When I was a kid, Christmas at our house always looked like a Hallmark movie7xm, as if my Filipino immigrant family was trying its best to fit in with mainstream American culture. Think stockings, classic holiday tunes (our favorite is “Last Christmas”) and ornaments.

But in the Philippines and in many diaspora communities, a common Christmas tradition is to hang a parol, a colorful star-shaped lantern, to celebrate the season. They are displayed outside the home as early as September.

Parols, said Lily Ann Villaraza, professor and department chair of Philippine studies at City College of San Francisco, are “uniquely Filipino” and rooted in Catholicism — lighting the way to church during Simbang Gabi, a series of Masses, or representing the star of Bethlehem.

This year, to start a new tradition and tap deeper into my Filipino heritage, I decided to make one of my own.

ImageA parol at Phil-Am Food Mart in Woodside, Queens. Credit...James Estrin/The New York Times

To my surprise, parols can be expensive. On Parols of America, the more ornate ones, which cost over $200, have flashing lights and are made of capiz shells, from a type of oyster found in the Philippines. I opted for something simpler, a do-it-yourself kit with bamboo sticks, cellophane, wooden dowels, rubber bands and paper. All I needed was a hot glue gun — how hard could it be?

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• 7xm
• Holiday
• Tradition
• Filipino
• perhaps