Christmas in the Philippines A Christmas Lantern in the Christmas Capital of the Philippines (1st Place winner to the Keso de Gallo photo contest sponsored by Eden Cheese) The Philippines has been greatly influenced by Spanish traditions and Misa de Gallo is one of them. Misa de Gallo is a Spanish phrase which means " Midnight mass ." In Spain, Misa de Gallo pertains to a midnight mass starting around 12am on Christmas eve. Here in the Philippines, we have a novena of a series of 9 dawn Masses (usually around 3am to 4:30 am) starting from December 16 up to the eve of Christmas, December 24. Filipino farmers in the early days would want to attend Christmas masses but they could not leave their fields in the day. With this, the priests held early dawn masses to these farmers and they were held before day break and thus the term " Simbang Gabi " or Midnight Mass. Even until now, Filipino devotees attend these midnight masses as an expression...