Saturday, December 18

 Yesterday, when I was listing some of the ways in which we have spent Christmas Day in the past, I neglected to mention perhaps the most interesting of all - the Christmas we spent in Balatan in the Phillipines.  Nera's family is one of the most respected in the area.  Members of the family have fishing boats and employ many locals, one uncle was the mayor, Nera's mother runs a medical centre and her father owns a number of small shops and houses which he rents out, so the famliy is highly-respected. and admired.

Marilyn and I were staying in a house that Jamie and Nera own a couple of doors away from her parents and were looking forward to enjoying Christmas Day with the family.  Preparations started on Christmas Eve when a whole cooked pig was delivered; this would be the centrepiece of the meal which would be eaten at midnight.  Nera's mother and sisters spent hours preparing various traditional dishes while those not involved sang Karaoke using a machine which I had been coerced into hiring.  It's not usual to close doors and windows in this part of the world, so all the locals who heard the music gathered outside in the street and joined in with the singing.

As midnight struck, we were encouraged to start on the food.  The pig had been beheaded and the head was placed proudly in the centre of the table.  There was a thin beef soup and rice dishes, of course, and various leafy vegetables which I didn't recognise, as well as lots of sweet bread and fruit.  Marilyn and I had no appetite to eat at midnight but we needn't have worried about the food being wasted.  At about 8 in the morning, all the locals who had been hanging about outside all night, joining in our singing and listening to our conversations, were invited in to have their share of the food.  This is the tradition in rural areas of the Philippines; those who have food, are happy to share it with those who don't.

On Christmas Day, all the shops are open for their annual sale.  We visited the SM Mall in Naga and there was hardly room to move in the shops.  

This was not at all like the Christmases we experience in Australia but, in some ways, it was one of the best Christmases we have ever enjoyed., and certainly one of the most memorable.