Merry, merry month of May

In spite of the fact that this is one of the hottest periods of the year, I’m still listing down May as one of my favorite months for at least two reasons. First, this is the time of the year when religious festivals are aplenty – May being a month of mostly fiestas.

Then, this is also vacation time. In fact, when I was still in school, I would already get depressed around this time knowing that the month was about to end – with June just around the corner and this meant the opening of the school. But now that I’m no longer in school, I still get depressed about summer vacation being over soon because that would mean the opening of classes and the start of horrendous traffic all over the metropolis.

But let’s go back to the May festivities.

May is fiesta time in a lot of places all over the Philippines: In Santa Ana Manila, where the feast of Our Lady of the Abandoned is celebrated (May 12), in my father’s hometown in Hagonoy, Bulacan where there is a church dedicated to St. Helena (May 4), in the town of Sta. Rita in Pampanga (May 22), in barrios and towns (mostly in Bulacan and Quezon) venerating St. Isidore, better known among rural folk as San Isidro de Labrador, in parishes with Our Lady of Fatima as patroness (May 13) and, of course, in Obando where there is a triumvirate of patron saints: Nuestra Senora de Salambao, San Pascual Dayton and St. Clare (both Saksi and TV Patrol had a coverage of the festivities here over the weekend).

Too bad, I’ve never attended the fiesta in Obando even if St. Clare (the patroness of television) is one of my favorite saints. But let me tell you that a few weeks ago, I made a nine-day novena to St. Clare and asked for three favors – two of which were granted (hey, that’s not so bad). The copy of the novena to St. Clare was actually just sent to me in Channel 7 after I wrote about my favorite saints last Holy Thursday, but I think it’s available in the Monastery of St. Clare in Katipunan.

The other religious festivities that are held only in May are the santacruzan and Flores de Mayo and it’s unfortunate that today’s generation can no longer seem to differentiate one from the other. The Santacruzan is supposed to depict the finding of the true Cross by St. Helena. Included in the procession aside from the Emperatriz Elena are biblical characters like Esther and Judith.

The Flores de Mayo on the other hand is supposed to honor the Blessed Mother and is traditionally held on the last day of May or the last Sunday of this month. I therefore do not understand why the Manila Hotel and the Department of Tourism continue to hold the Flores de Mayo every year on the first Sunday of May (to serve as a kick-off perhaps?). There is no Reina Elena here, by the way, but a Reina de la Flores at the end of the procession – right before the carroza bearing the image of the Virgin Mother.

A few weeks ago, I saw a Flores de Mayo in the Greenhills area (different from the O.B. Montessori Santa cruzan last week which I missed) and it paled in comparison with the religious pageantries of my youth. Well, those were the days.

But what I truly miss about the May of my youth was the freedom to do anything I wished – being away from the rigidity of school responsibilities (doing homework, sleeping early, no TV, etc.).

Oh, how I miss spending every afternoon in the toy section of the then newly-opened Uni-Mart or eating pizza at Chery Foodarama. Well, this was the era long before Greenwich, Pizza Hut and Shakey’s (which was already in existence, but was just confined then in the Katipunan area).

But what I miss most was the freedom to watch television to my heart’s content. (As an adult, I also have the freedom to watch TV anytime I want, but I also have adult responsibilities to fulfill and that takes time away from the TV set).

At a time when there were no laser discs, DVDs, VCDs or even Betamax, I relied solely on television to keep me entertained all throughout summer. It was cartoons in the morning. Stop, Look & Listen (an ABS-CBN variety show) at noontime, Darigold Jamboree (a game show on Channel 11 with Johnny Wilson, Bentot and American import Thelma Kennedy) after lunch, Batman and Robin in the late afternoon, Oras ng Ligaya at dusk and an odd assortment of local and foreign show until late evening.

But what I treasure most were the Tagalog movies in the afternoon – and those I only got to watch during vacation time because on school days, I went home at 3:30 p.m.

I remember watching the Japanese war movies of Jun Aristorenas, Jess Lapid and Bernard Belleza (father of Dranreb), the comedies of Pugo and Patsy, Susan Roces (Susan, Susay at Susie) Susan and Amalia Fuentes (Amaliang Mali-mali vs. Susanang Daldal) and – what I treasure most - the musical comedies of Nestor de Villa and Nida Blanca.

I know that most parents would want to keep their kids away from TV as much as possible because they (the parents) believe the boob tube today doesn’t offer anything good anymore. Well, they said the same things about television when I was still a child.

In my humble opinion, I think kids should be allowed to watch anything they want (for as long as these are not sex movies) even just this summer. In my case, I credit my parents for giving the freedom to watch endless TV during summer break (during school days, the TV cabinet had a padlock). Had my TV viewing been restricted, I would have missed watching those Tagalog movies – a lot of which no longer have copies. But having gone through those classic Filipino films in my youth now come handy everytime I have to sit down and write movie reviews.

Sure I was exposed to bad movies and idiotic TV shows in my younger days. However, as I grew up, I realized that every individual is given the capability of sifting the good from the bad.

Parents today therefore shouldn’t really panic and worry needlessly about their children being exposed to bad TV shows – for as long as they (the parents) are able to balance these off with other more meaningful activities like reading the right books and family bonding.

Sure, the ideal situation is for children to be exposed only to the true the good and the beautiful (in the famous words of St. Thomas Aquinas - not Imelda Marcos). But such is not the case in this world.

Maybe the parents can control their children’s TV viewing schedules once classes begin June. But give them the freedom to choose what they want to watch on TV (given reasonable boundaries) just this summer - just this month of May when then break is about to wind up. Eventually, they’ll learn to discern the good from the bad and they may just be able to put this to good use in adult life. That was one of the things I learned during the merry, memorable Mays of my youth.