Greatest story ever told unfolds tonite

THE whole Christian world tonight pauses to reflect on the story that has never failed to bring out the magic in everyone. Considered the greatest story ever told, it has one plot everyone is so familiar with. It is in fact that same old tale told in the yellowed pages of the bible. Or delivered via a droning voice of a parent tucking a kid to sleep. Or in electronically flashed pop-up text on the internet. The theme is once told in varying story lines. But the central gist is the same: the entire thread of salvation history spooled in a neat package of a celebration called Christmas. For the romantic, the story suits for a drop of tear or two, for the eagle-eyed businessman, it's a cash load waiting to be raked into one's pile. But the same old story told and retold, played and replayed never fails to bring out the thrill, the mystery and amazement it zaps on everyone as every season sings at one's front door. How it brings that same magic, no one could really tell.

The elements are the same. There are brilliant poinsettias. There are pealing bells. The carols are joyous. The loaded Christmas trees sag with embellishments. The gifts huddle at the bottom of the evergreen. The colorful lanterns take on a different light. The bursting malls exude in jolly music. The chilling breeze at comes hardest at dawn. The cursory greetings drown the monotony. In Bohol , the chill never keeps people from the hunching their shoulders to the centuries-old churches for the misa-de-gallos. The stone churches form a fitting background to the traditional dawn masses.

In Tagbilaran, Newly installed Bishop Leonardo Medroso DD leads local priests from the St. Joseph the Worker Parish during the midnight mass set to start 1t 11:30 tonight, Cathedral authorities said. After the traditional midnight mass, December 25 assumes the regular Cathedral Sunday Masses schedule. The pealing bells fail to bring out the moods often associated with being untimely roused off from bed. The jolly carols, the traditional pastores sa belen held in makeshift platforms or in some rich man's yards seep the feeling into closed windows. The most toughened of hearts still produce the same act for the host, dipping into his pocket for the loose change.

To help usher in the right atmosphere, Capitol's Center for Culture and Arts Development has staged rondallas and dancing shepherds in the traditional rendition of the pastores in a set up stage in front of the stone facade of the Provincial Capitol. Completing the Boholano's tendency to play with creativity, a Pista sa Parol has captivated craftsmen with the display of a showcase of locally imbibed ingenuity. Displays of lanterns crafted from banana leaves, mahogany fruit cores, coconut inspired stars ablaze with electric lights hang for viewing at the Capitol lobby. Elsewhere, booming tempo of the season throbs most audibly in street parties accented by flickering, flashing and dancing lights. With firecrackers a usual condiment in the celebrations, City Police Chief has issued the ban on exploding firecrackers in public areas to avoid accidents. Designated places have also been identified as firecracker zones to concentrate all technical support to the areas. On most Boholano homes, the omnipresent evergreens loaded with curious assortments, from mistletoes, candy canes, silver- laced ribbons, bells, frosty the snowman and reindeers to native accents take on the most prominent place in the sala. Off to a quiet corner is the lit nativity set, another curious Christmas fare on local homes.

Out behind nacre-capiz shell windows, the lanterns, some truly beckoning are morphing into something oddly unfamiliar too, proof of Boholano creativity that is suited to one's budget. Some even stretch the limits of the imagination to craft Christmas tableaus and season inspired decorations from indigenous materials. And the festive overpowering air loosens one's tolerance a bit so nobody gives a damn about it. The settings change a bit though. The season could have inspired most if not all that long queues to the cashiering stations at malls is never that tiring. The manger set up in the mall also transforms the shopping center into something ripe with anything but enterprising goals. Malls take on thematic concepts from dreamy snow-filled Christmas complete with winter accents to the more subtle native accent inspired decorations.

Its characters remain the same though.

When Mary and Joseph play out their roles to the line hundreds of years back in the first nativity scene, newer characters today assume roles by allowing the events to unfold, taking everything in as they come, not really actively taking part of it. When the innkeeper refused them a room not really realizing what he would be missing, similar people today willingly play the grouch especially to the innocent caroling kids. A powerful king threatened by the birth of new king signed his own death wish then. Now, resourceful and unscrupulous businessmen play profit to the hilt, not really knowing its one Christmas gathering some homes away that they'd eventually frustrate. Wise and wealthy men and poor shepherds seeing the meaning of the event leave gifts and pay homage. Now, some wise and wealthy still take on the time to invest, gracefully giving in exchange for the joy of a smile or for some place in the other world, ever if the belief still teeters in uncertainty. And aside from the stirring apparition of the angels announcing the Gloria, all was calm and all was bright around the virgin mother and child. Now, the stirring apparition is of holiday shoppers intruding into the stores, scouting for the one gift that would bring out a smile or a toothless grin, while somebody cashes heavily on it. And so, the unmistakable and contagious feeling picks up a bit. Because never has been a tale so graphic as in the synoptic accounts, never been a love theme so mysteriously retold in the gospel of John and never been so inspiring to produce exactly the same magic that holds the world gaping everytime the greatest story is told.

l