Spirit of CHRIST-mas

In this busy season, we need to take time out from the hustle and bustle to reflect and focus on why we celebrate Christmas.... the birth of the Saviour who was born to die so our sins can be forgiven.

We need to take time to pray for peace, feel joy and share with others the real reason for Christmas.

The greatest gift we can give to others is to share the greatest gift of all... Jesus.

To catch the real meaning of the "Spirit of Christmas," we need only to drop the last syllable of the word, and it becomes the "Spirit of Christ." It beckons us to follow him, and become worthy of the blessedness which he promised to the most unlikely people --- the poor in spirit, the sorrowful, the meek, the seekers after righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and even the persecuted and the oppressed.

Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. The birth of the baby Jesus stands as the most significant event in all history, because it has meant the pouring into a sick world of the healing medicine of love which has transformed all manner of hearts for almost two thousand years...

Underneath all the bulging bundles is this beating Christmas heart.

Bibingka and Puto Bumbong

Bibingka

No Filipino Christmas is ever without bibingka and puto-bumbong. They are inexorably associated with misa de gallo, the dawn mass on the nine days before Christmas. While they are more common as street food, they are so popular (even among tourists) that even five star hotels serve them --- using the traditional cookware --- during the holiday season.

When we Filipinos see street vendors cooking and selling puto bumbong and bibingka, we can almost “smell” Christmas. Bibingka is a rice cake made from galapong, baked in a special clay pot, lined with a piece of banana leaf, with live coals on top and underneath. It is topped with slices of kesong puti (white cheese) and itlog na maalat (salted duck eggs). The newly-cooked bibingka is spread with butter and sometimes sprinkled with sugar then served with niyog (grated coconut).

Galapong is glutinous rice soaked in water then ground with the water to form either a batter or a dough, depending on what the cooked dish is supposed to be.

Puto bumbong

They say that the Philippines has the longest Christmas celebration. Beginning with the first month that ends with ber, Christmas is in the air. Well, here’s something that no Pinoy Christmas is never without.

Puto bumbong --- purpled-colored ground rice cooked in bamboo tubes that are placed on a special steamer-cooker. Then, they are removed from the bamboo tubes, spread with butter and sprinkled with sugar and niyog (grated coconut). They are then wrapped in wilted banana leaves which will keep them warm and moist until ready to be eaten. Along with bibingka, puto bumbong is inexorably linked with simbanggabi--the dawn mass on the nine days preceeding Christmas.

Filipinos who have lived abroad for a long time must miss bibingka, puto bumbong and simbanggabi.

This one’s for all of you.