Tomorrow, on December 16th, Filipino Catholics, not only in the Philippines but in many parts of the world as well, will start the novena in preparation for Christmas Day. As the term itself “novena” suggests, it is a nine-day celebration ending with Christmas Eve – hence, running from Dec. 16 up to Dec. 24. In most places, people attend a dawn Mass, which usually starts at 4:00 AM. This is traditionally called as “Misa de Gallo” (“Rooster’s Mass”). In some places, however, it is done in the evening and is thus called as “Simbang Gabi” (Evening or Night Mass).

Misa de Gallo traces its roots to Mexico when, in 1587, the pope granted the petition of Fray Diego de Soria, prior of the convent of San Agustin Acolman, to hold Christmas Mass outdoors because the church could not accommodate the huge number of people attending the evening Mass.

Originally, it popularly came to be known as “Misa Aguinaldo”. De Aguinaldo means gift, which is peculiar to Christmas. That is why the faithful wake up early for nine days before Christmas to join in the celebration of the dawn Mass. The faithful make this their “Aguinaldo” to God for the great gift of Jesus. The practice can also be understood as the preparation of the faithful to receive from God the great gift or “Aguinaldo” of Christmas, which is Jesus, the savior of the world.

Why Misa de Gallo? Usually the rooster crows at the break of dawn. During the old times, farmers as well as fishermen used the roosters as their alarm clock. So upon the first crow of the rooster they wake up early to drop by the church before going to their work and ask for the grace of good harvest. Originally the Mass was celebrated for them. These nine dawn Masses are also considered as a novena to the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Catholic faithful. This refers to the Roman Catholic practice of performing nine days of private or public devotion to obtain special graces. In traditional Catholic belief, completing the novena is also supposed to mean that God might grant the devotee’s special wish or favor. When Pope Sixtus V decreed through a papal bull that these dawn masses be held annually in the Philippines, Misa de Gallo has become one of the most popular traditions in the country. Filipino Catholics would always bring this ingrained devotion and cultural faith-expression as one defining mark of their Catholic identity wherever they go, even if their sociological conditions and lifestyles have changed. It is a significant moment not only because it strengthens relationships among family members and parishioners but also because it is the time where our faith is intensified. This is the time where we mostly feel the presence of the Lord because it is the spiritual preparation for Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. It does not matter if one has the stamina to complete the novena or not, what really matters is what is inside the heart. The blessing does not depend on the number of Masses attended, but what is important is the disposition of the person who receives the Lord’s blessing.

In the Philippines, the streets are lighted up with lanterns (the parol), signifying the star that led the wise men to Jesus:  Jesus is the only true Light of salvation for all of creation.  In the villages, streets, homes and chapels are decorated with fresh fruits, like bananas, and passersby may just freely pick them for food: all of creation participate in the abundant generosity and joyful hospitality of God.  The people are roused from sleep by the tolling of the church bells at 2:00 am, and a band may roam around the village streets to proclaim a new day of joy:  the Kingdom of God is at hand, and Mary, the Dawn of Salvation, has ushered it in.  Churches and chapels overflow with people, as whole families attend the Misa de Gallo: a new community is gathered around the Eucharist, an eschatological family-community centered on Jesus, Savior and Lord.    The festive mood goes back to the homes after the mass, as people partake of their breakfast delicacies with families, neighbors and friends until sunrise of the new day: for liturgy is a celebration of life, and a new way of living celebrated in festive meal points to the glorious meal in heaven.

Thad Hinunangan lost his home, friends, and many of his neighbors to Super Typhoon Haiyan, but there will be no stopping him from anticipating the joy of Christmas during the “Misa de Gallo (Mass of the Rooster)” on Monday.

“Attending will show the world that our faith is stronger than the storm, and proves that Warays are a tough bunch,” Hinunangan told ucanews.com.

Warays are native to the provinces of Samar and Leyte that were badly hit by Typhoon Haiyan on November 8.

The Misa de Gallo, which has become a Filipino tradition since the arrival of Spanish colonizers 400 years ago, is a novena of dawn Masses from December 16 to Christmas Eve.

The celebration is held as early as 3 am in several provinces. Pope Sixtus V ordered that the Mass be heard before sunrise because it was the harvest season in the Philippines, and farmers needed to be in the fields immediately after the celebration.

Filipinos believe that if one completes all nine days of the Misa de Gallo and makes a wish as part of the prayers, it will come true.

During the nine-day celebration Filipinos adorn their homes with star-shaped lanterns called “parol,” which were believed to help parishioners before electricity was invented, to make their way to church in the early morning.

After Mass, Filipino families share rice cakes, pastries, and other delicacies and drink hot chocolate.

Hinunangan said the disaster, and the fact that thousands of people have been left homeless and large parts of the city still in darkness, has made this year’s Misa de Gallo “more meaningful.”

“It is more fitting to celebrate Christmas during this time of crisis knowing that a savior was born to us to save us,” said Father Amadeo Alvero, spokesman of Palo archdiocese.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle described Misa de Gallo as “a great source of spiritual nourishment for our faithful.” He, however, urged priests in a recent circular to celebrate the Mass with “genuine pastoral care for the spiritual benefit of the faithful.”

Despite a curfew that ends at 5am in many parts of Samar and Leyte, Alvero said the Church will continue to hold the Misa de Gallo in parishes at 4am.

“The authorities will understand our schedules because this is a tradition,” the priest said.

Chief Superintendent Henry Losañes, the regional police chief, said he will discuss “security preparations” with Church leaders. “We will be adjusting the curfew so that churchgoers will be able to attend the Masses,” he said.

In Tacloban, Christmas lanterns and Christmas trees are being put up amid the ruins and around churches while soldiers, who have been involved in the cleanup around the province, play Christmas carols on a portable sound system.

“We’re trying to play Christmas songs to help lift their spirits,” said Brigadier General Jet Velarmino, head of Task Force Yolanda, which is helping in the relief and rehabilitation efforts in Leyte province.

Tacloban city administrator John Tecson Lim said the authorities are planning a “meaningful” Christmas for the people. “What is important however is we must continue to hold on, to have hope and work together,” he said.

On Friday, the official death toll from Super Typhoon Haiyan passed the 6,000 mark, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

The number of fatalities had reached 6,009, with 27,022 injured and 1,779 still missing.

In its latest report, the agency said Haiyan affected some 16 million people in 12,122 villages, displacing some 3.9 million individuals, 101,646 of them are still staying in 383 evacuation centers.

Joe Torres and Ronald Reyes, Tacloban City
Philippines
December 13, 2013

Typhoon victims find comfort in Christmas tradition.

One of the most powerful typhoons in history is believed to have killed 1,200 people in the Philippines, the Red Cross said Saturday, as rescue workers raced to reach towns devastated by tsunami-like waves.

A day after Super Typhoon Haiyan whipped across the central Philippines with maximum sustained winds of around 315 kilometres (195 miles) an hour, a picture emerged of entire communities having been flattened.

Authorities said that, aside from the ferocious winds, storm surges of up to three metres (10 feet) high that swept into coastal towns and deep inland were responsible for destroying countless homes.

“Imagine a strip one kilometre deep inland from the shore, and all the shanties, everything, destroyed,” Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said after visiting coastal towns in Leyte, one of the worst-hit provinces in the east of the archipelago.

“They were just like matchsticks flung inland. All the houses were destroyed.”

The official government death toll on Saturday night was 138.

But with rescue workers yet to reach or communicate with many ravaged communities across a 600-kilometre stretch of islands, authorities said they were unable to give a proper assessment of how many people had been killed.

Philippine Red Cross secretary general Gwendolyn Pang said her organisation estimated 1,200 people had died, while a UN official who visited Leyte described apocalyptic scenes.

“This is destruction on a massive scale. There are cars thrown like tumbleweed and the streets are strewn with debris,” said Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, the head of a UN disaster assessment coordination team.

“The last time I saw something of this scale was in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami,” he said, referring to the 2004 disaster that claimed about 220,000 lives.

Stampa made his comments after arriving in Tacloban, the destroyed capital of Leyte with a population of about 220,000 people.

More than 100 bodies were littered in and around Tacloban’s airport, according to the facility’s manager.

AFP journalists who arrived in Tacloban on a military aircraft encountered dazed survivors wandering amid the carnage asking for water, while others sorted through what was left of their destroyed homes.

One resident, Dominador Gullena, cried as he recounted to AFP his escape but the loss of his neighbours.

“My family evacuated the house. I thought our neighbours also did the same, but they didn’t,” Gullena said.

Eight bodies had been laid to rest inside Tacloban airport’s chapel, which had also been badly damaged, according to an AFP photographer.

One woman knelt on the flood-soaked floor of the church while holding the hand of a dead boy, who had been placed on a wooden pew.

Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla reached the fishing town of Palo, about 10 kilometres from Tacloban, by helicopter and said he believed “hundreds” of people had died just in that area.

Pope Francis tweeted his support for the typhoon victims: “I ask all of you to join me in prayer for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda especially those in the beloved islands of the Philippines.”

Race to reach decimated communities

Meanwhile, the military, government relief workers and non-government organisations battled to reach communities and deliver desperately needed supplies.

Fifteen thousand soldiers were in the disaster zones and helping in the rescue effort, military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Ramon Zagala told AFP.

Zagala said helicopters were flying rescuers into priority areas, while infantry units deployed across the affected areas were also proceeding on foot or in military trucks.

Haiyan’s wind strength, which remained close to 300 kilometres an hour throughout Friday, made it the strongest typhoon in the world this year and one of the most intense ever recorded.

It exited into the South China Sea on Saturday and tracked towards Vietnam, where more than 200,000 people crammed into storm shelters.

Philippine authorities had expressed confidence on Friday that only a few people had been killed, citing two days of intense preparation efforts led by President Benigno Aquino.

Nearly 800,000 people in danger zones had been moved to evacuation centres, while thousands of boats across the archipelago were ordered to remain secured at ports. Hundreds of flights were also cancelled.

Aquino said on Saturday night it appeared some communities had not heeded the warnings.

“I hesitate to say this, but it seems that Tacloban was not that prepared, shall we say, compared with other areas,” he told reporters in Manila.

An average of 20 major storms or typhoons, many of them deadly, batter the Philippines each year as they emerge from the Pacific Ocean.

The Philippines suffered the world’s strongest storm of 2012, when Typhoon Bopha left about 2,000 people dead or missing on the southern island of Mindanao.

Haiyan is expected to make landfall in central Vietnam early Sunday, with millions of people thought to be in its path.

Authorities have begun mass evacuations in at least four central coastal provinces, Vietnam’s state-run VNExpress news site said, as the country was put on high alert.

(ABS-CBN)