Feelings
Revisiting May
By Emmanuelle
THIS year as in the past decade, the people of this town celebrate their fiesta in January. It has not always been so.
They used to have their fiesta in May, when the native kalkalautit, sharing the landscape with the ancient acacias, let go of their berry-like fruits as big and swollen as one’s fat thumb. The berries make the sound of plump drops of rain as these fell on the roof and grounds of the old municipio.
Nen saman, children did not spend their summer days stationary infront of the TV screen. Children would be running around, breathing fresh sun-warmed air, but particularly, they would be scrambling under the shades of the kalkalautit, spines bent low and eyes pressed close to the ground. They find a purplish, even bluish fruit, they pop it straight into their mouths, unwashed, just rubbed free of grits on shirts, skirts. A ripe kalkalautit near to bursting would be so sinfully luscious when bitten to the quick! These kids would go home bleeding blood-red juice from their gums and bulging pockets. Naksel kalamor!
Until national elections became a May occurrence, and fiestas were forbidden by law to be held within sniffing distance of the day of free choice. And not only was the May fiesta outlawed, it was also outmanoeuvred by nature and its total disregard of the two-season separation policy. The clouds began to swell and bloat and drip earlier than its June schedule. The first downpour was welcomed; it washed-off the heat and the odours of ammonia along the commons. Then the rain began its discomfiting habit of dropping the most huge of its very wet load just when the queen and the princesses were all decked out to show-off their lace and sequins. Their royal highnesses would shriek. They would pick up their skirts. They would stomp unceremoniously away.
The roofs of the tented fiesta stalls would balloon with their catchalls of rainwater; minutes later, looking very much like pregnant cows’ underbellies, these would leak or gush down hapless heads and necks. Cases of flu and the sniffles would also balloon for the rest of May.
Natan, permanently gone are the kalkalautit; so is the fiesta in May. Fiesta was advanced to the second week of January by virtue of a town resolution elevated to an ordinance. From a mere three-day celebration, it was expanded to more than a week to accommodate the many-faceted celebration of the founding of the town and unity among its people.
Balet, the memories of May linger on in the minds and hearts of the people whose childhood include living through the town fiesta. To these folks, it was a time in summer when the mind was at rest and joy was just a walk away. It was rides and games and canned caramel popcorns and bright lights at night when lights were still few and far between.
On a Wednesday, May 11, 2011, the old Pergola lit up. Music issued from the throats and the instruments of the old man Cojuangco’s band. People from all sectors of the community trooped in, a few in formal wear, but mostly in clean casuals. The Vice Governor joined them with gifts of a megaphone each to all the barangays, public and private schools, the local and national service agencies, and the executive and legislative departments of the municipal government.
There was no printed program, nor were there formal invitations. There were no speeches politically-laced. The event was a simple salute to a gone past. Except there was that short greeting to the people from the Vice Governor which he later could not help but translate into his signature song “Ikaw na nga,”, and the shortest-ever welcome and closing messages from the mayor and the vice mayor, the two having lived through the same May fiestas.
The rest of the night, the people danced their heels and rubber soles away. All shared a simple snack of lechon manok and coffee and juices, courtesy of the mayor’s office.
When night turned to dawn, when the dancers had all gone home, the band continued to play on. Their ballads, slow and syrupy, serenaded the surrounds and teased awake the sleep from the now lonely bones.
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