Via Arboleda stepped back to admire the 6-foot-tall tree glistening in her living room.
The oak trees along Manila’s sidewalks had not yet shed their leaves, but she was among the many Filipinos already looking forward to Dec. 25 and unpacking their Christmas decorations.
In September, colorful decorations began to appear on her way to work, lifting her mood under the dark rainy skies.
“I believe that the bigger the celebration, the better,” Arboleda, 27, an advertising professional from Manila, told CNN.
The Philippines has the longest Christmas period in the world, with festivals held from September to January.
As summer draws to a close, shopping malls are decked out with decorations to celebrate the festive season. Garniture is so large that it deserves its own word, “bonga,” which means gorgeous, rich, or spectacular.
But Manila’s average temperature in December is 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the country’s meteorological agency Pagasa, so there is no chance of snowfall like at Western-style festivals.
As families gear up for their annual holiday reunion, relatives begin coordinating potlucks and printing custom T-shirts for the occasion. Arboleda’s will states, “Arboleda Family Reunion 2025.”
For many people, this gathering is especially special. According to the International Labor Organization, nearly 10 percent of the Philippine workforce is employed overseas for higher pay and better benefits.
These workers send remittances to support their families back home, contributing 9 percent of the country’s GDP.
“Some relatives go home once a year for Christmas, others maybe once every 10 years,” Arboleda said. “This is a big deal, so we’re going to get ready to celebrate by feasting until our pants no longer fit.”
Signature dishes include caldereta (a goat stew with potatoes, carrots, olives, and peas) and Filipino spaghetti, a take on Italian bolognese where hot dogs are topped with tomato sauce sweetened with banana ketchup and brown sugar.
“Rice is always on the table, and dessert is often a fruit salad with condensed milk and cream,” Arboleda says.
Karaoke machines will be rented for Christmas sing-alongs.
“Filipinos love to sing,” Arboleda says. “The aunts and uncles also grab the microphone after a drink, and the young people perform for their grandparents and are presented with money in an envelope.”
Music is also being played in supermarkets and public spaces, particularly Jose Mari Chan’s “Christmas in Our Heart,” the nation’s answer to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You.”
In November, Manila’s upscale BGC neighborhood hosts a weekly fireworks display that draws families from all over the city to watch the night sky light up.
From Tiffany & Co.’s elegant Tiffany Blue conifers to Surf laundry detergent’s cheerful pink creations, major brands join in on the festivities with signature Christmas trees.
Even Pantone sometimes attends family gatherings. There, all relatives pledge to wear the company’s Color of the Year. 2025 is a luxurious mocha mousse.
And at SM Mall of Asia, the country’s largest shopping center, the celebrations become theatrical.
This year’s theme is inspired by the recently released film Wicked: For Good, with aisles adorned with Glinda’s pink, Elphaba’s green, and a Christmas tree inspired by the Emerald City.
These themed malls are a defining childhood memory for Michelle Neri, 26, who grew up attending school in her parents’ hometown of Manila.
Neri has topped Arboleda’s early start to the season and continues to decorate her Christmas tree year-round in honor of her Filipino family traditions.
“When I was a child, my mother would decorate all year round, even wrapping the stair railings in wreaths,” she told CNN.
“She kept the tree decorated while I took it down, and my tree was still standing there all fluffed up.”
Neri, who currently works as a technology analyst in California, returned to Manila on a solo trip last November with the mission of visiting all the malls with Christmas decorations, in addition to catching up with friends.
“No two malls were the same,” she said, listing themes from bears and ribbons to gingerbread and trees trimmed with hand-stitched pineapple fibers, the material used to make traditional Filipino barong shirts.
“Christmas can’t be compared to anywhere else,” she said. “It’s like Disneyland.”
Christmas in the Philippines is deeply rooted in Christianity and commemorates the birth of Jesus on December 25th.
According to the 2020 Census, nearly 80 percent of the population, or more than 85 million people, identify as Roman Catholic.
Holy Mass is celebrated widely on December 24th, 25th, and 31st. And January 1st.
The Christmas Eve Mass marks the culmination of Simbang Gabi, which means “Night Mass,” a nine-day tradition that begins on December 16 and includes daily pre-dawn prayers from 2:30 a.m.
“Usually a small group of grandparents participate in this event,” Arboleda said.
“After Mass, you can enjoy unusual but delicious Christmas dishes such as bibingka rice cakes with salted eggs and puto bumbong, a purple sticky rice dessert with grated coconut, muscovado sugar and lots of butter.”
Neri and Arboleda embrace both the spiritual and festive aspects of the season.
“Filipinos like to celebrate everything,” Neri says. “We’re just happy people.”
