SunStar
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December 16, 2020
ON THIS historic time for humanity, we recall Filipino cultural values with the worldwide celebration of the Christmas season dating back to more than 2,000 years of history. This brief commemoration has also been relevant to the introduction of western socio-cultural customs. Hence, the early Christian practice of the Yuletide Season has been inculturated with the arrival of the Spanish colonizers in 1521 followed by the American influences on Christmas and New Year traditions in the Philippines. It is interesting to note that this western cultural celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ has been harmonized by Filipinos in their cultural values of family, kinship and reciprocity. Thus, the historic Christian tradition has incorporated the practice of giving and receiving gifts in the basic Filipino tradition. These beautiful practices have also been integrated with positive contributions to Filipino values without the negative excesses of the materialistic values of consumerism today.