Simbang Gabi: 'A unique mix'
Simbang Gabi is here again. This celebration of the Filipino Catholic tradition of Christmas novena masses at dawn (or now in the evening) always reminds me of the story of a pastor and his associate in a parish here in the U.S. where this has been done through the years.
The associate became uncomfortable and uneasy with the way he saw the parishioners and the pastor doing the preparations for and actual celebration of this particular blend of the Roman liturgy and Filipino popular religiosity. Trained and formed in and strictly sticking to the principles of the liturgy with its inherent Roman emphases on sobriety, formality and linear discourse, the associate pointed out to the pastor that the way Simbang Gabi was done goes against the principles of the liturgy in many instances.
He thought that festive mode of the celebration through the display of the belen (nativity crèche) and parols (Christmas lanterns), floral decorations in the sanctuary, the singing of the Gloria and Christmas hymns, and the donning of white liturgical vestments should wait until Christmas Midnight Mass to usher in the Christmas Season and should not be done during the Simbang Gabi Masses which span from Dec. 16 (15 if celebrated in the evening) to 24. The associate pointed out that the Simbang Gabi days fall within the Advent liturgical season when the penitential ambiance of the season should be followed.
I wish the associate could see for himself the way Simbang Gabi is done in the Philippines, which in turn reminds me of a priest-friend from the U.S. who was visiting the Philippines years ago during the Simbang Gabi days. He was shocked when I invited him to concelebrate in any of the two Simbang Gabi Masses in the parish – at either 3 a.m. or 4:30 a.m.
He said: “Are your crazy?”
After serving here in the U.S. for a number of years, I am still amazed and could only equally exclaim to those who flock to the malls on Black Friday at dawn: “Are you crazy?”
Started by the Spanish missionaries who evangelized the Philippines more than 400 years ago, Simbang Gabi (literally, “worship at night or when still dark”) is also called in Spanish, Misa de Gallo, “Mass of the rooster, or at cockcrow.”
Some also call it Misa de Aguinaldo, “Mass of the gift,” referring to the gift of the child Jesus and to evoke the spirit of gift-giving at Christmas. Some liturgical theologians in the Philippines have traced the roots of the Simbang Gabi to the Rorate Masses which were celebrated in Europe long ago. These were Masses in honor of the Blessed Virgin celebrated during Advent early in the morning or in the evening.
The emphasis on the timing of the Masses was to highlight on the light, who is Jesus Christ, that is in or breaking the darkness. Besides this theology, the early missionaries kept this early morning schedule to accommodate the farmers who had to start work by sunrise and the fisher folks returning from a night of fishing.
For nine consecutive days the faithful flock to the churches in a festive mood. Church bells are rung before Mass begins and in some towns and villages a band of musicians goes around to awake people and invite them to church. With more people living and working in the cities and urban areas today, parishes also celebrate Simbang Gabi in the evening when people return from work.
The reason for the festive mood of the Simbang Gabi is basically that of the Christmas spirit of joy, the coming and the breaking in of the radiance of the Christ Child into the shadows of sin and unbelief. This seeming disconnect with the Advent liturgical emphasis on the penitential spirit is corrected when Simbang Gabi is understood as having this spirit in the sacrifice of the faithful who must rise early to make it to the dawn Masses and done in the festive anticipation of the nativity of Jesus.
To further enhance this unique mix of the liturgy and popular religiosity, the Church in the Philippines has been granted the indult to introduce elements proper to the Christmas liturgical season in the Simbang Gabi celebrations which in a way anticipates them. These include those environmental and ritual elements of the liturgy which the associate I mentioned was uneasy about. Here, we see how the otherwise sober and formal Roman liturgy has been beautifully blended with the festive and colorful elements of a culture and popular religiosity.
Maligayang Pasko (Merry Christmas)!
By Father Thaddeus
Noel G. Laput, CM
Vincentian Father Thaddeus
Noel G. Laput is parochial vicar at
Our Lady of Mercy Parish, Daly City.
