Originally published at Orange County Catholic
DO YOUR KIDS GET up super early on Christmas morning?
That’s great!
How about on Dec. 16, and every morning after that at 4 a.m. or earlier, for nine straight days through Dec. 24?
That’s even more impressive. Becky Tamondong fondly recalled her childhood in the Philippines when she and her sisters would do just that.
They excitedly would pounce out of bed at 3:45 a.m. to the sounds of a brass band passing down the street playing Christmas music to wake people up.
She and her sisters then would attend nine predawn Masses at their home parish in the city of Imus in the province of Cavite, culminating in a midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.
They would participate every year in the beloved Advent tradition in the Philippines known as Simbang Gabi, a devotional, nine-day series of Masses that Filipino Catholics attend in anticipation of Christmas.
The Mass held on Christmas Eve is called Misa de Gallo (“Mass of the Rooster”).
Simbang Gabi, introduced in 1669 during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, continues to be widely practiced by Filipino Catholics worldwide.
KICKOFF CELEBRATION
In the Diocese of Orange, the San Jose Filipino Ministry announced it would host a kickoff
