Simple lang ito kasi bising-bisi ang lahat dahil nga Pasko.
This is just simple because everyone is very busy, it being Christmas after all.
It’s Christmas already!
Christmas Eve
Dishes and drinks that are Filipino favorites during the holiday season of Pasko.
1. tsokolate
hot chocolate, the drink most enjoyed by Filipinos during Christmas
2. salabat
warm ginger tea, a traditional drink after early morning mass
3. puto bumbong
purple-colored rice treat cooked in upright bamboo tubes
4. bibingka
flat cake served on banana leaves and topped with a pat of butter and grated coconut
5. ensaymada
a soft, fluffy pastry topped with finely grated cheese and white sugar
6. leche flan (from the Spanish word for milk: leche)
velvety custard made with egg yolks, has a rich caramelized topping
7. imported keso de bola (from the Spanish queso de bola)
ball of Edam cheese usually with a red covering, a traditional Christmas food
8. macaroni salad, prepared with Lady’s Choice mayonnaise
Filipinos consider it stylish and classy to serve Western foods
9. fruit salad, almost always with a mix of sweet condensed milk and cream
10. roasted kastanyas
piping-hot chestnuts (from the Spanish castañas)
11. hamon, especially jamón dulce
sweet-cured Christmas ham (from the Spanish jamon)
12. lechon or litson
whole suckling pig, roasted
There are two Tagalog Christmas poems on the site.
Pasko Na! (Christmas Already!) written by Benigno Zamora in 1904.
Ang Magandang Parol (The Beautiful Lantern) by Jose Corazon de Jesus, published in 1928.
Here are a few Tagalog phrases you can include in your holiday cards to Filipino friends:
Ngayong Pasko, sana mapuno ang iyong puso ng kapayapaan.
This Christmas, may your heart be filled with peace. (for a person not older)
Ngayong Pasko, sana mapuno po ang inyong puso ng kapayapaan.
This Christmas, may your heart be filled with peace. (to an older person)
Sana mapuno ang inyong mga puso ng kapayapaan at pagpapala ngayong Pasko.
May your hearts be filled with peace and blessings this Christmas. (to two or more people)
Sana magustuhan mo ang regalo ko sa iyo.
Hope you like my gift to you. (casual, to one person)
Sana magustuhan mo ang pamasko ko.
Hope you like my Christmas gift. (casual, to one person)
Sana magustuhan ninyo ang regalo ko.
Hope you like my gift. (to more than one person)
Sana magustuhan po ninyo ang regalo ko.
Hope you like my gift. (to an older person)
The word for gift is regalo, but the special word for “Christmas gift” is pamasko. The money that children often receive from their godparents and other elderly relatives is called aginaldo. When asking for aginaldo, the child customarily performs a mano, which involves slightly bending forward and raising the elder’s hand such that the back of the hand touches the child’s own forehead.
Recordings and translations of Filipino yuletide favorites tagaloglang.com/christmas-songs
For more on Filipino Christmas traditions, see tagaloglang.com/christmas
Our next newsletter is scheduled to come out sa Bisperas ng Bagong Taon (on New Year’s Eve).
– Your Friends at TagalogLang.com
