More Fun Facts

The First Christmas in the Philippines!

It is not an entirely unjustified assumption that the celebration of Christmas in the Philippines did not occur until well after Ferdinand Magellan “discovered” the country with his entourage in 1521 (and subsequently met his demise through a certain Datu Lapu-Lapu). After all, it was the Spaniards (more specifically, their Spanish friars) who introduced the largely paganistic and disparate tribes of Filipinos to Christianity and its belief system and traditions.

However, there is an enduring legend in the region of Pangasinan that says that Christmas was celebrated along its shoreline long before any Spanish fleet even caught sight of the Philippines.

The priest who supposedly conducted the first Misa de Gallo (Yuletide Mass, “Rooster’s Mass” in Spanish) in the country was a Father Odoric of Pordenone, Italy (ca. 1286 – 1331). The Franciscan priest was in the region searching for Nestorian Christians who reportedly travelled to Asia four centuries prior.

It was during his travels in the region during the 14th century that he came across the natives of Pangasinan. At first the encounter seemed to bound to be hostile but eventually, both sides realized that neither were intent on causing harm to the other. And so, Father Odoric, with his men kneeling around him, erected a wooden cross along the shore and conducted mass, the first of its kind and the only Yuletide Mass in the Philippines (whose name hasn’t even been determined yet) for a very long time.

In addition, Father Odoric supposedly planted a tree beside the cross – making it the first ever Christmas Tree in the Philippines (Asia even!) and pre-dating the upsurge of its popularity in Europe by hundreds of years (Christmas Trees became popular there only in the 19th century).