How Filipinos celebrate Christmas in Buddhist Lao PDR

Missing the glitzy, noisy, joyous, and months-long Christmas festivities they are used to, Filipinos in Buddhist-dominated Lao PDR rely on friends to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Reimar Basaen, a 34-year old restaurant manager at Crowne Plaza Vientiane, told GMA News Online that only a handful of establishments decorate for Christmas.

“Yung mga international companies lang ang nagdedecorate, though merong ibang local companies but bihira (Only international companies decorate for Christmas, though a few local companies also do it),” he said.

The Tarlac native said Christmas and New Year are ordinary days in Lao PDR as only 2% of the population practice Christianity.

“Hindi big event, parang normal lang (It is not a big event like in the Philippines, it is a normal day here),” he said.

So he and his friends just get together to celebrate Christmas.

“At least may kasama kami na magse-celebrate, hindi ka uuwi na mag-isa. Dito mostly kaibigan ko sa hotel side din nagtatrabaho so after midnight, magkikita-kita pa rin kami. Kahit paano may kaunting Noche Buena,” Reimar added.

(At least you have friends to celebrate it with, you will not be alone. Most of my friends also work in the hotel industry so we meet after midnight. We have a little Noche Buena.)

Reimar said that last year, he failed to make it to their Christmas party due to work so his friends just edited their picture to include him.

"Last year naman, meron po kaming party kaso di na ako umabot kasi late natapos ang buffet sa restaurant namin sa hotel kaya ayan in-edit na lang nila ako,” he said laughing.

(Last year, we have party but I was not able to go because the buffet service in the restaurant of our hotel ended late so they just edited the picture to include me.)

Without Reimar

So this year, to ensure that all of them will be able to come, they decided to hold their party early.

“This year, nag-celebrate na kami nang very light with friends kasi halos lahat kami working on Christmas and New Year. Nung (December) 14 po naghanda kami nang konti tapos karaoke,” said Reimar.

(This year, my friends and I decided to celebrate early because most of us have work on Christmas and New Year. Last December 14, we prepared food and had karaoke.)

Reimar and his friends also joined the gathering called Paskong Pinoy organized by the Philippine Embassy in Laos on December 7.

According to the Facebook post of the Embassy, more than 400 members of the Filipino community attended the event which had games, raffle draws, and performance from FilCom members.

The attendees were treated to Filipino food and beverages.

A parol-making contest was also held which had nine entries from seven groups/individuals.

No place like home

YouTuber and Tiktoker Kissa Eats noted the huge difference in Christmas celebrations in the Philippines and Laos.

“Ang laki po ng pagkakaiba. Sa loob ng four years na nag-Christmas ako sa Laos, wala, (There is really a big difference. In the four years that I stayed in Laos) you cannot really feel the Christmas vibes here. No Christmas tree, no Christmas lights,” she said.

Kissa Eats, whose real name is Karissa Montealegre, stayed in Luang Prabang, the former capital of Lao PDR and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Kissa, who also works as a foreign English teacher, said that many expatriates in Luang Prabang initiated Christmas celebrations, but it is still not as festive as in the Philippines.  

“Iba talaga ang Pasko sa ‘Pinas. Dito malungkot (Christmas in the Philippines is really something. Here it is sad),” Kissa said, adding that it made her miss her family in the Philippines more.

“Last year, du'n lang ako naging emotional, kaya sabi ko sa sarili ko (I was really emotional last year so I said to myself) next year I will try my best to go back to the Philippines,” she said, and she did.

Kissa returned to the country this month to create more Filipino contents and highlight Filipino food to her audience who are mostly foreigners.

Youtuber and Tiktoker Kissa Eats plans to stay in the Philippines for good to create more Filipino contents pic.twitter.com/wuzn47VdMZ

— Amita O. Legaspi (@amitalegaspi) December 24, 2024

She said she is happy to be back because her grandmother will celebrate her birthday on Christmas Day.

“Sobrang happy po kasi ‘yung Lola ko ang birthday niya Christmas, December 25 (I am so happy because my grandmother will celebrate her birthday on Christmas, December 25),” she said.  

“Sine-celebrate namin ng start 12 a.m. po. Masaya po kasi sama-sama po kami ng family ko ngayong Pasko (We start the celebration at 12 a.m.. I am so happy because we will be together this Christmas),”she added.

It will be her first Christmas with her family since 2020 when she got stuck in Lao PDR due to COVID pandemic.—AOL, GMA Integrated News