Filipino Christmas Before Santa Claus and Christmas Tree

[Masked Rider Black]

Filipino Christmas Before Santa Claus and Christmas Tree​

Posted on 22 December 2020
By Fr. Dedert Duarte


What was Christmas in the Philippines before the introduction of Santa Claus and the Christmas tree by the Americans? Mary Helen Fee, an American Thomasite assigned in the town of Capiz (now Roxas City) offers us a glimpse of how the Catholic faithful of Capiz town observed Christmas. It is in Chapter 15 of her book A Woman’s Impressions of the Philippines, published in 1910 (first edition) and 1912 (second edition).


Gift-Giving on January 6

She immediately noticed the absence of Santa Claus and the Christmas tree in Capiz: “[The] Filipinos do not understand Santa Claus or the Christmas Tree.” She also noticed that “giving of presents” (regalo in local vernacular) was “by no means a universal custom of theirs,” and was not observed on December 25 but rather “given on the festival of Tres Reyes, or The Three Kings, some six or eight days after Christmas.” It is because the Spaniards introduced the tradition of gift-giving every Epiphany or the feast of the Three Wise Men or popularly known as “Three Kings” on January 6 (now, being celebrated on the first Sunday of January). The American influence was so strong that the Filipinos’ concept of regalo has been moved to December 25.

Nevertheless, there are still towns in the Philippines which observe gift giving on Three Kings, like in Marilao and Meycauayan City, Bulacan, for an instance, which is called paskong bukid (‘farm Christmas’).

It is also interesting to note that even though the commercial Santa Claus most of the Filipino kids and kids at heart know was indeed introduced by the Americans, our ancestors already knew San Nicolas de Myra or Bari, the famous 4th-century Catholic bishop who used to give gifts to children and from whom the idea of Santa Claus was derived. In fact, there are parishes and barrios named after him in the Philippines, like Barangay San Nicolas, Tapaz, Capiz. The local lore says that a group of children discovered, while playing, a statue of the long-lost image of “San Nicolas” buried under the rice husks. It was actually San Nicolas de Myra, and since then venerated him after the faithful thought their barangay was named after San Nicolas de Tolentino, also an equally important Catholic saint.


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[Saint Sinner]

Thanks for sharing this. Christmas here in the Ph is truly amazing. Nakakamiss yung mga dating gawi ng mga Pinoy tuwing Pasko.