Philippines - 128 days of Christmas a year

Who would have thought it? Anyone who waits impatiently for the first Christmas carols on the radio months in advance, clears gingerbread shelves at the beginning of October or spends weeks decorating the house for the holidays is in the right place in the Philippines: the island nation not only celebrates Christmas, but an entire Christmas season. It begins on September 1, as soon as the days get shorter, and lasts until Epiphany on January 6 - over four months to celebrate the festive season. So what are you waiting for? Saddle up the reindeer and off you go to Christmas paradise under the palm trees!

It's very Christmassy
For Filipinos, Christmas means one thing above all: the long-awaited gathering of the whole family. Reason enough to extend this special time and start preparing for it months in advance. While elsewhere the summer sales are only just coming to an end, most Filipinos are already in the Christmas spirit: glittering decorations in almost every shop window, cheesy Christmas songs and numerous pre-Christmas celebrations are just as much a part of it as attending mass, which is the order of the day in the predominantly Catholic island state. The churches are particularly busy between December 16 and 24, when the daily series of masses, known as Simbang Gabi, is accompanied by rice cakes and hot chocolate.

White Christmas à la Philippines
While roast goose, potato salad with sausages or fondue are traditionally served on Christmas Eve in this country, Filipinos opt for a special meatloaf (embutido), a stuffed meat roll (morcon) or stuffed fish (rellenong bangus) as a festive dish. The gift-giving also differs from others, as it begins a few days before the actual festivities with small gifts and ends on Christmas Eve with a large present. But probably the biggest contrast is obvious: in contrast to Europe, the Christmas spirit in the Philippines is created on snow-white beaches at 25 to 30 degrees Celsius ...

A guiding light for the faithful: The Parol lanterns
As a counterpart to the fairy lights that are popular in many places, the traditional paper lanterns provide a particularly contemplative setting for Christmas in the Philippines. The tradition began in 1928 with the production of the first lamps made of bamboo and paper, which were originally used to light the way to the ritual Christmas mass for the faithful, as most rural areas did not have electricity at the time. Nowadays, the lanterns, called parols, are no longer needed as signposts and are usually replaced by electric lights, but in many places they are still hung up as a symbolic guiding light to illuminate the dark winter nights.

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