'We start celebrating Christmas in September'

The Fabia family, who are from the Philippines, begin putting up their decorations in September

How early is too early to put up the Christmas tree? For the Fabia family, the festive season starts in September.

They are from the Philippines, which has the longest festive period in the world, beginning in September and lasting through to January.

They call these the "ber" months, with September, October, November and December all ending in "ber".

Russel Fabia said: "Filipinos are known to be really happy people, so from September we start getting Christmas decorations up, music, Christmas songs."

Ms Fabia said people in Guernsey were amazed to see their Christmas decorations up early

Ms Fabia said she did not know when the tradition started but people had become "more creative and more imaginative" as time went on.

She said in the Philippines Christmas carollers typically visit houses beginning in November and in return families exchange gifts, money or food.

"I think those practices keep this spirit of Christmas alive from the time you start in September until December," she said.

She said another popular tradition in the Philippines was Simbang Gabi, which involves "going to church every night for nine days until Christmas Eve".

With the decorations going up before other holidays such as Halloween, Ms Fabia said she would resort to covering her Christmas tree with a curtain to make it appear spooky.

After Halloween is over, she said, people view the early decorations with confusion - and have even stopped to take photos to share on social media.