Filipinos, let us celebrate Christmas this year much, much more than we ever did before! And let us give the gift of a million thanks to Ronald Mascariñas and his Chooks-to-Goflock for being the most gift-giving people especially to our athletes in 2021. The Filipino athlete has never been so honored as by a chicken!
In the Philippines, the Christmas season began Wednesday, 01 September 2021. How Christmasy can you get? It’s time to be giving gifts!
Not The Hilarios, that is, our parents (Dionisio Hilario and Sixta Agapito) and we three children (Emilio, Frank and Brillita) who lived in the rural village of Sanchez in Asingan, Pangasinan, northern Luzon, Philippines. We were neither poor nor rich. The most luxurious item we ever bought was a crankable phonograph player, a Victrola if I’m not mistaken. I’m talking of the 1950s, from elementary grades to high school. We did not even have a transistor radio.
And we never exchanged gifts! My father always made sure we had a “Christmas Tree” – which was always the top of a pine tree coming from Baguio City, where he had a family friend I have forgotten the family name of. (My brother Emilio was a family guest and he finished high school in Baguio City; he worked his way by helping in the family machine shop & repair business.)
Every year we had the proper branch of a pine tree, Pinus kesiya, native of the Philippines, a “Christmas tree,” that’s what we called it, but we never had any exchange of gifts. But we children could go around the neighborhood, sing Christmas songs, English and Tagalog and Ilocano, and receive some cash, and be happy in sharing the coins.
But where were those Christmas gifts?
In the above image[1], a merchant arranges his wares – star-shaped lanterns most Filipinos call “parol.” At home in Asingan, we spoke of the English name “star” that comes with “Christmas” and the “Christmas tree.” At home, I took care of the signs “Merry Christmas” and “Happy New Year.” Full-blooded Ilocanos, no, we did not practice exchanging of gifts.
It was enough for us to remember that Someone was born on Christmas Day, or some such day, the Son of God, who rules the Earth and our lives. We have to follow his Ten Commandments, whether we exchange gifts at Christmas time or not.
This year, the Philippines has much to be thankful for, if you didn’t realize it. One of the most dramatic examples of Christian love has come from Chooks-to-Go. Mr Mascariñas did not have to show it, but he did, sharing his fortune with the little-honored Filipino athletes, especially in the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics 2020 (postponed from last year because of the pandemic lockdowns).
Now then, by way of giving back thanks, why not gift our loved ones, friends and neighbors with a million bites, halves & wholes of Chooks-to-Go chickens from now until the end of the year? Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to everyone!@517
[1]https://www.ctpublic.org/2018-12-24/love-the-holidays-the-philippines-celebrates-4-months-of-christmas-mania
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