The 16th of December is the first of nine days of Misa de Gallo, also known as Simbang Gabi. Filipino Catholics have a tradition of going to church at dawn as a symbol of sacrifice in waking up early to attend mass and to prepare for the Lord Jesus' birthday celebration.
Kids of all ages participate in the said tradition, which is one of the practices that has been impacted by the pandemic that is still sweeping the world. It's worth noting that they haven't wavered in their commitment to their beliefs over the last three years. During the peak of the pandemic, every Catholic parish held a live mass on social media platforms using modern technology. Despite the strict protocols, this allowed every member of the church to still preach the gospel.
The implemented safety implementations are still being used to continue to reduce the rising number of positive cases in every part of our country. As of now, our town is one of the places where this type of mass celebration has gone quite active this holiday season. This is also because the majority of our neighbors have already gone to our local municipality to get vaccinated. In addition, the number of cases with positive outcomes in our municipality is steadily decreasing.
Apart from the belief that a person's request will be fulfilled when he or she has attended nine church nights, there is also the belief that it will be fulfilled gradually. We had this thing that we looked forward to and it is to see our fellow performer from our school performs. I just wanted to share this wonderful experience that we had in the past during the normal holiday season. It was more of a tradition in our school parish to have a competition. From elementary to senior high school, I attended the Catholic School in our barangay, which is affiliated with our parish. Every year, there's is this competition and the theme varies depending on the faculty and parish priest which also happens to be the school director's decision. Musical plays, dramatizations, choral competitions, and dance competitions are just a few of the competitions we hold every year during this month. We perform before the start of the mass as entertainment for those who come to church in order to avoid drowsiness while waiting for the mass to begin.
That was our good old days; time flies so quickly. I miss performing in front of people and entertaining them with my talent. Due to the pandemic, such activity has declined since classes are now held online in order to ensure the safety of students and teachers while they continue to study. But, once the pandemic is over, I'm looking forward to seeing my alumni perform in our parish church.
Disclaimer: I am neither a psychologist nor a financial advisor, and all of my pieces were done for entertainment purposes only. What I've written here is merely my personal opinion, and any statements made are based on my personal views and should not be taken as fact. Always do your due diligence.
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