It's quite amazing how a single line of a song brings a lot of memories which come flashing in front of my eyes right there, right at that time, that moment.
"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh. Hey, Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way"
Image credits: ireport.cnn.com
My childhood memories are still stuck in my head, the songs played earlier had me on an LSS mode, last song syndrome it is, I can not escape. It repeated on an infinite loop and I can't help but sing along with it.
In the Philippines, Christmas caroling is more than just a song. It has more meaning to every single Filipino, it brings different varieties of memories and I believe every Filipino has something to think about when we talk of the topic, definitely something they could laugh about.
Let me talk about my own fare share of experiences.
Back in my grade school year, my childhood friends and I would go around the neighborhood singing songs to each household, in return, they house owner would be giving us coins then we will move on to the next house.
Oftentimes, we were able to gather a good amount of money and divide it equally among ourselves.
This was a norm from October until January. We go by groups and we have someone to note which song to sing because we have to sing a different song from the previous one as the previous house owner might hear that we were just singing the same songs over and over again. It was a great idea to shuffle the song list every now and then.
Image credits: www.thepinoywarrior.com
Another one will be assigned to hold the money, this person would be the most trusted of the group and he or she will be dividing it as well afterwards. Just like the kids now a days, we also have out own make shift tambourine. They are made out of bottle tanzan caps which were flattened by the use of hammer, holed at the center and place them altogether in a galvanized wire. We will then sing another song after each house visit, the thank you song, I'll share how that is sang later on.
So Why Is It More Fun in the Philippines?
I have listed a few points here why I feel that Christmas caroling is quite unique to the Filipinos. Although there are some who feel like obligated to listen and give, there's more about the caroling in the country which makes the children and even adults look forward to it. It's fun to be with friends, I pretty bet you too if you're a Filipino have your own fair share of memories with your friends when you were singing those Christmas carols back then.
We had no other intention but to sing and ask something in return. Perhaps it's endemic in the country where singing at doorsteps and asking something in return without really asking permission first if the home owner would allow.
Image credits: www.children.org
Yup. Caroling may seem a fun activity but the money collected at the end of the night was the main motivation of each single child out in the streets. Believe it or not, there's always a money involved in this activity and children earn them without being subjected to any child labor issue. Cool right? It's not really considered as begging. Begging is different. This is what we refer as tradition. We didn't know who started this but we are grateful they did.
Up until these days, the same caroling activity is still present in the country, wherever it is, there are children and parents courageous enough to allow their kids to sing out in the neighborhood, why? Because it is our tradition. It has become a trademark of the Filipinos.
It is noisy but a happy noise
Beating the make shift tambourines can be noisy. Banging that tin can drums create garbage noise specially that the two don't really come well is not so pleasant to the ears but when there are children's voices mixed to it, they sound like angels singing.
Thank you everyone and Merry Christmas