If there were one subject barrio people loathed in discussing, it would be about the dead. Call it part of religion and folkways so that when someone would pass away, the concern was how to inter the body, which should not be beyond three days. In the barrio, the family of the dead had two choices for the… Read More »
One beautiful and endearing trait of the rural people of yesteryears was the spirit of damayan or mutual community help. This admirable spirit was a traditional expression of mutuality and communality among our forebears when existence was a continuous struggle for survival. Possibly, the provenance of damayan was borne out of experience, for without it the early… Read More »
One of the most ancient methods of preserving food was smoking. Due to the absence of refrigeration, protein foods had to be preserved like fish and meat in excess of the home requirements, and for the rainy weather ahead. This is the story of an “umbuyan” or fish smoking house worker during the years before the Pacific War… Read More »
During the pre-war ear, gaining success in the silver screen was no ordinary achievement. No matter what role a person played in the movie, the ardent fans everywhere would somehow recognize him or her. Even during that time, Manilan’s were avid moviegoers, and so today, the Guinness Book of Record places the average Filipino as the most frequenter… Read More »
Marcelo Martin was a small frame man with squarest jaw, bristly hair, bog forehead, bushy hair and of average height. His constant work under the sun tanned his skin is like a leather. He had large uneven stained teeth due to smoking. Shortly before the outbreak of the Pacific war and during the Occupation, Marcing, as he was… Read More »
One of the most ancient methods of preserving food was smoking. Due to the absence of refrigeration, protein foods had to be preserved like fish and meat in excess of the home requirements, and for the rainy weather ahead. This is the story of an “umbuyan” or fish smoking house worker during the years before the Pacific War… Read More »
Barrio Fiesta was a much- awaited yearly event, for its locale would give it an indigenous flavor and local color. The barrio folks would wait this occasion with heightened expectancy due to its religious significance. The early Spanish missionaries must have given the barrio a patron saint to guide its destiny and progress, which must therefore be honored… Read More »
Marcelo Martin was a small frame man with squarest jaw, bristly hair, bog forehead, bushy hair and of average height. His constant work under the sun tanned his skin is like a leather. He had large uneven stained teeth due to smoking. Shortly before the outbreak of the Pacific war and during the Occupation, Marcing, as he was… Read More »
Up to now, it is still a puzzle as to who came first the usurer or the borrower. It is probably as puzzling as determining who came first the egg or the chicken. In the barrio during the yesteryears, there was such a userer or “loan shark”. A widow of about fifty with no children, Aling Goreng was… Read More »
Taller and heavier than most of his friends of his age in the quiet barrio, Turing grew up with his younger brother Atoy under the care of their grandparents. No one in the barrio seemed to know the parents of these two boys and their grandparents refused to talk about them. Some said that the parents of the… Read More »