a relative world

Although there are not as much sea urchins this year, our little barrio's tradition, L'Oursinade, will continue like it did every February for the past 30 years. But I have to admit that in the 5 years we lived here, we didn't really get into the spirit of the Sea Urchin Festival. Like a fisherman's celebration, the festival includes Provençal folklorique music & dance while enjoying the indescribable taste of the sea urchin even during the height of winter. Photo taken from last year's Oursinade

It is with France's idyllic respect for tradition & nationalism that always made me look back to my own roots, our very own fiestas - only one of the many other things I regretfully took for granted while I was busy adoring other cultures of the world on TV. I've never been to any real fiesta back in the Philippines except for the local ones in our village & province of Nasugbu, Batangas. Now that the year has just started, let's take a glimpse of our popular festivals in our islands. How much do we know our fiestas?

Fiestas in the Philippines is a celebration usually religious in nature but is likewise a piece of our history.

Although a lot of them has a lot of Spanish background, there are pre-Spanish years of tradition. January seems to be the best month to catch the better festivals in the country, most of them to celebrate the patron Sto. Niño but a Mardigras style. It starts with hala-bira! the Ati-atihan in Kalibo, Aklan, known for its rythmic drums & colorful costumes. Just a few islands away, Cebu celebrates the Sinulog Festival. Then just across, Iloilo celebrates the Dinagyang Festival, dinagyang translated as "merry making," celebrating the Christianization of the natives who sealed the peace pact between the Negrito Ati tribe & the Malays, Ati warrior customes & weapons grace this festival. Worth visitng the three festivals as they are all located in the Visayan region. Ati-atihan photo taken from www.ati-atihan.net

In February, the city of pines offer the Panagbenga Flower Festival, colorful ethnic tribal costumes & flower floats parade to the Bendian dance of unity & harmony among tribes. Come April, the Lenten Season of the country celebrates Moriones Festival in Marinduque, passion plays in warrior costumes & masks. Then the famous Cutud Lenten Rites, in San Fernando, Pampanga, where villagers participate inthe act of self-flagellation in the morning of Good Friday.

May is the flower month of the Philippines. In Quezon, the Pahiyas Festival celebrates good harvest & good times. Not only flowers but kiping, suman & houses with colorful & creative decors. In the same month, the whole country joins in the Santacruzan or Flores de Mayo, parading lovely ladies in beautiful Maria Clara gowns. In June, Tacloban celebrates the Pintados Festival of tattoos & body paint signifying courage of warriors.

Jumping to September, the Peñafrancia Festival of Naga City is a spiritual celebration of novenas & the fluvial procession. Another regatta show comes in October at the Hermosa Festival of Zamboanga, where the colorful vintas take the waters. Down in Visayas, the Masskara Festival of Bacolod City is also celebrated in October, carnival style. Just across, Camiguin celebrates the Lanzones Festival parading Mindanao tribal costumes. Like one festival here in France, la Fete des Geants in Lille (Festival of Giants), the locals of Angono, Rizal celebrates the Higantes Festival in November, where the higantes is a 10 feet paper-maché puppet. Masskara Festival photo from www.lakbaypilipinas.com/masskara_festival

December is the biggest festival of the country - Christmas but aside from that, the Giant Lantern Festival in San Fernando, Pampanga adds up to the our country's bright holidays with a lantern measuring 40 feet in diameter. Not having the patience to include the many other festivals around the country, the Philippines is abundant of beautiful fiestas that are a part of our history & our spiritualism, shaping our culture. I hope we continue to respect the tradition - maki-fiesta! It's fun & truly ours.

I learned that nationalism doesn't really start at home.
Say, what fiesta have you been to in the Philippines?

Remembering the sounds of Christmas of quite a long time ago.

1. "Merry Christmas, Ma'am, Sir," combined with a special holiday smile, in all places of business & consumption from the taxi to department stores & restaurants, with or without the expectation of a holiday tip, contribute to the holiday ambiance.

2. "Pasko na, Sinta Ko" by Gary Valenciano is playing on the jeepney on your way to work & you don't mind hearing it every year. It's timeless.

3. The tinkling sound of Christmas tunes that goes with the twinkling of colorful Christmas light decorations that you may find in your exterior house decorations, small places of business & even in Aling Tinay's sari-sari store.

4. Television & radio holiday commercials geared to remind us of the holiday spirit may it be by consuming or religious in nature, bring us all together in one spirit of Christmas.

5. The rattling of folded paper in a pencil holder when your officemate or barkada approaches you to pick a name for the monito-monita, an imposed manner to spread the joy.

6. "We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas," together with the jingling of a makeshift tambourine of kiddie carollers made of tin cans & coins who through time complains when you give them 5 pesos for their 2 questionable songs.

7. The clinking toast of beer bottles among friends to all the years of alaskahans, hangovers & everything in between. Even though you never miss a weekend inuman with them, the holidays will always be different.8. The chime of churchbells at 15 to 4am for the Simbang Gabi which also means it's bibingka & puto bumbong, all warm wrapped in banana leaves for breakfast. One of the many Filipino food I am proud of.

9. Your mom's voice telling you to stop watching the Christmas cartoon special on TV & start getting ready for church or telling you to stop eating the Noche Buena food. Whether she's angry or not, her reminders to do this & that will always be a part of the Chrismas Eve preparations.

10. The laughters & the kulitans over your dad's Christmas songs still on vynil records while you eat your family's humble Noche Buena midnight meal. The noise of all these voices at the same time, the sweet chaos of family banter & mockery, will always be your best memory of Christmas.

11. The tearing & crumpling of gift wrappers, the oohs & the ahhhs & even the "what the..." chorus of responses over our Christmas gifts by the tree, will always be one of the most heartwarming family moments.

12. The sound of silence after the midnight Christmas mass, Noche Buena meal, the gift-giving & when everybody has gone to sleep, that sound of bursting happiness & flowing gratitude.

Everybody already had those kind of days. You know that kind when nothing seems to be going right - a series of bad luck that sometimes lasts for a stretch of time & you just sit & wait for the shit to stop falling on your head. In our case, we have a succession of unfortunate car events. Thank goodness it's not anything colliding, just a couple of headscratchers & pickles.

The curse started a few months ago when french fry's car antenna was stolen. Nothing bad, just a hassle to lose radio signal. A few weeks ago, all four of his hub cabs were stolen. Nothing that bad, just that now the all black wheels are so ugly. Our neighbor had all his stolen too in which he concluded that it's hunting season for the all new Clio. Last week, our other car just decided to get stuck in the parking without any prior symptoms at all. In getting in, I accidentally leaned on the steering wheel & locked it but the problem was with the ignition key that won't turn at all. It was like I was using the wrong key & the mechanic told me is something really rare. The thing with cars today is that mechanics cannot tinker with it anymore like they used to - it's all electronic so there's no choice but to pass by the most expensive route to repairing it. We have to have the car towed to the garage, replace the ignition key & reprogram the new car keys & door locks for yes, hundreds of euros. It does not all end there. Two days after the ignition key incident, french fry's car radio got broken due to a centimeter open window under a big rain. This all happened within a month, give or take a week or two. Sometimes it really makes you wonder quand c'est que des merdes (when all shit happens).

Now, we just justify this temporary curse by believeing it could have been worse - which has a high probability of happening - bad luck does not care if you've had too much. I now learned to make a "shit basket," a piggy bank if you will, to ease the eventual pain of our pockets because sometimes it just pours.

With an A stuck on your back window & at times driving a car with a 92 license plates*, it's going to be hell on the road for new drivers, like me - for 3 years. The A, meaning apprentis or jeune conducteur (new driver), naturally pisses people on the road - as if driving is already not stressful enough. *the car's town of residence can be identified by the plate numbers in France & 92 is an outskirt of Paris, Levallois Perret - Paris & Marseille has their own history

My A has only been stuck on my car's butt for about 10 months now & I have thought of a great bumper sticker for my fellow A drivers: I only have 6 points to spare so fuck off. Driving licenses in France work by point system. Everytime you are caught with a road infraction, there is a corresponding number of points that is taken away (12 points for old drivers). So you can imagine how this sytem makes A drivers seem so uptight - we follow the road rules by the book - for 3 years, or we can lose our license with just a bat of an eye. Not all A drivers are young & new drivers but it is what it is.

It is now a known fact that driving is one of the major causes of stress & somehow your character is truly tested when you come across different drivers:

The Bully. These are the drivers that almost kisses your rear bumper while you are overtaking at the maximum speed limit. If the speed limit is 130 km/h, the bullies are driving at a minimum of 150 km/h before they came behind you so they bully you to step on it & that you go back to the lane you belong. The bullies are usually young or teenagers & at times with an A.

The Car Racers. These are the drivers that normally run below the maximum speed limit & when you try to overtake them, they accelerate to not allow you to, so you have to go over the speed limit to do so. The car racers can be anybody but theya re normally the seniors.

The Sunday Drivers. These drivers always drive at 20-30 km/h below the speed limit & without a care in the world. Inside towns where the speed limit is 50 km/h, they always cause road rage from the bullies. The sunday drivers are normally seniors - with a hat & pipe for men & kick ass (and scary) women. Could also be lovers on a stroll.

The Road Owners. Or at least these drivers think they do. They believe that the roads are made especially for them. No care in the world but you make the slightest remark they get psychotic on you & on everybody else thereafter. There is no use reasoning with the road owners. They could be anybody who assume that their affair on the road is more important than anybody else. They normally use the reserved parking for the handicap.

These kinds of drivers can contribute to road stress. In addition, there are the morning & after work rush, fewer lanes due to road constructions, random traffic jams, potholes, crazy drivers - and crazy drivers especially. And I thought I had enough practice driving in Manila. But you cannot be too defensive enough nor too careful enough on the road because other drivers are not. Then the big difference is that in Manila, cars go at a snail speed most of the time due to traffic. Here, since traffic is not as bad as back home, they get crazy at high speed. Now, that's scary.

The transit from one place to another in your car is so automatic that calmness cannot always be contained by the stressors of driving. We're so used to it that it has become a part of our daily lives & you wonder if it is normal. And that A at the back of my car is like a knife on my back.

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