Holding onto their
HERITAGE
Winners of the 2019 Parol contest at Vallejo High School.
Rozzana Verder Aliga
Filipino Christmas traditions bring families and community together in American Canyon R AC H E L R A S K I N - Z R I H E N Though it focuses on marking the same miraculous occurrence as in the West – the birth of Jesus in a Bethlehem manger – Filipino Christmas traditions have their own unique flavor, figuratively and literally. In other words, if there are Parols, the Simbang Gabi, the Belens and bibingkas – it’s probably Christmas in the Philippines or the Filipino American community. According to several Napa and Solano County area Filipino-American community leaders, Filipino Christmas starts in the fall and stretches through the first of the year. “Christmas starts in September,” said Elmer Manaid, president of the Fil-Am of 12 | INSIDE NAPA VALLEY
American Canyon club. “There’s a saying – Christmas starts once the months ending in ‘bur’ start. I think we have officially the longest Christmas season – ‘till January. Christmas trees and lights start going up in September. Christmas lanterns made out of bamboo and colored paper that kids make in school. Christmas music starts playing on radio stations. And it carries on until the first Sunday in January, with the Feast of the Three Kings.” Living in American Canyon since 2007, and the owner of a business providing residential care for disabled adults, Manaid offers one possible explanation for the
longer holiday season. “Remember, we don’t have Thanksgiving and other holidays, like Halloween,” he said. There are other possible factors, as well, he said. “I grew up in Manila, and was urbanized, but in the rural areas, many live a very simple life – farmers, agriculture business – working very hard, out in the fields tending their animals – and the end of the year is the harvest. (Christmas) celebrates and gives thanks for a bountiful year. It also comes near the end of the typhoon season. We get about 100 typhoons between June and November, and by December they’re FALL/WINTER 2021
