Misas de Aguinaldo

Since Miguel Lopez de Legaspi celebrated the first feast of the Nativity of the Lord in the Philippines in 1565, Christmas has been the longest and best loved festivity of the Filipinos. In preparation for the Nativity, a novena is started on December 16th and this is known as the Misas de Aguinaldo, or Gift Masses. The Misas de Aguinaldo started in Mexico when, in 1587, Fray Diego de Soria, prior of the Convent of San Agustin Acolman, petitioned the Pope for permission to hold Christmastide Masses outdoors because the church could not accommodate the multitude that attended the services. The request was granted and these Masses came to be known as Misas de Aguinaldo.

In the Philippines, these dawn Masses were held during the harvest season when the farmers had to be on the fields at the crack of dawn. As an accommodation, the Masses were moved up to four o’clock in the morning; so powerful is tradition that to this day, urban residents attend Misas de Aguinaldo without questioning why they attend Mass at such an ungodly hour. In the rural areas, an hour or so before the Mass, a band plays Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit, traditional villancicos, and carols all over town. In some communities, the parish priest goes as far as banging on each and every door. The whole town is up for the Misa de Aguinaldo.

After the service, it is puto-bumbong, a violet glutinous rice steamed in tubes served with sugar and grated coconut, and salabat (ginger tea). The novena ends on Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) with a Midnight Mass known as Misa de Gallo, Cock Mass. (Today the terms Misa de Aguinaldo and Misa de Gallo are used interchangeably.) In the last chapter of his first novel, Rizal rhapsodized on the Noche Buena: "The night of light and joy for so many children who in the warm bosom of the family celebrate the feast with the most tender memories, the feast that commemorates the first smile of love sent by heaven to the earth; the night in which all Christian families eat, drink, dance, sing, laugh, play, love, kiss; that night, which in cold countries is magical to childhood with the traditional Christmas tree, covered with lights, dolls, candies and tinsel which are gazed at by spellbound, large, round eyes where innocence is mirrored..." Christmas Eve concludes with a Noche Buena feast after the Misa de Gallo.