The world’s longest Christmas season starts in September. When the calendar hits the first of the “ber months,” Philippine radio switches to carols, the decorations go up, and a four-month festive season begins — making the British debate about whether November is too early look extraordinarily timid.
The ber months
September, October, November, December: from the first -ber onward, Christmas is officially in progress. Malls, radio stations and petrol-station forecourts fill with Christmas music from the first week of September, and nobody considers this remotable premature — it is simply when Christmas starts, in the country with the largest Christian population in Asia.
The parol
The season’s great symbol is the parol — a star-shaped lantern representing the Star of Bethlehem, traditionally bamboo and paper, now often a spectacular engineering of capiz shell and dancing electric light. Families begin making and hanging them as early as September, and by December they line streets, homes and public buildings across the country. It is arguably the world’s most beautiful Christmas decoration, and easily its longest-serving: a parol hung in September works a four-month shift.
A four-month season needs durable kit
Anyone celebrating from September has no business buying a one-wear novelty print — this is the strongest possible case for the durability argument in knitted or printed. Light-up, in honour of the parol:
