Only in the Philippines!

Today is the first day of the "ber" month, it is where the mornings are expected to get colder, radio stations start playing holiday carols as the world’s longest Christmas season unfolds in the Philippines, Asia’s predominantly Christian nation.

People started greeting their friends and telling them that they are the first one who greeted them "Merry Christmas" this year.

Some people are already making their list for the coming Christmas season as early as today. Shopping malls will once again be very busy as always when the "ber" months comes. This is the time where consumers are spending a lot, and we will see that even in global crisis there are still a lot of people spending their money just to give their loves ones, "inaanaks" and to celebrate with great pride.



Christmas in the Philippines officially starts on Dec. 16 with “Misa de Gallo” or Midnight Mass, a religious activity that lasts nine days.

On Christmas Day, Filipinos wake up early at 4:30 a.m. to hear mass as devotion to the newly born Christ. This tradition has given the Philippines the distinction of having the longest Christmas season all over the world. The season extends beyond the New Year and the Feast of the Epiphany in early January.