(Time) Every year by September 1, the Internet in the Philippines teems with memes of a septuagenarian, ethnically-Chinese man. Posts typically feature variations of him peeking into frame. His appearance unofficially marks the start of the country’s lengthy holiday season, colloquially known as the “Ber months.”.
The face peering out is that of Jose Mari Chan, a Philippine sugar business owner whose icon status has earned him the local moniker “Mr. Christmas.” Whereas Mariah Carey’s voice may ring in the winter spirit in America, it’s Chan’s carols that have, over the past few decades, become ubiquitous throughout the final four months of every year in malls, restaurants, karaoke bars, and radio broadcasts across the archipelagic Southeast Asian nation of 110 million people… Read More