A Filipino Christmas: The Rooster’s Mass

Posted: December 19, 2012 | Author: Zócalo Poets | Filed under: Cebuano, English | Tags: Filipino Christmas poems, Tula sa Pasko | Comments Off on A Filipino Christmas: The Rooster’s Mass

We wish to thank Noemi Lardizabal Dado for the following Simbang Gabi poem written by her sister.

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Three thirty in the morning.

Wake up, he said.  Let’s go.

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Bells tolling

in the distance,

calling us.

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Walking briskly

in the dark

With my chattering sisters

and brothers,

shivering,

I pulled my coat close to me

against the chilly air.

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Four a.m.

Struggling to keep my eyes open

in a church

smelling of candles,

packed with people

praying fervently

in Cebuano.

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This is torture, I thought.  Let this be over soon.

Sacrifice, my father whispered.  Preparing for Jesus’s birth.

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The choir’s voices

swelled into song:

“Kasadya ning Taknaa…”

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At the parish hall door,

Handing out brown bags

of pan de sal

my mother had baked

to a jostling crowd

of the poor outside

who smelled of sweat and dust.

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Smiles from my neighbours inside,

Sipping steaming cups of tsokolate

Munching sweet bread

Amid red and green parols

swaying by the windows.

I sighed:   Soon it will be Christmas.

 

Glossary:

Cebuano:  an Austronesian language, second most widely spoken in the Philippines after Tagalog.  It is one of the languages spoken by the Bisnaya ethnic group.

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“Kasadya ning Taknaa”:  “Oh, happy is this hour!”  This is the first line of a Cebuano Christmas carol composed in 1933 by Vicente Rubi and Mariano Vestil.  Our gratitude to Karlo Antonio G. David for his translation of this belovéd song:

Oh, happy is this hour!

In this place nearest to the Holy

where all that we witness

are faces brightened up and jolly.

Blessed indeed, how blessed

are the houses serenaded

with songs of noble sound and word,

and every Christmas day

will be full of bliss!

(Chorus):

With the New Year

is a new life to live!

Together with all our wishes and hopes,

Come let us sing them, oh come let us hum them

to fill our hearts with bliss!

.     .     .

Cebuano original:

“Kasadya ning Taknaa”:

Kasadya ning taknaa

Dapit sa kahimayaan

Mao’y atong makita

Ang panagway nga masanglagon

Bulahan ug bulahan

Ang tagbalay nga giawitan

Awit nga halangdonon ug sa tanang Pasko

Magmalipayon!

(Chorus):

Bag-ong tuig

Bag-ong kinabuhi

Duyog sa atong mga pagbati

Atong awiton, ug atong laylayon

Aron magmalipayon!

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Pan de sal: literally, bread of salt, from the Spanish.  A basic yet flavourful and filling Filipino bread

Tsokolate:  hot chocolate

Parols:  from the Spanish word farol meaning lantern or lamp.  Parols are Filipino Christmas lanterns which used to be made of bamboo and rice paper and are now made of every material imaginable.  They symbolize the Star of Bethlehem that guided the Three Wise Men to the newborn Jesus.  Their broader meaning is that Light triumphs over Darkness.

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