BER MONTHS: Christmas time is always early in the Philippines

It is time of the year when everything becomes colorful, full of excitement and a meme-filled fun!  
Well, in the Philippines, the last day of August means the eve for BER Months. This modern celebration is a traditional expansion or evolution of Christmas where in Filipino Christians get to celebrate the season as early as September. 

WHY IT'S CALLED BER MONTHS?

Well,it's actually an imaginative wordplay made by someone that spread to the Filipino lingo. All months from September leading to Christmas Eve on December has BER letters at its end.

But new fun practices emerged from this contemporary tradition. Usually, on August 31, or even early as July, fun memes of Jose Mari Chan, a popular Filipino producer/composer/singer turned businessman, spread like wildfire to Social Media. The memes are teasers and reminders that BER Months are coming. 

FUNNY JMC MEMES

These meme ideas were based from another Ber Months tradition that have been practiced ever since.  As early as August 31, we get to hear Christmas Music or Paskong Pinoy OPM sounds like Jose Mari Chan's Christmas in our Hearts and Perfect Christmas being blasted from loudspeakers in malls, jeepneys (modern transport buses), parks, resorts or in homes. 

Funny Holiday Memes

Here is a video of JMC's Memes Special Collection:  

FOREIGN SONGS ARE IN THE AIR
On the foreign side, Maria Carey's I'll be Home for Christmas also is dominating yuletide playlists after playlist in the streaming platforms like in many Spotify, Amazon Music or YouTube Music in this time of year.

JOLLIBEE JOINS BER MONTHS

Every Ber Months, Jollibee toy collectors are getting busy visiting branches if there are new Kiddie Meal toys.

MALLS DO SHINE BRIGHTER

Malls in the Philippines becomes more festive and colorful in BER Months, blasting Christmas OPM and Traditional Xmas music:  

Giant Christmas Trees in malls lure and spread magica on
families and barkadas as early as September

LIGHTING CEREMONIES
This cultural phenomena was embraced by many Filipinos as they get to enjoy Christmas earlier than other in the world. For many, Ber Months means different Local Government Agencies (LGUs) get to have grand launching of their Christmas villages or giant Christmas trees. Some get to have switching of light ceremonies. 

DECOR HUNTING
Shopping for decorations are part of the BER Months as families and offices are trying to spread the Christmas spirit to their families and employees. Mall take advantage of this early months for them to easily magnet buyers in purchasing Christmas decors, lanterns and lights. Online shops like Lazada and Shoppee are also in line with this tradition.

CHRISTMAS VILLAGE
Some rich Filipinos get to share the Christmas Spirit by giving free tour of their Christmas decorations  to other people who love the magic of Christ's birth. 

CREATIVE MARKETING
Well, the usual culprit of these new traditions is the commercialization of Christmas. Creatives from advertising agencies and marketing managers of malls and grocery stores are putting their heads hard on thinktank tables to make interesting adverts and promotional materials so people will spend more during the holidays. Getting the buyer's attention is one great element of why Rodolph the Reindeer was created. 

HOLIDAYS IN THE MEDIA
Television companies are also sources of making the holidays evolve drastically by introducing new Company Christmas IDs with their talents singing a new Christmas song that they wish would somehow become viral.

TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS
Nonetheless, Christmas Spirit should still be anchored with faith, peace, love and hope which are the primary factors that the Bible wanted to convey for us to spread to our fellow men, believers or non-believers. 

CoWORKING SPACE IN BACOLOD: BENEFITS ESPECIALLY DURING BLACKOUTS

When the Negros Electric and Power Corp. (NEPC) took over CENECO, Bacolod's long-time electric company, many feared that the joint venture would cause more problems just like what happened with the consolidation of Primewater with BACIWA, the water provider of the city. NEPC, on the other hand, promised fewer brownouts or unannounced power outages when they took over until... 

Damaged Feeder Transformer in Bacolod (left photo: Negros Power)

POWER FAILURES
August became a fateful month for many consumers when, according to NEPC-CENECO, the 13-year-old transformer of the Alijis substation caused 7 Feeders to fail. It was beyond repair and needed a new one. This event took NEPC's engineers by surprise. It caused a massive blackout in many areas of Bacolod especially down South, affecting a lot of consumers whose businesses and lifestyles rely on electricity.

AFFECTED CONSUMERS
One of the consumer sectors affected a lot is the WFH or Virtual Assistant (VA) workers who relied heavily on steady power at home. Also, without power, internet connection is cut off. Trouble is no longer a friend to these people who have overseas bosses to report to.

Arendo Coworking Space has Globe and PLDT internet providers 

for WiFi connectivity redundancy

PANIC MODE 
So, these remote workers have been in panic mode. Some were looking for temporary ways to do their jobs by buying expensive generators that only last four hours. Gas prices, as we all know, are not that cheap these days. When NEPC told consumers through press releases that this could take two weeks to be solved, the affected Work at Home individuals had a big question in mind - What to do next?

COWORKING SPACE BENEFITS
If you are one of these VAs or someone who do Work from Home jobs, one great solution to this uncontrollable event is to look for a place that has a steady generator, two fast internet providers (Globe and PLDT Fiber connection), private rooms, clean toilet, electric sockets and most of all a relaxing atmosphere with a pantry for unlimited coffee. This way you can reach productivity without worrying that anytime another major outage could happen.

BACOLOD'S PRIME COWORKING SPACE
In Bacolod, there is one place that offers all of these mentioned. Arendo CoWorking Space, now in its 7th year, is a tried and tested place for students and freelancers to study and work with high productivity in mind. Arendo, as a business, has even survived the trials of Covid lockdowns in 2020. 

Pantry at Arendo Coworking Space

WHAT'S AROUND ARENDO?
This secure CoWorking space is also very accessible as it is located at Roli's Arcade building along Lasalle Avenue and it is near to many establishments like McDonald's, Jollibee, 711, Watson's, and iMart.

HELPFUL TO THOSE WHO WORK REMOTELY or TOURISTS WHO DO COWORKING 

ARENDO CoWorking's Website: https://arendo.com.ph/ 

FOLLOW ARENDO CoWorking's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ArendoCoworking 

TANDUAY RUM FESTIVAL (FOOD PARK WALKING TOUR and MORE)

Go eat! Go drink! Go Drunk! Go Enjoy! But don't sin! The Tanduay Bacolod Rum Festival is a merriment that targets not only rum aficionados but also the entire family who want to take a respite and break from life's monotony away from home. 

BCGC TURNS INTO A BAR
Despite the event's title, the Rum Festival actually is a merriment that also targets everyone. The food park Bacolod City Government Center is the hub of the festivity where drinking alcohol isn't a problem.
During this time, different street food kiosks are lined up to tame everyone's gastronomic and alcoholic demands. 

FUN AT THE FOOD PARK
Name it and you have the famous Bacolod Chicken Inasal leading the array of grilled cuisines. With hotdogs to isaw to pork bbq and more, unli rice is up for grabs as well as free soup to complement them. While  those who love talaba (oysters) so much, won't be disappointed as kiosks have those fresh ones, too. Right there and then, after you choose what you desire, it's up for waiting and grilling time before the eating begiins. Well, as the song goes, smoke gets in your eyes, literally.

INSTAGRAMMABLE 
Two giant balloon replicas of Tanduay bottles were installed and  lighted up at the BCGC park grounds while barrels of the famous rum maker adorned the Bacolod letters icon. At the entrance of the food park, there's an Instagrammable wall that greets everyone. The wall is painted with a visual story about Filipino and Bacolod culture, focusing on bayanihan, blue collar job employees seemingly preparing and sharing food and, well, drinking a beverage (which we assume is Tanduay).

POP UP TENTS
Meanwhile, walking around the food park, you get to meet some pretty Tanduay promo models in their red and white dress, duo musicians who plays pop and classic music, friendly security people, and ukay ukay sellers. Of course, as the name suggests, you get to see bartenders inviting you to taste their mixes of alcohol drinks (not for free).

THE FESTIVAL AS A WHOLE
The Bacolod Rum Festival started in 2019 and returned after the pandemic in 2022. Usual activities include, Rum Barrel Painting contest, Flairtending & Mixology Competition, Rum Education Day (Field Trips to Tanduay plant in bacolod), Culinaria Competition, Parade and Street Dance Competition, Motorcade of Tanduay's Ambassadors and Special Guests, Food Park, Music Festival and it usually culminates with a free concert at the BCGC grounds like Ely Buendia of Eraserheads who performed on August 19, 2023. For year 2023, Juan Karlos and Allmost Music will sing their hearts out LIVE at the BCGC where the Rum Festival food park is located.