A BEAUTIFUL DAY
What a beautiful bright morning! Just like the State Of The Nation long before the appearance of the computer. There were few people, almost negligible poverty, few oligarch, few problems – just a lot of good things and pleasant situations.
There were few houses then, no subdivisions – only virgin forests and virgin girls. There were few ailments, nothing of the food supplements with no therapeutic values. There were no beauty salons but so many beautiful ladies everywhere. There were no spas and massage clinics and people were strong and healthy.
Politics then were genuine and politicians were honest. A one vote majority won’t invite a protest from anyone. There were few court rooms, few lawyers and very few legal problems. There was unity, cooperation and peace. Children play without pants and panties but no sexual molestations. They played war though war was just a fictional story. There were no kidnappings, no robberies, slashing and all those common petty criminalities now. There were many sources of entertainment for the children. Worms, beetles and butterflies were enough to cheer them up. Gone were all those days.
The world has turned mad. Everyone is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Everybody is blaming everybody for the upside down turn of events. We may not like where we are but where can we go? Is there a semi-paradise anywhere? Paradise has been lost and there seem to be no way to regain it.
The State of the Nation is a State of the Mind. It can be anything depending upon the perception of the one looking at it. Let us just stop quarreling and complaining. Let us just all enjoy the beautiful day. Tomorrow may be too late.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
HOME AWAY FROM HOME
HOME AWAY FROM HOME
Excerpts from my Nigerian Diary
SKYLINE HOTEL is not a very old three-story building with eighteen rooms. It stands aloft along Ikurudo Road, which is a noisy combination of España and Epipanio de los Santos Avenue. But it is home to us ten doctors for here we can cook Filipino foods. We have common kitchen, common dining room, common receiving room but not necessarily common sense. Two doctors stay in one room which is not carpeted but air-conditioned and furnished with refrigerator.
The Hotel is one half –hour drive from Massy Street Children’s Hospital where I am working. Like most poorly cared hospital for children in any part of the world, Massy is messy, noisy and fishy most of the time. It is located in a place which I can only eloquently describe as a confusing concoction of Tondo, Divisoria and Central Market , doubly odoriferous and doubly dangerous. In between MSCH and Skyline Hotel is a cross section of Lagos City, the Federal Capital of Nigeria and the center of all activities where everybody flocks: foreign officials and dignitaries, traders, contract workers, travelers and charlatans as well.
Life here in Lagos is not easy to describe. It is like an abstract painting, the more you contemplate on it the more you get confused. Lagos is a vibrant Metropolis with all the extravagances of a modern city but suffocating and very expensive. Reconstruction and development is going on in full blast. Highways and bridges are long and modern, merging of course with risky and antiquated streets. Drivers are restless and reckless. They drive left and right, right and left towards any open space. There are no traffic lights and seemingly no traffic rules as there were also no traffic policemen. There are many modern commercial centers in many places standing side by side with hundreds of small trade stands selling everything; market at every corner, vendors all around . In between them are files of garbage and junks.
If you are willing and ready to look there are a lot more to see for this is a city of sight, sound and smell. You can see people defecating along main thoroughfares, hear sounds of all tones and intensities for here people talk aloud and shout even louder (and they pray with loudspeakers), smell pleasant odors occasionally and not very pleasant ones most of the time.
The people are bizarre as the place but very colorful. From their skin, which ranges from unsatisfactory light black to cloudy medium black to striking dark black to their native costume, which is truly magnificent. Their intricate hairdos are something for the eyes to behold and when they cover their heads they wear the most expensive, long pieces of cloth to wrap around their heads in a more intricately artistic fashion, not one is ever similar to the other. Men use various types of hats. Many of the ladies’ breasts are dangling like their earrings which most of the time are matched with unique golden pendants and thick bracelets. This probably is a compensatory mechanism to cover their color or whatever. You will wonder if they are aware of dirt as they hold parties on garbage disposal areas without being scandalized by the smell of the filth
They are happy people and this they show in many ways: when a baby is born or when an old man dies and during all the important events that occur between the womb and the tomb.
Here in Lagos you bump shoulders with the good, the bad and the ugly. The good is usually very good, intelligent and dignified; the bad is generally worse, slow-foot, dash-conscious and dangerous; but the ugly is also beautiful for underneath his skin is a human being whose heart throbs with love, whose mind craves for understanding and whose soul also deserves eternity.
Under contract, I am scheduled to stay here for three years. I don’t know what is in store for me and I feel it is premature to make conclusive remarks. There are advantages and disadvantages, good and bad points, bright and dark sides as well as positive and negative aspects. It all depends so much on ones attitude towards it and from what angle one is actually and honestly viewing it.
Me, I am enjoying every bit of my stay here for I always think positively. I always look at the brighter and beautiful side and if it is necessary that I should look at the dark and ugly side, I just close my eyes and think of the rainbow and the legendary pot of gold at its end. At present I am just beginning to climb the nearer end of the rainbow with the fervent hope that I’ll be able to make it to the further end where the legendary pot of gold is supposedly buried. I hope to come back home with it. I know it will not be so long, after all what is three years deducted from a lifetime? For three years I don’t mind having Lagos as MY HOME AWAY FROM HOME. (October 29, 1978).
NOTE: When my father died on February 21, 1979 I applied for Emergency Leave but when I saw my children, the youngest was only one year old and the oldest only in grade four I decided not to return so I filed my resignation. I realized how my children needed me most in this period of their growth. My short stay in Nigeria was fruitful because of the experience that changed my attitude in life as a father and as a husband.
Excerpts from my Nigerian Diary
SKYLINE HOTEL is not a very old three-story building with eighteen rooms. It stands aloft along Ikurudo Road, which is a noisy combination of España and Epipanio de los Santos Avenue. But it is home to us ten doctors for here we can cook Filipino foods. We have common kitchen, common dining room, common receiving room but not necessarily common sense. Two doctors stay in one room which is not carpeted but air-conditioned and furnished with refrigerator.
The Hotel is one half –hour drive from Massy Street Children’s Hospital where I am working. Like most poorly cared hospital for children in any part of the world, Massy is messy, noisy and fishy most of the time. It is located in a place which I can only eloquently describe as a confusing concoction of Tondo, Divisoria and Central Market , doubly odoriferous and doubly dangerous. In between MSCH and Skyline Hotel is a cross section of Lagos City, the Federal Capital of Nigeria and the center of all activities where everybody flocks: foreign officials and dignitaries, traders, contract workers, travelers and charlatans as well.
Life here in Lagos is not easy to describe. It is like an abstract painting, the more you contemplate on it the more you get confused. Lagos is a vibrant Metropolis with all the extravagances of a modern city but suffocating and very expensive. Reconstruction and development is going on in full blast. Highways and bridges are long and modern, merging of course with risky and antiquated streets. Drivers are restless and reckless. They drive left and right, right and left towards any open space. There are no traffic lights and seemingly no traffic rules as there were also no traffic policemen. There are many modern commercial centers in many places standing side by side with hundreds of small trade stands selling everything; market at every corner, vendors all around . In between them are files of garbage and junks.
If you are willing and ready to look there are a lot more to see for this is a city of sight, sound and smell. You can see people defecating along main thoroughfares, hear sounds of all tones and intensities for here people talk aloud and shout even louder (and they pray with loudspeakers), smell pleasant odors occasionally and not very pleasant ones most of the time.
The people are bizarre as the place but very colorful. From their skin, which ranges from unsatisfactory light black to cloudy medium black to striking dark black to their native costume, which is truly magnificent. Their intricate hairdos are something for the eyes to behold and when they cover their heads they wear the most expensive, long pieces of cloth to wrap around their heads in a more intricately artistic fashion, not one is ever similar to the other. Men use various types of hats. Many of the ladies’ breasts are dangling like their earrings which most of the time are matched with unique golden pendants and thick bracelets. This probably is a compensatory mechanism to cover their color or whatever. You will wonder if they are aware of dirt as they hold parties on garbage disposal areas without being scandalized by the smell of the filth
They are happy people and this they show in many ways: when a baby is born or when an old man dies and during all the important events that occur between the womb and the tomb.
Here in Lagos you bump shoulders with the good, the bad and the ugly. The good is usually very good, intelligent and dignified; the bad is generally worse, slow-foot, dash-conscious and dangerous; but the ugly is also beautiful for underneath his skin is a human being whose heart throbs with love, whose mind craves for understanding and whose soul also deserves eternity.
Under contract, I am scheduled to stay here for three years. I don’t know what is in store for me and I feel it is premature to make conclusive remarks. There are advantages and disadvantages, good and bad points, bright and dark sides as well as positive and negative aspects. It all depends so much on ones attitude towards it and from what angle one is actually and honestly viewing it.
Me, I am enjoying every bit of my stay here for I always think positively. I always look at the brighter and beautiful side and if it is necessary that I should look at the dark and ugly side, I just close my eyes and think of the rainbow and the legendary pot of gold at its end. At present I am just beginning to climb the nearer end of the rainbow with the fervent hope that I’ll be able to make it to the further end where the legendary pot of gold is supposedly buried. I hope to come back home with it. I know it will not be so long, after all what is three years deducted from a lifetime? For three years I don’t mind having Lagos as MY HOME AWAY FROM HOME. (October 29, 1978).
NOTE: When my father died on February 21, 1979 I applied for Emergency Leave but when I saw my children, the youngest was only one year old and the oldest only in grade four I decided not to return so I filed my resignation. I realized how my children needed me most in this period of their growth. My short stay in Nigeria was fruitful because of the experience that changed my attitude in life as a father and as a husband.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
INTRODUCTION TOTINGKORAW (the book)
INTRODUCTION
TINGKORAW, ALFONSO’S HISTORY AND LEGEND (Personal Impressions) was originally “Alfonso, Where Peace Abounds Free”. His opening tula bears out his first impression, inspired, Dr. Julian E. Aviñante states, by the era of Angeles Hernaiz who was proclaimed Outstanding Mayor and Alfonso cited as the most peaceful town in the country at a time when banditry was rampant and malcontents roamed in the mountains.
Alfonso, Cavite then with its placid and contented people was somnolent and selenic. His second poem written some 45 years later laments a pejorative change, raising an anguished cry of anger. These two poems reveal Dr. Aviñante as a passionate idealist and an ardent nationalist. He is like Voltaire’s Candide who when worse became worst would still be optimistic for he had a garden to cultivate. Out Author’s garden is
Alfonso wherein he has invested much of himself and of his time. As a genealogist, he has traced the Aviñante line through six generations. As a layman, he was deeply involved in church activities. During the time of Rev. Father Hermogenes Asilo, he was chairman of the parish church monumental restoration and renovation project.
Stoutly his faith in humanity and mankind has remained steady even as he rails against man’s crass stupidity and inane humanity.
At first glance, the Alfonso collection seems a hodgepodge of facts and legends, some of them bordering on the incredible. As much as possible Jett Aviñante identifies his sources. (As a cousin by affinity and proximity, I am privileged to call him Jett). In a few cases we have to accept the accounts as true. Many of his eyewitness sources are dead. Their stories live on in this collection of Jett. Often he went out of his way to verify “miracles” and cures. As a medical doctor, it was not easy for him to accept purportedly healing powers. In one instance, he caste a skeptical look at a close relative’s “powers” when he himself is unable to verify her cures.
The book follow a simple formula: a chronological and topical order showing the development of the town from its beginnings as a barrio of Indang, its growth and changes, its uniqueness as seen in customs, folkways and personalities. Nobody I know is more qualified to write of these than Jett Aviñante who had the persistence and wit to collect, collate and arrange those eclectic data. A poet and a physician, a concerned citizen and devout Catholic, a wise family man, Julian E. Aviñante of Alfonso, Cavite is an embodiment of Alfonso ways, a stimulating mix of the paradox of Christian faith and primitive belief, himself a psychic who hobnobbed with Alejandro Roces, Jaime Licauco, and such media people as Maria Montelibano and Loren Legarda.
Since religion plays important part in the lives, customs and folk beliefs and Alfonsinos, a section of the book takes up religious rites, festival and semi-religious beliefs, including “miracles” attributed to the local patron saint, John of Nepomucene. Our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal himself was so interested in St. John, he took time out in his travels to visit the bridge in Prague where St. John was thrown into the river for refusing to violate the secret of the confessional.
Social organizations would be of interest to the old people who can still remember the past of two or three generations ago. Younger people, future Jetts, who wonder at the weather worn inscriptions on old slabs and see the names on the walls of schools and plaza will find a few answers in this book. We admit with regret that the landmarks mentioned are limited to the poblacion, thus the collection is incomplete. But each landmark is replete with Dr. Jett’s running commentary and caustic wit. I have heard similar stories told by old folks who swear they have seen such potent powers. Alejandro Roces and Jaime Licauco have written of such psychic powers in Alfonso. She was induced by Dr. Jett Aviñante to walk on the live embers. The first take of a flustered Loren was never shown on tv but a poised and stately Loren walking confidently on live coals is on record.
A word of caution on the folkways. New customs are in, introduced by radio, television, videos and movies. But the old ways will be around for some time. What makes the book even more important is its record of beliefs that skeptic may scoff at. This is the way Alfonso was; the folkways would explain many of the traits that have kept the Afonsinos helpful to kin, generous to guests, basically stable and religious.
Trust the legends as stories, fables at one level, although many will attest to their being true. I know two old women that aver they were led astray in broad daylight by a kapre!
The personalities were important people in their heyday. The criteria have been: Who is he? What has he accomplished? How great has his influence been? And in certain historic events, what was his role? Dr. Aviñante includes eyewitness accounts of occurrence during the Japanese Occupation as they involved Alfonso and Alfonso People.
Silverio Baltasar
N.B. Silverio Baltasar (Mang Yoyo) is an Alfonso resident by affinity; his wife Rosario Aviñante Jeciel is of Alfonso and Indang parentage. Mang Yoyo is a former teacher, a writer, and a retiree raising, he says, “pigs and flowers.”
TINGKORAW, ALFONSO’S HISTORY AND LEGEND (Personal Impressions) was originally “Alfonso, Where Peace Abounds Free”. His opening tula bears out his first impression, inspired, Dr. Julian E. Aviñante states, by the era of Angeles Hernaiz who was proclaimed Outstanding Mayor and Alfonso cited as the most peaceful town in the country at a time when banditry was rampant and malcontents roamed in the mountains.
Alfonso, Cavite then with its placid and contented people was somnolent and selenic. His second poem written some 45 years later laments a pejorative change, raising an anguished cry of anger. These two poems reveal Dr. Aviñante as a passionate idealist and an ardent nationalist. He is like Voltaire’s Candide who when worse became worst would still be optimistic for he had a garden to cultivate. Out Author’s garden is
Alfonso wherein he has invested much of himself and of his time. As a genealogist, he has traced the Aviñante line through six generations. As a layman, he was deeply involved in church activities. During the time of Rev. Father Hermogenes Asilo, he was chairman of the parish church monumental restoration and renovation project.
Stoutly his faith in humanity and mankind has remained steady even as he rails against man’s crass stupidity and inane humanity.
At first glance, the Alfonso collection seems a hodgepodge of facts and legends, some of them bordering on the incredible. As much as possible Jett Aviñante identifies his sources. (As a cousin by affinity and proximity, I am privileged to call him Jett). In a few cases we have to accept the accounts as true. Many of his eyewitness sources are dead. Their stories live on in this collection of Jett. Often he went out of his way to verify “miracles” and cures. As a medical doctor, it was not easy for him to accept purportedly healing powers. In one instance, he caste a skeptical look at a close relative’s “powers” when he himself is unable to verify her cures.
The book follow a simple formula: a chronological and topical order showing the development of the town from its beginnings as a barrio of Indang, its growth and changes, its uniqueness as seen in customs, folkways and personalities. Nobody I know is more qualified to write of these than Jett Aviñante who had the persistence and wit to collect, collate and arrange those eclectic data. A poet and a physician, a concerned citizen and devout Catholic, a wise family man, Julian E. Aviñante of Alfonso, Cavite is an embodiment of Alfonso ways, a stimulating mix of the paradox of Christian faith and primitive belief, himself a psychic who hobnobbed with Alejandro Roces, Jaime Licauco, and such media people as Maria Montelibano and Loren Legarda.
Since religion plays important part in the lives, customs and folk beliefs and Alfonsinos, a section of the book takes up religious rites, festival and semi-religious beliefs, including “miracles” attributed to the local patron saint, John of Nepomucene. Our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal himself was so interested in St. John, he took time out in his travels to visit the bridge in Prague where St. John was thrown into the river for refusing to violate the secret of the confessional.
Social organizations would be of interest to the old people who can still remember the past of two or three generations ago. Younger people, future Jetts, who wonder at the weather worn inscriptions on old slabs and see the names on the walls of schools and plaza will find a few answers in this book. We admit with regret that the landmarks mentioned are limited to the poblacion, thus the collection is incomplete. But each landmark is replete with Dr. Jett’s running commentary and caustic wit. I have heard similar stories told by old folks who swear they have seen such potent powers. Alejandro Roces and Jaime Licauco have written of such psychic powers in Alfonso. She was induced by Dr. Jett Aviñante to walk on the live embers. The first take of a flustered Loren was never shown on tv but a poised and stately Loren walking confidently on live coals is on record.
A word of caution on the folkways. New customs are in, introduced by radio, television, videos and movies. But the old ways will be around for some time. What makes the book even more important is its record of beliefs that skeptic may scoff at. This is the way Alfonso was; the folkways would explain many of the traits that have kept the Afonsinos helpful to kin, generous to guests, basically stable and religious.
Trust the legends as stories, fables at one level, although many will attest to their being true. I know two old women that aver they were led astray in broad daylight by a kapre!
The personalities were important people in their heyday. The criteria have been: Who is he? What has he accomplished? How great has his influence been? And in certain historic events, what was his role? Dr. Aviñante includes eyewitness accounts of occurrence during the Japanese Occupation as they involved Alfonso and Alfonso People.
Silverio Baltasar
N.B. Silverio Baltasar (Mang Yoyo) is an Alfonso resident by affinity; his wife Rosario Aviñante Jeciel is of Alfonso and Indang parentage. Mang Yoyo is a former teacher, a writer, and a retiree raising, he says, “pigs and flowers.”
THE COLOR OF RAIN
THE COLOR OF RAIN
There was typhoon and there was heavy monsoon rains. Likewise, as always, there was brown-out and there was nothing really much to do. There was boredom too. The only next good thing to plan was find something to do. So when the rains temporarily calmed down I went out of the house without any specific destination.
Though the surrounding was dim, wet and windy, I found it very colorful. Everyone was wearing his favorite jacket or other cold-protecting garment. It was as if the rainbow was cut into pieces and scattered all over town to students, pupils and other rain strollers. They looked like beautiful flowers in a grand garden.
It has been a very long time ago when I last saw so many jackets of all sizes and forms and colors. This was complimented by equally colorful umbrellas, hats, headgears as well as 'bandanas' and neckerchiefs of all designs. The enchanting plays of colors cover, seemingly, the existing poverty and many other national problems.
Colors bring joy and joy carries with it positive vibrations that projects peace and calm to everyone. This is possible because of so many OCWs sharing their incomes to members of their families. There are also “Ukay-Ukay” stores in every corner selling quondam quality products at very low prices.
Together with these expensive and colorful personal items are equally expensive cell phones, i-pods and what have you. It takes a typhoon to let me see these treasures and I realized that we shouldn’t be complaining.
There was typhoon and there was heavy monsoon rains. Likewise, as always, there was brown-out and there was nothing really much to do. There was boredom too. The only next good thing to plan was find something to do. So when the rains temporarily calmed down I went out of the house without any specific destination.
Though the surrounding was dim, wet and windy, I found it very colorful. Everyone was wearing his favorite jacket or other cold-protecting garment. It was as if the rainbow was cut into pieces and scattered all over town to students, pupils and other rain strollers. They looked like beautiful flowers in a grand garden.
It has been a very long time ago when I last saw so many jackets of all sizes and forms and colors. This was complimented by equally colorful umbrellas, hats, headgears as well as 'bandanas' and neckerchiefs of all designs. The enchanting plays of colors cover, seemingly, the existing poverty and many other national problems.
Colors bring joy and joy carries with it positive vibrations that projects peace and calm to everyone. This is possible because of so many OCWs sharing their incomes to members of their families. There are also “Ukay-Ukay” stores in every corner selling quondam quality products at very low prices.
Together with these expensive and colorful personal items are equally expensive cell phones, i-pods and what have you. It takes a typhoon to let me see these treasures and I realized that we shouldn’t be complaining.
Friday, July 11, 2008
TOO EXCITED
TOO EXCITED
When the very first man felt his very first love towards the very first woman, he got so very excited that he started climbing trees and biting fruits. The next thing he knew he was biting the wrong fruit and for that, he was punished and was driven out of paradise. Since then he never learned his lesson that it is not good to be very excited about anything.
Excitement gives rise to increase heart rate, a little rise in blood pressure, heightened interest, all in preparation for the achievement of what one is excited about. More often than not this excitement results to confusions and wrong decisions that lead to more confusions but the excitement goes on.
Look at what happens when a ship sinks for whatever reason. Excitement fills the air. Everybody is caught flatfooted but still everybody is excited either to help or to point fingers at each others. As a result everyone gets so confused on what is the right thing to do and the problem multiplies and gets bigger and bigger.
With so many big problems sprouting left and right, legal counsels get excited too. Lawyers appear from every corner expressing out their intelligent opinions – and we all know what happens when lawyers begin explaining the laws. It will be an endless exchange of views leading to more and more confusions. Meantime the ship keeps on sinking and the passengers who were suffocated and drowned inside have only their invisible and inaudible ghosts to communicate to their relatives and love ones through dreams or whatever esoteric way there is.
Back to the first man, if he only kept calm and simply followed the rule which that time was only one, he need not climb that tree and bite that fruit. He and us, his descendants should have been enjoying life in paradise. Now, it is far too late not to be excited but there is still time to learn a lesson or two.
When the very first man felt his very first love towards the very first woman, he got so very excited that he started climbing trees and biting fruits. The next thing he knew he was biting the wrong fruit and for that, he was punished and was driven out of paradise. Since then he never learned his lesson that it is not good to be very excited about anything.
Excitement gives rise to increase heart rate, a little rise in blood pressure, heightened interest, all in preparation for the achievement of what one is excited about. More often than not this excitement results to confusions and wrong decisions that lead to more confusions but the excitement goes on.
Look at what happens when a ship sinks for whatever reason. Excitement fills the air. Everybody is caught flatfooted but still everybody is excited either to help or to point fingers at each others. As a result everyone gets so confused on what is the right thing to do and the problem multiplies and gets bigger and bigger.
With so many big problems sprouting left and right, legal counsels get excited too. Lawyers appear from every corner expressing out their intelligent opinions – and we all know what happens when lawyers begin explaining the laws. It will be an endless exchange of views leading to more and more confusions. Meantime the ship keeps on sinking and the passengers who were suffocated and drowned inside have only their invisible and inaudible ghosts to communicate to their relatives and love ones through dreams or whatever esoteric way there is.
Back to the first man, if he only kept calm and simply followed the rule which that time was only one, he need not climb that tree and bite that fruit. He and us, his descendants should have been enjoying life in paradise. Now, it is far too late not to be excited but there is still time to learn a lesson or two.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
PAINS OF SEPARATION
PAINS OF SEPARATION
Separation is almost always painful. It truly hurts. From the cutting of the umbilical cord that separates the baby from the mother to the separation of the soul from the body that we call death, pain is involved. Separation may be considered a necessary evil as shown by the two instances mentioned. Different separations give rise to different kinds of pains that we must swallow for life to go on.
These days separation has become common occurrence among married couple and other members of the family; among friends and lovers; among members of different congregations – yes, among nations – in spite of the supposed unifying intention of globalization.
It pains parents to be separated from their children who need to work in other countries where there are greener pastures. Equally it also pains the far away children to be physically disconnected so distantly from their parents. These pains of separation are exacerbated when there are special occasions such as baptismal ceremonies and birthday celebrations when families should be together. That is why children try their might to have their parents around.
The pains go deeper when parents, because of their own aging pains can no longer give way to their children’s whims. In occasions like these the pains multiply but life must go on. I try to turn away from the pains and instead begin counting the gains though it hurts me no end when I think that my children are changing citizenship. My patriotism is that deeply ingrained in my system.
All the separations going on bring about better results. Perhaps God intended it this way to balance everything as seen from the Divine point of view. For every pain there is gain and for every gain, God is there.
Separation is almost always painful. It truly hurts. From the cutting of the umbilical cord that separates the baby from the mother to the separation of the soul from the body that we call death, pain is involved. Separation may be considered a necessary evil as shown by the two instances mentioned. Different separations give rise to different kinds of pains that we must swallow for life to go on.
These days separation has become common occurrence among married couple and other members of the family; among friends and lovers; among members of different congregations – yes, among nations – in spite of the supposed unifying intention of globalization.
It pains parents to be separated from their children who need to work in other countries where there are greener pastures. Equally it also pains the far away children to be physically disconnected so distantly from their parents. These pains of separation are exacerbated when there are special occasions such as baptismal ceremonies and birthday celebrations when families should be together. That is why children try their might to have their parents around.
The pains go deeper when parents, because of their own aging pains can no longer give way to their children’s whims. In occasions like these the pains multiply but life must go on. I try to turn away from the pains and instead begin counting the gains though it hurts me no end when I think that my children are changing citizenship. My patriotism is that deeply ingrained in my system.
All the separations going on bring about better results. Perhaps God intended it this way to balance everything as seen from the Divine point of view. For every pain there is gain and for every gain, God is there.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
"LUNARIO" (SIKATAN): THE LUNAR CALENDAR
Old folks used to consult the Lunar Calendar. Locally termed Lunario or Sikatan before indulging in any activity.
“LUNARIO” (SIKATAN) OR LUNAR CALENDAR
1.First Day (Unang sikat (new moon) –
a. A good omen for any enterprise.
b. Money can be borrowed easily.
c. Good day to begin planting.
d. Born on this day, one becomes faithful, God-loving and lives longer but
won’t enjoy.
2.Second Day
a. Bad for sea voyages.
b. Born on this day, one will become wealthy.
3.Third Day
a. Adam’s expulsion from Paradise.
b. Those born on this day are faithful and pious.
c. Wounds incurred take long to heal.
4.Fourth Day
a. Good for business and planting.
b. Those born on this day are intelligent but get sick for a long time.
5.Fifth Day
a. The day Cain murdered Abel.
b. Good for planting and constructing a house.
c. Those born on this day are hard to treat when ill.
d. NOT a good day for travel.
e. Stolen things are easily recovered.
6.
Sixth Day
a. A good day for any enterprise.
b. Good for sailing
c. One born on this day is God-fearing and pious.
7.
Seventh Day
a Good for earning a livelihood.
b. Stolen things are hardly recovered
c. Those born on this day are lucky and fortunate
8.
Eight Day
a. Not good for travel.
b. Bad for marriage
c. Good for business
9.Ninth Day
a. Bad for sea travel
b. Quarrelsome day.
c. Born on this day earns easily but are hot-tempered. Get well when sick.
10.Tenth Day
a. Good for adventure, marriage and planting.
b. Illness is mild
c. Those born on this day are honest
11.Eleventh Day
a. Good for doing things in the immediate vicinity.
b. Birth of Isaac
c. One born on this day is not very talented but lives longer
d. Stolen things are easily recovered
e. Illness is easily treated.
12.Twelfth Day
a. Good to build houses
b. Good for weddings
c. Bad for travel
d. One born on this day is selfish
e. Stolen things are easily recovered
13.Thirteenth Day
a. Good for traveling
b. Good for work nearby
c. Good for growing plants
d. Desires are hardly realized
e. Those born on this day will be wealthy.
f. Not good for germinating seeds
g. Illness are easily cured
h. Stolen things are easily recovered.
14.Fourteenth Day
a. Good for travel
b. Easy to find employment
c. Good for weddings
d. One born on this day becomes a professional
15.Fifteenth Day
a. Good for sea travel
b. Easy to find employment
c. Long life, easy treatment for illness
d. Stolen things won’t be recovered
16.Sixteenth Day
a. Not good for borrowing money
b. Fruitful marriage
17.Seventeenth Day
a.Good for any enterprises
b. Lost things are hardly found
c. Born on this day finds employment easily
18.Eighteenth Day
a. The creation of the sun and the moon
b. God’s glory is increased
19.Ninteenth Day
a. Not very good for any enterprises
b. Not good for travel
c. Illness stays long
20.Twentieth Day
a. Birth of Samuel
b. Not good for marriage
c. Illness stays long
d. Good for start of child’s education
21.Twenty First Day
a. Not good for travel
b. Good for marriage and planting
c. Born on this day is sickly and hard to cure
d. Good to start a house
22.Twenty Second Day
a. Birth of Jacob
b. Good for any kind of travel
c. Born on this day are models
d. Lost things are hard to find
23.Twenty Third Day
a. Good for seeking jobs
b. Good for business, easy gain
c. Not good for marriage
d. Illness stays long
e. Easy to check stealing and elopement
24.Twenty Fourth Day
a. Not good for sea travel
b. Not good for birth and marriage
c. Brings hunger and lack of fear from God
d. Good to elope
25.Twenty Fifth Day
a. Good for travel and for planting
b. Good for building a house
c. Born on this day are hardheaded
26.Twenty Sixth Day
a. Good for anything except eloping
27.Twenty Seventh Day
a. Very good for anything
28.Twenty Eight Day
a. Good for traveling, home care and filed work
b. Sickness is difficult to cure
From the book TINGKORAW: Alfonso's History and Legend by jett e. avinante, m.d.
“LUNARIO” (SIKATAN) OR LUNAR CALENDAR
1.First Day (Unang sikat (new moon) –
a. A good omen for any enterprise.
b. Money can be borrowed easily.
c. Good day to begin planting.
d. Born on this day, one becomes faithful, God-loving and lives longer but
won’t enjoy.
2.Second Day
a. Bad for sea voyages.
b. Born on this day, one will become wealthy.
3.Third Day
a. Adam’s expulsion from Paradise.
b. Those born on this day are faithful and pious.
c. Wounds incurred take long to heal.
4.Fourth Day
a. Good for business and planting.
b. Those born on this day are intelligent but get sick for a long time.
5.Fifth Day
a. The day Cain murdered Abel.
b. Good for planting and constructing a house.
c. Those born on this day are hard to treat when ill.
d. NOT a good day for travel.
e. Stolen things are easily recovered.
6.
Sixth Day
a. A good day for any enterprise.
b. Good for sailing
c. One born on this day is God-fearing and pious.
7.
Seventh Day
a Good for earning a livelihood.
b. Stolen things are hardly recovered
c. Those born on this day are lucky and fortunate
8.
Eight Day
a. Not good for travel.
b. Bad for marriage
c. Good for business
9.Ninth Day
a. Bad for sea travel
b. Quarrelsome day.
c. Born on this day earns easily but are hot-tempered. Get well when sick.
10.Tenth Day
a. Good for adventure, marriage and planting.
b. Illness is mild
c. Those born on this day are honest
11.Eleventh Day
a. Good for doing things in the immediate vicinity.
b. Birth of Isaac
c. One born on this day is not very talented but lives longer
d. Stolen things are easily recovered
e. Illness is easily treated.
12.Twelfth Day
a. Good to build houses
b. Good for weddings
c. Bad for travel
d. One born on this day is selfish
e. Stolen things are easily recovered
13.Thirteenth Day
a. Good for traveling
b. Good for work nearby
c. Good for growing plants
d. Desires are hardly realized
e. Those born on this day will be wealthy.
f. Not good for germinating seeds
g. Illness are easily cured
h. Stolen things are easily recovered.
14.Fourteenth Day
a. Good for travel
b. Easy to find employment
c. Good for weddings
d. One born on this day becomes a professional
15.Fifteenth Day
a. Good for sea travel
b. Easy to find employment
c. Long life, easy treatment for illness
d. Stolen things won’t be recovered
16.Sixteenth Day
a. Not good for borrowing money
b. Fruitful marriage
17.Seventeenth Day
a.Good for any enterprises
b. Lost things are hardly found
c. Born on this day finds employment easily
18.Eighteenth Day
a. The creation of the sun and the moon
b. God’s glory is increased
19.Ninteenth Day
a. Not very good for any enterprises
b. Not good for travel
c. Illness stays long
20.Twentieth Day
a. Birth of Samuel
b. Not good for marriage
c. Illness stays long
d. Good for start of child’s education
21.Twenty First Day
a. Not good for travel
b. Good for marriage and planting
c. Born on this day is sickly and hard to cure
d. Good to start a house
22.Twenty Second Day
a. Birth of Jacob
b. Good for any kind of travel
c. Born on this day are models
d. Lost things are hard to find
23.Twenty Third Day
a. Good for seeking jobs
b. Good for business, easy gain
c. Not good for marriage
d. Illness stays long
e. Easy to check stealing and elopement
24.Twenty Fourth Day
a. Not good for sea travel
b. Not good for birth and marriage
c. Brings hunger and lack of fear from God
d. Good to elope
25.Twenty Fifth Day
a. Good for travel and for planting
b. Good for building a house
c. Born on this day are hardheaded
26.Twenty Sixth Day
a. Good for anything except eloping
27.Twenty Seventh Day
a. Very good for anything
28.Twenty Eight Day
a. Good for traveling, home care and filed work
b. Sickness is difficult to cure
From the book TINGKORAW: Alfonso's History and Legend by jett e. avinante, m.d.
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