By Ben Garcia

KUWAIT: One of the best known Filipino traditions during Christmas is Simbang Gabi (dawn mass), a nine-day ritual from Dec 16 to 24 to welcome the Christmas season. This year, the first day of Simbang Gabi was officiated by Pope Francis, where he led the Filipino congregation at the Vatican for dawn Mass. In Kuwait, three churches are celebrating Simbang Gabi - The Holy Family Cathedral in Kuwait City, The Saint Therese Church in Salmiya and Our Lady of Arabia Parish Church in Ahmadi. The start of dawn mass is at 4:30 am.

Filipinos braved the cold weather every day for nine days to usher Christmas. "This is already a tradition in my family to complete the nine-day masses, not for anything but a promise to God to faithfully fulfill and complete the nine days. I have to thank God for all the blessings in the family. I am grateful for life and the reason why I am here on earth," said 50-year-old Alice Mercado, who has lived in Kuwait for the last three decades. "Christmas to me is always a very memorable moment because the 24th of December is my birthday. I will share blessings with the people, I will cook some food to be shared with attendees tomorrow," she noted.

It's also traditional for many churchgoers in Kuwait to stay after the dawn mass to share sumptuous food with the faithful. They normally share traditional Filipino soup, porridge, rice cakes and other dishes in the church compound. Simbang Gabi devotees attend dawn mass in anticipation of good fortune, luck or blessings like finding a boyfriend/girlfriend, a house and plot, or a good career and life.

Another country celebrating dawn mass is Puerto Rico, which calls this practice Misa de Aguinaldo. In the Philippines, Simbang Gabi was introduced during the Spanish era, when the majority of Filipinos worked in rice fields of rich people and oligarchs. The dawn Mass was introduced for farmers so they have enough time to hear Mass and yet go early in the fields to work. During the Spanish era, church bells started ringing as early as 3 o'clock, waking people up so they could get ready for the 4 o'clock dawn mass.