Holidays, then and now

Martial Law babies like myself remember awaiting by the radio on dark stormy mornings the voice of Nilo Rosas for confirmation on whether or not classes had been suspended. As a child always hoping to find any excuse that would justify the declaration of a “holiday,” I must have wished to have the same power as Rosas had when I grew up. That childhood wish came true, when as president of the City College of Manila I cancelled classes during a typhoon that had the ground floor of the school building knee-deep in water from an overflowing Pasig River. At the end of the month I had to justify that decision to City Hall, which refused to pay the wages of the faculty and staff for that day because the Department of Education had not suspended classes. I learned two important lessons from this experience: first, to be careful what you wish for; second, holidays are fun for schoolchildren but have an impact on pays—regular or overtime. On regular holidays workers are paid even if they don’t work, but during special nonworking holidays the policy is “no-work-no-pay.” Yes, holidays may be fun for students but not for daily-wage earners.

As I was preparing my 2015 calendar, marking off holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and Mercury Retrograde, I noticed that this year, students will have 24 days off from regular classes due to national, local and school holidays. Add another week off due to typhoons, rains or floods and that would make a month off school, which will have to be accounted for nonetheless.

The year 2015 has 18 holidays: 10 regular holidays (Jan. 1-New Year, April 2-Maundy Thursday, April 3-Good Friday, April 9-Araw ng Kagitingan, May 1-Labor Day, June 12-Independence Day, Aug. 31-National Heroes Day, Nov. 30-Bonifacio Day, Dec. 25-Christmas Day, and Dec. 30-Rizal Day); seven special nonworking holidays (these are commemorations like the Feb. 19 Chinese New Year, Aug. 21-Ninoy Aquino Day, Nov. 1-All Saints Day; others are put in to make a holiday weekend like April 4 Black Saturday and Jan. 2; then we have additional special nonworking holidays observed by tradition like the Dec. 24 Christmas Eve and Dec. 31 New Year’s Eve, the last day of the year); and one special holiday (the Edsa anniversary, which is only for schools). Added to this list of holidays issued by Malacanang last year are five more special nonworking holidays: the two Muslim holidays of Eid’l Fitr (July 17) and Eid’l Adha (Sept. 24); and Jan. 15, 16 and 19, which have been declared so due to the visit of Pope Francis.

Holidays were different in the past. During the Marcos years, Sept. 21 was marked as National Thanksgiving Day, which made Filipinos forget that martial law was actually and officially imposed starting that day in 1972, although only announced two days later on Sept. 23. During the American period, Filipinos celebrated, among other things, George Washington’s birthday (Feb. 17) and Occupation Day (Aug. 13), marking the day Spanish Manila surrendered to the United States, and the Stars and Stripes first flew over the islands. Someone should do a comparative list of holidays in the Philippines from the Spanish period to the present to see the changes and similarities (the holidays that have remained through the years) and to gain an insight into our political and cultural history.

Leafing through the protocol guide for government officials in the Spanish period (Ceremonial de las asistencias y funciones de la noble ciudad se Manila, capital de las islas Filipinas que por su encargo formo arreglado a costumbre, Don Andres Joseph Roxo, Regidor por su Magestad de este Illustre Ayuntamiento 1836), I came to realize that more time was spent on religious feasts than on secular ones like the Queen’s birthday and the Queen’s patron saint or name day. There are more than two saints for every day in the Roman Catholic Calendar so that parents could pick the names of their children from them. Spanish having a masculine and feminine form in names made things even simpler. For example, a baby girl could be christened Maria while a boy could be called Mario. Or Escolastica or Teresa for a girl, and Escolastico or Tereso for a boy.

Holidays in Spanish Manila were mostly centered on “holy days” meaning Church feasts or the feasts of certain saints considered patrons of the capital and most important city of “Filipinas.” The list begins with: Jan. 17-San Antonio Abad, patron of Manila against fire, marked with a morning service in the Manila Cathedral; Jan. 26-San Policarpio the Bishop, patron of Manila against earthquakes, celebrated with a morning service and vespers in the cathedral and with a procession in the afternoon. Jan. 30-birthday of Her Serene Highness the Infanta Dona Luisa Fernanda, successor to the Crown. Feb. 2-Purification of the Virgin Mary. Services were held at the Manila Cathedral with both the cabildo (municipal council) and the real audiencia (high court) in attendance. Feb. 5-martyrs of Japan with service in San Francisco church. Services for Ash Wednesday and the five Sundays of Lent were held at the cathedral and for the Wednesdays and Fridays of Lent at the Capilla Real; for Holy Thursday and Good Friday at the cathedral; for the afternoon of Good Friday at the Santo Domingo church. March 8-San Juan de Dios. Services were conducted in San Juan de Dios church. March 25-The Incarnation. The celebration was held in Capilla Real, attendance by invitation. (Conclusion on Wednesday)

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