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ook at the red dot in the middle and move your head towards and away from the screen. See how the outer rings appear to rotate?

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'Simbang Gabi': A cherished Christmas tradition

Church bells will ring at dawn starting Friday until Christmas Day, calling the Catholic faithful to the “Simbang Gabi,” the nine-day dawn masses held in honor of the Virgin Mary.

The pealing of the bells is said to symbolize a message of hope in God and of hope for peace on earth.

The votive masses are held not only in the Philippines but in other countries where there are Filipino communities.

For years now, some parishes have also been holding anticipated “Simbang Gabi” masses at around 8 or 9 in the evening before the dawn masses to accommodate the needs of the faithful on different work schedules.

The masses end on Dec. 24, Christmas Eve, with the “Misa de Gallo” (rooster’s mass) at midnight.

According to Fr. Noel V. Osial, SDB, rector of the Don Bosco Provincial House in Makati City, Filipinos particularly cherish the “Simbang Gabi” tradition. “We find it not only on Philippine soil but everywhere in the world where there are Filipino Catholics who anticipate every year the nine days of preparation for the Birth of Jesus Christ,” Osial said.

For the members of the clergy, “Simbang Gabi” is always an opportunity for catechizing the faithful, Osial said.

“But whether the masses are celebrated early in the morning or at night, whether in the Philippines or elsewhere in the world, the reason for celebrating remains the same – we prepare for the Birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.”

In attending the “Misa de Aguinaldo” (gift mass), churchgoers offer the gift of sacrifice of waking up before the break of dawn for nine consecutive days to attend the dawn masses in thanksgiving, as a form of worship, or for a standing petition, said a Church official.

Not a few believe that completing the nine-day masses would mean the granting of a particular favor.

The Filipinos’ Simbang Gabi dates back to 1565, when Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi celebrated the first Feast of the Nativity.

The practice originated in Mexico when in 1587, Fray Diego de Soria, prior of the Convent of San Agustin Acolman, asked permission from the Pope to hold Christmas masses for the farmers who wake up very early to work.

During the 16th century, Pope Sixtus V decreed that the dawn masses be held in the Philippines every 16th of December.

After the mass, there is another old custom: the partaking of native delicacies sold in stalls outside the church like rice cakes (bibingka), puto bungbong, and suman taken with ginger tea (salabat), coffee or hot chocolate.

To preserve the solemnity of Simbang Gabi, the Catholic Archdiocese of Manila (RCAM) released a circular last October 12 signed by Archbishop Emeritus Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales, reiterating the implementation within the archdiocese of the guidelines issued the previous year.

By CHRISTINA I. HERMOSO
mb.com.ph

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Learning 2.0

 How do children learn today?

Aside from teachers and books, young people look to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr as valuable sources of information through peer-to-peer sharing of content. Information sites like Wikipedia and content-based platforms like blogs are also valuable learning highways today.

Welcome to Learning 2.0! Based on Web 2.0 technology, Learning 2.0 is when learners make use of web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the internet. Web 2.0 sites — social networks, blogs, wikis, video-sharing, etc. — allow users to interact with its creators and the community itself.

“There was a time when students are constrained in the library or in their houses to study. Now, you can actually study using technology, specifically these websites that students today use everyday. We’re lucky that technology is at our disposal.

All aspects of society have been touched by the internet. Internet is available 24/7/365,” said John Peter Abraham Ruero, president of Philippine Society for IT Educators, National Capital Region chapter.

Ruero spoke at the recent 9th Philippine Youth Congress in Information and Technology (Y4iT) 2011, hosted by the University of the Philippines- Diliman. Y4iT was organized by the UP Information Technology Training Center and was attended by over 26,000 delegates from all over the country. A total of 100 local and foreign IT experts shared their expertise on IT with the academe.

PARTICIPATORY CULTURE

What excites students these days is the fact that technology is more dynamic and more responsive to their needs.

The days of web 1.0 — HTML (hypertext mark-up language), home pages, portals, client server, wired dial-up, etc. — have long been forgotten because what young people use these days are XML (Extensible Markup Language), web applications, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) used in blogs, peer-to-peer (networking), wireless broadband, etc.

All these are more user content-driven, where users are the ones putting in the contents rather than just consuming them.

“We are content consumers but once you upload photos on Facebook, you are already a content producer,” Ruero said. “This is the time when networks believe their contributions matter. This is why you can put comments on Facebook. The contributions or feedback given to you are actually important.”

For instance in Wikipedia, users may actually edit or add information to the page of a particular person, event, place, etc.

In Facebook, which has around 800 million users worldwide, an average of 250 million photos are being uploaded every day. YouTube users upload 48 hours of video every minute, or 69,120 hours every day.

A participatory culture is being encouraged among the users of internet.

This emerging age of culture produces an atmosphere of participation, creation and expression.

“Now there’s participation, there’s more creation and production of content. You can easily take videos and upload it. You get to learn something, not only from your teachers or the internet but from your peers,” Ruero explained.

PLAY TO LEARN

This is also the time when play is used in learning. Web-based games actually teach because play today also means the capacity to experiment with games where lessons become much more engaging.

“When we talk about play, our parents think of fun. But if you’re playing Farmville for instance, or Sim City, you’re so engaged. We already do problem-solving in games. Even if I don’t know the instructions of the game, I would know by actively engaging in the game. Games are a simulation or the ability to interpret, construct and describe the real world,” Ruero said.

DISCERNING CONTENT

However, Ruero said, students should have the right skills and competencies to learn properly in the world of Web 2.0. Since most of the contents come from users themselves, information may be inaccurate, or even bogus. It is not new that false information spreads in social networks.

For instance, the Oprah Winfrey statement where the millionaire host was supposed to have praised Filipina Miss Universe candidate Shamcey Supsup had been proven to be a hoax. An entry in a Wikipedia page about of a former Philippine President said this leader was a “former member of the Teletubbies”. This entry was subsequently removed from the page.

“We can use wikis in our research, we can bookmark websites for references. Today teachers are developing contents that are modularized so that when students log on, it can be a lot easier. They are more engaged. It must be personalized as much as you can so that students can get the content that they need, anytime, anywhere,” he said.

“Students must have the competency or the ability to judge the credibility of contents. Users have to remember that not all content producers are trustworthy,” Ruero further warned.

By ANGELO G. GARCIA
mb.com.ph

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