March 19, 2012 Fiesta! Thanksgiving to the town's patron, St. Joseph (San Jose)

We've had 9 days of special masses and prayers. Then, on Saturday, the 17th, we had a big parade that wound all over the town. Richard, PCV at a high school here, walked with his school and I with mine.

These are the gates of the church campus. The big reddish building is a convent, being renovated amid plans to activate it again. Behind that you see the church steeple. We gathered at 6:30AM in the church courtyard.

All week long we'd been having smaller parades through town. I took this picture from our window. The green and yellow are our town's colors.

   Then, on the 18th, the eve of the fiesta, we gathered at church for a prayerful procession that lasted about 2 kilometers. There must have been about 2 thousand folks walking and many thousands more standing along the way. There were many statues of Saint Joseph, each representing one of the little neighborhoods (barangay).

 The largest and grandest statue was from the town church. 

The morning of the 19th, the fiesta, I heard the cooks of the family up around 5:00AM. They were starting large-scale cooking for the all-day visitors anticipated. They expected about 200 people.
After peeking at what they were doing I went to mass at 6:00AM and sang with the choir. The previous mass was letting out. The church had been crammed for that and now another massive crowd was trying to get in at the same time. Filipinos are so patient about inching forward in a glommed sea of humanity. It reminds me of Italy- narry a line to be seen. I, on the other hand, am very American and am accustomed to lining up single file, each of us in our place and By Gum no one better cut! As in Germany.
It was hot and stuffy in the church from the crowd. I started to feel a little woozy so I sat on the steps of the choir loft. No problem in that. Someone else was eating a deep fried banana. Someone else was visiting and quietly singing to a neighbor. Birds are flying around inside the church. Mass goes on.
Home again at about 7 and hearing the happy, busy sounds of big cooking: pots and pans banging and oil sizzling and knives hitting the cutting boards and people talking, lots of people talking and directing and greeting each other.

This is my family's brother from Manila, Dayo- Good cook and fun, and two of the 3 people who came with them from Manila to stay over and help with the cooking.

My family has many good cooks. Above you see Ate Belin. The golden brown in the pot in the foreground is hot, crispy fish. I ate two whole pieces! Even while knowing I was going to be eating all day. Mmmm! No regrets.

Big bunches of these coconuts hang on the trees all year. While this woman was busy, Ate Norma called up to me, in my bedroom, to come down and get a glass of fresh "buko juice". I didn't waste any time! This woman hacked a small hole and poured out the juice- a couple glasses worth. Then she split  it and scrapped the thick, moist coconut out of the shell with a shredder.

I took my second glass of juice up to my room and enjoyed reading and listening to the sounds of cooking. All my life I've been in the thick of those sounds and hearing them creates a vague sense that my family will walk in at any moment. That thought was a warning to me that homesickness was creeping in. I knew I had to start moving into my day. I called Mam Rachiel and she said to come on up, that their cooking was all done. I walked up and at 7:30 had the 3rd meal of my day. Filipinos passion for food is second only to their passion for family. Fiesta is all about going to close friends and relatives and eating their specialties. Not eating is simply not an option. I've been taught to just take a tiny bit. But even then!!! I can only eat so much! I counted and by 2PM I had eaten 7 times! Mama would say, "Are you bragging or complaining?" and I'm bragging. My body, on the other hand, complained, mildly, in the evening, but that was after my 11th meal. True!
My family's 14 dishes offered, just to name a few, fish in coconut milk and fish with vegetables. Spicy vegetables and vegetables cooked with the heart of the banana (a part of the tree) that is kind of sweet and spicy at the same time. Vegetable salads and cooked vegies. There were jello salads and Buko Salad.There were several meat dishes- poultry, pork and beef. And rice, of course. White and fried.
Every house you enter is setting out its best. As I walk up to a table I often feel that little thrill that is a combination of joy at having been included and humility that the family is sharing so much when they sometimes have so little for themselves. It is so easy to love when people are so giving.
I spent the day striding happily around town popping into families and then returning home. After leaving Rachiel's I stopped at Mare's, but they were still at church, so I went to visit Mam Zaraspe. She lives in a neighborhood I'd never been to ,alone, before. I wasn't sure of her house but I knew that would be no problem. In an area about the size of 1/2 block there are about 10 houses amongst the fields and they belong to various families, all related somehow. This is common here. I asked a little girl for Mam Zaraspe, and sure enough, she pointed kitty corner. Mam had a killer Flan! She saw I liked it so she gave me two to take home. I chuckled to myself..."Like taking coals to Newcastle", I thought. I was really having fun by then. I'd return home to say hi and meet newly arrived visitors, then go out again.
Every house I stopped at, every interaction, was a boost to my mood until by about mid-morning I was just having a ball, as I knew I would. I've become used to the holiday emotional pattern and I know I'll feel happy as I get moving. It is really fun, like being a little girl again, and the town is my playground and I get to skip around and visit playmates all day- no responsibilities. What a unique time in my life. 
I went to Mam Ana's and talked to her sister-in-law, who is in Canada, via Skype. After the fun visit I returned home but I got a text that they had forgotten to take pictures and would I please return. Like I say, if I had known how photographed I'd be I would have had plastic surgery before I came. Not.
So it went all day. In the afternoon Amy came from Ibaan with 2 friends and after visiting with my fam we all went to visit Mam Arlene, Mam Rachiel and Mare.
After the Ibaan folks left I went back up to Don Luis to see Rachiel's fam and Mare and my favorite Kamote(fried sweet-potatoes) vender. She sells in the town square but she and her family live in Don Luis, by Rachiel and Mare. While I was visiting at her house I got to talking to two young men who fervently want to improve their English. We talked for awhile and out of that I have a new project. Starting this Sunday I am teaching Adult English Class for two hours, 10 to 12Noon. They were incredulous that it would be free, and excited when they realized that was the case. All they have to bring is a notebook and ballpen (as it's called here).
My last visit was with Mare, sitting in her bahay kubo (open sided Nipa Hut) and quietly talking. That, of course, after tasting her tempting foods. Then a good-night to Rachiel and fam and Pare took me home in the tricycle.
When I got home my family was relaxing around the big table in the kitchen. Maricar was still washing pots, God love her. The rest of us just sat. Plum tuckered out and gratified by the successful party. Or in my case, partying. We do have a lot to fiesta about.

                                                            Thank you, San Jose.