Filipino community celebrates Advent with Simbang Gabi

Courtesy photo/Rico Sese

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The Misang Bayan Filipino Catholic Community gathers after Mass for the social to enjoy the Filipino delicacies provided by Blessed Sacrament Parish, the host parish during the 2010 season. 

SALT LAKE CITY — The Misang Bayan Filipino Catholic Community will share its Simbang Gabi tradition at nine different parishes throughout the Diocese of Salt Lake City from Dec. 15 to Dec. 24.

Simbang Gabi is the Tagalog name for a nine-day novena of Masses leading up to Christmas. Tagalog is the national language of the Philippines.

"Filipinos love Christmas and Christmas music can be heard as early as September in the Philippines," said Rico Sese, a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Salt Lake City, who is coordinating the Simbang Gabi celebrations. "We are looking forward to carrying on the tradition of Masses here. They are unique in Utah because they are held in the evening at different parishes all over the valley and the weather can sometimes be difficult.

"Here in Utah we are going to be celebrating in a very unique way because we are going to be celebrating in different parishes, where there is a small representation of Filipino people in each parish to host the Simbang Gabi," Sese added. "Following the Masses we will have the traditional Filipino delicacies. What makes the celebrations special are the colorful parols (lanterns) we make with bamboo and Japanese (washi) paper. There will also be a lot of singing of our own Tagalog versions of Christmas songs."

Many of the Simbang Gabi novenas are about educating Filipinos who have never learned or have forgotten the meaning of various traditions, as well as introducing the Filipino culture to Americans and other cultures, Sese said.

In the Philippines, families are awakened by church bells and roving bands of drummers and trumpeters urging them to church for the 4 a.m. Simbang Gabi Masses each of the nine mornings before Christmas, Sese said.

The Simbang Gabi is waiting in joyful expectation for the coming of Christ, said Sese. "Our Simbang Gabi is our expression of our hope for the coming of the Messiah. For us Catholics, being able to participate in those nine evening Masses is a time to worship nightly, which is what Simbang Gabi means."

For Filipino children Simbang Gabi announces that Christmas is just around the corner. Remy Machon, a member of Saint Patrick Parish, was 14 when she left the Philippines to come to the Unites States. She remembers Christmas ending with the Epiphany, so the season is very long, Machon said.

"I was always excited for the Masses and for midnight Mass on Christmas Eve," she said. "It’s tradition for the young people to visit their grandparents and godparents and for them to put their hand on [the children’s] forehead and then give them money. The blessing is called ‘mano po.’ We still practice this in the United States."

The desire of the Simbang Gabi celebration is to bring the community together, said Sese. "It’s a challenge but it is a sense of fulfillment knowing I attended the Masses to wait for Christ’s coming."

"It’s happiness, a cleansing of your heart and spiritually uplifting to attend the nine novena Masses," said Christina Sese, Rico Sese’s wife. "People pray special intentions during the novenas and ask for special prayers."

During the Simbang Gabi novena, a Mass will be held each night at a different location, with the first being held at the Cathedral of the Madeleine with the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, concelebrating with Father Joe Frez, associate pastor of Saint Francis Xavier Parish. Fr. Frez is a native of the Philippines. The other eight Masses will be celebrated by Fr. Frez and the pastor of the host parish.

The readings during each Mass will be in Tagalog, and the remainder of the Mass will be celebrated in English.