Few places on the planet do Christmas bigger than in the Philippines — where celebrations are a mix of local, Spanish, American and Chinese traditions.
In the Philippines, tinsel adorns shopping centres and audiences are bombarded by Christmas carols on TV and radio starting on September 1.
Centuries of Spanish colonisation followed by decades of American rule left a profound cultural influence on the Philippines. The centuries-old practice is thought to have been started by pious farm labourers who wanted to fulfil their religious obligations before work.Ethel Villafranca, a curator at the Museum of Chinese Australian History in Melbourne who is of Filipino heritage, said Catholicism underpinned many things in the Philippines."Every town in the Philippines has a town saint, and they are celebrated in feasts as thanksgiving.
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