The Legend of Parol THE FILIPINO CHRISTMAS LANTERN (ENGLISH VERSION) Written by: FERNANDO F. SACDALAN Translated by: RONNIE LIM The Legend of Parol English Version THE FIRST CHRISTIANS Spain brought Christianity to the Philippines when it “discovered” the islands in the 15th century. Because of this, the Filipinos are the first Christians in Asia. They have been celebrating Christmas ever since Rajah Humabon and his wife, king and queen of Cebu, received Christianity from the explorer Ferdinand Magellan. THE CHURCHES The Spanish conquistadores stayed in the islands for more than three centuries. As the Spaniards propagated Christianity, Filipinos soon started building churches made of bamboo, wood and palm leaves. But they found that these materials easily deteriorated under the weather, and overtime they improved the buildings with the use of stone, marble and hardwood. They found these materials in the surrounding forests and mountains. The growing population necessitated the construction of much bigger churches to accommodate all the people. In each of the churches, they build the roof way up high, and the campanario (bell tower) was several stories higher than the roof. The doors and windows were made of hardwood, the marble floors polished to the point of mirro-like sheen you could see your image when you look down on the floor. With the church’s size and beauty, you could feel as if you are entering a palace in grand splendor. COCONUT OIL In those years, electricity had yet to be discovered, for lighting, Filipinos developed a way to get the oil from the fruit of the coconut tree, which grew in abundance everywhere in the islands. They discovered using the coconut oil to light up their lanterns and torches. Extracting oil from coconut meat was not an easy process. First, mature coconut meat had to be grated and squeezed hard by hand to bring out the milky white cream. The milk would then have to be boiled for a long time to vaporize all the water, leaving the oil. Nowadays, the process of coconut oil extraction is done by steam- drying the coconut meat into copra, then crushing it to produce the oil. One day in December, when the folks were busy going about their business for the coming Christmas, the village head gathered his community and warned against the use of too much coconut oil, to light up the church lanterns for the celebration. Even in those early times, Filipinos were aware of their material limitations and strove to adopt conservation methods in their lives. Someone Early Morning Mass or Dawn Mass, or Simbang Gabi; it was easily disapproved for it has become a community tradition to attend Mass at dawn on the nine days before Christmas, and at the stroke of midnight on this very special day. For practical reasons the fishermen among the villagers needed to hear Mass before sailing out the day’s catch. Others suggested that they harvest all the mature coconuts in the surroundin village for the oil, but many families objected to this for they also needed the coconut for cooking. Still other folks suggested that they use less lanterns to decorate the church inside and out; again this was voted down as it has become a grand tradition to make the community’s religious and social center as brightly lit as they could to symbolize the brightness of hope among the villagers of the coming birth of the Savior. So, since those early years, Filipino communities everywhere have kept the tradition of lighting as many lanterns as possible. The original “problem” of our ancestors was resolved in favor of compromise and balance – life in the community went on and the coconut continued to be the source of oil for both lighting and cooking. DAWN MASSES December is cool season in the Philippines. The air is fresh and crisp, particularly in the early morning hours, a feeling Christmas bringing goodwill to one and all. Folks young and old go about their day in newly- bought attire, feeling the excitement that Christmas brings. Houses are cleaned, backyard swept, the community puts on activities that nurture the soul the church revives its choir, a stage play is performed, a big band goes around the neighborhoods bringing music to households and going to dawn masses from the 16th to the 24th of the month. The Spaniards called it Misa de Gallo, Mass of the Roosters, because at 4 a.m. roosters start to crow. After Mass, the congregants are ready for breakfast and food vendors are already set up outside the church and the roads are leading to it, selling native fare like puto bumbong, and suman, served with freshly grated coconut meat sprinkled with brown sugar and wrapped in banana leaves, cooked right behind their respective stalls in a clay stove. A clay pot on the stove over firewood embers, steaming the delicacies into hot and hearty breakfast goodness. The special kalamay or bibingka, at a slightly higher price, is garnished with grated white cheese or slices of salted egg. The goodies usually come with salabat, a hot ginger drink laced with honey or brown sugar. NOCHE BUENA In those days, Children are only brought to church during special occasions like their birthday, baptism, confirmation, as part of a wedding entourage as flower girl or ring bearer, or on Christmas Eve. Parents did not like bringing their children to church on regular Sundays because they did not want the service disturbed by their children’s noise, disruptive antics; when babies cry during mass, parents would be hard- pressed to make them stop crying. Children are happiest during Noche Buena (good night) because this is one supper time that they see their dinner table full of delicious foods. As midnight approached to turn into Christmas Day, families all over the islands gather at the dinner table to partake of the gastronomic bounty. After the Noche Buena comes the opening of, their aginaldo, Christmas presents. Some families do this right after dinner; other hold until after they wake up in the morning. Children eagerly anticipate the toys they get from their godparents, as they perceive them to be more fun, like toys, than those from their parents who tend to give them items of clothing. ANDONG’S LAMP There was a nine-year old boy named Andong. His parents were farmers. Andong was a good, well-behaved boy who liked to create little things with his hands. He wanted to make something that he could offer to the church, but he didn’t have money to buy the materials needed to create it. So he went around the neighborhood streets looking for sticks of bamboo and pieces of paper. He would make a frame and put their old lamp inside it, bring it to church and help brighten the Christmas spirit in the community. Once he found enough sticks, he tied them together with pieces of string from his old kite, and pasted the pieces of paper wrappers called pabalat from candy called pastillas to make the frame in the shape of star. He liked the look of the frame as the paper of the wrappers were in different colors. After a while, he was finished making the frame. Andong asked permission from his mother, Aling (Mrs.) Maria, to bring the lamp to chuch, which is not far from their house. Along the way, other children were playing; school was out for the holidays. Some of the boys asked him to stop and play with them, but he begged off and went on walking and carefully holding the lamp with both hands. He didn’t want to drop it because the lamp had oil in it. But another group of boys blocked his way and asked what he was carrying. One of them asked “May I see?” while he touched the thin paper covering the frame. But Andong yelled “Don’t touch it!” and jerked his hands away from the boy. The other boys were now surrounding him, laughing at the shape of the thing he was holding. Fearing they might destroy his creation, Andong averted the boys and stepped onto a clear path to continue his journey, but suddenly another boy bumped him. He dropped the lamp and it fell to the ground. Sensing trouble and fearing they would be blamed for the accident. The boys ran away, leaving Andong with the damaged frame. Some of the sticks broke and tore holes in the paper lining, but luckily the lamp bottle did not break and the oil did not spill. Frustrated and almost crying, he picked up the pieces and walked back home. It was getting dark, but there was still time for Andong to go out and look for more sticks. After a while he found enough. At dinner his parents didn’t notice him hurrying. He also did not tell what happened. He was bent on fixing his frame. Tomorrow would be Sunday and he would ask his mom to bring his lamp to church. What wrapped his star-shaped lantern became a patchwork in different colors of pastillas candy wrapper paper, good pieces to use because light would shine through it when the lamp is lit. It was almost morning when he finished fixing the lantern. He slept soundly for the few hours before breakfast, brought on by his effort to finish his project. He felt good that was able to create a thing of beauty that he would offer to help decorate their church. His sleep brought on a dream. Light filtered into his room through the small holes in his capiz shell window.