The beginning of Christmas for me…I guess I don’t really feel the spirit of Christmas until we attend the Simbang Gabi. Last Saturday, 15th December, Hubby & I headed to church quite early (6pm) because Mami needed to be there early as she will be assisting with the preparations.
Simbang gabi normally starts at 8pm with the Carolling and 8:30pm for the Mass. That night, it started at past 9pm because it coincided with the Church’s traditional Lighting of the Christmas Tree program. The Big Christmas tree put up in the Church is made up of styrofoam ornaments shaped in bells, Christmas balls and stars. This serves as a fundraising for the church to fund the festivities (I think). On these ornaments, people pay around Dhs.20 so that they can write whatever they want on it (like greetings, names, & so on). This will then be hanged on the tree frame for all the church to see. It’s a tradition for St. Mary’s parishioners to make sure they have one of their own. What else beat having your name up there and being able to do charity at the same time. Here’s a short video clip of the Lighting event that took place. My phone is definitely put to good use! hehehe.
[vodpod id=Groupvideo.646129&w=425&h=350&fv=%26autoStart%3Dtrue] from maeyofaves.vodpod.co
We were surprised to see so many Filipinos in church. Grave! I’ve never seen the church so full of Filipinos. Ang dami na talagang Pinoys dito. Dati-rati pag Simbang Gabi ang napupuno lang ay ang St. Mary’s School - Girl’s compound and the Basketball court. Some spills a bit on the pathway towards these areas. That night… Punong puno lahat ng areas na ito, pati ang mga pathways at mini hall. You could probably say.. mga 5,000+ Filipinos were there for that first Simbang gabi. I wanted to take a video of it from my phone but hubby was like we are in mass.
Anyway, kahit ayaw ni hubby, naisingit ko itong video clip na ito. I figured maganda kasi yung sermon ni Fr. Zaki and I wanted to share it with you. It’s about Why we celebrate Simbang gabi 9 days before Christmas?. Sa tagal ko sa mundo I never really knew this. Siguro ako lang hehehe. I’ll share it anyways.
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