it's 'activities' on tuesdays for december holiday challenge
back in the old country, one of the major activities for the holiday season is attending mass. the philippines being largely catholic, the midnight masses is a long-time tradition. the masses are held not really at midnight but at four o'clock in the morning. they start all over the country ten days before Christmas day culminating in an actual midnight mass at midnight on Christmas eve which is actually Christmas day already. the roads leading to the churches are lined with makeshift kiosks selling native sweets, in particular the "bibingka" (a kind of rice cakes baked with the charcoal on top) and the "puto bungbong" (another kind of purplish rice cakes steamed inside thin bamboo flutes), both served with freshly grated coconut meat and consumed with tea or coffee. other sweets are sold but those two are traditional to the Christmas season and are rarely served at other times of the year.
in the late 70's, i was dating a guy who loved to go disco dancing and every week our group would go dancing until the wee hours of the morning. one time we really over did it so i came home at three in the morning. it was the latest that i had come home and i was pretty sure our father was going to go beserk. well, it happened that my sisters and the neighbourhood children attended those early morning masses. my sister being a deep sleeper, had depended on the children to wake her up, without waking up the other neighbours, by tying a long string around her wrist and the other end of the string was dropped down the window and tied to a nail on the wall outside. in my panic, because the neighbour's dog started to bark, i yanked the string, probably too hard, that i heard my sister yell "okay! okay! i'm awake already!" she peeked out of the window and was surprised to see me. i told her in a hushed tone but loud enough for her to hear, to come down open the door and to make sure she adjusts the clock to eleven just in case the old man woke up. when she had opened the door, she told me, that i had yanked the string so hard her hand was touching the window sill while still lying down and thought that her arm must've been severed from her shoulders.
if you have read this far, good on you because to this day, that story is a classic, re-told to nephews and nieces and grandchildren in my family and the neighbours' families.
What a great sister you have ... amazing how we all "cover" for each other!! A beautiful photo ... I love the food and family traditions. Thanks for sharing.
@karenann - thank you, KA. i simply love food! :-)
@cscecil - the young ones are always reminding me and asking to be told of the story direct from my lips. hehehe. of course there are some parts i'd have to exclude. thank you, CS.
December 28th, 2012
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@cscecil - the young ones are always reminding me and asking to be told of the story direct from my lips. hehehe. of course there are some parts i'd have to exclude. thank you, CS.