When the month of December comes, numerous seafarers ask for leave, saying they have a relative who has died. Captain Ronaldo Enrile, vice president for operations of Philippine Transmarine Carriers (PTC).
I saw four Santas, Three Kings, an army of soldiers and snowmen and a choir of children. Rudolph and his reindeer were winding their way around the garden, while a white angel was suspended from the trunk of an ancient tree.
When he flew home two weeks before Christmas, Arnold Barrion knew he could expect a holiday mood in their house in Taguig City, with Christmas decor already set up by his wife and two teenage children. This would be his fourth Christmas vacation in the Philippines since he came to work in Saudi Arabia six years ago.
As early as September, Kairos Luther Cordova, 7, started listening to Christmas carols on Internet radio. He wonders why he does not hear Christmas songs blaring all over this city like they do in the Philippines.
How was it to celebrate the holiday season in the old way, growing up in the Philippines, and how they observe it now in their adopted country? I posed this question to some friends and relatives abroad, who have been absent from the homeland for many years. Here are some responses: Hermie Garcia, publisher and [...]
As early as September, Alex de Vera and his family had fixed up a Christmas tree in their living room. Like most Christian Filipinos in Saudi Arabia, the de Veras tuck away a Christmas tree ready to be set up for the season.
US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. has advised children to refrain from toys and candies and ask Santa Claus for books instead.
Our Christmas tree was made of wood, wire and strips of glittering green foil paper.
OFWs and balikbayans returning home for the holidays can now enjoy a more meaningful and convenient Christmas shopping experience as Duty Free Philippines Fiestamall extends its shopping hours to 4 a.m. until December 23.
It’s a truly merry Christmas for three returning overseas Filipino workers.
The founders of Neve Shaanan, a neighborhood in southern Tel Aviv, planned their streets in the shape of a seven-branched candelabra — a symbol of their Jewish faith. Ninety years later, the streets are full of Christmas decorations, reflecting a flowering of Christianity in Israel’s economic and cultural capital.
The Archdiocese of New York maintained its objection to the holding of Simbang Gabi midnight masses at the consulate building on Fifth Avenue, prompting the possible relocation of the Christmas tradition observed for 25 years by Filipinos in the New York Tri-State. “A mass can only be carried out in a consecrated location and thus, [...]
