Amazing! Is this a daily event throughout the 9 day novena? I've been attending the Christmas Novena at my small Maronite parish. Tonight, we were 3 :-( I told Father about this event in the Phillipines and the large crowds that come. He said in Lebanon, on the Feast of Epiphany, Mass is at Midnight and there, too, the churches are packed. Guess the Americans are "too busy" preparing their homes for Christmas, bu not their hearts. Thank you for sharing this!
Prior to VatII, the Christmas Novena used to be a bigger deal in all Spanish-founded countries, and obviously has continued in the Phillipines, regardless! Latin Americans also still have customs related to it. Oddly enough, in Spain itself celebration of the Christmas Novena has diminished considerably, particularly since VatII, but there are still some areas that have special customs (Posadas, etc. are often related to this).
To my knowledge, it doesn't seem to have had much of an accumulation of cultural and liturgical customs among Northern European believers.