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Filipinos flock to churches for 1st Simbang Gabi


MANILA, Philippines - Filipino families flocked to churches before dawn Tuesday to attend the first of nine “Simbang Gabi" or the traditional novena dawn masses leading to Christmas Day. Radio dzBB's Roland Bola reported that in Quezon City, early churchgoers included youths and even homosexuals who dressed up like women. At the Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City, bells pealed to signal the start of the 4 a.m. mass, even as police kept guard around the church area. In southern Metro Manila, devotees of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help from other parishes mingled with regular parishioners at the Baclaran Shrine, even as beggars mixed with vendors in seeking churchgoers' attention after mass. In northern Metro Manila, people rushed for free puto bumbong and tea available only to the first 600 churchgoers to line up at the San Bartolome Chapel in Malabon City. Like in past years, vendors selling delicacies like puto bumbong and bibingka, as well as salabat (ginger tea), waited outside the church premises for churchgoers to finish attending mass. On the other hand, families who could not afford to hear the dawn mass flocked to churches Monday night to attend the anticipated for the first day of the traditional “Simbang Gabi" leading to Christmas Day. Several churches in Metro Manila opened their doors to accommodate early churchgoers and rang their bells to signal the start of the mass.- GMANews.TV
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