“Whenever I see boys and girls…” singing along with Jose Mari Chan, I know the season has begun. The moment the calendar flips to September, the ber-months — September, October, November, and December — begin, marking the unofficial start of the longest Christmas season in the world. While other countries are still easing into fall, Filipino homes are already putting up Christmas trees, hanging colorful parols, and letting the season fill their homes. Streets and malls sparkle with lights, and the smell of bibingka and puto bumbong lingers from markets and street stalls, mingling with the crisp early-evening air. 

And just as these familiar sights and smells take hold, there is a tune many Filipinos instinctively recognize as the true beginning of the season: the unmistakable voice of Jose Mari Chan.

The Voice of the Season

Jose Mari Chan, a Filipino singer-songwriter, has become inseparable from ber-months. Known for songs like “Christmas in Our Hearts,” “A Perfect Christmas,” and “Christmas Is Love,” his music has been played year after year, to the point that hearing it in September instantly signals that Christmas has arrived. For many, the sound of his voice is as definitive of the season as parols in the window.

But Chan’s rise to becoming the face and voice of Filipino Christmas didn’t happen overnight, nor was it guaranteed. Born into a family that valued education over arts, he was expected to eventually step into the family’s company rather than pursue music full-time. Still, Chan developed an early interest in songwriting at a young age, learning to play instruments on his own and composing songs while balancing school and work. In the early years of his career, he wrote and recorded music alongside corporate responsibilities, often navigating an industry that offered limited opportunities for local artists and little assurance of long-term success.

Chan began gaining recognition in the 1960s-1970s with hits across genres, establishing himself as a respected composer before he was ever associated with Christmas. It was in the 1980s that his Christmas music began to resonate with the public in a way that would define his legacy.

His first Christmas album, Christmas in Our Hearts, released in 1990, contained songs that were simple, melodic, and heartfelt — exactly the kind of music that could bridge generations. The lyrics, often reflecting love, family, and reflection, struck a chord with Filipinos, who embraced these songs as part of their holiday traditions. Over time, the album’s annual return turned familiarity into expectation, and expectation into tradition.

Each year, as these melodies returned, they did more than fill the air, they threaded through family memories and quiet moments, connecting past and present, creating a sense of continuity that made the start of the ber-months feel both comforting and inevitable.

A Seasonal Marker 

What made Jose Mari Chan truly iconic wasn’t just the music, it was how it became woven into Filipino life. Long before the internet, Chan’s songs were already inescapable each September — played on radio stations, looped in stores, and hummed along to at home through Christmas in Our Hearts. Parents passed his records to their children, who carried the songs forward in turn, creating a cycle that has endured for decades. His music became more than entertainment; it became a marker of the season itself. 

Through repetition, his music stopped being a choice and became a cue, played not because it was requested, but because it was expected. 

In recent years, the same familiarity has taken on a new form online. Every September, social media platforms fill with the now-familiar “sumisilip na siya” memes, showing Chan peeking into rooms, holiday decorations, or unexpected corners of everyday life. For younger Filipinos, many of whom never experienced his music on the radio, these clips have become the unofficial signal that the ber-months have begun. Social media did not create Chan’s relevance; it simply gave a new platform to a tradition that has existed for decades. Where parents once played his records to mark the season, younger generations now scroll past his familiar face and instantly recognize that Christmas has arrived.

Through speakers, screens, and shared moments, Chan’s songs continue to act as a quiet thread that binds generations together, a familiar cue that the season has arrived and a reminder that some traditions carry a presence far beyond their original form.

A Tradition That Lasts 

For many Filipinos, Chan has become less a musician and more of a marker of the season. His songs define the ber-months, signaling the start of a cultural tradition that begins long before December and stretches well into the new year. Whether it’s the nostalgia of childhood, the joy of family gatherings, or the simple pleasure of decorating a Christmas tree while his music plays, Chan captures the heart of Filipino Christmas like few others can. 

Not by reinventing the season, but by returning to it year after year, Jose Mari Chan reminds us that Christmas is once again not just around the corner but already in our hearts.