The Philippines are catholic and so therefore their traditions are at times catholic. This week was one of those cases where my group got to participate in part of these traditions.
My nanay’s husband passed away 9 years ago this week. In the Catholic Church you say a pray on the day he passed to help ensure entry to heaven, but for the first 9 years you say the pray and have an anniversary celebration (a very big celebration). We were invited to be part of this.
The prayer was at 11:00 and lunch followed around 12:00. The spread, oh the spread! There was rice, and pork adobo, and pansit (noodles and a personal favorite of mine), and chicken, and fried shrimp, and a pork and cabbage type stir-fry, and some more chicken, and some more pork, and another kind of pork pâté kind of thing, and amazing pineapple, and fruit salad, and fish, and gabi, then the amazing lychee flan (I ate way more than my share of that). Then they brought out the beers and we got practice our turn down the brew skills, what with us sitting across from a teachers, and with having class in 30 minutes, and the fact I don’t drink. When we went to class they told us to come back for meryenda and then come back after class.
After class we walked around a bit and did some visiting at a cluster mates house. Then I went home and the party was in full force. I had some studying to do so I hid away in my room for a bit. Then at about 7:30 a cluster mate of mine stopped by. We were ushered to the back yard for some tuba (a type of wine made from the bark of the coconut tree, they drink it with Coke) and more beers and some videoke. Which was fine for my cluster mate, him being a male that drinks and all. However I was the only one in the back yard without a drink and without a y chromosome. My house sister brought me some tang and more flan and stayed out for a couple songs then came inside to play card games with the kids. A couple hours later my cluster mate went home and I proceeded to bed.
Luckily I had my earplugs in because they were videoke-ing well into the morning. This morning was the first morning I was up before everyone in the family, and we even decided to go on a later run. My cluster mate who is also one of my running mates was there, but not in top form.
Talking at breakfast just now they said they had 200 plates and it was not enough. They have already started the clean up and knowing the way people use their time here it should be all clear by the time I get back for lunch.
What a day, the celebration went from 11:00 am to 2:00 am. This is the last year they well have an anniversary celebration for him. In so many days they will pray for him, and then in so many days later pray again. After that they will just go to mass on the anniversary of his death.
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