Mall Christmas Holidays "Animatronic" Toys Lobby Display - Robinsons Magnolia, New Manila, Philippines

WATCH: Giant Christmas Toys Holiday Season mall display by Robinsons Magnolia.

The Christmas season starts early and ends late in The Philippines. Come August, malls start playing Christmas carols much to the surprise of westerners, who always wonder why. That's understandable, but it's not really practiced in households. Filipino families do not play Christmas songs in their houses in August; only the malls do. Why do malls do this? Well, there's a saying that Christmas songs put people in a festive mood and more likely to make a purchase. Whether that's really true is debatable but the fact is that malls in the Philippines like SM, Robinsons, and Gaisano do spend a lot of money for Christmas, and if they start playing holiday season music as early as August, then it's a long season indeed with lots of potential revenue for commercial establishments.

The video here shows one of the Christmas holiday season giant toys "animatronic" displays of Robinsons Magnolia along Aurora Boulevard in New Manila, Quezon City. It's right in front of the old building which used to house the German Cultural Center or Goethe Institute (a building which has seen better days at the time of this writing). The Aurora boulevard frontage of the Robinsons Magnolia mall is pretty cramped, but that's where the Christmas display is usually installed.

The Robinsons Magnolia mall is where the old Magnolia Ice Cream building used to be. It had a playground in the front lawn and children used to point to it from jeepneys and the LRT trains that passed above, but it was never really openly accessible to them, unfortunately. Nevertheless, it was a landmark until it changed to Nestle and eventually became a mall. So that's basically the simple history of the place.

BUY on AMAZON: Animatronics: A Guide to Animated Holiday Displays 1st Edition by Edwin Wise

St. Joseph Church Thrives along Busy Aurora Boulevard

The St. Joseph Church and Shrine in Quezon City in the Philippines thrives in spite of the fact that it is in front of congested and polluted Aurora Boulevard. Visitors there will be amazed at how the shiny altar is kept maintained with the metal adorning it still gleaming despite the corrosive pollution from the road. The huge stained glass windows along the sides and rear make it seem that the church is somewhere peaceful and far from the urban din outside. When the choir is singing, the noise from the jeepneys and other vehicles outside are reasonably subdued.

At the time these photos were taken, a priest was conducting a healing session with parishioners. In spite of the long lines, the priest did not hurry his prayers or rushed the faithful along.He gave each one the honor of his time in healing. The scheduled days for healing are one of the reasons why this church is a very popular place of worship. It's right in the middle of a commercial district where commuters and pedestrians frequently pass and the noise and smell of exhaust from the street can be distracting. Nevertheless, church goers still consider it a good church to hear mass in.

 

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