Mayen Betita paused to sing their love song, “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again”. She giggled and placed her hand on mine as if placating the pain from narrating the harrowing events leading to the breakup with Timothy Ellis Cumper (also known as Ellumbra or Tim Cumper) her ex-boyfriend, a UK national.

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Mom, you never taught us how to say “Po” and “Opo”, complained my two daughters. I felt guilty. Did it reflect badly on my parenting skill?

Saying “Po” and “Opo” is foreign to me. (In Filipino if some phrases or sentences ends in “po”, “opo”, “oho”, “ho” or has these words, it only means that you do have a high respect or you are very polite to the person your talking to.) I choke on the words. Not that I am rude but being raised in Cebu during my formative years, those Filipino polite words are non-existent in the Cebuano vocabulary.

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The other night, my husband and I slept at 2:00 AM because we enjoyed watching Happy Slip’s YouTube videos. You know, we needed our endorphin fix. The Peelings video hits close to my heart for many reasons because of my dad. The quirky characters played by Happy Slip as the “aunt” and “mom” display so many similarities to my dad’s Filipino personality. Is it old-school now?

(gasp), I see myself in them too.

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Three thirty in the morning
Wake up, he said.
Let’s go.

Bells tolling
In the distance
Calling us.

Walking briskly
in the dark
With my chattering sisters
And brothers
Shivering
I pulled my coat close to me
Against the chilly air.

Four a.m.
Struggling to keep my eyes open
In a church
smelling of candles
packed with people
Praying fervently
in Cebuano

This is torture, I thought
Let this be over soon.
Sacrifice, my father whispered
Preparing for Jesus’s birth.

The choir’s voices
swelled into song
Kasadya ning Taknaa.

At the parish hall door
Handing brown bags
of pan de sal
my mother had baked
to a jostling crowd
of the poor outside
who smelled of sweat and dust

Smiles from my neighbors inside
Sipping steaming cups of tsokolate
Munching sweet bread
Amid red and green parols
swaying by the windows.

I sighed.
Soon
It will be Christmas.

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Kasadya Ning Takna-a (”How Joyful Is This Season”) is a classic Christmas Carol and my favorite Filipino Christmas Carol. I still remember the lyrics by heart because I used to sing this upbeat Christmas song as a little girl while carolling with my friends in Cebu.

Kasadya ning táknaa
Dapit sa kahimayaan.
Mao ray among nakita,
Ang panagway nga masanagon.
Buláhan ug buláhan
Ang tagbaláy nga giawitan.
Awit nga halandumon,
Ug sa tanang pasko magmalípayon.
Bag-ong tuig, bág-ong kinabúhì.
Duyog sa átong mga pagbati.
Atong awiton ug atong laylayon
Aron magmalípayon.

(Edit Found a streaming file. Click my Filipino Christmas Song Playlist and Kasadya Ning Takna-a is number 2)

I am sure the song is more familiar to you if sang as Ang Pasko ay Sumapit, a popular Filipino Christmas Carol and the Tagalog adaptation of the 1933 Cebuano carol. Ang Pasko ay Sumapit first hit the airwaves when I was a teenager but I was horrified to hear my favorite carol sang in a different accent and beat. It’s not the same., I cried inside. I don’t hear the rondalla introduction of the song. It sounds horrible. I thought. The heavy (maragsa) accent that added vigor and festiveness was just not there in the Tagalog version. I’m sure if you heard the Tagalog version, you would appreciate Ang Pasko ay Sumapit but I first heard it sung in Visayan!

For me, Ang Pasko ay Sumapit is NOTHING compared to the joyfulness of the carol if sang in Visayan. The closest Tagalog version that follows true to the original version is the one sang by the Mabuhay Singers. Even the meaning of the lyrics are different.

But what makes the song even pathetic is the composer was paid a measly price for the Tagalog version. Here is the story of the Cebuano composer, Vicente Rubi.

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Technorati Tags: Christmas Carol

Are you curious about the lifestyle of 7 to 14 year old Filipino children? Sure, we know they have the inherent ability to assimilate new technology and adapt to change at such phenomenal rates but how much? Today, I attended the presentation of Cartoon Networks’ New Generations Philippines results of the first fully-localized study dedicated to Filipino kids with previous studies done in 2003 and 2005. Cartoon Network believes that such study is an integral part of its on-going quest to learn about kids, their lifestyle , opinions and behavior. The approach in conducting the study was based on face-to-face interviews with 1,000 child and parent pairs, surveying Filipino kids aged 7-14 years and their parents from socio-economics classes A to D in three metropolitan areas of Cebu, Davao and Manila in September and October 2007. Synovate Philippines was commissioned to conduct the survey.

The results are quite disappointing. TV is the number one choice for kids among various forms of media consumption.

• 46% are internet users of which three quarters have their own homepage.
• More than 75% go to malls with their parents at least once a month.
• They’ve got PHP 37 billion to spend annually.

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