Some enchanted hours for a jaded world
It seems quite a few Filipino men missed watching this summer’s big British event; most of them found more interesting things to do than to focus on some fairy tale piece from the other side of the globe.
But some Filipino women like Lina in Cebu found time to watch the royal extravaganza, despite working at two jobs, figuring out the family weekly budget, and worrying about her two children being cared for by her cousin. The 58-year-old works in the day encoding data for a small accounting firm, and at night as a caregiver for an invalid in a foreign family.
Lina, whose tight budget precludes her paying for Wi-Fi for her smartphone, was unlucky that Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook was of little use to her on the day of the Windsor wedding. Luckily, her office mate Maricel, who has both a tablet and Wi-Fi, invited her to view it for a couple of hours. Thanks to Steve Jobs’ invention, Lina was able to watch the proceedings, feeling like she was sitting in a movie house where she could revel in all the glamour and pageantry streaming in from Britain.
Lina found the bridal gown the epitome of elegance and simplicity which highlighted Meghan’s exotic beauty and graceful carriage, with an heirloom tiara serving as a stunning crown topping the veil.
Lina’s delighted eyes watched as the wedding ceremony displayed a fine blend of British tradition, black culture, Hollywood and young love. It showed the world how, thanks to a 36-year-old biracial American, the British monarchy has evolved from its traditionally white establishment character into one embracing multiracialism and a few present-day realities.
Lina would learn later, after looking into Google, that Britain’s image today is a far cry from that in 1936 when King Edward VIII had to abdicate the throne because he was marrying American divorcee Wallis Simpson, thus paving the way for Prince Harry’s grandmother Elizabeth to become Queen of England.
When Lina herself entered into a union, she and her partner did not think it necessary to register at Cebu’s City Hall downtown, or even to ask a parish priest to bless their union. Both she and her partner are not particularly religious or family-oriented. He was brought up by relatives after being abandoned by parents he never knew, and she was an only child brought up by her father and his sister when her mother disappeared, never to be heard from again. So Lina and her partner live like an ordinary married couple even as they, and others like them, are considered “living in sin” by religious conservatives.
As in most weddings, Filipino nuptial rites place emphasis on the religious ceremony, the bride’s looks, her wedding gown, the groom’s outfit, the sponsors, the bridesmaids and the reception. Few, among many traditional-minded Filipinos, can actually afford all the marriage trappings, but even economically depressed couples might scrimp and save to be able to pay for the bride and groom’s costumes and a small party afterwards. Additionally, there would be one important sponsor relied on to provide monetary support.
All that rigmarole would be of little interest to many Filipinos struggling to make a living, but the recent royal wedding in England was a piece of escapism for those with electronic devices and time to be entertained, even awed, for a few hours. Ordinary life for Filipinos facing the grim realities of political corruption, injustice, death and disasters may have dominated, but all those were set aside to stare into a video screen for a few hours of romantic respite.
Indeed, love and marriage in any country are engines of happiness. Briefly, on May 19, many Filipinos like Lina in Cebu witnessed the union of a couple in distant England which provided a few hours of enchantment for a jaded world.
Isabel T. Escoda has written books on Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong and has contributed to the Inquirer since the 1980s.
