Christmas is just 2 months away!
It used to be that houses and streets would be decorated with all sorts of lights but with the financial crunch and oil crisis, christmas lights were one of the first frills to go.
I got me to thinking about Christmases past -- Nativity plays in school, trying to stay up till midnight for noche buena, and so on. But the most concrete sign that a house was ready for Christmas wasn't the Christmas tree. It was the parol, a star of different sizes, colors, and designs displayed in front of the house. It symbolizes the star the wise men followed to find the child Jesus. In the days of my childhood, a Filipino household wasn't truly ready for Christmas without a parol.
Back when I was in high school, Mr. Pagsanghan (known to all his students as Mr. Pagsi), introduced us to a Christmas poem by Fr. Horacio De La Costa, S.J. I couldn't remember the title at first but thanks to the Internet and its bloggers, I was able to find a copy of the "Secret of the Star", a poem about the parol.
Now, I want to share the "secret" with you. Read on while I try to cobble up materials to make a parol for my home. I hope I remember my practical arts.
Secret of the Star
Horacio de la Costa, S.J.
I do not think the Three Wise Men were Persian Kings at all.
I think it much more likely they sat sail from out Manila Bay
In answer to the call.
And though the great historians may stare at me, and frown –
I still maintain the Three Wise Men were Kings from my hometown!
And if you ask why I affirm that Melchor was King of Tondo,
When Gaspar ruled Sampaloc, and Baltazar Binondo…
We will not argue. We will walk the street on Christmas Eve,
And I will show you the poor man’s rafter,
Where hangs the star the Kings sought after,
High above Christian prayer and laughter –
you will see it, and believe!
For when they crossed the sea again from Bethlehem afar,
They lost their camels in the sea,
and they forgot the Christmas tree,
But they brought back to you and me
the secret of the Star!
Ah, we have lost the sign of the Kings
to whom Christmas is merely a feast,
And merely a time to dance and dine
with Western music and Western wine
Because a gigantic neon sign
has blotted the Star in the East!
