Xmas Countdown: December 22: 3 days to go!

Xmas Countdown: December 22: 3 days to go! Another Filipino Christmas tradition is the Christmas Eve fiesta celebration often still called the Noche Buena. Its main features are the social gathering of the family and food as the centrepiece of the evening affair.

The food associated with the ‘simbang gabi’ are the ones with pre-Hispanic roots. These are the rice cakes or ‘puto bumbong’ and rice pudding. According to Roces, these foods were originally given to pagan harvest spirits and gods as thanksgiving for the harvests. So when the first Catholic missionaries came to the Philippines, it was not difficult for them to convince the Filipinos to transform this pagan celebration into a Christmas celebration.