By
The SUN
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| The last Midnight Mass in Chater Garden was held in 2018 |
If you’ve spent the past few years celebrating
Christmas in Hong Kong, and are disappointed because the traditional Simbang
Gabi on Dec 24 in Chater Garden won’t be held again this year, fret not. There
will at least be two online masses to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, with the
Filipinos particularly in mind.
According to Fr. Jay Flandez, chaplain for Filipinos,
he will be saying the Christmas Eve mass online at 10:30pm, via the El Shaddai
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1190841197726141
It will also be carried live on the Pinoy Tayo Sanman
Facebook page.
Daily, Fr. Jay also says his daily mass online
continues at 7:45am via the El Shaddai Facebook page
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| Fr Jay will say the Christmas Eve mass online at 10:30pm |
Over at St Joseph’s Church on Kennedy Road, the Misa
de Gallo or Misa de Aguinaldo will be held at 9pm on Dec. 24, led by parish
priest Fr Joseph Tan. On Christmas Day itself, the English online mass will be
held at 7am.
Since Dec 15 until Dec 23, the Filipino tradition
of a nine-day Simbang Gabi” until
Christmas Eve, has also been carried live online at 9pm through the St Joseph’s
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/885910608575097.
On Dec 26, the anticipated mass will be said at 7pm,
while the next day, Dec 27, the mass for the Holy Family will be held at 7am.
On Dec 31, New Year’s Eve, the traditional Thanksgiving Mass is slated at 9pm.
The mass schedules at St Joseph’s are in the advisory
below:
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| The Christmas and New Year's eve masses at St Joseph's parish will be at 9pm |
All online masses can be watched on replay at any time
after each is finished.
Actual masses in all churches have been cancelled yet
again in the wake of a fourth outbreak of the pandemic in Hong Kong at the
start of this month.
Last year, the much-anticipated Midnight Mass in
Chater Garden was also scrapped amid heightened tension in Hong Kong because of
anti-government protests.
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| St Joseph's tradition of displaying handmade "parols" continues this year |
For several years before this, thousands of Filipinos
gathered in the Garden not just for the mass, but also for other events like a lantern-making
contest and carol singing by community groups.
Other traditional events, like the setting up of a
huge Christmas tree in Statue Square and the traditional New Year’s Eve
fireworks display, will also not be held this year.
But at St Joseph's, the yearly ritual of displaying handmade Philippine lanterns or "parol" continues, the pandemic notwithstanding.
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