Me, through the Fiestas that Passed

Talking about the traces of Spanish Colonization in the Philippines, fiestas, I think are the most visible. Filipinos, until today, we’re able to keep that tradition alive to honor their local patron. Yes, we celebrate fiestas and we love it!

And today, my town is celebrating one of those. Going home is not as hard as before, but still, it is a long and bumpy road. I actually felt a little guilty not being able to be here at least a day earlier. Out of time, we run mostly a 100 kilometer per hour.

“Gosh!” I told myself while we’re on the way. “How dare me missing all the fun!” And when I say fun, it usually means washing dishes, mopping the floor, talking to visitors, helping cooking (sometimes), fetching water and of course, the best thing – a chit chat with my mother, father, sisters and brother about anything under the sun. I usually enjoyed making them irritated.

Like all other fun stuff, fiestas are quite tiresome too. Too many people to serve, people too many plates to wash, too costly, too many people to talk to… Just imagine my friends are there, my sister’s friends (please multiply it by 7 because I have 7 sisters, by the way), my father’s friends are there, my mother’s friends are there, not to mention my brother’s friends and my relatives, my extended relatives and the friends of my relatives. Surely, that was a lot and my family has always been so thankful for all the blessings. We are able to host a feast every year.

Well, not all year is a good time and I remember there are times we were not able to host. At one of those unlucky times, a truck full of people arrived at our doorstep. My mom was speechless and my father almost cry. We have no food for our visitors. We don’t even have a decent house to live in. It was in my early 20s back then and everything is so scarce. From that day on, my father swore that every fiesta is a reunion of all our friends and relatives. And from that day also, I and the whole family has been dragged to my father’s vow. So, wherever we are in this country, all of us really need to go home and help every January 26 like we did today.

This day, like any other fiestas that passed, everyone is so busy and eventually, felt so tired. Good thing, we have lots of help this fiesta. I just ended up managing some things. It is like hosting a birthday party with 10x the number of visitors. The good side is I have to see my friends, old friends, old neighbors in my small old barangay in Rizal, my relatives. Oh, I am so happy today! Everyone is shouting out of joy seeing us again.

Now, I am listening to the sounds of the music from the gymnasium, I remember the days when I and my friends agreed to meet at the disco after the whole day of food trip. I remembered our rule: DON’T YOU DARE ABSENT and everyone is so damn afraid like there’s a fine. I am laughing at this thought.

Well, it is the only time we could get together. No homework, no quizzes, no oral recitations, just us getting together. I missed those days and definitely, they all do miss it as well. Most of us are married now and we stay at different places, where seeing each other is a f*****g miracle! As the night gets deeper and everyone is sleeping, I just keep reminiscing. I asked, what if today is one of those days where am I now at this hour?

Answering this question, I can’t help but smile. My answer is straight and clear: I am laughing with my friends now while the lights went crazy and the music gets louder. We dance like there’s no tomorrow. We don’t care much back then. “Ahhh, those were the golden days.”

Things I missed doing during my town’s Fiesta

Life has changed and it changes in sooooooo many ways. I clean my glasses and put on the side table and realized I couldn’t even see without my glasses unlike before. Life, indeed, is so different.