Light Shed on a Philippine Tradition

In the Philippines, Roman Catholic worshipers rise with the call of the rooster to herald Novena, the nine days preceding Christmas, in a tradition dating back more than 300 years.

Half a world away, local Filipinos congregate after leaving work during the holiday season to celebrate Simbang Gabi--or evening Mass--in the native language, Tagalog.

The series of eight Masses at Mary Star of the Sea Church in south Oxnard--followed by a traditional Christmas Eve service--attracts as many as 500 worshipers nightly from across the Oxnard Plain and the Conejo Valley.

Strings of lights and brightly colored star-shaped lanterns adorn the humble blue and white building on Pleasant Valley Road, as Simbang Gabi celebrants pack the church from Dec. 16 to 23 each year.

“In the beginning, we had celebrants as far away as San Diego coming over,” said Oxnard resident Vic Mercado, who organizes the local observance. Mercado said the annual services were started in Ventura County by a Philippine priest, Gerald Cosgayon, in 1989.

Cosgayon, who left the area a few years later to work in the Catholic church’s provincial office in New York, returned to Mary Star of the Sea parish Friday after a trip to the Philippines to take part in the tradition he established.

With a mix of Latino, Philippine and other parishioners, Mary Star of the Sea is the only parish in the county that observes Simbang Gabi for a full eight days, Mercado said. Other parishes in the area abbreviate the celebration to one or two days.

“When we started from scratch, it took us several weeks of preparation,” Mercado said.

Parishioners have since donated enough strings of lights to festoon the inside and outside of the church, and made plenty of star-shaped lanterns, known as parols, allowing volunteers to get ready for the services in a few days.

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The colorful parols--five-pointed stars sometimes inside a circle--are made of bamboo and tissue paper. They are unique to the Simbang Gabi celebration and represent the Star of Bethlehem, which guided the three wise men to the infant Jesus in the story of Christmas.

Rynee Bautista of Oxnard, who is in charge of decorating the church for the celebration, said the parish has accumulated more than 100 small parols, each about 1 1/2 feet across, and a dozen larger ones 5 feet in diameter.

“To us, it symbolizes Christmas,” Bautista said, gesturing at the parols hung high above the altar. “In the Philippines we actually have candles inside the parol, but here we use an electric bulb.”

The tradition of Simbang Gabi began about the 17th century when the Philippines was part of Spain, and Manila was under the authority of the Archdiocese of Mexico.

“It all started during the Spanish occupation of the Philippines when they had a town band go around to signal that the morning Mass was about to begin,” Mercado said.

At the time, farmers on the islands rose in the early morning to tend the fields, and the Novena Masses, celebrated at dawn before work began, became known as Misa de Gallo, or “crowing of the rooster.”

Later, Filipinos who left the tropics in search of work and opportunity in the United States shifted the Masses to evening. Cold December mornings and busy work schedules had made the predawn services impractical.

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The Masses include passages spoken in Tagalog, other regional dialects of the Philippine Islands, Spanish and English to accommodate worshipers from different parts of the Philippines and those born here. Hymns are sung in Tagalog, accompanied by guitars or other instruments.

“Here it’s been adapted to our lifestyle . . . but the spirit and the aim are the same,” Mercado said.

Each service is followed by a reception in which traditional foods of the islands, such as pansit and lumpia, are served, giving Simbang Gabi a savory scent of its own.

Parishioners said that observing Simbang Gabi allows young Filipinos to keep in touch with their culture and heritage.

“It’s a tradition, and every year you get to meet people from the community,” said 17-year-old Danielle Manalo, a student at Oxnard High School.

An older parishioner added that the Masses are a fitting way to end the year and look forward to the one ahead.

“You forget about the past and you think about the future,” said Oxnard resident Roman Abues. “But what we really want is peace and understanding among people, regardless of race or origin.”