First Christmas in the Philippines
According to historical accounts, the first christmas in the Philippines was celebrated 200 years before Magellan discovered the country, probably between the years 1280 and 1320 AD.
One December 25 of the late 12th century, Fr. Odoric, a Franciscan priest from Perdenone, Italy, celebrated the first yuletide mass (Misa de Gallo) on the shores of ancient Pangasinan (a province on the Luzon island of the Philippines). The Italian priest called the first Philippine Christmas Natale.
Father Odoric, with a handful of his compatriots, spent several years in the Far East in search of the Nestorian Christians which had gone to Asia four centuries earlier. The priest and his men passed by the Philippines on their way back to Italy after eight years of stay in the Orient, during which they endeavored to convert Asians to Christianity.
The priest saw hostile natives on the shores of Pangasinan. With his strong faith, however, he went ashore with a prayer on his lips and a black cross in his hands. Scared at first, the natives became friendly when they realized the strangers meant no harm to them. Father Odoric showed the people a picture of Joseph, Mary and Jesus in a manger, with cattle and other animals paying homage to the child Jesus. A christmas tree was planted beside the black cross which had been stood up on the ground. With his men kneeling around, Father Odoric proceeded to say the first christmas mass in the Philippines.
