SALT LAKE CITY — Back in the Philippines, Marius Bondoc remembers getting up early each morning in the days leading up to Christmas to take part in Simbang Gabi services, a Filipino tradition to mark the birth of Jesus.
The daily Simbang Gabi masses from Dec. 16-24 — an important Christmastime tradition among Catholics in the southeast Asian nation — would get going as early as 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. No matter, Bondoc — now living in Utah — would be there. “It’s very meaningful for us,” he said.
Filipino expatriates continue the tradition, though the masses in Utah are typically held in the evening, and Bondoc, among many others, took part in the Simbang Gabi service at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Salt Lake City on Monday night. It was the second day of Simbang Gabi, which actually starts and ends here in Utah a day early, with more masses daily at rotating Catholic churches through Dec. 23.
“Wherever there are Filipinos there must be Simbang Gabi celebrations,” said Father Ariel Durian of St. Peter Catholic Church in American Fork, who’s originally from the Philippines and took part in Monday’s mass. “It is a spiritual event as well as a social event here in the United States.”
Marina Fernandez, also originally from the Philippines, helped organize activities Monday, which also included a shared meal featuring Filipino food after the service. She sees Simbang Gabi as a way of giving thanks for the good that has occurred in the course of the year. Additional services in Utah in coming days will be held at Catholic churches in West Jordan, Taylorsville, Salt Lake City, American Fork, Cottonwood Heights, Sandy and Bountiful.
“This is the oldest and dearest tradition that the Filipinos have continuously celebrated all over the world,” she said at the start of Monday’s service. Around 7,000 people born in the Philippines now live in Utah — a number that doesn’t include the U.S.-born children of Filipinos — mostly in Salt Lake, Davis and Utah counties, though they are scattered around the state.
The time of each day’s service here in Utah may be later than in the Philippines, Fernandez went on, but the intent of the U.S. incarnation of the tradition is the same. “It is above all an expression of the Filipinos’ filial devotion to Mary, the mother of God. For nine consecutive days, we join and accompany her, so to speak, as she awaits the birth of her son,” she said.
One of the central symbols of Simbang Gabi in the Philippines are parols, lanterns typically shaped as five-pointed stars. They originally served a practical purpose, lighting the way for those attending the early morning masses many years ago in the days before electricity. They persist as a central symbol of Christmas in the Philippines and many of them decorated Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church for Monday’s service.
Reverend Ryan Jimenez of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Sandy, also originally from the Philippines, sees Simbang Gabi as “preparation” of sorts for Christmas and the celebration of Jesus’ birth. After Monday’s service he and the other participants and worshippers, including Joana Castillo, shared a meal.
Beyond the religious aspects, Castillo said she feels “a sense of home” in attending the varied Simbang Gabi services and commiserating with her fellow Filipino expatriates.
