Summers and Fiestas

Summers are my favorite season of the year. The bright sun reminds us to be cheerful while the soft breeze lulls us away from our worries. Summers promise different fun activities: endless picnics either on the beach or in a resort, sports activities, and art workshops and of course, fiestas.

All 33 summers of my life are memorable and are etched in my consciousness forever. Most of these memorable summers were spent in my lovely hometown Capul.

Summer in the Island

Capul is a beautiful spec of an island that is hardly visible in the Philippine map. It has beautiful white sand beaches lined with swaying palm trees and is a complete ecosystem with unique flora and fauna both on land and underwater. It is situated on the northernmost point of the island of Samar and is one of the strongholds of Catholicism in the province. In fact, it celebrated 400 years of Christianity in 2001. Its name was derived from the corrupted word Acapulco having been used as anchorage of the Galleon ships plying from Butuan to Manila then Acapulco in Mexico. Formerly, this island was called Abak after the name of the ruler who according to oral lore and written accounts was a Muslim warrior from Borneo. Datu Abak and his subjects settled in the island after evading Christian rulers. But as history would have it, Abak and his subjects soon became converts and embraced Christianity. Up to the present times, the residents speak Abaknon, which according to scholars are very much similar with that of the Malay language.

Life in the island is idyllic and slow paced. But once a year, during summers, the sleepy town awakes and celebrate fiesta!

Inherent Faith

April and May are the fiesta months in the different barangays. The town proper celebrates fiesta in July, which is still a summer month in the island. I grow up in the barangay called San Luis, which has Nuestra Señora de Salvacion or Our Lady of Salvation as the village patron saint. Our Lady of Salvation is a patron saint of travelers so people even from the town would drop by her chapel to kiss and pray for safety especially at sea.

We celebrate fiesta annually without fail or else, something bad would happen to the village like a natural catastrophe like typhoon or drought. During the long drought one summer in the 80's when I was a grade-schooler, the pious people bathed the images of Our Lady and prayed for rain. Several days after, the first rain after several months fell on us and we celebrated the fiesta.

Because of limited food sources in the island, preparations for fiestas are dependent on how abundant the last harvest is. In few instances when the village people decided not to hold a fiesta because of a drought, the Lady would send fish on our shores so the people can celebrate fiesta. That was what we experienced during another drought in the early 90's when I was in high school.

A Miracle

One week before the fiesta, the village awake one early morning to find schools of fish on the gulf inching towards the rivers. The people rushed to the shore to find their nets swarmed with fish. Nets were positioned in the mouth of the river as well as in the tributaries. The whole village fished as one community. Families get whatever they could carry and the fiesta was celebrated with so much revelry. The same thing happened a few more times after that year when the island experienced natural calamities before the fiesta. For us, it's a testament of how our beloved Lady loves us her children.

Several more miracles were experienced by the people in different other occasions. During the typhoon on the eve of Christmas in 1981, an elderly claimed to see a Lady on the shore as if pushing the waves away from the houses. In the morning after the storm, the villagers were surprised to see the altar with the image intact even if part of the chapel was torn. For us, the Lady was the one who shield us against the rampage of seawater.

Curacha

The village dance is one inherent feature in our fiesta. It's a venue for politicians and balikbayans to show off their newfound fortune during the special dance called “Curacha”. Curacha is a lilting courtship dance with the movement akin to the flirting hen and rooster. It is a very popular dance in the islands of Leyte and Samar where the pair sways to the beat while their friends and relatives put money in a mat. The money is called “gala” and will be treated as donation money for worthwhile projects usually for the improvement of the chapel, school buildings and plaza. For the politicians, it's a show of force because they literally throw money as gala reminding the resident to vote form him come election time. Balikbayans also take center stage during the Curacha to show how well off they have become. Fiesta organizers count the gala and publicly announced how much money was made. More money made from the Curacha equates a successful fiesta.

Family reunions

Due to limited employment in the island, most families have family members leaving for work in Manila or other cities or even abroad. Fiestas are opportunities for families to get together. In fact, fiestas are more important than Christmases or any other occasion because they do their homecoming during fiestas.

As part of the preparation, we beautify our homes by mending the fence, decorating our windows with colorful curtains and cleaning our surroundings including the shoreline. Of course, abundant food is prepared which is open to friends and relatives and even friends of friends and relatives of relatives. Favorites foods are the lechon (roasted pig), abodo, humba (pork stew similar to adobo but is cooked longer with pork lard), dinuguan (blood stew), menudo, etc. Buko salad, moron (steamed rice or cassava), puto (steamed rice cake) are favorite desserts and breakfast fare. These are also given away to guests as pasalubong for those left at home.

I always look forward to summers because that's when I file my vacation leave to attend our fiesta!