You know, I have read online about how the Filipinos have
these huge birthday bashes complete with mountains of food, pop, alcohol, and
topped off with non-stop videoke.
Perhaps I have been living in a vacuum, but I have seen less than a
handful of birthday parties where there were dozens of relatives to assist in
celebrating the festive occasion. Now, I
am not saying it doesn’t happen, but my Filipino family will tell you that they
never experienced such celebrations within their family or neighborhood. I quizzed a few about their birthday
celebrations and was told that they have never had a birthday party or received
gifts.
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| Neighborhood lining up in wait for the feast |
The children’s grandmother whose parent’s
owned (and still own) hectares of rice and sugar cane fields confessed that she
had never received a birthday or Christmas gift while growing up. Now, I am being generous, but I would guess
that only around half of the country’s inhabitants have ever celebrated a
birthday, received a gift, or even a Christmas present.
Clarisse will visit with me quite a bit about her life
before I came along and one day we got onto the topic of Christmas and Santa
Claus. She told me that she wanted to
believe in Santa Claus so much that one year (when she was a youngster) she
stuck one of her tiny socks on the bamboo wall by the window and also wrote Santa
a letter asking him for just one present.
The morning came, the letter remained, and the sock went unfilled. Clarisse told me that it was one of the
saddest moments in her life. For those children,
along with their friends, birthdays were just another day as was
Christmas. Sometimes, a baptism was a
cause for great celebration and thus a party ensued, but there was never
anything else.
We in America take so many things for granted. We expect those presents and visits from
Santa when
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| Taw Taw breaking the Pinata at his baptismal celebration |
we are young. When we lose a
tooth, we expect money under the pillow the following morning. On Easter morning, we expect chocolate filled
eggs or treats hidden around the house or yard.
Let us not forget Halloween where we dress up in hideous costumes and
run from door to door in expectation of candy or, yes, even a little money. I participated in all those events as well as
my children. However, for many children
here in the Philippines, there is no such joy to enhance their meager lives. What I do find is that for many children,
their mindset is mostly on the next meal…..whether there will be one or
not.
Yes, the affluent may have such gala celebrations, but for
the common Filipino, those luxuries just do not exist. I recall the kids Uncle having a party for
his son when he was baptized on his seventh birthday. The father raised the
chickens for the meal and had saved for over two years to pay for the pivotal
moment in his son’s life. The dining
area was small and the neighbors were lined up outside the gate waiting for
their turn at the tables. Empty bowls of
pancit, jack fruit w/vegetables and pork, sticky rice, chicken in vegetables, fruit
salad, spaghetti, and hogs head were removed and repeatedly replaced with full
ones. However, the gifts were very few.
They did have a piñata though. Of
course, after the children left, the men broke out the Tanduay (rum) and spent
the evening singing videoke and getting drunk.
Uh, I did not participate.
I guess the bottom line is, if you have never celebrated a
birthday, received a gift or present of any kind, or went trick or treating or
even hunt for those elusive Easter eggs, then you don’t think much about it….well,
that is until you see all the other children on television receiving that which
you have not or most likely never will have.
Kanla-on volcano seem to be spitting out a little smoke and
steam these past few days. Yesterday as
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| Canlaon Volcano in all its mysterical beauty |
I was driving north to Binalbagan (first town north of Himamaylan City), I saw
the top was shrouded in a cloud like vapor.
Seems today I had read that it had been acting out since Monday. Fortunately for me, I am is over 50
kilometers from that smoking behemoth and am quite content with the
distance. Below is a router to the
latest news on its rumblings.
This morning as I looked out my back door at its magnificence
in the distant, I saw a young bride with a white veil hanging over her
shoulders. Such a beautiful sight to see
in the early morning light of a new day.
The children’s mother, Diana recently had an ear infection and
so I took her to the ENT. He looked at
her and gave her some drops for the ears.
After the first two treatments, she was beginning to have
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| Ear drops to be used for dogs only |
some health
issues, so I went online to look for the side effects of the medication. Much to my surprise, the drops he had given
her were for DOGS and not to be used by HUMANS!!! A simple rule to follow from that experience,
if the doctor doesn’t give you a prescription for a pharmacy, you better look
it up on the internet before starting your treatment.
Bounder
November 28, 2015
We all take what we have for granted unless it disappears.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the blogs.
I always check the medication prescribed in the Philippines,. As you know Daryl it is a national obsession for doctors to prescribe at least ,3 pages of medication in the hope that they will hit lucky, & of course get the commission from the issuing pharmacy.....
ReplyDeleteCynical. Nope just lived there to long ........
Fortunately I have not had that experience with doctors.....yet. But will now keep my eyes open should there be a reason to go and visit one.
Delete