Christmas in the Philippines: the longest season in the world, on the calendar

The Philippine Christmas season is famously the longest in the world: the carols start when the months turn to 'ber', the malls dress up in September, and the season proper runs through December to the New Year countdowns and into the January fiestas. For a calendar, it is the densest quarter of the year, and our festive season page gathers what is on across it.

The fixtures of the season

Simbang Gabi, the nine dawn masses from 16 to 24 December, sets the rhythm in every parish in the country, with bibingka and puto bumbong sold outside the church doors afterwards. The concert season peaks in mid-December: this year Jose Mari Chan, the singer whose name is practically a synonym for Philippine Christmas, headlines A Christmas with the OPM Icons at the Newport Performing Arts Theater in Pasay on 12 December (our listing, dates labelled tentative, tickets from ₱3,500). Ballet companies run their Nutcrackers the same fortnight in Makati and Parañaque.

New Year's Eve

The countdowns concentrate where the resorts and ballrooms are: Newport World Resorts' Grand Countdown to 2027 takes over the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Pasay on 31 December, confirmed on the resort's own events page (listing), with the bayfront hotels running their own parties within a short ride. Fireworks over Manila Bay close the year, and the season hands over to January: Sinulog, Ati-Atihan and Dinagyang in successive weekends.

Planning notes

December is peak season in every direction: domestic flights sell out around the holiday weeks, Manila's event districts book up, and the traffic reaches its annual worst in the fortnight before Christmas. Book flights and rooms early, keep airport transfers generous, and let the December calendar set the shape of the trip.

More reading on the articles page, or go straight to the events calendar.