Paskong Pinoy: Ain't Nobody Can Do it Like We Do

merrystockings.com

Christmas for Pinoys is one big production number. All OSCAR Opening number put together and multiplied by 34,554 times won’t measure.  In most families, someone will always take the role of the director, the one who thinks of all gimmicks and crazy stunts to make the Christmas Eve better.

And from this director, here are some of the unique things that come out of it. 

Karoling 

There is no other part in the world where a group of children can go around the neigborhood with Soda crowns as a musical instrument to accompany their unrehearsed rendition of “Ang Pasko ay Sumapit” and we are certainly the only country that turns away carollers with nothing but a “patawad” statement. 

Fried Chicken 

If the US has turkey, we have fried chicken. It’s the staple Christmas food during special occasions especially before the spread of fastfood like Jollibee and McDo, back when fried chicken was, indeed, only served during special occasions. Fried chicken has naturally evolved through time. Some prefer lechon manok but it doesn’t change the fact that it remains the centrepiece of the celebration. 

Parol/Lanterns 

It isn’t unique to the Philippines either but this is the one country where lanterns seem like a mandatory. It really doesn’t matter what kind of lantern you have. In fact, it is better to have one of those homemade ones that is made of barbecue sticks and held together by a think string and covered with Japanese paper. 

Christmas Eve Dinner 

Any nutritionist will tell you that eating at midnight is really not advisable. There’s so many things that can go wrong and so many calories that is bound to be stored. It is especially not advisable to have a feast at midnight. Feast should be done in the morning to give your body the entire day to burn them. Somehow, we didn’t just manage to ignore this advice, we actually do the exact opposite. We don’t just have a feast at midnight, we start the feast the day before the 25^th and essentially don’t stop until our stomachs wouldn’t allow us to put in anything more.

Hundred Days of Christmas

116 to be exact. That’s from the September 1 to December 25. To some families, it extends up to New Year. While the rest of the world thinks it’s unreasonable to think of Christmas seven days before the 25^th, we are already on the fifth gear and running at 200 by the first of December. 

Plastic Christmas Tree 

While the rest of the North buy freshly cut trees to savor the smell of the green, we bask on our ten-year old non-biodegradable Christmas tree which we bought from SM.

No Concept Design 

We love dressing up everything. We even dress up our phones, our refrigerator, and our TV. We put all sorts of clothing to everything and we don’t really think about the overall design of the house. We buy stuff and add it to the design and, most of the time, our house ends up looking like, well, a Christmas tree. It’s dominated by loud colors, shiny things, and overly complicated patterns.