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Philippine Holiday Celebration with Music and Crafts NEW

Presented by Alay Philippine Performing Arts

This is an Adult School program. Registration is encouraged through Adult School website.

Experience the joy of the Filipino Christmas Season, the magical ‘Ber-months’ celebration! The ‘Ber-months’ refers to months ending in ber: September, October, November, and December. This period, the last four months of the year and the first week of January, is the Philippine Christmas season. It is the longest and beloved Christmas celebration in the world that is deep-rooted in the country’s rich history and culture.

The Philippine Christmas season is the time of introspection, gratitude, generosity; a time of joy; a time when shared identity (kapwa tao) and community unity (bayanihan) are most practiced,
observed, felt. Experiencing Philippine traditions, music, food, art.

Hear the Alay Rondalla string ensemble play Philippine carols, folk songs, and favorite love songs on14-stringed flat-back lutes called bandurria, laud, and octavina, with rhythmic support from guitars and double bass. The bandurria typically plays the melody, while the laud and octavina provide the inner harmonies or contrapuntal elaborations to the melodic lines.

Savor the following Filipino delicacies usually served at Simbang Gabi, the nine-day predawn mass novena that culminates on Christmas Eve:

- Pancit bihon, rice noodles sautéed with vegetables and shrimps

- Lumpiang Shanghai, crispy tiny eggrolls filled with a mixture of ground pork and vegetables like carrots, onions, celery; served with a dipping sauce

- Puto maya ube, cassava cake, and other sweets made with glutinous rice, coconut, purple yam, cassava root, and arrowroot

Learn to create the iconic lace-like parol’s tail ornaments to take home.

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