Culture

When I was growing up in the Philippines, our family did not have a Christmas tree during the holidays.

What we always had on our windows were home-made brightly lit star-shape Christmas lanterns called parol from the Spanish word for lamp, farol.

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” Norman Vincent Peale

 Filipinos love to celebrate fiestas or festivals.

Named after the Philippine national hero, Jose Rizal, Sentro Rizal (Rizal Centre) was established by Republic Act 10066 or the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 to promote Philippine arts, culture and language around the world.

Now on its sixth year, the Winter Escapade Tour will highlight the culture, heritage and history of Batangas and the natural beauty of El Nido in Palawan.

Vancouver-based Kababayang Pilipino of British Columbia headlines this year’s Scotiabank Dance Centre Open House on September 15 with a special hour-long matinee performance at 2 p.m.

It’s called the Philippine Arts and Social Sciences in the Ontario Curriculum, or Passoc for short.

For Filipino ears, Passoc sounds like the Tagalog word pasok, which means ‘to enter’, and indeed it’s already in.

(Editor’s note: Since our April 1-15 edition is coming out on Easter Sunday, Canadian Filipino Net wishes to greet our readers A Happy Easter with an article about the observance of Holy Week by one of the most active Catholic parishes in British Columbia with a significant number of Filipino parishioners.)

The 40-day period of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday with 1.2 billion Catholics around the world observing the season which culminates in Easter Sunday.

“Dating in this day and age is nearly a full-time job! If you’re not on top of things, your potential partner just might slip through the cracks of the web,” says my single friend, Patrick.

December 16 is the official start of the religious celebration of Christmas in the Philippines. It begins with a nine-day novena of Masses in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, called Simbang Gabi or Misa de Gallo in Spanish, meaning Roosters’ Mass. It is so called because church bells start ringing with the crowing of the roosters to awaken parishioners to go to the predawn Masses. It culminates on Christmas eve with the midnight Mass.