Whenever I see boys and girls—
Whether it’s too early or not, you read it right. Jose Mari Chan isn’t peeking anymore, he’s finally singing!
Shopping malls, plazas, and even in our own homes—you name it! Everywhere you look, Christmas trees can be spotted with their twinkling lights and hanging ornaments. Everyone’s starting to pump things up for December despite the hundreds of days still left before the grand and festive celebration. This strange yet all-too-familiar phenomenon is called the ‘Ber’ months, the longest Christmas season on earth.
One might ask, what’s so special about ‘Ber’ months? Isn’t it too early to celebrate Christmas in the last month of the year’s third quarter? “No,” says a yulephile. For Filipinos, it wouldn’t be a surprise if someone greets you at midnight on September 1st! It seems that all Filipinos are born with a psychological clock that rings once it’s that time of the year again: a time of celebrating the birth of Christ, patching up wounds, and upholding peace.
There’s also this warm, wholesome feeling that arises with the coming of ‘Ber’ months. A promise of long cozy nights in the typical Filipino yuletide spirit. The cold September breeze ushering in familiar Christmas songs and carols, colorful mall-bought and recycled decorations, and love and joy in all its forms. This is how things have always been.
It has been embedded within the Filipino culture to celebrate Christmas. Aside from its religious purposes, it has become a time of giving and one of the major year-end celebrations of the country. What makes this more meaningful this year is that it has been long taken away from Filipinos due to the pandemic. Now that a spark of hope has been ignited as the situation is returning back to normal, it would be one of the most anticipated celebrations of the year, even more than it already is.
Finally, after two years of despair, fatigue, and paranoia, Filipinos can once again gather for simbang gabi. Streets at night will be jam-packed with families and friends bonding together. Acquaintances at Christmas parties will give gifts to one another again. Cemeteries will be filled with flowers from families visiting their loved ones’ graves. Children will be caroling at night, jamming to Jose Mari Chan’s songs and other Christmas classics.
The nostalgia in the hearts of many and the missing pieces everyone lost during the challenging years of the COVID-19 pandemic makes this year’s ‘Ber’ months a notch more hopeful and exciting.
Perhaps, this could be a time to find the missing puzzle pieces that Filipinos had been longing for. This is the time to bring back the season that made everyone feel wonderful and left picturesque memories in each and everyone’s album. Even though certainties at this time are still up in the air, it is surely not a bad thing to wish for a wonderful Christmas season as early as September.
Given everything that is happening at this time, the future looks as bright like the Christmas trees and parols that we are finally seeing after how many blank pages of our photo albums. This is perhaps what Jose Mari Chan meant when he sang, “Let’s light our Christmas tree, for a bright tomorrow.” May this be a time to hold our candles and reignite our aspirations as we continue to ponder the most wonderful time of the year.
And may the spirit of Christmas be always in our hearts.
