The season of Advent and the Pinoy parol

The season of Advent and the Pinoy parol

Nov 27, 2011 (The Manila Times – McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) –
Christmas celebration in the Philippines is said to be one of the longest in the world for Filipinos start their Yuletide season as early as September–the first in the so-called “ber” months. Radio stations start playing Christmas carols and department stores, streets and homes put on Christmas decorations and glow at night with Christmas lights.

It is wrong to equate the start of the Christmas season with the commercial start of the Christmas-shopping frenzy.

But it is also wrong to think, as many Catholics ignorant of correct doctrine do, that the Christmas season begins today.

In the Church’s liturgical calendar, what starts today is the Season of Advent. The Christmas season comes later–on Christmas Day.

This day, November 27, is this year’s first Sunday of the Season of Advent. Advent is a proper name, just like Christmas, Lent and Easter.

The true start of the Christmas season

Advent is the period of preparation for the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ on Christmas Day. Christmas Day is the true beginning of the Christmas Season.

The first Mass of the Christmas season is the Midnight Mass of December 24, which properly begins at midnight and continues until the first hour of December 25, Christmas Day.

But for convenience’s sake, and to allow people either to sleep or have their Noche Buena feasts, the Midnight Mass, which is properly called the Vigil Mass of the Nativity of Our Lord, is held on the evening of December 24–earlier than midnight.

The Church’s liturgical season of Christmas is from Christmas Day to the Sunday after the Epiphany (or The Feast of the Three Kings or the Three Magi), the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, which signals the end of the Christmas season.

The Monday after the Sunday of the Baptism of Our Lord is the beginning of the first segment of the Church calendar’s Ordinary Time, when there is no marked liturgical season. The next season is Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday.

Preparing for Christmas Day

The Catholic Encyclopedia tells us Advent is a period beginning with the Sunday nearest to the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle (Nov. 30). It is a period of preparation for Christmas, extending over four Sundays before Christmas Day. During this time, the faithful are encouraged to prepare themselves worthily to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord’s coming.

In many Western countries, the passage of the four weeks of Advent is often coupled with the tradition of lighting an Advent wreath or Advent crown. An Advent wreath is usually an evergreen wreath with four candles and often, a fifth, white candle in the center. Each of the candles is lit as each week passes while the fifth one is lit on Christmas Day.

Proposed replacement for Advent wreath

“Although coming from the Protestant traditions of Europe, the practice of having Advent wreaths in Catholic homes and churches has been adopted by many of us in the Catholic Church,” Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas noted. While the archbishop sees nothing wrong with the Advent wreath, he said he wants an alternative to the Advent wreath “that may be more relevant and meaningful for the Filipino Catholic.”

“In consultation with liturgists who advocate for Filipino expressions of our Catholic faith, we want to offer the PAROL NG HALINA as an alternative to the European Advent wreath,” Villegas said.

According to him, each of the four parols (lanterns) may be lighted at the start of every week in the Advent season, the third parol being colored rose or pink while the three others are purple as usual.

With the introduction of the Parol ng Halina, he said, the practice of having a white lantern travel from one end of the church to eventually stop on top of the Crib — signifying the Star of Bethlehem that the Three Magi followed –during the Christmas midnight Mass will also become more relevant and meaningful.

“The parol (lantern) which is usually designed as a star, recalling the Star of Bethlehem, is perhaps the most popular symbol of our Filipino Christmas tradition. It calls to mind the search of the wise men in the Gospel of Matthew,” Villegas said in a circular addressed to priests in his archdiocese for their consideration.

He also stressed that the lantern can also help the faithful remember the account of creation as when God created the star to light the night; and recall the promise of God to Abraham, who was told that his children will equal the number of stars in the sky. The star, specifically the six pointed star, he added, has been used to symbolize King David.

“I propose the [use of the] Parol ng Halina for your consideration. The important matter to remember is to help our people celebrate meaningfully the Advent season in a way that is truly Catholic and truly Filipino,” Villegas concluded.

If the proposal of Archbishop Villegas gains support and eventually becomes part of the tradition among Filipino Catholics, Christmas celebration in the Philippines will definitely be more distinct and different. The Church must however make it clear that the first parol must be lighted in the first week of Advent (usually covering the last days of November and the first days of December). And no, not as early as September.

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