12/20/14 simbang gabi mass & celebration,
st margaret mary lomita...around Los Angeles a lot of catholic churches celebrate the filipino tradition of simbang gabi
"Simbang Gabi ("Night Mass"; Spanish: Misa de Gallo, "Rooster's Mass") is a novena of dawn Masses from 16 December to Christmas Eve. The Simbang Gabi is practised mainly by Catholic and Aglipayans, with some Evangelical Christian and independent Protestant
churches having adopted the practise of having pre-Christmas dawn
services. Attending the Masses is meant to show devotion to God and
heightened anticipation for Christ's birth, and folk belief holds that God grants the special wish of a devotee that hears all nine Masses.
Morning observance of Simbang Gabi begins as early as 03:00 PST, while in some parishes, anticipated Masses begin the previous evening at 20:00 PST. After hearing Mass, Catholic families buy traditional Filipino holiday fare
for breakfast outside the church and eat it either within the church
precincts or at home. Vendors offer many native delicacies, including bibingka (rice flour and egg-based cake, cooked using coal burners above and under); putò bumbóng (a purple, sticky rice delicacy steamed in bamboo tubes, buttered then sprinkled with brown sugar and shredded dried coconut meat). Drinks include coffee, salabát (a ginger infusion) and tsokoláte (thick, Spanish-style hot chocolate). Some Aglipayan churches invite the congregation to partake of the "paínit" (literally, "heater"), a post-Mass snack of mostly rice pastries served with coffee or cocoa at the house of the Mass sponsor..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_in_the_Philippines
...here's the IRONY about being an anglo-American (ie "white guy" ) celebrating simbang gabi with mostly Filipinos. Some of them look at me as if to say "What's this white guy doing here with us?" (by the way, amongst some minority communities in southern California there is sometimes negative stereotyping of single white guys who don't have any obvious title/garb such as priest ...things I wish I could tell them before they negatively stereotype me: Yes, I do have a Christian tradition..I grew up in the historic Christian Reformed Church; & yes I am committed to the faith and do have a higher educational degree (BA/BA/M.Div), ...and even more, I actually DID mission work in the Philippines...and the Filipinos were nice to me there than they are sometimes here in the United States! And I try to attend some of the Filipino church services because I truly care about you as a group and individually, and keep the country and people of the Philippines in my prayers. I truly care about you. Do you care about me?
