A comment has been posted to the Blog:
THE ASINGANIAN JOURNAL
Domingo Ramos photos
Comment from: rickytagamanaoag
"Mia has that "Angelina Jolie" look (better lock her up ... hahaha) and Emma takes after your chocoholic weakness and just as adorable! Those boys will come knocking soon enough."
***
Thanks, Ricky!!
Now here is my story about vignettes of Holy Thursdays past...
different views of holy thursday
by VICTORIO COSTES
Asingan, during the old days, was dry and boring. So when the Holy Week ( which commences with Palm Sunday ) followed by the Town Fiesta, everybody gets a bit of relief at some possible excitement which was only found in big cities.
When you switch on the radio on Holy Thursday, you heard nothing but classical music. No Rock and Roll. Check the movie pages for the shows in Manila: Nothing but religious shows like THE ROBE, QUO VADIS, etc. Or a note saying THEATRE CLOSED FOR THE OBSERVANCE OF MAUNDY THURSDAY AND GOOD FRIDAY. It seemed the excitement shifted into the provinces which was good ( and bad at the same time ).
Holy Thursday morning, the street going to the church were paved with the refreshment parlors. And some tables which offered an easy way of doubling your money. ( Or so you thought ) Some of these were:
1. The tri color panel. The operator would spin a marble on a tri colored panel. Before the marble settles down on a certain color, ( you were dead sure it would stay on the red panel ) he covers the game board and waited for people, usually kids to land their bets. Then, he uncovers the board and voila! The marble was resting comfortably on the yellow and your money changed hands immediately..
2. Where is the dice?..The operator juggled ( and prattled at the same time ) with 3 cups and one small dice. The cups kept changing over the stationery dice, then all cups were placed upside down and he would ask you to put your bet on which cup contained the dice. Of course, you swore the dice was under the cup at the left and you bet some coins on it. When the operator opened the cup, there was NO DICE!
Once you are bored ( or sensed you were being stiffed ) you would move on the bigger joints. There was this horse race with wooden fillies ( maybe 10 or 12 ). The more, the better for the operator. But you check the prizes: nothing but cheapies that would cost less than the purchase price for the tickets you but to bet on the horse of your choice!
Noon time came. You go home and ate a full meal so you may not spend your pocket money on the pancit, arroz caldo or goto that are being sold by some pretty wenches who would try to win your business by their winsome smiles..
***
A few years later, you would not care for this "kid stuff" anymore. You would prefer to go to church. Not because you learned some saintly principles from school but because you expect that sometime before the start of the service, you would stand at the gate of the church ( with a buddy ) and wait for some of those local Collegialas who just arrived from Manila a few nights ago. Or Baguio. Or Dagupan. All of them would be there!
Yep, there were several pretty Colegialas in Asingan before. And maybe even now. Chances are all of them would be attending the religious service. . Thats the good news. The bad news is their spinster aunts might coming to church with them.
Then came the time I joined the local Asingan choir. I had the edge because all the musicians would go up the choir loft ( one existed before the big earthquake in 1990 ). And there were seats for the singers and instrumentalists. We were in the "balcony." The "orchestra" would be wall to wall with worshippers who would bear out the humidity, the mixture of cheap perfume and human sweat while waiting for the long service to end. Then of course, the procession would commence after the tedious ceremony and you would have a chance to join it and show the town what a "pious" person you are!
***
In 1998, we went home for the Holy Week and our town fiesta. We arrived in Manila couple of days before Holy Thursday. We rested a bit, then decided to leave for Asingan on the morning of Holy Thursday.
What a surprise! The streets of Manila was practically empty. It was like a sci fi movie where an epidimic swooped down and all people died. We took a taxi to Cubao. All stores were closed. And busses for Pangasinan came only once every 30 minutes.
As the bus reached Pampanga, we were greeted by an awesome sight. We saw costumed people ( Roman Soldiers ) flogging a man garbed as Jesus, carrying a cross under the broiling noon day sun along the hot concrete pavement of MacArthur highway. The bus slowed down a bit. Some passengers took out their cameras and shutters started clicking. There were a few more similar sights ( in San Fernando, then Angeles ) . The MacArthur highway was also as empty as the streets of Manila. The big exodus of vacationistas took place already the night before.
When we reached Urdaneta, there were more people and jeepneys than the usual. We immediately had a ride. My wife had a seat inside the packed vehicle bound for Asingan. I had to stand on the back part of the jeep together with the conductor and another passenger who was in a hurry to head for home at once rather than wait for the next jeepney.
Of course, we had to pay the same amount of fareless regardless. No free rides. Even if you are a Canadian citizen.---#
No comments:
Post a Comment