Summertime Nostalgia

By Allanah Cris Paragas

TEMPERATURES are starting to cool down. Skies are getting gloomy during the afternoon. Drizzles are pouring in different places… All those things happen when bumming time – I mean summertime – is going to be OVER.

Aaaaah… summertime! What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘summer’? I bet some of you will think about ‘vacation’ and some will think about ‘extreme heat’. Touché!

Summer-bummer? Due to the extreme heat, some might crave for frozen goodies, and some might be longing to go to the beach. Nostalgia is getting me. Bye-bye summer, and hello to you rainy season.

Spending summer in my home province Pangasinan is really fun. Why? It’ because I miss the heat, I miss my family, and I miss home. Okay, I admit it. My answer sounds cliché, but it’s the truth since Baguio, where I a go to school, has a cool temperature. My personal answer aside, Pangasinan is a fun place for summer because of the beaches, resorts, and the annual festivals celebrated during this time of the year. Two of the summertime festivals in Pangasinan are the Pistay Dayat and Dagupan City’s Bangus Festival.

My family and I had been going to those festivities during summer (well, not to the extent that we were attending everyday). It was my family’s tradition to go and watch the gilon-gilon or the street dancing competition of the Bangus Festival; or strolled around the Lingayen Capitol grounds at night during the Pista’y Dayat. Why am I narrating in past? It is because my family and I are not doing those summer traditions anymore since I started to go to college. But even though we are not doing the tradition anymore, my family and I see to it that our bonding is still the same — strong and sufficient.

During the times when we watched the gilon-gilon, I couldn’t help but observe the spectators’ reactions to the event. Many of them were amazed because of the colorful props and costumes used by the participants from the city’s different barangays. Within that crowd of spectators are tourists (some of them are foreigners) who were very eager and very excited to watch. Wow! It’s really heartwarming to see people watching together under the summer heat just to participate in a festivity.

Fiestas are indeed more fun in the Philippines … and in Pangasinan. Despite the summer heat, Filipinos are drawn to participate in different street activities. As the month of June approaches, I start to have my summertime nostalgia where I have the tendency to reminisce my memories… memories that could last a lifetime.

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