Does Puerto Rico really have the longest Christmas celebration in the world?

The celebrations held in Puerto Rico are a mix of American holidays and celebrations of Catholic origin.

We often hear that Puerto Rico has the longest Christmas in the world. Is that true?

Floricua spoke with Dr. Rafael Torrech, one of the island’s most prominent historians, to find out if it is reality or just a simple urban myth.

It turns out that the longest Christmas in the world is not celebrated in Puerto Rico, but in the Philippines.

“Why does the Philippines claim that its Christmas is longer? Because in September they start preparing the decorations, and that is the prelude to Christmas. If you do the math, from September to January, to Three Kings’ Day, that’s a lot of days,” Torrech told Floricua.

In fact, they start decorating on Sept. 16, which means it is three months and 21  days, or 112 days. This makes it longer than Puerto Rico’s, which begins the days after Thanksgiving, and extends to mid-January, when the Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián is celebrated. That’s approximately 52 days.

Torrech highlights how interesting it is that both Puerto Rico and the Philippines are islands, were Spanish colonies, and went from being Spanish colonies to being a US dominion.

“There must be a connection between the integration of Spanish Catholic holidays and Anglo-Saxon holidays in the United States, which creates a lot of celebrations,” the historian said.

Indeed, the celebrations held in Puerto Rico are a mix of American holidays and celebrations of Catholic origin. These are Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Three Kings’ Day, las Octavitas, and las Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián.

These celebrations make Puerto Rican Christmas, although not the longest, one of the longest in the world.

Torrech points out that the extension of Christmas to the Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián is a tradition that has been taken up in recent decades, approximately 50 years ago. Previously, Christmas ended with Las Octavitas, the eight days after Three Kings’ Day.

And although Puerto Rican Christmas is adaptable, as it assimilates other influences like the American traditions of Santa Claus, elves, and nutcrackers, the historian highlights how in recent years traditional Puerto Rican music has had a rebirth during the season.

“It’s very interesting because Puerto Rican Christmas has obviously had a lot of commercial influence from the United States, but basically the musical manifestations are still extremely native,” Torrech reflected adding. “[Jíbaro] country music, the décima, the aguinaldo and everything else are preserved, but lately Afro-descendant music has taken on a more important role in Christmas through the plena, the bomba… In other words, the Afro-Antillean tradition has been integrated into Christmas much more strongly recently without necessarily displacing country music, and that is fascinating.”

Traditional Christmas food is still enjoyed, along with popular alcoholic beverages like coquito and pitorro.