Every time the month of May comes, I am always reminded of the First of May song and I hum it silently in my head. There is something nice about this month, it is also the month of Mama Mary. Santacruzan procession is held in May. Santacruzan which is derived from the Spanish word Santa Cruz which means Holy Cross is a grand procession that commemorates Queen Helena’s journey. It characterizes a parade of grandly-dressed ladies representing various biblical and historical figures symbolizing virtues of faith, hope and charity.
May is considered the hottest month of the year here in our country, the height of summer months. But it also brings summer blooms, fruits in galore, frolics in the so many lovely beaches of the archipelago, picnics, evening get-together with friends or family members under the bright light of the moon. We used to do the latter when we were kids with boiled peanuts and sweet potato while we were exchanging childhood dreams and sometimes ghost stories too which we learned from our maternal grandmother.
Remembering those years when summer meant going with some cousins to gather firewood in the forest or bring along a bayong to use to gather duhat or java plums. Other summer fruits that are plenty are sineguelas (Spanish plum), star apples, those sweet mangoes usually grown in almost every backyard, root crops like sweet potato, peanuts or cassava.
I also remember playing tumbang preso, shatung, marbles with my three brothers, text cards we put on a shoebox, piko (hopscotch), taguan (hide and seek). The latter is usually played in the evening. These games mean it is summer to young kids when there is a two-month summer school break. Nowadays though, kids don’t need to go out from their comfort zones as long as they have those expensive gadgets to play with.
What were your summer flings?
Dreams And Escapes 