or the nine dawn masses from Dec. 16 to 24. What the Spanish know as Misa del Gallo, Pinoys know as Misa de Aguinaldo, which is followed by the “noche buena” meal that costs more than P500. Misa del Gallo used to be celebrated on or around midnight on Dec. 24, but is now anticipated at 10 p.m. It traces its roots to Sixtus III in the 5th century, who celebrated a Christmas vigil Mass “ad galli cantus (at the crowing of the rooster).” Folk tradition says a rooster, not an angel, heralded the birth of Jesus. Another explanation for the term Misa del Gallo might have been from the name of the Basilica de S. Petrum in Gallicantum outside Jerusalem that commemorates St. Peter denying Jesus thrice before the cock crowed in fulfillment of a prophecy.