It's way different here and I actually like it a lot. By it, I'm referring to the way people celebrate their "Christmas" here.
I still get to watch lots of shoppers busily rushing in the store to get their hands on the Christmas goodies, some still exchange gifts but that "Misa De Gallo" .. seem to not exist here.
Are you a Dutchy? Please correct me if I'm wrong about this but for all the years that I have been here I haven't heard nor got invited to attend the Misa De Gallo."
.
It's possible that you guys have a different word for it. Misa De Gallo is a mass I used to go to with my grandparents and my folks during the Christmas season. If I remember it right (cause the last time I've ever done it was when I was 15), it starts from Dec 16 till either the 24th or the 25th.
Are you Pinoy? 10% upvote to anyone who could confirm the right date to that
but I'm guessing it's till the 25th cause if I remember it right it's being done 9 straight days.
It's a tradition the many of us observe and attached to that practice is the belief that anyone who could complete that whole Misa De Gallo days gets lucky all next year through. Some other people believe you could make a wish and that wish would come true if you get the whole Misa De Gallo completed, too. The said mass would be held around 2 am or 4am but always at dawn.
My first ever Misa De Gallo was with my grandparents and my aunt in Bicol and I don't remember how old I was back then but I do remember that I was very sleepy and everything was being rushed because it's embarrassing to be late since everybody knows everybody where I lived.
As a kid, I didn't really felt like waking up at 2 am to listen to "father John" that was really the name of the priest back then. He looks foreign and spoke Bikol in a very very slow way it would feel like a lullaby at dawn. It also worked like so for I remember many adults falling asleep around us. The mass had the same program, the same message and the same ritual contents.
Anyhow, I liked going to the Misa De Gallo because my friends and schoolmates go there, too! We tend to sit next to each other and most of all, my grandparents promised to buy me Timitim. That's a stick cassava cake topped with sticky young coconut meat strips so delicious when served warm you would absolutely forget your name once you've tried it. I do think it's an authentic Bicolano delicacy you should give it a try and hopefully, like back when we were young they were made not packed with sugar bombs. .
Most of the time, I sat with my aunt or my grandpa but I remember always looking for my friends or classmates because for whatever reason we wanted to sit together. By the way, kids in my country gets a lot of gifts and during those days, my parents send me dresses and my friends and I would make a promise to wear our new clothes during those days and that was probably another reason I kept going to church - to get new dresses . What? I was a kid! Weren't we all that shallow when we were young?
I didn't go to church because I was brainwashed that doing so won't bring you gifts or that I would go to hell. I went there because I was brought there and for all the shallow reasons I had specially during the Misa De Gallo. Do you have any idea how hard it is for a 5 year old to even open our eyes back then just to attend that?
It was torture not only the waking up part but also listening to the same sermon with a slight twist on it night after night that I remember my friends and I were ever so naughty even though we were girls, that we repeated what father John used to recite because we already have memorized it. Yes, of course, we got scolded and we giggled like most girls would probably do in such a situation but can you blame us back then?
When you're young, the world seem safe, kind and ever forgiving, it makes you courageous to try and dare do the things that you may not in house and take advantage of being in public and the insurance that you won't be hit out there. I remember sitting with my classmates and friends in one whole chair and falling asleep altogether with our mouths open and people just rubbed our backs feeling sorry we had to go through all these because our folks wanted us, to.
Well, if there's another thing that made me like going to the Misa De Gallo when I went back to Manila to finally live with my parents, it was the promise fo Bibingka and Puto Bumbong. I didn't have much friends in Manila because I didn't grow up there and my best friends were from different religions and some don't observe any of what we did so it was less fun and therefore, sleeping during the mass was so so hard to resist. My parents had to motivate us that we'll get a warm slice of puto bumbong or a mini bibingka (Filipino rice and cassava cakes) if we behave and finish the mass without drowsing.
I bear for the sake of that promised reward and was never disappointed. I cherish those funny moments running outside screaming excitedly with my friends back in my grandparent's place and with my Mom in Manila to get a hold of all those sweets and finally sink my teeth in them but ... yes, there is a but ... I wish that we have the same privilege kids have here of not being forced to do such rituals no matter what the occassion nor belief of their folks is!
Perhaps .. had my folks just let me sleep all night through and just brought me those sweet rewards unconditionally or regardless that I attend the mass or not, I would have grown taller. Some nights.. my asthma saved me from going through all that back then. I guess because I was a child, I felt forced, helpless and obliged to do what my folks believed is good for us.
When I was going to puberty that kind of treatment still didn't stop and sleeping through the whole hour of the Misa De Gallo was a mortal sin you don't only get stared at, you get reprimanded publicly and though I understand that it is rude to sleep when someone is talking, a certain feeling inside me overcome my kind version to just give in to the call of a slumber.
The incentive of getting even just a mini bibingka also vanished by then and completing the days was made an obligation. During those days, I missed the time when I was doing it as a child. I appreciate the reward the more but of course I also started questioning my parents about why I needed to do it. Somehow, I have always tried to get things my way and my parents finally had to give in to the fact that I have already been unleashed.
Somehow, I have to admit that because of Steemit, those childhood memories of how my Christmas was flashed back while I look for inspirations of what to write and I just can't resist to share it with you all.
As you probably already expect.. you've come to that part where I get to ask Have you as a child had to attend the Misa De Gallo? What did your parents give you as a reason to make you do it? What was your experience like? 15% upvote
to anyone who'd brave spilling out at the comment section.
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Thank you for your lovely post @englishtchrivy.
Ah.....the flowers are wilted now....are they not.
I enjoyed reading your childhood experiences especially the part where the girls received pretty new dresses. ^__^
Hope you are having a lovely weekend.
Cheers.
thanks for dropping by mon ami ...
yeah.. they must have been too tired :)
I actually wanted to draw a row of those with their heads on the headboard and their mouths open because someone took our pics like so back then :) but I wanted to use just the same characters so I thought .. never mind :)
Sorry to reply late, we went out yesterday and came home quite late
I wanted to log in around 2 am but we have another program for later so I decided to recharge and hit the bed instead :)
I hope you're having a great time out there!
Precious childhood memories, illustrated with such a cute picture. Loved it, especially the bit about the sweet bribery. I'm Catholic as well, at least on paper. Nobody made us go to midnight mass when I was little, because my mom was a believer in young children needing their sleep.
Later (puberty) it was an excellent excuse for a young boy to get out of the stuffy family athmosphere late on Christmas eve and hang out at the local pub with my buddies. Back then, it was the law in Germany for at least one pub to be open in any given town to accommodate travelers and such. We would get to meet all those people who had to work on that special night - taxi drivers, cops, paramedics and what not - and celebrate with them. It was a most jolly affair.
Now, back to YOUR writing:
"...it starts from Dec 16 till either the 24th or the 25th. ... I'm guessing it's till the 25th cause if I remember it right it's being done 9 straight days."
So, you were entirely right on the start of it (16th) and on the 9 days - and now count with me: 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 = 9 masses, last one on Christmas Eve. Easily confirmed here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misa_de_Gallo
The midnight mass as such is celebrated by many Christians regardless of their faith denomination on Dec. 24, although not necessarily at the stroke of midnight. As far as your obligation as a believer goes, attending any of the Christmas masses (vigil and midnight on 12/24, or a mass on 12/25) is sufficient.
"It's possible that you guys have a different word for it."
Yes, they do, "kerstnachtdienst". Misa de Gallo is an Iberian tradition, the Dutch are perfectly content with a regular midnight mass:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerstnachtdienst
Anyway, "Merry Christmas" to you and yours, and all the Steemians reading along :-)
thank you
now that's a lot you spilled out there :)
your Mom's awesome! see! sometimes I wish I was born here, children's rights is well respected here but then with the same parents hahaha
your pub adventure sounds like fun and adventurous ... we're never allowed to even join my folks when they're having a beer or two back then .. to strict :D
okay, since you answered all of those with sources I think it summed up to 35% :D
so let's cast that now!
Excellent post dear friend @ englishtchrivy loaded with traditions and many emotions. congratulations for your experience as a child with your grandparents and your loved ones
The mass of rooster here in my province, the land without bad Currents, is celebrated a single day, the night of December 24, begins shortly before 24 hours, the idea is to receive the birth of the child Jesus all the faithful gathered in the church, a beautiful tradition that we did for many years with my grandparents.
thank you very much for recalling this experience
hmm.. I think it's a different one :) but thank you for sharing
so did you attend today? or am I a day still too early asking?
Happy Holidays!
Never heard of Misa De Gallo. But as a kid, I remember my parents took me to the midnight mass to celebrate Christmass. Not sure what we called it in Belgium. Happy Holidays xxx
someone posted it up there - kerstnachtdienst but that translates to evening mass service :D
the Misa de Gallo is rather Spanish? :D
Sabado nag-start..ewan wat date nyan? uv mo ko 10% dagdag! Miki eat ko post misa o kaya malunggay na pandesal with cheese wheez with pimiento! Inggit ka?
Merry Christmas lola! andito na ko.
15 p nga bigay ko ikaw p malakas k sakin
pandesal at malunggay yeah!
d me nakain nung d rest hahaha
ambilis mo nmn bumalik atesh ambilis!
alm mo nakalog out nku
nkita lng kita s steem world kya bumalik ulit ako
antok nku so tulog nku
me date kmi bukas araw araw n date ahahhaha
Happy Holidays lola geh enjoyin ang lafahngggg !
Bumalek para mag-duty iday..sige lang sa daily date, walang masama jan. Single naman kayong 2 ahehehe.
Dumating me earlier so buhay ang diwa ko.
Enjoy the holidays?
Those are indeed some great memories shared ,It does indeed feels good sometimes to get to the past and enjoy the moments that were memorable ,that does indeed makes a smile come to the face :)
it does!
it sounds like an ordeal. poor thing.
torture !
Merry Christmas englishtchrivy!
life is more than you understand it.merry christmas
The word has not only to spread, that would explain so much...
#life
George Bernard Shaw:Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.