Japanese New Year and Filipino Christmas
One thing in common with Japan and the Philippines when celebrating the holidays is both countries are celebrating it with the family.
In Japan, New Year is one of the most important holidays of the year, and it couldn’t be more different from the typical Western champagne-popping New Year’s celebration: People return to their hometowns, and families come together for a special meal, send greeting cards, and pray for health and happiness – more like a traditional Western Christmas.
Christmas, on the other hand, is not a national holiday in Japan. With Christians making up only 2% or 3% of Japan’s population, Christmas is celebrated as a secular, almost novelty holiday. Shops across the country capitalize on the fad, setting up elaborate light displays and Christmas trees.
On New Year’s Eve, Japanese families traditionally eat a special kind of soba (buckwheat noodle) dish, called toshikoshi soba. Soba noodles can usually be eaten hot or cold, but on New Year’s, they’re typically eaten in a warm broth. The meal usually happens late on New Year’s Eve, as families wait for the arrival of the New Year.
Christmas in the Philippines is one of the biggest holidays in the archipelago. The country has earned the distinction of celebrating the world’s longest Christmas season, with Christmas carols heard as early as September and lasting variously until either Epiphany, the Feast of the Black Nazarene on January 9, or the Feast of the Santo Niño on the third Sunday of January. The official observance by the Church in the Philippines is from the beginning of the Simbang Gabi on December 16 until the Feast of the Epiphany on the first Sunday of the year.
For Filipinos, Christmas Eve on December 24 is celebrated with the Midnight Mass, and the traditional Noche Buena feast. Family members dine together at around midnight on traditional yuletide fare, which includes: queso de bola, tsokoláte, noodles and pasta, fruit salad, pandesal, relleno and hamón. Some families would also open presents at this time.
Christmas Day in the Philippines is primarily a family affair. The Misa de Gallo is celebrated on December 25 and is usually one of several Masses that all family members (including non-churchgoers) are present. The Misa de Gallo is often celebrated between and midnight, a schedule preferred by many Filipinos who stay up late on Christmas Eve for the night-long celebration of the Noche Buena.
Preferably in the morning, Filipinos typically visit their extended family, especially to pay their respects to senior relatives. This custom of giving respect is enacted through the pagmamano. The elder often responds by reciting a blessing or simply acknowledging the gesture, and in return gives aguinaldo or money in the form of crisp banknotes, often placed in a sealed envelope such as an ang pao. Godparents in particular are socially obligated to give presents or aguinaldo to their godchildren, to whom they often give larger amounts compared to other younger relatives.
Family reunions and the exchange of gifts are a widespread feature of the season. Gift giving takes place on Christmas Day in most countries. Others practice gift giving on December 6, Saint Nicholas Day, and January 6, Epiphany.