Noche Buena

Noche Buena is a Spanish word. Noche means ‘night’ and Buena means ‘good’. All in all, it means a “Good Night” on Christmas Eve. It is a good night for it is a celebration of the incoming birthday of our savior, Lord Jesus Christ. It is the midnight of December 24, a night of togetherness of loved ones—grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, grandkids, cousins, brothers and sisters, friends, as you name it—to welcome the incoming of the night of all nights, the birthday of Jesus Christ. Even a businessman can’t resist joining the celebration.

The part that most of us people like is the food and the exchange and the opening of their gifts together. Most of us people say, “We’ll serve many and delicious foods in this night for this celebration is celebrated only once in a year”. Even the poor people cooked and served special meals. In this time, we feel the warmth of Christmas through sharing food to each other in the gathering such as reunions.

Noche Buena is celebrated after the Misa de Gallo or Simbang Gabi (as it is known in Filipino language) that lasts for more than one hour.