Christmas in Philippines

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April 07, 2022 – April 14, 2022

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Rarible

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Christmas in the Philippines is one of the biggest holidays in the country. The Philippines, one of two predominantly Catholic countries in Asia (the other one being East Timor), celebrates the world's longest Christmas season, with Christmas carols heard as early as September 1 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 Catholic Church in the Philippines is from the first day of Advent until the Feast of the Epiphany on the first Sunday after New Year's Day. Every year, Filipinos from around the world mark September 1 as the beginning of the countdown to Christmas. This countdown, which spans from September to December, otherwise known as the "Ber months", is one of the most important traditions that make the world's earliest and longest timespan of a Christmas season. The Christmas season gradually starts from September 1 to December 25 and either ends in January (the midpoint being the third or fourth week of that month) or February. It is celebrated for almost half a year (4 months or 4 months and 3–4 weeks or 5 months). Generally, holiday decorations are available as early as the weekend of the National Heroes' Day in August. But for the members of the Philippine Independent Church or Aglipayans, Christmas starts on the eve of December 24 and ends on January 1. History. The celebrations of Christmas in the Philippines have deep influences of Catholicism, tracing their roots back to Spanish colonial rule from 1521 to 1898. Currently, the Philippines holds the longest running festivity of the Christmas season. Facts. The Philippines’ Catholic majority has its origins in the islands’ long period as a Spanish colony, and popes have made the more than 6,000-mile trip from the Vatican a few times before. Pope Paul VI visited the country in 1970, and St. John Paul II traveled to the Philippines twice as pope (in 1981 and 1995). Here are five facts about Filipinos and their attitudes toward religion: 1: Very few countries are home to more Catholics than the Philippines. As of 2010, there were about 76 million Catholics living in the Philippines – roughly the same as the number living in the United States. The two countries have the world’s third- and fourth-largest Catholic populations, behind Brazil and Mexico. About eight-in-ten Filipinos (81%) are Catholic; a somewhat smaller share of Filipino Americans (65%) identify as Catholic. 2: Pope Francis is extremely popular in the Philippines. Nearly nine-in-ten Filipinos overall (88%) – including 95% of Filipino Catholics – say they view the pope favorably. In fact, more than half of the country’s people (56%) view Francis very favorably. 3: Pope Francis plans to visit Tacloban, a city devastated by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. Later this year, Francis will reportedly focus on environmental issues and publish a papal encyclical urging action on climate change. About a third of Filipinos (34%) see pollution and environmental problems as the greatest threat to the world; no other problem mentioned in the survey (including religious and ethnic hatred and nuclear weapons) is viewed with such alarm by as many people in the Philippines. 4: Many Filipinos have conservative views on social issues, some of which are strongly in line with Catholic Church teachings. For example, two-thirds (67%) say that getting a divorce is morally unacceptable – three times the share of Americans who say this (22%). Filipinos overwhelmingly view having an abortion as immoral (93%); no country among the 40 surveyed is more universally opposed to abortion on moral grounds. 5: Throughout several years of Pew Research studies on global restrictions on religion, the Philippines consistently has displayed a “low” level of government restrictions on religion. In 2012, the most recent year for which data are available, the country had a “moderate” level of social hostilities involving religion, although the Islamist militant group Abu Sayyaf has been active in recent years.

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