Carmina and Patch talk about Filipino Christmas traditions that both delight and invite further inquiry. Enjoy their reminiscences about childhood caroling, the history of centuries-old practices, and the beloved “King of Filipino Christmas Songs,” Jose Mari Chan. Happy Holidays to one and all!
To learn more: The Little-Known History of the Caroling Tradition, A history of our favorite Filipino Christmas carols, How Filipinos Celebrated Christmas in the Spanish era, The origin of the Spanish Villancicos, from the popular news to Christmas carols, Noche Buena Philippines features Filipino Catholics reenacting the Christmas story, What is 13 month pay? Get a grip on this popular payment, Jose Mari Chan, We ask Jose Mari Chan what he things of each of his hit songs, and PASKO, The Philippine Christmas.
The original official music video with lyrics of “Christmas In Our Hearts” can be found here.
To support FilTrip, go to the Patreon page here and PayPal page here.
Visit https://filtrip.buzzsprout.com. Drop a note at thefiltrip@gmail.com.
Thanks to FilTrip's sponsor SOLEPACK. Visit thesolepack.com for more details.
See https://www.buzzsprout.com/privacy for Privacy Policy.
Carmina and Patch talk about Filipino Christmas traditions that both delight and invite further inquiry. Enjoy their reminiscences about childhood caroling, the history of centuries-old practices, and the beloved “King of Filipino Christmas Songs,” Jose Mari Chan. Happy Holidays to one and all!
To learn more: The Little-Known History of the Caroling Tradition, A history of our favorite Filipino Christmas carols, How Filipinos Celebrated Christmas in the Spanish era, The origin of the Spanish Villancicos, from the popular news to Christmas carols, Noche Buena Philippines features Filipino Catholics reenacting the Christmas story, What is 13 month pay? Get a grip on this popular payment, Jose Mari Chan, We ask Jose Mari Chan what he things of each of his hit songs, and PASKO, The Philippine Christmas.
The original official music video with lyrics of “Christmas In Our Hearts” can be found here.
To support FilTrip, go to the Patreon page here and PayPal page here.
Visit https://filtrip.buzzsprout.com. Drop a note at thefiltrip@gmail.com.
Thanks to FilTrip's sponsor SOLEPACK. Visit thesolepack.com for more details.
See https://www.buzzsprout.com/privacy for Privacy Policy.
Welcome to FilTrip, a podcast where we explore everything fun, weird, and in between about the Philippines. And now a quick shout out. Check out Manila Candle. Manila Candle features Filipino inspired scents like Tagaytay, Palawan, Ube Halaya and Buco and Mango. They also have fun ones like Ay Nako and Bahala Ka Sa Buhay Mo.
Patch:Enjoy their car fresheners, wax melts and merchandise to visit manilacandle.com and take a trip to the Philippines through their scents.
Carmina:Back to our show.
Patch:Today's trip is a holiday trip, and a holiday trip is when we talk about specific holiday observance, festival, or celebration, and our personal experiences with that holiday. In this episode, we will be talking about Christmas or Pasko in the Philippines.
Carmina:Patch, remember when we recorded Pasko last time, we found so many things that we couldn't cram everything that we wanted to talk about in that episode. So we vowed to continue that conversation.<laugh>
Patch:That was a really fun episode.
Carmina:Yes, it really was. And I can't believe that it's Christmas again. It just seems like yesterday when we recorded that episode.
Patch:<laugh>. Yeah, that's right.
Carmina:So one of the things that we didn't talk about last time that really is also a huge feature of Christmas is the aguinaldo.
Patch:Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.
Carmina:When you were a child, I'm sure you remember you got aguinaldo from your godparents most commonly.
Patch:Yes.<laugh> I had to pause because usually I just got a lot of love instead<laugh> of...
Carmina:Instead of actual aguinaldo.
Patch:<laugh>. Yes. Which was very much welcomed<laugh>.
Carmina:Right. I'm sure you were crying inside
Patch:<laugh> And outside, to be honest. But okay.<laugh>.
Carmina:So now that I'm a ninang or a godparent myself.
Patch:And you are a wonderful and generous ninang, I might add!
Carmina:I actually did channel my inner child when I became a ninang, and now I make sure that my niece and my nephew get, of course love from me. But let's be real. They don't want my love at this age.<laugh>.
Patch:They want those envelopes.
Carmina:<laugh>. They want the aguinaldo. So I looked into aguinaldo, the word itself is a Spanish term for bonus.
Patch:Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.
Carmina:It apparently came from the tradition of Spanish friars, giving extra pay to Filipino farmers during the colonial period. I mean, you know, it's probably debatable whether it is really extra< laugh> or just what was owed to them. And I found out that this is also practiced in where else, Latin America, much of which was also colonized by Spain. In the Philippines. We almost exclusively associate this word with cash gifts. But in Latin America, it also has s ome musical meaning.
Patch:I did expect we would have similarities to our Latin neighbors, but I didn't expect that it would have a musical aspect to it.
Carmina:Even in Latin America, they also have the association with the cash gifts. But us Filipinos honed in on the important stuff. And really the one that survived in the Philippines is the cash gifts, which is fine by me, by the way.
Patch:Me too.
Carmina:So in Latin America, the musical meaning specifically refers to religious poems that are sung during the Christmas season.
Patch:Mm.
Carmina:Which then brings me to caroling. Do you remember caroling?
Patch:A-meh-ameri-christmas!<laugh>.
Carmina:Oh, that's the one that you remember. There's another one that I remember.<laugh>. I don't know if we should be subjecting our, uh, listeners to our...
Patch:I immediately, immediately regretted doing what I just did.
Carmina:By the way, I'm not editing that out.
Patch:<laugh>
Carmina:Caroling itself, as a practice began all the way back to the 13th century and didn't even involve Christmas or even singing.<laugh>.
Patch:Okay.
Carmina:The reason why it started becoming associated with Christmas was because of our dear old friend St. Francis of Assisi. Remember in the last episode about Christmas, we talked about how he was also the one who initiated the whole practice of having a belen.
Patch:Right. The nativity scene.
Carmina:So we have him to thank for caroling being associated with Christmas too, apparently. Because he incorporated the Christmas message through song in his Christmas services. So it's another legacy of the Catholic faith.
Patch:I always assumed caroling just came from our American colonizers.
Carmina:Me too. The origin comes from the practice of villancicos, which was performance of poetry, basically during Christmas mass. That's actually connected to the aguinaldo in Latin America. Kind of full circle with the aguinaldo.
Patch:Speaking of music, another practice is pastores. Pastores is a Christmas play or playlet because it's shorter, which literally means shepherds.
Carmina:Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.
Patch:So it's a short play showing the journey of the shepherds to the infant Jesus. It's not practiced so much throughout the Philippines, but in Bicol it's still pretty popular In Albay, there's this practice that they're calling Bulilit Pastores or Young Shepherd.
Carmina:Mm-hmm.<affirmative>,
Patch:They gather young kids and they have dances. They perform, they have bright costumes and they're carry these archo of flowers.
Carmina:Mm-hmm.<affirmative>,
Patch:They dance with it and they sing to Christmas songs. In this particular province though, it's like a contest that they hold. And the reason why they started this is to continue the tradition because it's a dying art. But the other interesting thing I found out about it, the song is called Pastores A Belen, which is supposedly composed by Jose Al himself. Wow. Although, I don't know if they actually ever found proof that he's the composer, but he is the designated composer.
Carmina:So Patch, speaking of traditions. I found another interesting factoid about the history of our favorite Filipino Christmas carols. Specifically one song. Do you remember, Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit?
Patch:Of course, very iconic caroling song.
Carmina:Yeah. So I always thought that it was from the Tagalog region. Apparently there's controversy about this whole thing.
Patch:Tell me more.
Carmina:The origin of Philippine Christmas carols itself is said to have started with a Cebuano song in 1933 titled, Kasadya Ning Taknaa, written by Vincent Rubi and Mariano Vestil, Which if you translated in English, says, How Joyous Is The Season? A version of this song, but not directly translated, was done by Levi Celerio in the song that I just mentioned, Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit. So I think what they mean by that is there are similarities in the melodies, but the lyrics are not exactly word per word Cebuano to Tagalo. Vincente and Mariano were never credited or compensated. Apparently to this day, descendants are still seeking compensation and recognition as the true originators of Philippine Christmas carols. And for the song,
Patch:That's a sad take on the<laugh>, that very happy song.<laugh>.
Carmina:I know. Sorry,<laugh>. I'm always bringing us down<laugh>.
Patch:No, but I'm glad you brought it up. Hopefully they get some form of compensation.
Carmina:Yeah. That's a long time. Every Christmas season to be resentful about the song.
Patch:<laugh>. I mean, do you think they're bitter every time they heare it?
Carmina:<laugh>? I would be. Wouldn't you?
Patch:<laugh>? Yeah. Yeah.
Carmina:And speaking of traditions, Patch, and Ilocos, it was customary to receive tupig, another rice-based sweet in exchange for the caroling.
Patch:Oh, okay.
Carmina:Yeah. Sounds delicious.
Patch:Something else to try.
Carmina:Something else to try. And also, if you were a kid, would you want to receive tupig.
Patch:<laugh>?
Carmina:I definitely wouldn't, but okay. That's, uh, still a nice treat. Did you ever go caroling as a kid?
Patch:Of course.
Carmina:<laugh>. What do you remember about it?
Patch:I remember, um, the musical instruments. The ring of, um, bottle caps.
Carmina:Right,
Patch:Right. And then whatever plastic container and a stick can be the drum.
Carmina:Mm-hmm.<affirmative>,
Patch:what else? What kind of instruments did you guys have?
Carmina:I mean, calling it instrument is very generous, but yes. I mean, it does produce the sound that you want. Right? The bottle caps have to be a lot of bottle caps. So I would start collecting bottle caps.
Patch:<laugh> mm-hmm.<affirmative>
Carmina:Way, way before December to make it into that thing.
Patch:Of course.
Carmina:Because it would make a better sound if there's more of them.
Patch:Right.
Carmina:I do remember in my neighborhood how this all starts, like usually starts with a group of like two or three kids. Right. And then by the time they get to the end of the block, it's like a whole flock of kids.<laugh>
Patch:Follow the money train<laugh>.
Carmina:The hilarious thing though, some of the houses,<laugh> down the block, as soon as they hear any inkling that carolers were about to hit their door...one by when the lights would go out oas well<laugh>. So if you're at the end of the block, consider yourself lucky, cuz you would know when these kids were coming. But it's not just one group of kids. So<laugh>.
Patch:Right.
Carmina:There's a lot of turning on and off of lights.
Patch:<laugh>. What about the phenomenon of, on the receiving end the houses? Like, huh? Didn't this group already pass by?
Carmina:<Laugh> Exactly.
Patch:A few minutes ago.
Carmina:So that you couldn't blame them. Right? Or some random kids would join each group.
Patch:Right.
Carmina:<laugh>, That they can receive more cash. So um, yeah, there's a lot of shenanigans like that that happened in my neighborhood. Definitely. Do you remember the song at the very end?
Patch:No. What?
Carmina:Is this? Okay, this is when I'm gonna embarrass myself. But you know, there's...
Patch:Oh, thank you.<laugh>. Oh,<laugh>.
Carmina:It's the thank you song.
Patch:Carmina, you have to sing it.
Carmina:Okay. The first version of it, if you got a really nice cash gift...
Patch:Right. Right.
Carmina:Thank you, thank you, ang babait ninyo thank you. So in English, it's, thank you, thank you, you are so kind. Thank you. That's if you get a good cash gift.
Patch:Yes.
Carmina:Right?
Patch:Yes. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>,
Carmina:The other version< laugh> is thank you, thank y ou, ang babarat ninyo, thank you.
Patch:<laugh>.
Carmina:And it's usually delivered with more feeling. Um, and translated it means, thank you, thank you, you are so cheap. Thank you.
Patch:<laugh>. Right.
Carmina:So I loved singing that version because that's really when you can put your entire feelings<laugh> into it.
Patch:Right, And it was fun. I mean...
Carmina:Yeah, it was fun.
Patch:It, yeah, it produced a lot of laughter for sure.
Carmina:So sometimes too, like when you get to the house and the lights were turned off, you don't even go into like the whole lineup that you had prepared. You just went into that one<laugh>.
Patch:Right. Straight to it.
Carmina:Okay. So we can't talk about Christmas caroling and Christmas songs without also talking about Jose Marie Chan.
Patch:Of course. The King of Filipino Christmas songs.
Carmina:For those who don't know him, there is a singer songwriter who's well known for his love songs. But he also has become, as you point out, Patch, synonymous with Christmas in the Philippines. Starting in September, pictures, articles and memes of him start popping up everywhere. And these memes are really hilarious.
Patch:<laugh> You sent me one and I didn't, I didn't get it at first.
Carmina:<laugh>. Let me tell the listeners about it.<laugh>. So back in September, I sent Patch a meme of Jose Marie Chan tied to a chair, like it looks like he was held hostage. There's a caption underneath it that said something like, we're holding you hostage because we're not ready for Christmas, we still have to save money. Something like this.
Patch:I mean, they have to see it to<laugh> to appreciate it.
Carmina:The other meme that I found that also had me on the floor laughing is one that looks like a John Wick movie poster.<laugh>. Have you seen that?
Patch:No.
Carmina:So the poster, it's obviously Kianu Reeves' body, and they photoshopped it with Jose Marie Chan's head. And at the bottom it says, instead of John Wick, it says Chan Wick<laugh>. T his prompted me to look into Jose Marie Chan himself and his life story.
Patch:Okay.
Carmina:He was born on March 11th, 1945 in Ilo Ilo City. He graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with a BA in economics. He married and he now has five grown kids, all of whom are apparently musically inclined. Actually two of them are part of a duo called, Generation. Isn't that fascinating?
Patch:The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, as they say.
Carmina:That's right. But he isn't just a singer songwriter, Patch. He eventually became chairman and CEO of his family sugar company.
Patch:I am very impressed. But at the same time, I feel like there should be equal distribution of either talent...
Carmina:<laugh> Or wealth?
Patch:Or, or wealth.
Carmina:You hit the hit nail right on the head. I was so fascinated by this.
Patch:Right.
Carmina:And his family actually also has this rags to richest story because his father, the way he describes it was an impoverished Chinese immigrant when he came to the Philippines from Fujian China. In all of the articles about his father, Jose Marie really credits him for being very supportive of his artistic pursuits. Because he started in show business as a host and singer on a TV show in 1966. So he was in his early twenties. He even represented the Philippines in the World Pop Song Festival in 1973. He went onto the finals but didn't win. Still impressive considering the fact that he was also probably either still going to school or in the last stages of school at that point. But in 1975, his family lived in New York for eleven years because they fled during Matial Law. According to Jose Marie himself, their family sugar business was seized by the government and given to one of the Marcos cronies. So it must h ave grown substantially for it to even catch the attention of anybody at that point.
Patch:Right.
Carmina:He and his family returned to the Philippines in 1986, which again is a significant year because that's when People Power happened. The business was restored back to his family. And at the same time that they were rebuilding, he restarted his music career and began regularly releasing albums. Then he became the King of Christmas songs in 1990 with Christmas In Our Hearts. That's his most popular song. And it's been played continuously without fail for thirty years.
Patch:Wow. That's quite a legacy. And I'm so happy that his father was very supportive of his artistic pursuits because the older generation, especially if they have a family business, they would want their, you know, child to pursue family business instead of the arts. So lucky for us, the country itself, that he let him pursue singing and entertainment. Otherwise, what would our Christmases be without Jose Marie Chan? Yeah. Right?
Carmina:Yeah. And, and this actually, the history of the song is interesting in itself because it originated from a poem titled Ang Tubig Ay Buhay or Water is Life, written by Chari Cruz-Zarate in 1988. It's not a Christmas poem, but Jose Marie heard it. He was so moved by it that he made it into a song and he included it in his Christmas album in 1990, which was called the same. That album is really what catapulted him. For those who need reminding or who have never heard the song will link it to the show notes. I found the original official music video where he sings it with his daughter. The video even has the lyrics. And I had fun singing along to it,<laugh>. So please don't blame us if you get an earworm from watching this, because I definitely got it.
Patch:<laugh>. Well, speaking of earworm, he was asked how he felt about all those memes that start as early as September that dominate, you know, social media and everything else. And apparently he's such a good sport. He says he feels proud, he loves the songs that he composes, he considers them his children.
Carmina:The other thing that was bugging me from last season, Patch<laugh>, was this whole thing about Simbang Gabi starting at 4:00 AM. I think we mentioned in that episode in Spain, these n ovena masses leading to Christmas were actually held in the evenings. So I really, really wanted to find out how it came to be, that we have it at four in the morning. And I found, I think a plausible explanation c uz there are, again, so many theories and conflicting stories about why.
Patch:Okay.
Carmina:I think the most plausible, at least to me, are the practical reasons behind it. So remember Patch, during the Spanish colonial period, the church, and therefore the friars were very powerful because they were delegated managing the agricultural lands and activities all throughout the Philippines. Since the Filipinos were used by the Spanish to work the land, the friars did a twofer. So they found an opportunity to indoctrinate the Filipinos and spread the Catholic beliefs. And also, made sure that they were up early enough<laugh> to number one, get indoctrinated, and two, so that they could go straight to the fields after their indoctrination. Because that season coincides with harvest season. So related to that, I also wondered how is it that this whole tradition of eating, you know, those rice-based sweets came to be? And also, why do we eat after Simbang Gabi?
Patch:I'm assuming it's because they have to continue to work, they need the sustenance right after mass.
Carmina:That's so right! Since rice was readily available and because rice fills up the stomach to fuel them for the hard day's work. So this is the other thing that just makes me wonder to no end. We said, that the Christmas season in the Philippines is the longest in the world and that it starts in September.
Patch:Right.
Carmina:Why?
Patch:<laugh>?
Carmina:I mean, I always wondered why.<laugh>?
Patch:I mean, I know that there's, they say because of, you know, there's commercial reasons. The earlier you start, the earlier people buy everything from decorations to gifts to Christmas songs, et cetera.
Carmina:A lot of people do say that it's more commercial than historical or religious. Malls at some point became very popular in the Philippines, and the businesses really capitalize on this. Also, in the Philippines, there's this thing called the 13th month pay, which is an extra paycheck at the end of the year that's equivalent to a month's salary.
Patch:Oh, that's right. I forgot about that.
Carmina:So I really thought that that was a uniquely Filipino thing, but apparently a lot of countries in the world have this. But why is it only in the Philippines?<laugh> Christmas starts in September because I think one of the theories was that the businesses knew that there's this 13th month pay coming and they start kind of conditioning people to basically start spending, right? Because they have this anticipation of an extra month's paycheck. The other explanation that I found was with the rise of the overseas Filipino workers, September was kind of the sweet spot to start planning. You know, coming back home, being with family, et cetera.
Patch:Carmina, I think we also said last time that we were gonna try to start that tradition here, right?<laugh> the US. Let's see what happens if we put out our Christmas lights and Christmas decorations in September.
Carmina:But I don't know if you noticed.
Patch:What?
Carmina:Some commercials from some big retailers actually started infusing Christmas messaging in October. It's very subtle, but I picked up on it.
Patch:Subtle for now.
Carmina:Maybe<laugh>, there's a slow shift happening here in the US towards starting the Christmas season earlier.
Patch:That's right.
Carmina:And of course, because we talked about beginnings, when does Christmas season officially end again in the Philippines?
Patch:January 6th.
Carmina:That's right. It coincides with the Feast of the Three Kings.
Patch:Right.
Carmina:And again, I tried to find the reason why historically or culturally this is, and I really couldn't find anything. And in the end I said to myself, why not<laugh>? We Filipinos just love to celebrate and we're gonna find any reason to prolong any celebration. And so with that Patch, Merry Christmas to all of our listeners!
Patch:Maligayang Pasko, everyone!
Carmina:And don't forget to sing that thank you song, whenever you receive or not receive an aguinaldo<laugh>. That's our episode. We hope you join us on our next trip. O siya, siya!
Patch:Ingat! Thanks for listening to FilTrip with Carmina and Patch. Support FilTrip through Patreon or PayPal, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever all podcasts are downloaded.
Carmina:Thanks to FilTrip sponsor, Solepack, a functional shoe accessory bag. Visit thesolepack.com for more details.
Patch:Email us at thefiltrip@gmail.com.