I was passing by a small flower shop inside the Finch Subway when my attention was caught by a row of sampagita plants in pots. The label was jasmine, but I know it was the Philippine sampagita with its small white sweet-scented blossoms. I know many of us grow them indoors during the cold weather and put them out in the summer.
The sampagita is the Philippine national flower. It is used to symbolize Filipino womanhood – “mahinhin, mahiyain, busilak.” There is a beautiful “kundiman” about this flower that most of us can hum. The tiny blossoms are strung into necklaces with an “ilang-ilang” another flower, as pendant. They are peddled near church doors in busy areas in Manila.
I used to love the sampagita but certain circumstances in the Philippines made them, to me, a symbol of things unpleasant and very sad.
That was thirty-six years ago. I do not know if it is still happening now. In the afternoon as passenger jeepneys passed by a certain corner in Quiapo, several men waited as the vehicles slowed down to turn. Each driver received a sampagita necklace that was hung conspicuously so that it could be seen through the windshield. It took me a while to find out what this daily ritual was all about. It was the sign that the driver had given his share of the “lagay” for the day.
When martial law was declared in 1972, an announcement was made over the radio (I think it was every hour) informing the public that anyone caught possessing a gun would be sentenced to death. The signal that the announcement was to be made was the music of the song “Sampagita”. Wherever you were – in a jeepney or bus in the place of work or home, hearing the strain of “Sampagita” would remind of the might of martial law, the insecurity of life and the fear that violence could erupt anytime. Since then I have hated that strain of music, which I once thought was so beautiful.
In everyday life little things that we see, or hear remind us of certain people or events in our past, sometimes happy, for others even tragic and sad. Here in Canada one of the first things that brought me immense joy during my early months in this country was the tulip. I arrived in December and I saw snow as I got out of the airport. It was immensely beautiful but the cold wind shocked me physically. Imagine, from a tropical climate straight into winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
Most of the trees were bare skeletons, the days were often dark, the streets were slippery and to me, dangerous to walk on. The wind was chilling to the bone and there were times when I almost got blown down to the ground.
I can never forget how awesome it was for me when spring came, the green buds started to appear on the hedges and trees and then the burst of colour – tulips –clusters of them in all tints of the rainbow. There were other sources of brightness around – the crabapples, the cherry and apple blossoms, but the tulips impressed me most because my sister took me to the Tulip Festival in Ottawa during my first spring in Canada. Thousands and thousands of tulips in different hues of red, orange, yellow, purple, and even black. There was about a kilometer of stretch of these fields of blossoms of different sizes and shapes. The numerous shades of each colour fascinated me. The red for instance; from pale pink, to shocking pink to fuchsia to fire engine red, blood red and dark, dark red!
This spring I renewed my acquaintance with the tulips in the country’s capital again. My sister and I attended the Annual Tulip Festival in May.
All these years, I have heard and read about the history of this Tulip Festival, how this flower stands as a symbol of an everlasting friendship between two nations.
In 1940, then Crown Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, together with her two daughters, Beatrix and Irene sought safety from the war, in Canada. They lived in Stornoway in the Rockcliffe area of Ottawa, now the residence of the leader of the opposition party. In 1943, a third daughter Princess Margaret was born at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. To ensure her Dutch citizenship, the federal government of Canada ceded the hospital room where she was born temporarily to the Netherlands.
In 1945, Canadian troops participated in the liberation of the Netherlands from the Germans.
After the war in 1945, the Dutch Royal Family returned to the Netherlands In the fall of the same year, Princess Juliana sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa in appreciation of providing the royal family a safe refuge and gratitude for the part the Canadian troops played in the liberation of the Netherlands. The tulip then has become the symbol of the strong bond of friendship between the two countries.
Not long after, the tulips started to attract tourists to the nation’s capital. In 1946 Princess Juliana sent again 20,000 tulip bulbs to Canada. The first Canadian Tulip Festival was held in 1953. For over 50 years, the tulips have attracted thousands of visitors to Ottawa in the spring. In 2001, the tulip was declared the official flower of the City of Ottawa.
Up to the present time, the Dutch Bulbs Growers Association sends 10,000 bulbs to Canada as gift every year. About a million bulbs are planted for the festival every year, which the Canadian government buys or produces. The Canadian National Capital Commission undertakes the task of preparing the tulip festival. /
Preparation for the festival is a huge undertaking that takes seventeen months from design to flowering. There are more than 50 varieties of tulips with different colours, shapes and times of bloom.
As one who has made Canada second home I strongly recommend to those who have not been to the Annual Tulip Festival to take time in the first two weeks in May to share this experience. It can be an enjoyable and inexpensive vacation wherein you will be treated to this part of Canadian history as well as an opportunity to meet people of diverse origins whom you would have the pleasure of walking with as you view the spectacular beds of blooms. In the afternoons of the days of the festival, a shuttle was provided to take you to the different parks and gardens where the floral displays may be found. Entertainment in the form of theatre, acrobatics, dance and presentations for children was also provided. The Tulip route took the visitors on a tour of Ottawa passing through the historical spots and other places of interest.
For me, this second time at the Festival was made more satisfying with the meeting of some “kababayan” who reminded me of how gracious and hospitable we Filipinos are.
It would be a sin of omission not to mention them because their generosity indeed made a marvelous impact on me. Adel and Alex Vega was a couple we met while viewing the tulips. In less than an hour we talked and were able to identify mutual acquaintances and recall certain significant events in the Philippines.
Unfortunately, we did not have the time to stay longer or they would have taken us to the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa wherein Adel worked until last year. The next day we received remarkable photos that Alex took.
Another couple Teresita Linsangan and her husband gave us a very warm welcome in their home in Kanata, a suburb of Ottawa. We left with boxes of plants from Teresita’s lush garden.
Now when I look at the tulip, I would not be thinking of this flower only as the symbol of friendship between two nations. It will make me remember that no matter we meet our “kapuwa Filipino” the bond of our origin would pull us together. Being Filipino would make us feel secure with each other and any place in the world is like being home again.