December 23, 2005 · Posted in: General
Happy or sad Christmas?
WILL this Christmas be merry and bright?
Fewer Filipinos feel so, with only 62 percent expecting a happy Christmas—a sharp fall from the 82 percent who had similar expectations in 2002, 77 percent in 2003 and 64 percent last year, according to the Social Weather Stations.
The Nov. 27-Dec. 4 survey showed eight percent of Filipinos anticipating a blue Christmas, which is about similar to last year’s findings, but up 3 to 4 percent in 2002 to 2003.
Three percent don’t observe Christmas at all, according to SWS.
The survey found ham to be the most anticipated food this Christmas. Filipino households also look forward to the following: desserts (fruit salad and fruits), lechon baboy and other chicken dishes (fried chicken and chicken adobo).
Read the full report.
14 Responses to Happy or sad Christmas?
koj
December 23rd, 2005 at 7:58 pm
Christmas isn’t just the ham and lechon. It’s neither the new clothes you wear nor the material gifts you expect to receive. It’s about God gift of life to mankind! Celebrate with this intangible that everyone of us have.
Have a blessed Merry Christmas to all!
baycas
December 23rd, 2005 at 10:23 pm
Christmas is about celebration. to celebrate is to rejoice; there is nothing sad in celebrations.
“Celebrate the baby, but trust the Savior. That’s how to make Christmas complete.” http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb-12-25-97.shtml
“You can make all the plans you want to, but the best way to celebrate the birth of the baby is by trusting Him as your Savior.” http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb-12-25-98.shtml
o come, let us adore Him! http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb-12-25-05.shtml
naykika
December 24th, 2005 at 2:26 am
Christmas is also the time to set aside all our differences and reflect on the events during the year and look forward for a brighter new year.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Chabeli
December 24th, 2005 at 2:46 am
May we celebrate the true essence of Christmas–our Saviour in the manger–and feel the warmth of His love.
A Blessed Christmas to all!
Toro
December 24th, 2005 at 7:58 am
Koj, Baycas, Naykika, Chabeli, I share your greetings and wish everyone all the best this Christmas.
These are the days to be merry. Don’t let money or lack of it spoil the fun and the spirit of Christmas. Have a joyous Christmas.
benign0
December 24th, 2005 at 3:25 pm
Maybe the reason many Pinoys feel “sad” about Christmas is because many have lost any understanding of the WHOLE POINT of Christmas — which is to reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ rather than go around wishing strangers a “Merry Christmas” with their hand extended. 😀
Here’s some insight on our penchant for perverting otherwise good concepts:
http://www.geocities.com/benign0/agr-disagr/10-5-perverted.html
Excerpt:
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It is ironic that we self-righteously fancy ourselves the “victims” of foreign perverts when we ourselves have so effectively perverted many of the noble ideas of the “imperialist” powers. While other Asian societies have built on ideas adopted from the West, we applied them straight out of the box only to undermine them later; true to the form of our uniquely Pinoy passive-aggressive approach to excercising personal liberties.
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Merry Christmas, serrr… (sabay saludo). 😀
Needless
December 24th, 2005 at 11:10 pm
Well actually it’s ham that is most distributed all over thru gift checks. SM thru a subcontracted third party made sure of that. Personally we shouldn’t complain as we can still eat at least three times a day. We also count our blessings that we are still alive and thats what counts most. Unlike our cowardly fellow pinoy bloggers who fire up blogs thousands of miles away from home, we are the true pinoys who still make up most of this blog site. We face the challenges locally and best of all, we are home… Have a Good Holiday Season!
ryebosco
December 25th, 2005 at 7:13 pm
MERRY CHRISTMAS Philippines…..
to those who sacrificed their own lives and the ones who continue to struggle and contribute to the country in every way here or abroad, these are the true Filipinos.
KaBlog
December 25th, 2005 at 10:44 pm
HAPPY CHRISTMAS PHILIPPINES! May we achieve the everlasting peace and prosperity that we are seeking for a long long time. But, hope that Gloria will be ousted first so that she will not be like thorns on our roads.
I salute all Filipinos who are still waiting for the truth to come out and most especially to all Filipinos who never gave in to the temptation set by the stinking government in pouring out the truth behind the unforgiven election rigging done by Big Fat Liar Mike, Master Garci and the Commander-in-Cheat Gloria.
God heal our land, make the Philippines a great nation and do miracles for those people who are pretending to be righteous but deep inside of them they are cheaters.
To PCIJ, MALIGAYANG PASKO SA INYONG LAHAT!
primo
December 28th, 2005 at 11:19 am
maligayang pasko sa lahat ng pinoy! ako i’m sad kagabi lang may nag kakaroling (pa to think its 12/27 na!) na mga batang paslit sa tabi ng kotse ko while waiting for the green light… ubos na coins ko sa kotse i feel so helpless for these unfortunate children… what have we done yet?
maligayang pasko!!
sleepyjohn
December 28th, 2005 at 1:11 pm
Happy or Sad Christmas? It all depends on the individual. All greeting cards, text greetings sent our way have their messages for us. It’s just how we read it. Did we read it with our minds? our hearts? amazed at words’ rhythmic flow?
It will be sad christmas for those people whose relatives, friends, loved ones perished during the tsunami attack last year; the two hurricane attacks in New Orleans, Louisiana this year; catastrophic deaths in plane crashes in other parts of the globe; people losing homes in the series of recent fires in our own home country; victims of brutal murders… the list is long.
Those poor souls are asking for prayers of purification.
Instead of subscribing to poll surveys as to what kind of ‘ulam’ that is patok this christmas, isn’t it also time for all us survivors this christmas to render prayers of soul purification to those who met their untimely demise, before grabbing that lechon, or hamon, queso de bola,eklat food this christmas and New Year’s Eve?
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tongue in, anew
December 30th, 2005 at 1:50 am
Merry Xmas to all! Sorry, pals, for the late xmas greetings. Anyways, save for tragic incidents, our Christmases will always be happy, no matter what.
I just gave my employees 2 months bonus for every year of service but we will not see each other again next year. We are closing the company after 7 years. We’ve tried our best to keep afloat, but with cheap (smuggled!) imports flooding the markets, the rise in cost of inputs, utilities, salary increase, additional EVAT, the businessman in me took the better of the philantrophist in me. Five losing quarters is enough to know when its time to quit.
Oh well, at least we’re done with 2005, and 2006 is a brandnew ballgame. I’ll probably stay in the sidelines and watch the economy (which, after 2 consecutive quarters of GDP decline, is tecnically in recession) before making any financial moves. Especially that the year-end figures are about to come out in a few days.
Nonetheless, I’m going to Bocaue tomorrow and buy me loud stuff to blast the devils away on new year’s eve. (No, Baycas, I’m not going to the Presidential Mansion in Bagiuo.)
Happy new year!
benign0
January 1st, 2006 at 3:14 pm
Here’s some words of wisdom from the latest editorial of the venerable INQ7.net:
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Hopefulness, per se, is not an indicator of national progress or economic well-being. If it were, Germany would not be the world’s third or fourth largest economy. But we do think that optimism about the future is all about expectations. Living a better life in the coming year is a legitimate expectation, but it is not the same as expecting a higher quality of life; the latter expectation does not accept “puwede na” or makeshift standards.
In other words, we may be incurable optimists because we expect too little-of the future, or from ourselves. We let alleged crimes slide by because we do not demand an accounting; we are happy to continue eating two square meals a day and call that progress. Enough already. If this is optimism, let’s all get real.
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Read the full article here:
http://news.inq7.net/opinion/index.php?index=2&story_id=61664&col=84
I emphasise that the title of that editorial is “Getting real”. 😉
baycas
January 4th, 2006 at 10:04 pm
Christmas joy will remain despite troubling times and there will always be a promise of a positive New Year even in the face of hard times ahead. This is not just optimism but we tend to view a year that’s ending to be coming from a lonely past going into a cheery future. It’s like having thoughts of being progressive (resolutions and all) rather than being retrogressive. I believe this is our nature…and “change” is one word that could best describe it.
If only the “pinoy” in us, i.e., procrastinations, laziness and other bad habits of ours, will not overcome our zealous want to exact change then truly Christmas joy will remain and a positive New Year will reign. Certainly, striving for a better life is more important than just hoping for one.
There usually is a start to everything…transformation of the whole starts from the transformation of one. I invite everyone to partake of the message given by Archbishop Angel Lagdameo and reflect fervently on one’s self: http://abplagdameo.blogspot.com/2005/12/message-for-new-year.html .
An additional reflection is recounted here: http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb-12-31-04.shtml
“…Titian wrote a Latin phrase that means, ‘From the example of the past, the man of the present acts prudently so as not to imperil the future.’
“We need that kind of wisdom to overcome the anxiety created by our past failures and the fear of repeating them in the future – an anxiety that keeps us from living to the fullest now.”
I pray we may all be enlightened from our past mistakes, change our lives for the better, and always to have a constructive outlook in days ahead.
A Happy and Peaceful New Year to all!