Jose Mari Chan Is Playing: Filipino Christmas Bingo for the Ber Months
It started on the first of September, at roughly the time the malls opened. Somewhere in a supermarket a speaker played the opening bars of Jose Mari Chan, a tita said “ay, Pasko na,” and the longest Christmas season on earth was declared open with 115 days still to go.
Twenty five squares, one free space, nothing stored. Play it across the ber months and see how fast the board fills. Most of the left column happens before the end of September.
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Filipino Christmas Bingo: the ber months edition
Why Christmas in the Philippines starts in September
The honest answer is that nobody decided it. The ber months, September through December, share a syllable and that was enough. Once the malls learned that decorations in September sold more than decorations in November, the season had a start date, and once Jose Mari Chan’s “Christmas in Our Hearts” came out in 1990 it had a soundtrack. The song is played on the first of September the way other countries fire a starting gun, and the internet has turned the man himself into the season’s unofficial mascot, an honor he appears to accept with grace.
Underneath the jokes is a plain fact. The Philippines is the largest Catholic country in Asia, and for most families Christmas is not a day but a run of obligations, reunions and dawn masses that needs a long runway. September is when the runway starts.
The ber months calendar, in order
These are the dates the season actually turns on. The ones that move are marked.
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 September | The song. The mall trees. The first “Pasko na.” |
| 16 September | One hundred days before Christmas. The countdown starts on the evening news. |
| 1 and 2 November | Undas, All Saints’ and All Souls’. Cemeteries fill, roads and ports jam, and the Christmas playlist takes two days off, then resumes. |
| Mid-December | The Giant Lantern Festival in San Fernando, Pampanga, the parol capital. Dates set each year by the city. |
| 16 to 24 December | Simbang Gabi, nine dawn masses, also called Misa de Gallo. Bibingka and puto bumbong outside the church after each one. |
| On or before 24 December | 13th month pay must be released by private employers, under Presidential Decree 851. One twelfth of the year’s basic salary. |
| 24 December, midnight | Noche Buena. Ham, queso de bola, the spreadsheet made real. |
| 25 December | Christmas Day, and the round of ninong and ninang visits for aguinaldo. |
| Early January | Three Kings, the Feast of the Epiphany, on the Sunday between 2 and 8 January, is the traditional end. Cebu does not stop, because Sinulog is two weeks later. |
Eight of the squares, explained for visitors
The parol. The star lantern, from the Spanish farol. Bamboo and paper in its oldest form, capiz shell in its finest, LEDs in its loudest. It represents the star over Bethlehem and it goes up in September because that is when it goes on sale.
The 13th month. Not a bonus. A legal entitlement for rank-and-file private employees who have worked at least a month in the year, equal to one twelfth of basic salary, due on or before 24 December. Asking about it in October is a national pastime and technically premature.
Monito monita. The office exchange gift, usually run in rounds with a rule per round: something soft, something long, something red, something under a set budget. The budget is where the fights start, which is why the wishlist arrives with prices.
The ninong who stopped answering. Godparents are expected to hand out aguinaldo, cash gifts, to their godchildren at Christmas. A ninong with many godchildren and a modest 13th month may become difficult to reach in the second half of December. It is a joke, and it is also a documented phenomenon.
Carolers with a bottle-cap tambourine. Children go house to house from early December with flattened bottle caps threaded on wire, sing two verses, and wait. If nobody comes out, the reply verse is “thank you, thank you, ang babarat ninyo,” which translates roughly as thank you, you cheapskates. Sung cheerfully, to the same tune.
Simbang Gabi. Nine dawn masses from 16 to 24 December, and the folk belief that completing all nine earns a granted wish. The alarm is real. So is the puto bumbong, purple rice steamed in bamboo tubes, and the bibingka, rice cake cooked in a clay pan with coals above and below, both sold by the church gate.
Noche Buena. The midnight meal on Christmas Eve, after the last mass. Ham, queso de bola, spaghetti sweeter than any Italian would allow, lechon in the houses that can afford it. The tita has been planning it since the tree went up, which is why the spreadsheet square is on the board.
The balikbayan box. The cardboard box sent home by relatives abroad, usually months ahead of time, sealed and taped by someone who does not trust customs. It arrives in the ber months and it stays closed until Christmas, and the rule about that is stricter than any rule the customs bureau has.
What the ber months mean if you are traveling
Book December now, then stop looking. Domestic fares climb from October toward the Christmas week, and the seat that is expensive in September is not coming down. Anyone flying home for Noche Buena or Sinulog should book on the first calm afternoon and never check again.
Undas is its own travel crush. The first two days of November empty the cities toward the provinces and fill every bus terminal and pier in the country. Plan around it, or plan to be part of it with snacks.
Cebu lights up in stages. The Fuente Osmeña tree is the city’s marker, the Talisay lights are the drive-through version, and Minglanilla does its own thing every year. Visitors landing in December get a city that is decorated, loud and cheerful, and busy on the roads from four in the afternoon.
The 24th and 25th are family days. Many restaurants and small shops close for Noche Buena and Christmas morning. Malls stay open with shortened hours. Anyone traveling on those two days should eat early, expect quiet streets, and understand that the tricycle driver who does turn up is missing his own dinner to do it.
Then Sinulog. For Cebu the season does not end at Three Kings. It rolls straight into the third Sunday of January, when the Sinulog Festival turns the city into a single drum. The Simbang Gabi guide covers the nine masses in more detail, and the festival calendar has what comes after.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the Philippines have the longest Christmas season?
Because it starts on 1 September, when the ber months begin, and runs to the Feast of the Epiphany in early January. That is four months of decorations, music and parties, longer than anywhere else that celebrates it. There is no official start; the malls, the radio and Jose Mari Chan set it, and the country agreed.
When is Simbang Gabi?
16 to 24 December, one mass each dawn, nine in all. Some parishes also hold an evening anticipated mass for people who cannot make four in the morning, though purists argue the wish only counts at dawn.
What is 13th month pay?
A mandatory benefit for rank-and-file employees of private companies in the Philippines, equal to one twelfth of the basic salary earned in the calendar year, payable on or before 24 December. It was created by Presidential Decree 851 and it is what pays for most of the board above.
When does the Christmas season end in the Philippines?
Officially with Three Kings, the Feast of the Epiphany, on the Sunday between 2 and 8 January. Unofficially when the last parol comes down, which in some houses is never, and that is a square on the board too.
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