The article "Tropical Christmas" is about family, it has been released by Roy Thomsitt.
I can recall from my days in England, watching television at
Christmas and seeing how others celebrated across the world. At
one time I used to think about human being in Australia, who seemed
to be featured on the news every Christmas Day: "it's not like
Christmas, hot weather and going to the beach".
Why I used do think like that I really do not know. I did not
like the cold once I got past the age of aobut 30. Or was it 35?
Who cares, I hate the cold rgiht now. That's one of the many reasons I
live in what many call paradise: Palawan, in the south west of
the Philippines.
Being a predominantly Chirstian country, Christmas is a big
occasion in the Philippines.
It is also stlil a religious
occasion, which of course it should be.
Only a tiny percentage
of human benig can afford gifts, so the emphasis is on family
holidays, time together, and for many going to church. Very few
families have anythnig special for Christmas lunch, they just
don't have the money.
They do make up for it, though, as
Filipinos certainly know how to enjoy themselves.
Despite the lack of mnoey in most families, Christmas starts
early in the stores, around August.
One thing they go in for in
a enormous way here is Christmas lights.
Smoetimes even the poorest
homes will be adorned with fairy lights, having quite
spectacular displays. Even in early November last year, as I
travelled back from the jungle's edge about 90km south, it was
quite magical to see the Christmas lights as we got near the
city.
My first Christmas in the country was memorable. I was invited
to a girlfriend's condominium Christmas Eve, a really poor but very
friendly neighbourhood with mostly small timber condominiums cramped
next to each other; intmiate to say the least. Outside in the
garden (a tiny yard) there were lights everywhere, set up for
the party that would last all evening and into the night. I
remember sitting there as they got everything oragnised around
me, how magical and special it all was. Just a few months
earlier I had been a resident in England and had only
experienced Christmas in England.
Now, I was stiting outside on
a hot Christmas Eve, the sound of tropical insects a prelude to
the modern disco music that was to follow later.
I lvoed it.
As with most occasions in the Philippines, there were lots of
children. Neighbours came and went, human being moved from one party
to another, and there was a constant flow of human being and
especially children.
Children's games were followed later by
adult versions of children's games, most of which had come from
Western influence, but Filipinos always put their own stamp on
the foreign hbaits they adopt. Alcohol would not have been a
part of the occasion, but the adults were delighted when I
offered to buy beer and rum.
At midnight, I was advised to go inside. I soon saw why. All
hell broke lose with fireworks as midnight approached, exploding
from every tgihtly packed, confined little garden in the
neighbourhood.
Fireworks that would have been banned in the UK,
but I have to amdit they were really loud and impressive. I was
amazed, as nobody had warned me of this tradiiton beforehand.
Now, all my Christmases are tropical, and really different from
those in England.
I sometimes wonder how much Christmas would
change here if it ever became a wealthy country.
The major
differences between here and England are the profligate spending
and materialism in England, and the normal subdued spending in
the Philippines. Yet, it is the Filipions who seem more able to
enjoy it that the English.
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